Update 5/11/16 - 11/26/22: I kind of like updating these very early posts from 2015 to 20166, because it gives me a chance to rewrite them so they're more in keeping with the style I've developed here over the years. But I like it even better because it means we've gotten a long-awaited new release, as in this case where Umbrella has updated both films to blu with all new special features - woot!
1974's Inn Of the Damned is a Western horror, set in the Australian 1800s rather than the American. You get a lot of shifting tones for each act, like you did in Lady Stay Dead, this time switching between a classical-style western and a horror almost like they're two different films with the same characters. The plot, however, very cleverly interweaves them. Australian troopers are having a hard time keeping the peace, so they bring in an American bounty hunter (played by American actor Alex Cord) to play a little tougher with the locals. But none of them suspect that the bulk of their unsolved murders might be taking place at a quiet, little out of the way inn run by Dame Judith Anderson, who's hiding a whole collection of dark secrets.
So yeah, this film goes rather deftly from quiet suspense in a dark old house to high riding action with horses and stage coaches racing through some really impressive locations. If you're looking for lots of blood and Grand Guignol kills, this probably isn't the film for you... although there are one or two nice payoff scenes towards the end. The soundtrack is also a bit clunky, especially when it plays overly comic music over scenes that are actually being played more naturally. Some cinematic influences are also pretty heavy-handed and the last five to ten minutes lose all sense of pace. But it's a good story (possibly based in part on the infamous Bender family of Kansas), well acted and the production values are really high for such an apparently low budget film. I liked this film even more the second time I watched it than the first, which is a very good sign particularly for a horror film.
Night Of Fear, then, was actually made first, in 1972. Unbelievably, it was originally produced and intended for Australian television, as the pilot for a proposed series called Fright. But when you see how dark and shocking it is, you can understand why they wound up rejecting it, and Australian censors even initially banned it from playing in cinema. Not that it's X-rated or anything close to it, but it's a pretty unrelenting, wordless film very much in the line of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which of course this preceded. I say "wordless," because there is no dialogue at all in this hour long film (well, technically there's one), where a killer terrorizes a woman for nearly the entire running time. It's essentially just about the experience of terror.
Sorry, Intruder, it looks like somebody did it first! |
2016 Umbrella DVD top; 2022 Umbrella BD bottom. |
Both films have standard but clean and robust Dolby 2.0 audio tracks, bumped up to DTS-HD on the blu. The DVD has no subtitle options, but the BD adds them for Inn (not for Night, even though there are a couple of spoken sentences).
And the BD turns this into even more of a special edition. The excellent commentaries are still here, but now there's plenty more. For starters, there's about 45 minutes worth of previously unreleased interviews, filmed for Not Quite Hollywood, with Hay, Hoogeveen (still arguing to have that scene removed!), and fellow Night actors Norman Yemm and Briony Behets, which are first rate. Then there's a complete episode of Spyforce, which Bourke directed, and stars another cast member from Inn Of the Damned. It's surprisingly good, and has an introduction by Spyforce star Jack Thompson. and critic Paul Harris gives us a very informative and engaging video essay overview of Bourke's filmography... even if he fails to appreciate the writing of Lady Stay Dead. There's also a trailer reel of Bourke's films, which the box says is "introduced by Terry Bourke," which is flat-out untrue. Bourke has been dead for twenty years, and what I guess they're referring to is a vintage film clip of Bourke promoting one of his early films that they've stuck into the reel[pictured above]. I'm glad to get that clip, but it's not what we were promised. Anyway, the trailers for the two films are still here (separate from the reel), and the photo gallery has now been broken up into two, divided by film. This release also comes in a slip cover and includes an exclusive poster if you pre-ordered it direct from Umbrella.
So I was happy when Umbrella re-issued these on DVD, but I'm much happier now that they've really done them justice with a packed special edition on blu. It's a very satisfying package, rewarding even if you're not a huge fan of either of these films in particular. But you'll also probably come away with a greater appreciation of them after all this, so you might end up a proper fan anyway if you give this a chance, which you absolutely should.
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