THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970)
Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 88 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Daniel Haller
Cast: Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Lloyd Bochner, Sam Jaffe, Sandra Dee, Talia Shire
The Dunwich Horror (1970), based on the H.P Lovecraft story of cosmic terror and adapted for the screen by screenwriter Curtis Hanson, (L.A. Confidential), stars Dean Stockwell (Wild At Heart) as the mysterious Wilbur Whateley, the descendant of a man who once tried to summon The Old Ones, ancient cosmic elder Gods, into this world. The elder Whateley was accused of sacrificing a young local girl during a pagan ritual at the time and was hanged afterward during an act of vigilante justice by the local people.
At the start of the film we Wilbur while he is attending a lecture at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, where Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley, Hang 'Em High) has just spoken about some weird local history, including the Whateley family's occult activities. In his possession is the ancient book of the dead, the infamous Necronomicon, which after the lecture he gives to his student Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee, TV's Gidget) to return to the school museum. Wilbur follows Nancy to the museum and introduces himself, asking to have a closer look at the ancient book, which she reluctantly obliges. He is interrupted by Dr. Armitage who objects to him looking at it puts the book away. Afterward Wilbur and Nancy get to chatting with Nancy offering to give weirdo Wilbur a ride home to his home in the village of Dunwich.
Nancy and Wilbur strike up a friendly flirtation and he convinces her to stay the weekend at Wilbur's home, the two become close, but Dr. Armitage begins to worry about her safety and drives out to the country to check on her, despite his warning to stay away from Wilbur she stays on. Of course Wilbur is up to no good, he has been drugging Nancy's tea, and it seems that he has plans to continue his grandfather's pagan rituals, to bring forth The Old Ones, through a ceremony that calls for human sacrifice, which is where young naïve Nancy comes into play.
The story strays quite a bit from the source material with numerous changes in character and story, but the main arc of it remains intact. Dean Stockwell is super creepy with his corduroy jacket, moustache and tight perm, plus he has the crazy intense eyes, as if he is a magician attempting to hypnotize you - which is equal parts funny and eerie. Sandra Dee is decent as the naïve Nancy who falls under the spell of Wilbur, only to be put on the altar of sacrifice during the final moments, raped by some cosmic creature kept in the closet for the duration of the movie, which is a thing of b-movie nuttiness. Sandra also experiences some hallucinogenic nightmares which are fun stuff, AIP were definitely gong for a bit of a 60's counter-culture drug-movie with this one I think, forgoing the usual acid trips for weird Lovecraftian nightmares achieved through cheap optical effects that I quite loved.
Audio/Video: The Dunwich Horror (1970) arrives on Blu-ray from Arrow Video in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, having been previously issued on a double-feature Blu-ray from Scream Factory alongside Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971), which was framed at 1.78:1. The SF disc was overly grainy and thick looking, Arrow have afforded the film a new 2K scan from the 35mm OCN and the results are quite wonderful, the grain field is much better resolved and organic looking, the new 2K scan pulls more refined, showing pleasing texture in Wilbur's corduroy jacket and facial features. Colors balance looks quite similar but skin tones are warmer with deeper black levels, a bit brighter in spots as well. Additionally the Arrow release is framed in 1.85:1 versus the Scream Factory 1.78:1, showing more information along the edges at times, sometimes on the top, others at the bottom or sides. The English DTS-HD MA Mono audio does the job quite nicely, the dialogue is clean and clear, the awesome Les Baxter (The Man with the X-Ray Eyes) score comes through quite nicely.
Arrow not only upgrade the A/V presentation for this AIP classic, but give us over three hours of brand new extras! We start off with a fantastic new Audio Commentary by Guy Adams and Alexandra Benedict, creators of the audio drama Arkham County, who get into the nooks and crannies of the source material versus the film, it's a terrific track. We also get the 130-min The Door into Dunwich, a new conversation between film historian Stephen R. Bissette and horror author Stephen Laws in which they discuss The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft, who get into their love of Lovecraft, the differences between the source material and the the film, and their memories of seeing the film upon release. In the 16-min After Summer After Winter, a new interview with science fiction and fantasy writer Ruthanna Emrys, author of The Innsmouth Legacy series, she also touches on the differences in the film, like how this has a sexual elements as where Lovecraft never does. The last of the new on-disc extras is the 32-min The Sound of Cosmic Terror, a new interview with music historian David Huckvale who takes a deep dive into Les Baxter’s score for The Dunwich Horror, playing parts of it on his piano as he discusses it's inquire elements. Disc extras are finished off with a 2-min Theatrical Trailer and a brief Image gallery. Not carried over from the Scream Factory is the Audio Commentary with Film Historian Steve Haberman, so if you're an extras junkie you may want to hang onto to it, otherwise this Arrow release is well-worth upgrading, it's a significant upgrade in terms of video qualify and supplemental features.
The single-disc release arrives with a Reversible Sleeve of Artwork featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Preece, plus a first-pressing Illustrated Collector's Booklet with new writing by film critics Johnny Mains and Jack Sargeant.
Special Features:
- New 2K restoration by Arrow Films from the original camera negative
- New Audio Commentary by Guy Adams and Alexandra Benedict, creators of the audio drama Arkham County
- The Door into Dunwich, a new conversation between film historian Stephen R. Bissette and horror author Stephen Laws in which they discuss The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft, and their memories of seeing the film on release (130 min)
- After Summer After Winter, a new interview with science fiction and fantasy writer Ruthanna Emrys, author of The Innsmouth Legacy series (16 min)
- The Sound of Cosmic Terror, new interview with music historian David Huckvale in which he takes a closer look at Les Baxter’s score for The Dunwich Horror (32 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- Image gallery (34 sec)
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Preece
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by film critics Johnny Mains and Jack Sargeant
Screenshot Comparison:
Top: Scream Factory Blu-ray (2016)
Bottom: Arrow Video Blu-ray (2022)
More Screenshots from the Arrow Video Blu-ray:
