THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE (1970) (Blu-ray Review)

THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE (1970)

Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 121 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 with Optional English SDH Director: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Jason Robards, Stella Stevens, David Warner, Strother Martin, Slim Pickens, L.Q. Jones, Peter Whitney, R.G. Armstrong, Gene Evans, William Mims, Kathleen Freeman, Susan O'Connell, Vaughn Taylor, Max Evans, James Anderson1.

It's 1908, a trio of grubby desert rats are scouring the Western frontier looking for a water source, we have Cable Hogue (Jason Robards, Something Wicked This Way Comes), Taggart (L.Q. Jones, A Boy and His Dog) and the dim-witted Bowen (Strother Martin, The Brotherhood of Satan). Water rations are running low for the weary trio and Hogue's desperate partners turn on him, taking his share of the water and abandoning him for vulture meat. He wanders the desert lost and alone for days, parched, blistered and weary from dehydration he falls to the ground during a particularly nasty dust storm, leaving his fate in the hands of the Lord, only to find a natural water spring bubbling up to the surface right below his feet. 

Discovering that his new found spring is the the only watering spot on the forty-mile stretch of road between the towns of Gila and Dead Dog, he manages to scrape up a few bucks to purchase the 2 acres of land around it, and immediately begins to set-up a humble looking roadside watering hole called Cable Springs. The plan is to sell water to stagecoach passersby for 10 cents a head, only his first customer doesn't want to pay, though he does in the end, with his life. His second customer, and first to pay (though reluctantly) is a wandering man of the Lord, the lustful Rev. Joshua Duncan Sloane (David Warner, Time After Time) who is part man of the cloth, and part unrepentant sinner, and the two men strike up an uneasy friendship. 

On a supply run into Dead Dog Cable runs into Hildy (Stella Stevens, Chained Heat), the town whore, a busty blond eyeful who stops him dead in his tracks, and the two begin a quirky courtship of sorts. What follows is a quirky love story between Cable and Hildy, and also the story of how a penniless man embodied the American dream, finding water where there wasn't any to find, prospering, and also a tale of revenge. Eventually the two men who double-crossed him return, there's some revenge, but the outcome is not your standard old west revenger.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue is the story of a man who pulled himself up by the bootstraps and made a name for himself in the middle of nowhere with almost nothing, it's almost a character study more than a Western, and maybe that's why it flopped when it was initially released, it's not the usual western, it's wasn't even what you would call a new western, it was different, and that's probably why it still resonates today. Robards in in good company with his co-stars, his friendship with Joshua is fun, the preacher has an overactive libido, he's not too trustworthy, and it seems no vulnerable woman is safe from his lecherous advances in the name of the Lord, and while he and Hogue are at odds now and again, somehow the friendship remains true right up till the very end, capped off with a striking eulogy. Hogue's infatuation with the town prostitute offers plenty of comedy and more than a few well-deserved tugs on the old heartstrings, the movie is almost as poignant as it is funny, at a certain point their relationship seems cemented and bound, but some poorly thought words over the dinner table throws it all into disarray in a heartbeat, it's such an effective scene you can see both their thoughts written across their faces. 

The dusty Western locations look great, with attractive cinematography and some novel editing tricks, we get split screen and sped-up cameras which give a few comedic moments a bit of vaudeville zing, perhaps even a bit too silly for some tastes, but it works, though I must say that the humor is not something I expected in such abundance my first go round with this movie, it's more a comedic fable than a western, especially at the end when the the invention of the gas powered motorcar threaten to doom Cable's watering hole, he's sees the change coming, but still somehow manages to get thrown under it's wheels. 

Memorable scenes abound, from Cable refusing to pay Hildy, the hooker with heart of gold, for her services, what transpires is a comedy of errors with Hildy launching a porcelain wash basin off her balcony, aiming for his head, but he ends up bringing down a tent full of church goers who are none too pleased, running Cable out of town. I also loved his revenge against the duplicitous duo who left him for dead, they find themselves in a pit while Cable throws  in rattlers! But there's more to it, there's a certain revenge but there's also forgiveness and compassion, which was unexpected.  

Aside from the fantastic main cast the movie is loaded with memorable western faces in supporting roles, Slim Pickens (1941) shows up as a stagecoach driver, Peter Whitney (The Rough Riders) as a banker who finances Cable's watering hole, R.G. Armstrong (The Car) as the proprietor of the stage coach company, and the previously mentioned L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin, both of whom featured in Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. 

Audio/Video: Warner Archive step up to the plate with another Peckinpah platter with The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)after their handsome release of Ride The High Country (1962), presented in the 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio with a freshly minted 2017 2K scan from the interpositive. The Lucian Ballard (The Wild Bunch) cinematography looks fantastic, full of dust and grit, the colors are mostly earth tone and not too colorful, with just a few exceptions at the whorehouse and some later scenes, but the colors look accurate, nicely saturated and the grain structure looks tight. There's an abundance of pleasing detail to the image within the period dressing and clothing textures, Hogue's face is nicely rendered, a dusty and whiskered face full of character. The disc has an English DTS-HD MA Mono audio track, the desert sounds come through authentically and well-balanced, the score from Jerry Goldsmith (The Omen) suits the poignant Western romantic comedy, as do the songs of Richard Gillis. At times the movie turns into a musical of sorts with both Cable and Hildy launching into folksy song at one point. Optional English subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extras Warner have ported over all the extras from their 2006 DVD edition, we have the commentary from Twilight Time's Nick Redman, and Peckinpah scholars Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle. It's a nice appreciation of the director and of the film, commenting on the various themes and on the music, cinematography and cast and crew. There's also a vintage 27-min interview with star Stella Stevens, speaking about her early career in the studio system and working with Peckinpah, she's very upfront on her feelings for the man, she speaks more fondly of Jason Robards. we also get a three-minute HD trailer for the film. 

Special Features: 
- Commentary by Nick Redman, Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons and David Weddle
- Featurette The Ladiest Damn'd Lady: An Afternoon with Stella Stevens (27 min) 
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD

The more I watch The Ballad of Cable Hogue the higher it ascends as my favorite Peckinpah movie, which may have something to do with my own advancement in age. In my 20s I was drawn to the bloody violence of The Wild Bunch and the visceral machismo of Straw Dogs, but this comedic Western fable of a desert rat turned scrappy entrepreneur with it's quirky love story keeps winning me over, again and again, and the new HD presentation from WAC is wonderful, highly recommended.

PSYCHO CIRCUS - THREE RINGS OF TERROR TRIPLE FEATURE (Blu-ray Review)

PSYCHO CIRCUS - THREE RINGS OF TERROR TRIPLE FEATURE

THE CREEPING FLESH(1973) / BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN (1971) / TORTURE GARDEN (1967)

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Duration: 277 Minutes
Rating: PG, Unrated
Directors: Freddie Francis, 
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen 

STEP RIGHT UP AND EXPERIENCE THE TRILOGY OF TERROR THAT PEOPLE ARE DYING TO SEE!

THE CREEPING FLESH(1973) 
Duration: 94 Minutes 
Rating: PG
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Freddie Francis
Cast: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing

In Freddie Francis' The Creeping Flesh (1973) horror icons Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are again reunited following their on screen team-up in Horror Express (1972), this time we have a Victorian era tale of madness, mayhem and Gothic science fiction. The opening titles play over a wonderful viewing of a macabre painting, the tale a begins with scientist Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing, Corruption) recounting the story of an expedition to New Guinea in 1894 where he unearthed the skeleton of a giant humanoid which he brought back to London for further examination. Upon arriving in London Hildern receives word from an asylum that his estranged wife has died while incarcerated there, the asylum is run by his cold half-brother James (Christopher Lee, Prince of Darkness), whom had agreed to keep his wife's insanity a secret from Hildern's daughter, Penelope (Lorna Heilbron, Symptoms), who believes her mother to have died years earlier. Hildern feared that learning of her mother's madness might ignite some latent form of the delirium within his daughter. Visiting the asylum in secret to make sure his wife's things are in order he is informed by James that he will no longer fund his science expeditions, and it is revealed that both men are vying for the prestigious science award, the Richter Prize, James for his study of psychiatry and Emmanuel for his study of the prehistoric giants.

