American Horror Project Vol 2 — American Horror Project Vol 2 (Blu Ray box)
As with the first American Horror project box set, this is once again co-curated by highly respected genre/ cult film expert Stephen Thrower- who of course wrote the definitive book of low budget American horror Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independent, as well as highly respected tomes on the likes of Jess Franco & Lucio Fulci. And once again he really excels himself with well researched, enjoyable & wholly fascinating extras over all three discs- and I believe he also has some input into the set's booklet too. But without further ado, let us get into the discs.
On the first disc, we have Dream No Evil- this is from 1970, and is an often lulling psycho-drama with elements of macabre fantasy & fleeting/ jarring violence. The film was written and directed by New York-born John Hayes- who put out a few decidedly moody & micro-budget regional films that have gone onto gain a fair bit of prise in recent years- like 1972’s Grave Of The Vampire, his sombre & offbeat take on Vampire mythos, and also from 1972’s Garden Of The Dead, his take on the zombie genre. I’d seen Grave Of The Vampire some years back, and sure it was dread filled in places, but was often very soapy & slow in it's unfold. Dream No Evil is similar quite soapy & slow drama fed- it’s centered around Grace- a young girl whose adopted by a traveling preacher & his wife. Fast forward a few years, and she’s now all grown up & working with her stepbrother who has now taken over his father as a hands-on fire & brimstone preacher, whose traveling around the US. Grace's part of their act is jumping from a high platform- down in hell ( a red crash matt), to be saved. From being a child Grace has been obsessed with finding her father, and one day after seemingly gaining her stepbrothers healing powers- she goes looking for her real father, finding him dead in a mortuary run-by a grimy & aging part-time pimp. From here her father may or may not have come back to life, as people start been killed in Grace's life.
At times, when things are more subtle surreal and fantasy based, there’s a really effective feeling of sinister wooziness- and when the fleeting kills come they are often jarring & shocking. The issue with much of the films run time is it feels like a blend of TV mystery & romantic drama- this TV feel is compound more by the male storytelling voice over, which pops up from time-to-time- this brought to mind The Outer Limits Or Twilight Zone. Dream No Evil is certainly an original take on the psychodrama genre, and the darkly dreamy moments are effective, as is most of the fairly small cast- in particular, Marc Lawrence, who does a great job as the creepy & sleazy man in black mortician/ elderly lady pimp. But I’m afraid personally, I found the film often too slow & drama based for its own good- and our killer, when they are finally revealed is a little underwhelming & underplayed.
Moving onto the Blu Ray its self, and the new 2k scan looks nicely bright & crisp- really bringing depth & contrast to the often desert setting of the film, as well as making the reds & subtly surreal/ trippy elements more vibrate too. Extras wise we get a fair bit on this disc- first off we get a commentary track from the always worthy & entertaining Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan- here the pair start talking about the distinct lack of reissues of Hayes work. Going onto discuss the different sub-genres of exploitation he worked in & his themes, as well as the more jarring tone shifting tendencies all of his films have. Before going on to talk about the film to hand, it’s cast & setting. Along the way pair discuss similar films, influences on the film's story- as seemingly Hayes based the character of Grace on his sister, who got wrapped up in more controlling religious elements- it’s another very well researched & put together tracks from Ellinger & Deighan, and once again it made me more involved & interested in the film & it themes, then my original watches offered. Next, we get a Stephen Thrower discussing the film, it’s history & it’s lesser grindhouse box office impact compared to his other films- he also goes onto the skimming over Hayes wider filmography- this comes in just shy of the ten-minute mark. Thrower pops up once again with Hollywood After Dark: The Early Films of John Hayes, 1959-1971- this is a thirty two minute video essay discussing Hayes beginnings in film- moving onto discuss each of his films from between the late fifties & early seventies. Hayes dropped in & out of a fair few exploitation sub-genres in this period going from dramatic noir, low key war films, hillbilly comedies, softcore, & roughies. Thorough out Thrower drops in clips from the films, poster artwork, and quotes from those who knew Hayes- there are also relevant snippets from an interview Thrower did with actress Rue McClanahan, who worked on a lot of his early films- she went onto more known roles like aging lush Blanche on cult US sitcom The Golden Girls. Next, there’s just over twenty-minute featurette on Edmond O'Brien- who played the Grace’s father in the film- who had a wide-ranging acting career. We get a twenty-nine recording of a phone interview Thrower did with Rue McClanahan, and lastly an original trailer- so, all in all, a very impressive selection of interesting stuff.
