THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973)

THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code; A

Rating: PG

Duration: 95 Minutes

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: John Hough

Cast: Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicut

The Legend of Hell House (1973) is one  film I caught on TV during one of those chiller matinee double features that were so awesome.  Watching it when I was just a kid it put a serious fright into me and it's stuck with me for a while. In it we have the infamous Belasco House, a spooky Victorian era mansion originally owned by the very wealthy Emeric Belasco, whom as it turns out was notorious for his unsavory proclivities and depraved orgies. For decades the sprawling mansion has sat vacant - having been sealed up by the Belasco family - following the murder of twenty-seven people found massacred there after attending one of the wild parties. While suspected of the murders the reclusive millionaire mysteriously disappeared without a trace and is presumed dead.

At the story begins the mansion has been sold to an eccentric millionaire named Mr. Deutsch (Roland Culver) who recruits physicist Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill) to go the home and find proof of life after death - old man Deutsch looks like he;s on Death's doorstep so he probably wants to know what lies on the others side. The creepy mansion has garnered quite a reputation as "the Mount Everest of haunted houses" and is said to be inhabited by the tortured souls who fell prey to Belasco's demented desires. 

The arrogant Barret is a scientist and a skeptic, also assigned to the investigation are a physical medium named Ben Fischer (Rodddy McDowall, Fright Night) whom has the distinction of being the sole survivor or a previous investigation of the home which claimed eight lives. Fischer is only there for a paycheck - and refuses to open himself up to the influence of the home. The other investigator is the spiritualist Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin) who is completely willing to open herself up to the spirits within - more so than you may think. Also along for the ride is Barrett's repressed wife Anne (Gayle Hunnicut).  Anne's only supernatural ability seems to be an unearthly beauty, Gayle Hunnicut is most certainly an attractive woman, no doubt about it. 


Barret being of the scientific persuasion and a skeptic does not believe in the supernatural and attributes the strange goings on at the house as merely unfocused electromagnetic energy which creates a but of believer vs skeptic tension in the group. Fischer having only having just survived his last encounter at the mansion warns bot Barret and Tanner that they are hopelessly outmatched by the evil in the home. 

Right from the start you get the standard haunted house tropes beginning with fog shrouded exteriors of the home and then straight into slamming doors, ghostly voices, creepy black cats, moving furniture and a fun scene of ectoplasm manifesting during one of the psychic's seances. As the investigations gets under way proper a malevolent supernatural attacks Barret during a great dinner scene complete with levitating tables and flying silverware.

There's no shortage of standard haunting elements but something new to the mix are the strange erotic scenes that pop-up from time to time. The repressed Anne is plagued by erotic visions and newly awakened sexual urges which awakens her from her nightly slumber in a horny trance, throwing herself at Fischer who shows an impossible amount of self control in refusing her disrobed charms , in fact he slaps her across the face to snap her out of it. A bit later we have Tanner who so desperately wants to free trapped spirits from the mansion that she has consensual sex with an apparition... now that's commitment!

Without spoiling a whole lot more eventually Barret brings in a super computer of his own design which he believes will drain the home of the violent energies, and with that the film kicks into gear building up to a not quite satisfying ending. 

Scripted by Richard Matheson and based on his own novel The Legend of Hell House is a fun supernatural chiller with plenty of atmosphere and tension - it's thick with both. Right from the very beginning we have some excellent exterior shots of the mansion shrouded in a deep layer of fog - it definitely sets the mood. The art direction and cinematography are top notch, the crushed red velvet walls and multi-colored lighting would not be out of place in one of Mario Bava's Gothic masterpieces. 

Not everything completely works, I found the rampant use of time stamping slightly ridiculous, appearing onscreen about every five minutes throughout the entire film, probably meant to create some form of tension but failing miserably. John Hough's direction is pretty tight and

The Legend of Hell House arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory with a very nice transfer and strong color reproduction and black levels - definitely an upgrade from the standard-def DVD from a few years ago but nowhere near the impressive level of clarity and fine detail you would expect from a new film. The grain structure appears intact without any excessive DNR having been applied to it, the fine detail is surprisingly strong in a few of the scenes. 

The DTS-HD Master Audio Mono does a decent job balancing the dialogue and effects, a very crisp presentation with optional English subtitles. The electronic music score by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson sounds great, makes me wish for an isolated misc score option. . 