Back at his London lab, while washing the skeleton in preparation of examination, Emmanuel wets the finger of the skeleton, which astoundingly begins to grow flesh around it, of course this is very peculiar, and warrant more study. Hildern begins reading local legends from New Guinea which tell of an ancient race of evil giants who once ruled the area, and he begins to fear he may have unleashed an evil upon the world. To that end he uses blood from the reanimated finger to develop a serum he believes will cure the world of evil - this part of the story is very convoluted, but hang in there folks. However, when his daughter discovers that her mother only recently passed away she freaks out, not unsurprisingly, and fearing that she may be heading down the same path of insanity as her mother, he injects her with his serum, in hopes it will stave off the threat of insanity. Of course it only worsens her hysterics, sending her into the night where she injures various people throughout the village, murdering one man with a broken bottle to the throat and another is pushed to his death from a height. Her crimes send her straight to the very asylum where her mother was incarcerated, her father's worst fears come to life.

Lee and Cushing are wonderful together in adversarial roles, they play off each other wonderfully, and Heilbron is quite good as Penelope, her descent into madness and violence unfolds very nicely, she sells the transformation from sweet and meek to hysterical and deadly convincingly. Eventually the skeleton of the evil one ends up drenched in rain and suddenly we have a cloaked skeletal figure roaming the woods, seemingly seeking his missing finger, it's good, gooey stuff. 

The movie looks great, Freddie Francis was at the peak of his powers here as a director, and with a game cast and an interesting Gothic horror story he lets the magic unfold in a way that is simply a good time. I hadn't seen this movie in at least thirty years, and hadn't remembered watching it until I saw the giant skeleton, then it all came back to me, but as I recall I watched it on a black and white TV as a kid at grannie's house, so it was a treat to see this Victorian shocker in color for the first time.

I love the ending of the movie, the way the story is framed it is sort of left open to interpretation, was it all the delusion of a madman or are key players the victims of a cruel and unethical family member, either way, this movie rock.    

BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN (1971)
Duration: 93 Minutes 
Rating: PG
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1) 
Director: Bernard McEveety
Cast: Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Charles Bateman, Ahna Capri

While not a William Castle production Bernard McEveety's The Brotherhood of Satan (1971) certainly owes a debt to the William Castle produced and Roman Polanski directed Rosemary's Baby (1968), a sweet slice of Satanic paranoia from producer L.Q. Jones who acted in many films including Martin Scorsese's Casino (1995) as well as producing and directing a few of his own, most notably the post-apocalyptic A Boy and His Dog (1975) featuring a very young Don Johnson (Django) and his telepathic dog, which I highly recommend!

The film begins with a great scene which sorta blurs the lines of reality and fiction as a bratty kid playing with a toy tank crushes and entire family in a station wagon, it's pretty bloody, too. Next scene we're onto a family outing in the desert with, there's the father Ben Holden (Charles Bateman) and his annoying daughter K.T. (Geri Reisch, I Dismember Mama), also along for the ride is Ben's girlfriend Nicky (Ahna Capri, Enter the Dragon). They're on the road when they come across the bloody and twisted wreckage from the start of the film, they do what pretty much anyone would and drive into the nearest village to alert the authorities. However, when they arrive the entire town is in a state of pure panic and paranoia, even the town Sheriff (L.Q. Jones) treats the family pretty hostile, a man attacks Ben with an ax screaming "You took them from me!" and the trio jump back in the car just barely escape the mob with their skulls intact. Driving down the road a ways Ben swerves to avoid striking the apparition of a young girl and the car is kaput, stranded on the side of the road as the noonday sun beats down they have few choices other than to head back to the strange village. 

Once there things are a bit less hostile but just as weird and only get weirder, the Sheriff and his Deputy (Alvy Moore, A Boy and His Dog) along with the priest (Charles Robinson, The Cable Guy) and the town doc Mr. Duncan (Strother Martin, The Wild Bunch) set about sleuthing the heinous murders of adult-population and the mysterious disappearance of the town's children. The townsfolk are stressed, sleep deprived, paranoid and at their wits end. It turns out a Satanic Cult is committing the ritualistic murders and turning the town's tots into Satanic occultists in an attempt to gain unholy immortality, and guess what, it's the grandfatherly doc that's the cult leader! 

