Sunday In The Country — Sunday In The Country( Blu Ray/ DVD)
From 1974 Sunday In The Country( aka Blood For Blood, Vengeance Is Mine) was a Canadian production- it's the third film directed by Toronto based John Trent- who seemingly had quite a genre varied career- going from early John Candy picture It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, teen adventure The Bushbaby, comedy-drama Middle Age Crazy, and drug smuggling thriller Best Revenge. Sunday In The Country was filmed in & around the countryside of Bolton, Ontario, Canada- and Trent mangers to capture both the beauty of the landscape, and the more grim & claustrophobic farmhouse & it’s outbuildings.
The film focus in on the Smith farm on one summer Sunday- it’s run by middle-aged, seeming kind & caring Christian man Adam Smith- Ernest Borgnine, with the help of his man-mountain eastern European farmhand Luke-Vladimír Valenta, and just home from college granddaughter Lucy-Hollis McLaren. Adam & his granddaughter go off to church, and when returning home they find out that a trio of killer bank robbers are in the area- having shot & attempting to rape a local couple in a shocking near film opening attack. The trio of criminals are made up of twitching, violent & sleazy Leroy- Michael J. Pollard, and sweaty middle-aged duo Dinelli & Ackerman- the group come across the Smith Farm, cut the phone lines- and you're getting ready for fairly standard criminals-attack- rape & kill plot, but instead Borgnine blows one of the trio away and captures/ tortures the remaining two- with the granddaughter less than pleased about this wanting to contact the cops.
The films starts in a nicely lazy/ hazy feel- with mellow country music, long lingering shots of the countryside, and laid back farmhouse banter- when the first attack comes it’s done well & shockingly, and from here on the film builds up a good feeling of taut tension. Borgnine gets one of his meatier roles, really shining as the pleasant- yet-clearly unblanched farmer, McLaren has somewhat of a young sissy Spacek feel, and Pollard is very memorable as the sleazy & unpredictable criminal. Along the way, the film has some quite nasty & bloody moments of violence, with one of the most brutal & wince-inducing been a dog mulling. Before this release, I wasn't aware of Sunday In The Country, and I must say I was most impressed- as it’s a fine, well-filmed, and at times grittily brutal 70’s rural-based thriller- with a great believable cast, and original distinct twists on your typical rape/ revenge film-making.
Moving onto this recent release, and the duel format Blu Ray & DVD set is presented in a hardback media book format- and in it’s middle it takes in a glossy sixty-five booklet- this features a host of film stills, alternative cover/ poster art, as well as a good selection of French text- discussing the film to hand, the development of the hicksploitation genre, and a list of films in the genre. So a nice looking set. The new 2k mastering of the film is very sharp & bold, really enhancing both the 70’s color pallet & blood reds- and this is the uncut version of the film. There are two versions of the film- one in French, and one with the original English language track with French subtitles you can turn off. You get an around twelve-minute featurette with genre expert discussing the film in French and a gallery of stills & posters.
It’s great to see Artus Films putting out another title in their redneck horror series- and all in all Sunday In The Country is a great lesser-known example of the rural set revenge 70’s thriller. To pick up a copy direct head here