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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Action > Crime > Stuck In A Story > Haunted House > Horror > Supernatural > Australia > Mystery > It > Accident (2016/Well Go Blu-ray)/Next Of Kin (1982*)/Invasion Of The Blood Farmers (1972/*both Severin Blu-rays)/The Possessed (1965/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray)/The Possession Of Hannah Grace (2018/Sony DVD)

Accident (2016/Well Go Blu-ray)/Next Of Kin (1982*)/Invasion Of The Blood Farmers (1972/*both Severin Blu-rays)/The Possessed (1965/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray)/The Possession Of Hannah Grace (2018/Sony DVD)



Picture: B-/B/B/B/B- Sound: B-/B-/C+/B+/B- Extras: C-/B/C+/B/C+ Films: C-/C+/C/B-/C+



Now for some horror thrillers, usually here with supernatural aspects...



Dan Tondowski's ironically entitled Accident (2016) is a surprisingly badly directed, badly blocked, badly acted and lame film about two young women (Stephanie Shield, Roxane Hayward) who are going to a concert by bus, but one of them lies to her mother because she set up a ride to save them time and money. When the ride falls through, they hitchhike and as you can imagine, it is with two guys up to no good, but they are nice and nice to them. Then they have a wild car accident and the gals are trapped in the car. Yes, its another 'stuck-in-a' movie.


The film also implies that because they want to have fun, not follow rules and might not be sexually conservative enough, they must be punished by torture or death, though this is not a torture porn film, just torturous to sit through. Made in South Africa, it could have been made anywhere as it is so generic, so take your chances and don't operate heavy machinery if you decide to see it for whatever reason.


A trailer is the only extra.



Tony Williams' Next Of Kin (1982) is a haunted house movie that has a following that some people love and others will at least find different. We recently reviewed the Australian import version on Blu-ray at this link...


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15329/All+The+Creatures+Were+Stirring+(2018/RLJ+DV


Produced in Australia, it is Oz-Ploitation, but also faithful to the horror genre overall and has some good moments, but the film overall did not stick with me in this case, and is a curio because Klaus Schulze did the music. He is a member of Tangerine Dream and they were producing some great soundtracks at the time, so that is a plus and his work helps the film to be more interesting if not a classic. The acting is not bad either, but films like this were falling behind the likes of Kubrick's The Shining and at least this one takes its audience seriously and treats them like they are intelligent, something that would become increasingly rare as the 1980s began and the genre became a joke. If you like horror films, you should catch it.


Extras (pretty much the same as the Australian Blu-ray edition) include feature length audio commentary with director Tony Williams and producer Tim White, a second feature length audio commentary with Mark Hartley and cast members Jackie Kerin, John Jarrett, and Robert Ratti, House of Psychotic Women into by Kier-La Janisse for Morbido TV, Extended interviews from Not Quite Hollywood, Return to Monteclare: Location revisit, 2018, Deleted scenes, Before the Night is Out: Ballroom footage, 1979, Original theatrical trailer, UK VHS trailer, German theatrical trailer, Alternate German opening, Image gallery and Tony Williams short films



Ed Adlum's Invasion Of The Blood Farmers (1972) is very creepy cheap and has plenty of blood in it along with a cast doing wacky things, but plays more like something from the mid-to-late 1960s versus the best horror films of its or any kind that were being produced by the time it hit theaters. People are being kidnapped and bled for their blood for ritualistic, wacky scientific and sick pleasure reasons. Not that the film is always coherent, but add people being buried like plants and you get how this film was all over the place just to get an audience. Needless to say the acting is really bad, but that happens to match the script and directing.


Now, one would think of Motel Hell (1980) or early films of Tobe Hooper or the like, while this one looks more like a Hershel Gordon Lewis knock-off. However, it has a good independent spirit about it, is campy at times and even the ending does not totally make sense, but here it is and if you are really curious, this is as good as the film will ever look or sound.


Extras are plenty and include a feature length audio commentary with director Ed Adlum and actress Ortrum Tippel, moderated by Kier-La Janisse, author of House of Psychotic Women, Nothing You'd Show Your Mom: Eddie Adlum's journey through exploitation, coin-op & rock n' roll, and Interview with actor Jack Neubeck, Painful Memories: An interview with cinematographer Frederick Elmes and an Original Theatrical Trailer.



The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Accident is an HD shoot that has its flaws throughout and that further undermines anything that could have worked here, but the 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Kin is the same accurate, solid HD master used on the Australian Blu-ray, even if I was not totally as impressed as my fellow critic. That leaves the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Blood may have some softness and issues as the film shows its age, but it is very color accurate and the best color presentation of all five entries on this list.


The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Accident can well mixed, but also has some location audio issues and the upgrade on Kin is not bad, oddly sounding as good when all the qualities of the soundtracks are considered. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix on Blood can only do so much with such old, low budget audio and the better sound codec shows more flaws in a very old, cheap production.



Also known as La donna del lago, The Possessed (1965) gets the deluxe treatment on Blu-ray thanks to Arrow Video. Beautifully shot in black and white, the erotic thriller centers around a man looking for a woman whose gone missing in an Italian village. While some say she committed suicide, there's more to this bizarre mystery than seems plausible. Based on a well known crime in Italy, The Alleghe Killings, and adapted from a book on the case by Giovanni Comisso, part giallo and part film noir, The Possessed is a clever and well constructed whodunnit mystery that in some ways reminds me of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo if it were set in 1960s Italy.


The Possessed stars Peter Baldwin, Virna Lisi, Philippe Leroy, Ennio Balbo, Valentina Cortese, Salvo Randone, and Pla Lindstrom.


This exclusive Arrow Video addition presented the film in 1080p black and white with a new 2K restoration from the original film negative and a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio. You can view the film in both the original Italian (with English subtitles) or a dubbed English version in uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM audio tracks. The image is very clear throughout with perfect contrast levels and rich detail in the image although a few softs appear a little soft focus its certainly intentional. This restoration is very nicely done and captures the haunting cinematography of this work.


Special Features include...


New audio commentary by writer and critic Tim Lucas


Richard Dyer on The Possessed, a newly filmed video appreciation by the cultural critic and academic


Cat's Eyes, an interview with the film's makeup artist Giannetto De Rossi


Two Days a Week, an interview with the film's award-winning assistant art director Dante Ferretti


The Legacy of the Bazzoni Brothers, an interview with actor/director Francesco Barilli, a close friend of Luigi and Camillo Bazzoni


Original trailers


Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips


and FIRST PRESSING ONLY : Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Andreas Ehrenreich, Roberto Curti and original reviews


We conclude with more demons. Mixing the supernatural with the exorcism genre, The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018) is sure to scare the pants out of teenage viewers. While not quite as effective as The Autopsy of Jane Doe (reviewed elsewhere on this site), the film has an interesting premise that puts it a step above most, although, it doesn't quite hit the marks that it aims for.


The film stars Shay Mitchell, Stana Katic, Louis Herthum, Grey Damon, and James A. Watson Jr.


Megan Reed (Mitchell - who isn't too bad here), works in a high tech morgue and is given a cadaver that was previously exorcised named Hannah Grace. As Grace died during the exorcism, its thought that the demonic spirit could still be alive in that corpse, and is currently seeking a new body as a vessel.


The Possession of Hannah Grace is presented on anamorphically enhanced standard definition DVD with a 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. While compression issues are evident in the format, it certainly affects the presentation during some of the film's darker scenes. A digital UV copy is also included.


Special Features include...

Deleted Scene

An Autopsy of Hannah featurette

Megan's Diaries

and Killer Cast Featurette



- Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (Possessed, Possession)

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/


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