This is such a great watch, Strother Martin is amazing as the feisty cult leader, maniacal and just chewing up the scenery while leading a group of satanic seniors bent on immortality in services the the Dark Lord. It's drenched in great 70's atmosphere and there's a ton of blood and dismemberment for a PG film, one victim is clawed to death like skinned rabbit tossed into a chicken pen, it's pretty grotesque for PG rating! This schlocky Satanic nightmare is peppered with murderous children, creepy killer dolls, and spooky woods oozing with fog, this was quite the occult production with some great set pieces.

The finale is superb and unhinged in all the right ways as the cult gather in an underground tomb to perform their unholy ritual with diabolically over-the top incantations "Greetings Dear One, 'Tis We!", only Burgess Meredith could have outdone Martin's elderly satanic MC, this is a fantastic watch and the only thing that irked me was Geri Reisch, who was quite an annoying child actor!

TORTURE GARDEN (1967)
Duration: 100 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Freddie Francis 
Cast: Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, Peter Cushing, Robert Hutton

Ah yes, the Amicus horror anthologies, I love 'em a bunch, and Torture Garden has always been a personal favorite, we begin with the framing story, were at a carnival and five people are attending the macabre show of performer Dr. Diabolo (Burgess Meredith, Burnt Offerings)who after the show promises the patrons the "thrill of a lifetime" for an additional five pounds, and that thrill turns out to be Atropos (Clytie Jessop), a motionless fortune teller holding a pair of scissors, or what Diablo calls the "shears of fate"! Each of the patrons for a few pounds stares into the shares of fate and glimpses a possible future scenario, which play out in four segments, plus the wrap-a-round story with der. Diablo. 

First up is "Enoch", a tale a familiar greed along the lines of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart or "The Drop of Water" segment from Mario Bava's Black sabbath (1963), wherein a younger man (Michael Bryant) visits his elderly uncle (Maurice Denham), causing his premature death by withholding medication, after the old codger is carted off the young man searches the house for hs rumored treasures, finding a creepy cat buried alive in the basement. The cat has evil powers and communicates with the young man, forcing him to do the unspeakable.

Second, we have "Terror Over Hollywood" wherein a young Hollywood wanna-be Carla Hayes (Beverly Adams) back stabs her roommate, usurping a meeting with a Hollywood legend which leads to her own stardom, but soon she discovers theirs a price to pay for Hollywood legend status, what she knows might end up killing her, or it might make her a Hollywood legend, but at what cost to her humanity?

Third entry is "Mr. Steinway"  about a concert pianist named  Leo (John Standing) who is obsessed with is piano, or is it the other way around? He becomes infatuated with journalist Dorothy Endicott (Barbara Ewing), but the beloved piano may have a problem with the pianist's affections for anyone else. 

The last of the stories is "The Man Who Collected Poe" starring Jack Palance (Shape of things To Come) as an obsessive fan and collector of author Edgar Allen Poe, he meets another collector, played by Peter Cushing (twins of Evil), a collector who is next level, and has a collection that is beyond comprehension, which makes Palance's character green with envy, driving the man to murder, and to the revelation that Poe is somehow still very much alive!  

The anthology finishes up properly by wrapping up the bookend device with a nice twist or two. The film is directed by Freddie Francis who does his usual good work, but these stories aren't as classic as some of the other Amicus anthologies, but they are good, campy fun, and always a treat to watch. 

REVERSIBLE ARTWORK 

Audio/Video: All three film arrives on Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment, licensed from Columbia Pictures, and crammed onto a single Blu-ray disc, the 1080p HD image looks surprisingly decent all things considered, though I would have preferred to have this spread across two discs, even three, these films definitely deserve some deluxe treatment on Blu-ray. Colors, skin tones and black levels are decent, though grain is a bit chunky and not all that well resolved. Fine detail, depth and clarity leave a lot to be desired, but the sources look good and with a minimal amount of dirt and debris.  Mill Creek have opted to forgo lossless audio and each film has an English Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track, there are not subtitle options, extras, or trailers. 

