6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.2 |
Sir Edward Markham is the victim of a voodoo curse which has caused his face to become horribly disfigured. He is kept captive in the attic of his house by his brother Julian (Vincent Price). Sir Edward escapes, moves in with an unscrupulous doctor who hires grave robbers to steal bodies for his research, wears a red hood over his face, and kills a good number of townspeople before the surprise ending...
Starring: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Uta Levka, Sally GeesonHorror | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Returning to Edgar Allen Poe for creative inspiration, star Vincent Price is once again the best match for the author’s reserved intensity. 1969’s “The Oblong Box” returns Poe to the screen, this time with a tale of body-switching, voodoo, and sibling guilt, teaming Price with Christopher Lee to goose the horror legends atmosphere. Suspense is teased throughout “The Oblong Box,” but never achieved in full, leaving the bulk of the feature to the actors, who do a fine job snapping the effort out of its periodic slumber.
The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation emerges with mild filtering, flattening the viewing experience to a modest degree, diluting richly filmic qualities. Detail is acceptable, finding facial close-ups and ghoulish particulars providing touchable textures, while costuming remains fibrous. Hues are intact, keeping period with darker blues and grays. Bloodletting adds some primary punch, and Edward's crimson hood provides a pleasant boost of color. Delineation has its struggles, with evening excursions slipping into solidification. Source is isn't overtly damaged, but speckling and some debris remains.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix presents a basic blend of suspense elements, while the overall track takes a few brief dips in consistency. Dialogue exchanges are stable and expressive, preserving dramatics and varied accents, holding intelligibility. Scoring is louder but supportive, with acceptable instrumentation and pronounced placement to emphasize conflict. Atmospherics are satisfactory, working with environmental changes and horror creaks and groans. Hiss is present throughout the listening experience.
"The Oblong Box" improves as it goes along, and the acting does a tremendous job selling the nightmare director Gordon Hessler has difficulty constructing. Poe's black humor and horror are sustained to satisfaction, and there a handful of visual achievements that cause necessary unease. However, "The Oblong Box" isn't forceful enough with its genre ingredients, trying to remain weirdly respectable as it explores the feral highlights of serial killing and live burials.
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