The second disc in the set features Dark August- this 1976 film is a decidedly chilling and at times downright un-nerving supernatural thriller/rural horror film- that blends together an almost constant feeling of tangible dread, creative & unbalancing camera angles, moments of panic & terror, and an unsettling air. The film was written & directed by Martin Goldman- this was his second film following up 1972’s The Legend of Nigger Charley- a gritty blacksploitation western. With Dark August Goldman managers to instill a good balance of warts & all character studies, clearly well researched & seemingly authentic occult detail, grand-yet-foreboding landscape photographer, and of course some truly unsettling moments. The film's plot revolves around Sal Devito(J.J Barry)- a New Yorker, whose recently separated from his wife- and decides to move to the country with his new girlfriend. Inadvertently he knocks down & kills a little girl who is running from the fields out into the country road; and fair soon is cursed by the girl's grandfather- a gangly white-bearded man, who spends much of the length of the film saying nothing. The film features a great use of repetitive music- be it looped electronics, jazzy-yet- brooding organ work, or sentimental keyboard/ piano music with a sinister tinge- the music is often used in almost wall like fashion, which creates the feeling of great tension & panic- I’d compare it to something like It Follows in it's use of soundtrack. The film really has little or no blood/ gore present- but what it does have is oodles of atmosphere, along with moments of sudden terror & panic- these are brought about by the use of the camera angle, the huge skied backdrop of brooding skies, moments when the grandfather suddenly appears in the background, or the extremely creepy half seen grown figure that appears from time-to-time. Of all the three films here I certainly found Dark August the most impactful in both its presentation, mood, and flow- sure if you stripped down the basic plot of an old man cursing someone it doesn’t sound too spectral or original- but it’s the way Goldman constructs the film, his good choice of key actors, and the all-around blend of creepiness & terror he managers through the film's runtime.
The new print of the film looks amazing- really showing off the films classy & creative cinematography as it moves from claustrophobic, unbalancing, and grand. The balance of color is fairly good & clear through-out, and the often tension building score is nice & impactful- as are the moments of near silence & countryside sounds. The commentary track here features Director Martin Goldman, and is moderated by Brandon Daniel and Joe Luke- Goldman is clearly quite an elderly man now- so as a result, the track is often a bit sporadic, piece meal, and wondering- the two moderators try to get him back on track with observations & questions, these sadly are sometimes ignored or given a few word answers. There are some interesting discussions about shot set-up, the acting which apparently was at times improvised, and the location. Sadly it’s the least satisfying of the commentary tracks here- which of course is a big pity, especially when this was my favorite film of the set.
Extras wise Mr. Thrower returns for a nearing ten discussion about the film- he talks about the films Vermont location & the use of nature, the films at time jarring score, and subtle growing dread of the film. Next we get two new interviews- first one with the director, seeing him discussing his early ad work, going onto discuss Dark August- this runs just over the ten-minute mark. The second interview is the film's producer Marianne Kanter- discussing her work on Dark August, and seemingly it was a real learning experience, as this was her first post as a film producer. Next we get The Hills Are Alive: Dark August and Vermont Folk Horror- this a near thirty five minute featurette, that sees author and artist Stephen R. Bissette discussing horror film history in Vermont, as well briefly touching on folk horror in the area, and the occult- this is a most interesting, and has left me keen to check out a few of the more experimental/ arty films mentioned.