Onto the extras we have a new audio commentary from actress Pamela Franklin which I must say was a bit of a chore to sit through with frequent pauses without commentary, there's an uncredited moderator who could have done more to keep the conversation flowing - a bit of a letdown. 

The interview with director John Hough was quite a treat and made-up for the lackluster commentary. Hough speaks about the mansion used in the film and the influence of Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963). He goes on to speak of his creative process and camera movement, and how certain technical shots and effects were achieved in the film.  The director also talks about working with John Cassavetes on The Incubus (1982) and his life long desire to work for Hammer Films and Disney - both of which he realized with Twins of Evil (1971) for Hammer and a string of Disney films including Escape from Witch Mountain (1975)  and it's sequel plus the eerie The Watcher in the Woods (1980). Hough has made quite a few great films including the wonderful Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974), this is a great interview. 

Special Features:
- New Interview With Director John Hough
- New Audio Commentary With Actress Pamela Franklin
- Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes)
- Photo Gallery (3 minutes)
- Scream Factory Trailers (5 minutes) 
- Radio Spots ( 2 minutes) 

The Legend of Hell House is a fun ghost story with some keen cinematography and a great cast plus  plenty of things that go bump in the night, a damn good old fashioned chiller. Scream Factory have put together a nice package here with desirable picture quality and a handful of  quality extras that make this an easy upgrade from the standard-def DVD. 

DVD Review: Inferno - 30th Anniversary Edition

INFERNO - 30th Anniversary Edition (1980)
Arrow Video

REGION: 0 PAL
RATED: 18 Certificate
RUNNING TIME: 102 Min.
DIRECTOR: Dario Argento
CAST: Leigh McCloskey (Mark Elliot), Irene Miracle (Rose Elliot), Eleonora Giorgi (Sara), Daria Nicolodi (Elise Stallone Van Adler), Sacha Pitoeff (Kazanian)

SUMMARY: The middle installment in Dario Argento's Three Mothers Trilogy finds poetess Rose Elliot and her brother Mark lost in a maze of mystery and murder after Rose discovers a book called "The Three Mothers" chronicling a coven of witches.  The poetess is convinced that her apartment building is home to one of the witches, the Mother of Darkness.  She and brother Mark enter into a fantastical journey of macabre intrigue and danger.

FILM: My introduction to the films of Dario Argento came about the same time as I was discovering the films of David Lynch. It was at a local video store that I found myself discussing Lynch's Blue Velvet with the video clerk and it was suggested I check out Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA (1977). Told that if I enjoyed the surrealistic atmospheric qualities of Blue Velvet that Suspiria would probably strike a chord with me. The assumption was  correct. I loved everything about Suspiria's dark and surrealistic fairytale of a young American woman attending a German ballet school run by the Mother of Sighs. It was a visual overload of garish lighting, spooky storytelling and nightmarish imagery. Suspiria is still one of my favorite supernatural themed Argento films, and the film that kicked-off my love for the Italian master of horror. It would be several more years before I would take-in Argento's pseudo-sequel to Suspiria, the haunting Inferno. When I did it confounded me. It was a deep riddle with few answers but the imagery was nightmarish and magnificent. I put off seeing it again for several years and when I did I was much more enamored with the film at that later date, and upon this subsequent viewing even more so.

Rose Elliot (Irene Miracle, THE NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS) is obsessed by an antique book she's bought from an odd neighborhood bookseller named Kazanian (Sacha Pitoeff) called "The Three Mothers". The book's author, architect E. Varelli, tells of how he was commissioned to build three homes for a coven of witches known as The Three Mothers - the Mothers of Tears in Rome, the Mother of Sighs in Germany, and the Mother of Darkness in New York City, whom Rose believes lives in her centuries old apartment building. Following clues foretold in the book she discovers a room in the basement of the building that is submerged by water. Lacking good judgement Rose descends into the underwater labyrinth and discovers a corpse that lends credence to her initial feelings that the building is indeed home to the Mother of Darkness. She writess to her brother Mark (Leigh McCloskey, CAMERON'S CLOSET) in Rome explaining that she feels she is in danger. Fearing her safety he embarks to New York City but not before his own brief brief encounter the Mothers of Tears (Ania Pieroni, TENEBRE) in Rome. Once Mark arrives in New York he discovers Rose has gone missing. He meets Rose's neighbor and friend Elise (Daria Nicolodi, OPERA) whom sets Mark on the same path as his sister. What I love about Inferno is that it is essentially Argento's variation on a the haunted house story that is similar in tone to Suspiria but not as linear, it's actually a bit confusing. The film is best enjoyed by letting it wash over you and letting it carry you along. Searching for answers to the clues and riddles provided is a fool's errand, they're just not there. When one speaks of Argento and Fulci you hear of subscribing to dream-logic or nightmare-logic and Inferno is a great example of that idea. Argento is truly a visual director, cinema is a visual medium, and the plot will often take a backseat the the gorgeous visuals and lighting. To that end Inferno looks amazing, it's gorgeous stuff.