The single-disc release comes housed in a standard blue keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, which is not something you see often from Mill Creek, but something i would love to see more of with future vintage titles - the alternate artwork option is fantastic, featuring original theatrical artwork for all three films, see above. My advice is to turn that artwork over and never look back! This triple threat slice of vintage 60s/70s horror cinema  comes highly recommended, and you can pick it up for $7 right now, that's a steal.  

Blu-ray Review: MR. SARDONICUS /THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN

MR. SARDONICUS / THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN 

Blu-ray Double Feature 

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Duration: 69/92 Minutes 
Rating: Unrated / PG
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 with Optional SDH French and English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1) (2.35:1) 
Director: William Castle, Bernard McEveety
Cast: Ronald Lewis, Audrey Dalton, Guy Rolfe, Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Oscar Homolka, Ahna Capri

Synopsis: This creepy horror classic is based on a novella by screenwriter Ray Russell (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes), and is brought to life by William Castle (13 Ghosts), master of terror! Desperate to retrieve a winning lottery ticket, a greedy baron unearths his father s corpse. An enormous jackpot is his reward, but not without a price his face is frozen permanently into a hideous grin. He enlists his fiendish one-eyed servant to help him lift this horrible curse, but their schemes fail. Finally, he turns to a noted neurosurgeon and his wife s former lover to cure him.

There's never a bad time to watch a William Castle production and tonight was definitely the time to watch Mr. Sardonicus (1961), it was hitting almost all of the right notes for me.  There's a great foggy London-set intro from William Castle himself, ever the showman he comes off as the schlocky Hitchcock, which is very appropriate. We're introduced to a London doctor named Sir Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis, Scream of Fear) whom receives a letter from an old flame, Maude (Audrey Dalton, The Monster That Challenged the World) imploring him to visit her, apparently it's a matter of life and death. Once he arrives it's quickly revealed she was coerced into summoning him by her husband Baron Sardonicus, a real bastard played to perfection by Puppet Master 3's Guy Rolfe. The Baron wishes for Cargrave to cure him of a horrible affliction  the Baron  after unearthing his own father's corpse from the grave to obtain a winning lottery ticket he was stricken with a permanently grotesque smile across his face, this aspect reminded me of The Man Who Smiles (1939), if the doctor should refuse or fail to succeed in devising a treatment Maude's life hangs in the balance.

It was a blast to see Guy Rolfe as a younger man, loved him from the few Puppet Master entries from Full Moon. Early on in the film the Baron's face is hidden, shrouded in mystery beneath as mask, which was pretty great. Once the hideous affliction is revealed it's a whole new level of weird, he's a creepy villain and he comes with a one-eyed man servant named Krull (Oskar Homolka, The Seven Year Itch) who threatens to steal most of the scenes he appears in, it's great stuff. As great as Homolka is it's Guy Rolfe who definitely steals the show with his maniacal charisma, not to diminish a strong performance from Ronald Lewis as our hero and Audrey Dalton who turns in a smaller performance but as a sympathetic heroin she's quite fine.  

A fun watch, it drags from time to time, your mileage may vary depending on your temperance for black and white, it's a William Castle production so you just know that there's a gimmick, this time out it's a choose-your-own-ending feature, sorta. Unfortunately we don't get zapped in our asses with an electric shock but this is still an entertaining watch in the tradition of a twisty Twilight Zone episode. 

Synopsis: Children are mysteriously disappearing, their parents are being violently murdered and strangely enough, no one has been able to leave! When their car stalls, Ben and his family are stranded and are forced to join the sheriff, a priest and the prominent Doc Duncan in trying to unravel this frightening web of events. Suddenly, KT disappears, triggering a frantic search that results in the startling discovery of a deadly coven, led by Doc Duncan himself! Ben and the others must make a desperate attempt to stop these witches from performing a satanic ritual that transports their malevolent spirits into the innocent children thus creating yet another generation of satanic worshipers!

While not a William Castle production Bernard McEveety's The Brotherhood of Satan (1971) certainly owes a debt to the William Castle produced and Roman Polanski directed Rosemary's Baby (1968), a sweet slice of Satanic paranoia from producer L.Q. Jones who acted in many films including Martin Scorsese's Casino (1995) as well as producing and directing a few of his own, most notable the post-apocalyptic A Boy and His Dog (1975) featuring a very young Don Johnson (Django) and his telepathic dog, which I highly recommend!

