6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A disturbed woman is haunted by memories of childhood abuse, which culminates in a murder spree.
Starring: Millie Perkins, Lonny Chapman, Vanessa Brown, Peggy Feury, Jean Pierre CampsHorror | 100% |
Psychological thriller | 6% |
Thriller | 3% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is currently available as part of American Horror Project Vol. 1.
The acronym WEHT is typically utilized to wonder where stars of yesteryear have gotten to, and it may be perfectly applicable to at least a
couple of people who show up in the three films included in Arrow Films’ American Horror Project Volume 1. But “what ever happened
to”
might also be used with regard to the films themselves, for this initial trio of offerings may be relatively little known to even some who consider
themselves to be diehard horror fans. The Blu-ray era has been a boon to lovers of horror, with any number of cult items seeing the high
definition light
of day courtesy of a gaggle of licensors and/or niche labels. Many if not most of those offerings, though, were probably at a somewhat higher
level of general public recognition than the three films included in this set, which is not to say that those films were automatically of a higher
quality than the three collected here. Arrow nonetheless seems to be well aware that they’re dipping into a stratum of
horror films that may be perceived as “lesser” material, but each of these initial three offerings has something unique about it, if only frankly
some inherent weirdness.
The Witch Who Came From the Sea is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. The booklet accompanying American Horror Project Vol. 1 offers the following information about the provenance of the elements used for the transfer and the transfer itself:
A 35mm print accessed from UCLA Film Archive was scanned in 2K resolution at OCN Digital, USA. Kodak Digital Ice was used to remove instances of dirt and debris during scanning. Grading was performed on the Baselight grading system at Deluxe Restoration, London. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, light scratches and other forms of film damage were removed or improved through a combination of digital restoration tools.This film offers some early work by Dean Cundey, credited as an "associate" but evidently largely if not completely in charge of lensing the feature. Interestingly, The Witch Who Came From the Sea doesn't wallow in the shadowy ambience which would help Cundey attain the whimsical soubriquet of filmdom's "Prince of Darkness", and instead there's a kind of misty, beachside look to much of the proceedings that may remind some of John Carpenter's The Fog. While the elements have been upgraded in terms of damage, there are still manifold small blemishes which accrue over the running time (as well as an instance or two of some major problems like tears in frames), though probably the biggest issue some videophiles will have with this presentation is its obviously faded palette. Flesh tones are often on the (pale) brown side, and very little here pops with much robustness, though the flashes of bright red (which here are often skewed toward orange) when blood enters the scene offer some vividness. There's an understandably "dupey" look to much of this presentation (including in the fairly heavy grain field), but detail levels are still reasonably high a lot of the time, especially when close-ups are utilized (see screenshot 3). Some flashbacks have been filtered with soft focus, further softening a presentation which is fairly gauzy to begin with. I've scored this a 3, but would probably up this to a 3.25 or thereabouts if I were able to.
The Witch Who Came From the Sea features an uncompressed LPCM Mono track which was transferred from the UCLA 35mm print, according to the booklet included with American Horror Project Vol. 1. Things sound relatively problem free here, albeit within a somewhat tamped down overall ambience. Dialogue and sound effects are generally quite vividly rendered, and Herschel Burke Gilbert's adroit if sometimes unintentionally funny score sounds clear and effective. The sound here can be slightly on the thin side, and restorative efforts have not been able to completely remove some relatively minor signs of age like pops and cracks.
This is probably the least typical film in the already pretty atypical American Horror Project Vol. 1. Less an outright slasher flick than a rather disturbing trip inside an obviously deeply troubled mind, The Witch Who Came From the Sea may provoke cynical, even derisive, laughter in some viewers—until they realize just how disturbing the film is. With an understanding of the provenance of the elements utilized for this transfer, video is acceptable if never overwhelmingly impressive, and audio is fine. The special features are quite well done, and for a certain demographic if not the public at large, The Witch Who Came From the Sea comes Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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