AUDREY ROSE (1977) (Arrow Video Blu-ray Review/Comparison)

AUDREY ROSE (1977)

Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: A
Rating: PG
Duration: 113 Minutes 12 Sec
Audio: English LPCM 1.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Robert Wise
Cast: John Hillerman, Anthony Hopkins, John Beck, Marsha Mason, Susan Swift, Norman Lloyd

Supernatural melodrama Audrey Rose (1977) opens during a heavy down pour with a mother and daughter driving on an interstate when a car heading the opposite direction veers down an embankment and into the oncoming traffic, resulting in the mother and her young daughter dying a horrific and fiery death inside their overturned car - it's a scene that sort of mirrors the opening of the superior chiller The Changeling. Moving ahead ten years we’re then introduced to parents Janice (Marsha Mason, Drop Dead Fred) and Bill Templeton (John Beck, Rollerball) and their adolescent daughter Ivy (Susan Swift, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers). Ivy is a sweet kid but suffers from recurring tormented visions of a fiery death, the nightmares are getting progressively worse and have begun manifesting in the form of violent waking nightmares and sleepwalking. About this time her parents notice a strange man following them on several different occasions. The stranger seems unnaturally drawn to their daughter, his name is Elliot Hoover, the grieving father of the the young girl killed in the crash at the top of the film. Hoover is played very sympathetically yet intensely by Sir Anthony Hopkins (Magic), he gives of some creeper vibes but seems well-intentioned. It eventually comes into focus that Elliot believes the day his daughter died in that fiery wreck her soul was reincarnated into the body of the newborn Ivy. Hopkins plays the role with sincerity but also a bit demented while also being underplayed, sort of on the same wavelength we saw him do in the film Magic. While you never think he might harm the girl you’re also not quite sure what his end game might be, he could be a nutter with a thing for kids. The parents initially balk at the notion, as would anyone of sound mind, but eventually the mother comes around to believe, while the father becomes more hostile towards Elliot, frustrated that he is powerless to help his own suffering daughter, while this complete stranger comes into her life offering her some sort of relief.

The first time I watched this flick I think I may have come to it with a bit too much self-imposed expectation. I had the preconception that it would be an eerie chiller along the lines of Robert Wise's fantastic chiller The Haunting or The Changeling, but the docudrama style felt a bit antiseptic at times and once it turns into a courtroom drama the film lost its footing and never quite recovered. What we have here is far less a supernatural thriller and more of an examination, and indeed trial, of the idea of reincarnation, which is quite interesting in theory but it did not wow me with what I was seeing onscreen. That's not to say there weren't some solid moments of tension and bits that gave the goosebumps, the scenes of young Ivy tormented by visions of Audrey's fiery death are quite harrowing and well-executed.

We get some quite good performances here, especially from Hopkins and the tortured Swift, whom not to be unkind, was quite a strange looking adolescent, which serves the film well. The night terrors she suffers are intense, the most chilling involved Ivy running through the house clawing at the windows in an attempt to escape the fiery car crash of her nightmare, it's very effective and quite startling. Hopkins portrayal of Mr. Hoover is a touch demented, but not quite over-the-top. From an outsider perspective Hopkins' character would be quite suspect, and any parent would regard a strange man with an obsession about their child for whatever reasons with a healthy amount of hostility, especially when he asserts that they're the reincarnation of his dead daughter.

Audio/Video: Audrey Rose (1977) arrives on Blu-ray from Arrow Video with a brand new 2K restoration by Arrow from the original 35mm camera negative. Compared to the Imprint Film Blu-ray released earlier this year (reviewed HERE) the framing looks identical, with the biggest improvement being a superior colo-balance and more natural looking grain structures. The film grain looks outstanding on the Arrow release, bringing a new level of texture and detail to the image, it just looks for filmic. There are some scratches that pop-up throughout, but this is certainly the best this film has ever looked on home video, easily besting the previous efforts from Imprint Films and Twilight Time. Audio comes by way of English PCM 1.0 Mono, which handles the dialogue, effects and score quite nicely, everything is well-balanced and there are no issues with distortion, and the score from Michael Small (Night Moves) is pretty terrific sounding. 