There's a lot that this film gets wrong. Foremost in my mind is the lack of a Goblin score. Goblin scored many of Argento's most iconic films in the 70's/80's with likewise iconic filmscores and main title themes, most notably in Suspiria where the filmscore is married into the film ingeniously. I think it was a misstep not to go that route here. This time around Argento went with prog-rock pioneer Keith Emerson of the 70's prog-superstars Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It's an odd score that feels intrusive and odd at times. The main title is amazing but there are times I'm left scratching my head and never more so than the infamous cab ride. Actor Leigh McCloskey as Mark Elliot is just plain uninspired. It's appropriate that he went on to a successful career in daytime soaps and sitcom appearances. Let's be fair though, great acting has never been an Argento trademark. Lastly, the Death prop as pictured above is overly hokey. A real b-movie level prop that detracts from the finale of the film to some degree.

DVD: Inferno is presented in a newly restored and fully uncut version for the first time ever in the UK. It's gorgeous 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer from a new HD master is a noticeable improvement over both the previously available Anchor Bay and Blue Underground DVD releases. Audio options include an English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround and Italian Stereo and Mono with English and Italian subtitle options.  Spread out over two disc loaded with all-new featurettes. We get a video introduction, interviews with Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava and Daria Nicolodi, an extensive trailer gallery chronicling all 18 of Argento's films. Unfortunately there is no commentary from Argento or the cast. Equally as exciting as the fantastic audio/visual content of this Arrow Video set is the awesome packaging extras which include four reversible sleeve art options including newly commissioned artwork by Rick Melton, very cool. Then we get an 8-page booklet with all-new writings from noted genre author Alan Jones plus 6 postcards replicating theatre poster art for the film. This release is on par with The Criterion Collection releases, simply outstanding stuff.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Reversible sleeve with four artwork options, both original and new commissioned artwork from Rick Melton.
• Double-sides fold-out poster
• 8-page Collector's Booklet with brand new writings on Inferno by Alan Jones
• Introduction by star Daria Nicolodi
• Dario Argento: An Eye For Horror - (57 mins) Mark Kermode narrates this documentary on Argento's career including interviews with George A. Romero, John Carpenter and Alice Cooper.
• Featurettes
• Dario's Inferno (16 min)
• The Other Mother: Making the Black Cat (16 min) In 1989 director Luigi Cozzi (a long time friend and collaborator of Dario Argento) decided to make the unofficial follow-up to Inferno and 'complete' the Three Mothers legacy. This feature looks at the sordid story of The Black Cat and includes several clips.
• Acting in Hot Water: An Interview with Daria Nicolodi (18 min)
• X Marks the Spot
• Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava on Inferno (9 min)
• The Complete Dario Argento Trailer Gallery (18 films/39 min.)
• Spanish Trailer
• International Trailer

VERDICT: This is a must buy. The more I revisit Inferno the more I've come to appreciate it's riddle-filled story and nightmarish imagery. Arrow Video's treatment of the film and the outstanding packaging of the DVD merits it a space on your DVD shelf. Even if you are only a casual fan of the film the special features are intriguing and a must-see for Dario Argento fans. My only regret - I don't have the Blu -Ray. The DVD is Region 0 as is the Blu-Ray so stop making excuses and snag this right quick. Also, kudos to Arrow Video for lobbying the notoriously prudent BBFC to bring Dario Argento's Inferno to the British public completely uncut for the very first time. **** ( out of 5 stars)



- McBASTARD