The Child is the final film here, and it’s a decidedly heady & at times haphazard blend of American gothic horror, slightly arty euro-horror, creepy evil child thriller, and in its last quarter, it switches to bloody-face tearing zombie film. The 1977 film was co-produced by infamous exploitation producer & distributor Harry Novak- though I can’t really see this been very appealing to his usual audience, as it’s decidedly slow, moody & at times darkly art bound film. It’s was the one & the only film directed by the rather mysterious Robert Voskanian- who seemingly little is known about- the film is fairly competently directed- though at times a little muddled, the other issue is it’s often fairly darkly staged shots- so while this new Arrow print is nicely balanced in the daytime shots- the night footage is still decidedly murky.
The film begins with young & naive nanny Alicianne Del Mar(Laurel Barnett) making her way to the Nordon house. On the way her car breaks down, so she has to make it on foot through the woods, and on the way she bumps into nosey elderly female neighbour, who warns her about the family. When she finally makes it to the house she meets the abrupt older father Len(Richard Hanners), his shifty late teen son, and Rosalie- the decidedly creepy little girl she is to look after. As the film goes on we find the family is both odd, and at times reserved- we also find out that young Rosalie is visiting her mother grave at night, and has made some living dead friends who she seemingly has control over.
The whole thing is soundtrack by a decidedly varied & at times darkly playful score- that moves between dramatic-to-creepy piano music, experimental blends of electronics & synths- with often prepared piano elements, and more straight-ahead moody & horror fed synth scaping. The scores great, though at times it does threaten to overwhelm the film it’s self- I could well imagine it be a great stand-alone release. The film is certainly effective in summoning up crawling 1970’s creepiness, and the arty touches add quirky flavor to the whole thing- at times it does feel a little episodic & muddled in its story arch, though I think that’s because Voskanian is a first time director & he’s trying to bring together several horror sub-genres, and at times the whole thing unbalances. Of the three films here this was the one of was more aware of, though had never seen- and it’s certainly great to see it now- though as I said goodness knows what the grindhouse crowd would have made of it all.
Moving onto the disc itself- and first discussing the print- as mentioned early the day time & indoor footage here looks nicely defined, balanced & even- sadly the darker scenes still look extremely murky, but at least you can (just about) figure out what’s going on in most of the film. The sound mix is well done- with the chipped & stilted dialogue coming off nicely strange, added to this we, of course, have the wonderful unbalancing soundtrack- both of these create another level of oddness/ sinister wonky-ness. On the extras front we get a good selection of stuff- firstly we get a new commentary track with Robert Voskanian & producer Robert Dadashian, all conducted by Stephen Thrower- this finds the pair discussing how they first met at film school, the initial idea for the film, the cast, the location- one of which was a house that was due to be knocked down. The length of time it took to film-then edit the film & the issues they faced over these three years, the soundtrack, and what they thought of the film at the time, and if they went to see if- it’s quite a active track, with at points both Robert's talking over each other, but for the most part Thrower managers to make sure it flows well & comes up with interesting questions & observations, which the pair comment on. Next, we get an around thirteen-minute appreciation & discussion about the film from Mr. Thrower- this finds him starting out discussing how he first saw the film, and it’s different releases. Going onto discuss the distribution deal with Novak, which got the film shown in a lot of places, but left the director & producer with no money. What Voskanian & Dadashian are now doing, and how the film was one of the main inspirations for him writing the Nightmare USA book- as we’ve come to expect from Thrower it’s another very informative & interesting summing up of the film & it’s the background. Next, we get an around 15-minute interview with Voskanian & Dadashian- this does cover some similar ground to the commentary never-the-less there are interesting tidbits, and it’s great to see both interviewed. Lastly, we get an original trailer.
So, in conclusion, this second Volume of the American Horror series was well worth the three years wait since the first vol. As once again Arrow Video & Mr. Thrower have selected three distinctive & often creative examples of regional horror film- and given each a great new scan, a splendid selection of extras, and all round loving presentation. Simply put another great Boxset from the folks at Arrow Video!.