Having been issues twice previously on Blu-ray in the U.S. by Twilight Time in 2014 and Imprint Films earlier this year Arrow do it up right, offering not only the original Mono and a new 2K scan, but stamping it with their own new extras as well. New stuff starts up with a new Audio commentary by film critic Jon Towlson, plus the 19-min Faith and Fraud, a brand new interview with magician Adam Cardone about reincarnation and belief in Audrey Rose, and a new 4-min Then and Now featurette looking at the New York locations used in the film, which have not changed much in the past forty-five years surprisingly. 

On top of the new extras they've also licensed some of the archival Ballyhoo Motion Pictures produced extras from the  Imprint release. These include a re-edited version of the 12-minute Investigator: The Paranormal World Of Frank De Felitta features the novelist talking about his early career, how being Italian he believes in the supernatural, and his time as a documentary filmmaker for CBS, them moving onto Universal, then writing his first novel Oktoberfest, soon after researching reincarnation for his next novel - Audrey Rose, which Robert Wise directed and he wrote the screenplay and produced. Then touching on the real-life experiences of what would be detailed in his book The Entity, which also became a film. Also ported is the The Role Of A Mother – an 188-min interview with actress Marsha Mason who talks about being drawn to the film because of the theme of reincarnation and the chance to work with the legendary Robert Wise. She touches on her own spiritual/meditational endeavors and beliefs, her own acting style, and what it was like working with "terrific guy" Beck, child actor Swift, and Hopkins. She also talks about Wise's use of storyboards which helped her understand the atmosphere of the film. I’ve Been Here Before: Reincarnation On Film is an 18-min video essay by film historian Lee Gambin, also carried over from the Imprint release, that explores the wild and varied sub-genre through the years with loads of great similar themed cinema, beginning with All Soul's Eve (1921) and on though the decades and the various ways they explored reincarnation. He touches on some films I've never seen that intrigued me like the Barbara Streisand starring music On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), and Goodbye Charlie (1964). It's a great deep-diving video essay that added quite a few film to my to-see list, and I'm glad they included it here. Last, but certainly not least, is the 17-min Hypnotist: Inside The Score for “Audrey Rose” with film historian Daniel Schweizer who explores the work of composer Michael Small, tracking his career scoring serial comedies and entry into genre filmmaking with films like Parallax View, Marathon Man, Stepford Wives and Night Moves. Defining the composer as diverse, modernistic composer and detailing what he brought to Audrey Rose, noting that it complimented Wise's direction, singling out several important signature themes featured in the film, and offering some terrific insights into the score that made me listen to the isolated track with a headful of new insights that made me enjoy it even more. The disc is buttoned-up with a 2-min Theatrical Trailer and an Image Gallery with 108 images of stills, promotional, posters and more. A quick note, if you have the Imprint release and are upgrading, and I do think it's worth it, you may want to hang onto it. Items not carried over are the Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan which I quite enjoyed, plus the 24-minute Kim Newman on “Audrey Rose” interview, and the option to watch with the Isolated Score.   

Special Features
- Brand new 2K restoration by Arrow Films from a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative
- NEW! Audio commentary by film critic Jon Towlson
- NEW! Faith and Fraud, a brand new interview with magician Adam Cardone about reincarnation and belief in Audrey Rose (19 min)
- NEW! Then and Now, a brand new featurette looking at the New York locations used in the film (4 min)
- I've Been Here Before, archive visual essay by Lee Gambin looking at reincarnation in cinema (18 min)
- Investigator: The Paranormal World of Frank De Felitta, an archive interview with the author and scriptwriter of Audrey Rose (12 min)
- The Role of a Mother, an archive Interview with Marsha Mason (18 min)
- Hypnotist: Inside the score for Audrey Rose, an archive interview with film music historian Daniel Schweiger (17 min)
- Theatrical trailer (2 min)
- Image gallery (108 Images)
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Christopher Shy
- First Pressing Only: Fully Illustrated Collectors Booklet featuring new writing by critics Kimberly Lindbergs and Johnny Mains

Audrey Rose (1977) is an interesting examination of reincarnation and past lives, fans of psychological horror and supernatural melodrama should take note. I wouldn't say it's a favorite of mine, but it is an effective and supernatural tinged melodrama with a great cast that explores the idea of reincarnation with some heartfelt and resonant performances, and this is the most-definitive edition to date, it's certainly the best looking release available. 

Blu-ray Screenshot Comparison:

Top: Twilight Time

Middle: Imprint Film Blu-ray (2022)

Bottom: Arrow Video Blu-ray (2022) 

More Screenshots from the Arrow Video Blu-ray: 

Extras: