The Haunting Of Julia — The Haunting Of Julia( Blu Ray & CD)

From the late 1970’s The Haunting Of Julia is a mix of drama, low-key mystery, and very slow-burn horror. It’s a film that often drifts with a feeling of unease & subtle dread- with a few moments of jarring shock, be they visual or plot revelation-wise. Here from Australia’s Imprint is a double disc release of the film- taking in a Blu-ray of the film, and a good selection of extras. And a CD featuring the film's soundtrack, including never-released material. It comes presented in lenticular slip, with a forty-four-page booklet.

The Haunting Of Julia (aka Full Circle) appeared in the year 1977. It was based on Julia- the 1975 novel by American horror writer Peter Straub. And was directed by Cheltenham, Gloucestershire born. Richard Loncraine- in total he had eleven features to his name. These went from drama/ musical Slade In Flame (1975), period drama come comedy of Manners The Missionary (1982), crime drama Bellman And Ture (1987), and crime thriller Firewall(2005). The Haunting Of Julia was his second film, and while at points it’s a little confusingly plotted, and often very slowly paced- it’s well filmed, featuring a good cast, and some generally effective moments of unease & horror.
 
The London-based film opens with a fairly normal family breakfast- where mother Julia Lofting (Mia Farrow), is preparing food for both her daughter Lilly (Jilly Bennet), and rather posh/ pompous husband Magnus(Keir Dullea). Lilly is rapidly pilling food into her mouth, rushing for school- she starts choking- Julia does her best to unblock her throat, but clearly, it’s all too late. Next, we see Julia being released from a psychiatric hospital, running from the building away from her husband. She starts letting a large and shadowy house in the capital. And it seems something is very wrong in the house- is it Lilly coming back to hunt her mother, her imagination, or is it down to something that happened in the house in its past?
 
Farrow is good as the emotionally troubled Julia- coming off both as greyly haunted & emotionally numb- though to later being emotionally fraught. Dullea is good enough as her husband- though maybe a tad one-dimensional. Supporting actor wise we have Tom Conti as Mark, Julia's long-haired antique shop-running friend. And we get a few unsavoury/ unseating characters,  who she meets along trying to put together the mystery of it all.
 
The film is primally a drama-come-mystery. Yes, we do get moments of shock/ terror, but they are fleeting/low-key. What we do have is a decidedly glum air to the whole thing- which is edged often with unease & disquiet. This is nicely enhanced by a soundtrack that blends elegant, yet melancholic piano work & broodingly seared electronic elements. The film's tone really turns from troubling grey, to grimly black with the whole thing having a very troubling/downbeat final note.
 
There are a few issues with The Haunting Of Julia. The most glaring of these are some of the plot points & reveals, which on the first watch-through do rather puzzle/ confusion. Otherwise, the pacing is very slow- even by 70’s standards, and when it sells itself as a ghost story, you will come away a little disappointed if that’s what you go in expect. Yes, there is a ghost element here, but it’s again low-key/ open to one’s interpretation.
 
 
 
Moving onto this recently released two-disc set.  On the Blu-Ray, we have a 4k scan of the film- this features a well-balanced 1970’s pallet, as well as evenly-defined moodiness & fleeting moments of bloody reds. Also, on the Blu-Ray disc, we get a great selection of new/ exclusive extras. First up we have commentary by authors Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons- and as always with these two pros we get an extremely well-researched, observed, and entertaining track. They start by talking about how the film appeared in 1976- played in both the UK & states, then promptly disappeared. Then in 2016, Simon Fitzjohn rediscovered a print of the film, after reading a piece about lost films by none other than one of our commentators Kevin Lyons. They comment on the opening kitchen scene- which was one of the few set-based scenes in the film. We get talk about the young actress who plays Julia’s daughter- she went on to do a few other horror films, and appear in a Roxy Music video.  We get a discussion about how/ where the film & book differs, and a brief bio of Peter Straub- who became a horror author quite by accident, as he started off writing standard fiction. They point out bit part actors and comment on the London Holland Park locations. They discuss how 1976 the film looks, and we get a bio of the director- who started off his career as a sculptor & toy maker. Later on, the talk about the career of Mia Farrow- who at the time of this film was aged thirty-one, and was doing a lot of London-based stage acting. They discuss the film/novel's anti-German plot point, and much more. It's a track I’ll certainly be playing a few times.
Otherwise, on the new/ exclusive to this release we get the following. Breaking The Circle (14.12) interview with composer Colin Towns. Framing The Circle (27.15) interview with cinematographer Peter Hannan. Joining The Circle (7.00) interview with associate producer Hugh Harlow. Motherhood & Madness: Mia Farrow and the Female Gothic (23.42) a video essay by film historian Kat Ellinger- this is as with all of Ms Ellinger’s extras is excellent. She first gives a potted history of female-fronted gothic literature. Before moving onto discussing Farrow’s 70’s films that fit into the female gothic tropes, and of course more in-depth talk/analyses about the film to hand.

 

The CD takes in eleven tracks in total- with a total runtime of sixty minutes and fifty-two seconds. It features the original nine-track score from Colin Towns, as well as two never released tracks/ cues created for the film- but never used/ released on the original soundtrack release. One track is somewhat of a musical suite which runs at this just shy of the eighteen-minute mark, and the second is a stand-alone five-minute cue. The original score brings together hauntingly ornate-to-melancholic piano work, which is edged with electronic & flute elements. We have one vocal-based track  “Olivia” which is a sort of gospel backing vocal-tinged sing-song writer electric piano-led ballad. The main score is effective- with Town’s selecting both atmospheric tones, with a few nice key themes. I can take or leave the vocal track, as it’s somewhat run-of-the-mill. The bonus tracks are worth a play- as they include more synth-based and vocal harmony elements, as well as a few new elements which at points get quite instrumentally prog-bound. On the whole, it’s a great extra to have the soundtrack- and I do hope we see future Imprint releases with soundtracks included.

The Blu-ray case comes presented in a hard slipcase- this feature on its cover a lenticular version of the film's cover artwork of a ghostly blond hair girl standing in front of a darkened staircase. Also included is a forty-four-page inlay booklet- this takes in a new write-up about adapting the novel for the screen by critic/writer Sean Hogan. Soundtrack credits/track listing/ a short write-up, and a good selection of stills/ poster artwork.

In conclusion, this certainly is a very classily presented & well-thought-out release of this lesser-known and decidedly haunting 1970s film. With a lovely 4k scan, a good selection of exclusive extras, the soundtrack, and of course the neat lenticular slip/ inlay booklet. This Ltd edition release of the film only runs at 1500 worldwide- so if it sounds of interest- I’d act sooner rather than later!.