The film begins with a great scene which sorta blurs the lines of reality and fiction as a bratty kid playing with a toy tank crushes and entire family in a station wagon, it's pretty bloody, too. Next scene were onto a family outing in the desert with, there's the father Ben Holden (TV's Charles Bateman) and his annoying daughter K.T. (Geri Reisch, I Dismember Mama), also along for the ride is Ben's girlfriend Nicky (Ahna Capri, Enter the Dragon). They're on the road when they come across the bloody and twisted wreckage from the start of the film, they do what pretty much anyone would and drive into the nearest village to alert the authorities. However, when they arrive the entire town is in a state of pure panic and paranoia, even the town Sheriff (L.Q. Jones) treats the family pretty hostile, a man attacks Ben with an ax screaming "You took them from me!" and the trio jump back in the car just barely escape the mob with their skulls intact. Driving down the road a ways Ben swerves to avoid striking the apparition of a young girl and the car is kaput, stranded on the side of the road as the noon day sun beats down they have few choices other than to head back to the strange village. 

Once there things are a bit less hostile but just as weird and only get weirder, the Sheriff and his Deputy (Alvy Moore, A Boy and His Dog) along with the priest (Charles Robinson, The Cable Guy) and the town doc Mr. Duncan (Strother Martin, The Wild Bunch) set about sleuthing the heinous murders of adult-population and the mysterious disappearance of the town's children. The townsfolk are stressed, sleep deprived, paranoid and at their wits end. It turns out a Satanic Cult is committing the ritualistic murders and turning the town's tots into Satanic occultists in an attempt to gain unholy immortality, and guess what, it's the grandfatherly doc that's the cult leader! 

This is such a great watch, Martin is amazing as the feisty cult leader, maniacal and just chewing up the scenery while leading a group of satanic seniors bent on immortality in services the the Dark Lord. It's drenched in great 70's atmosphere and there's a ton of blood and dismemberment for a PG film, one victim is clawed to death like skinned rabbit tossed into a chicken pen, it's pretty grotesque for PG rating! This schlocky Satanic nightmare is peppered with murderous children, creepy killer dolls, and spooky woods oozing with fog, this was quite the ocult production with some great set pieces.

The finale is superb and unhinged in all the right ways as the cult gather in an underground tomb to perform their unholy ritual with diabolically over-the top incantations "Greetings Dear One, 'Tis We!", only Burgess Meredith could have outdone Martin's elderly satanic MC, this is a fantastic watch and the only thing that irked me was Geri Reisch, who was quite an annoying child actor!

Blu-ray: Over the years Mill Creek has acquired a decent reputation for some very nice public domain budget collections if not for exactly known for stunning transfers but lately we've seen some rather nice 1080p presentations from 'em and I am impressed with what we get here. Both films licensed from the Sony/Columbia Pictures catalog receive pleasing AVC encodes in their original aspect ratios. Mr. Sardonicus' black and white cinematography is crisp and finely detailed with a nice grayscale and decent contrast levels, the print is not pristine and we do get the occasional white speckle but overall this is a fantastic presentation. The Brotherhood of Satan is presented in wonderful color, it's not exactly stunning but there's some nice film grain intact and along with it a pleasing amount of fine detail, it's a very attractive presentation. 

The double feature disc sports English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 with Optional SDH French and English Subtitles for both films and while it's free of annoying hiss, crackle and pops it's flat and pretty narrow in it's range, it's  acceptable and Von Dexter's eerie score for Mr. Sardonicus comes through quite nicely. The disc is bare-bones affair and there are no special features included but a very nice transfer and acceptable audio are much appreciated. 

Verdict: After the fantastic Happy Birthday to Me/When a Stranger Calls double feature Blu-ray this is my favorite Mill Creek title to date, a great 1080p transfer for two fantastic tales of terror! The Brotherhood of Satan is the highlight here, a colorfully creepy slice of satanic cinema that would make a great double-feature with Race with the Devil (1975). This budget-minded release gets a high recommend, so dig in! 4 Outta 5