Update 11/26/17 - 5/4/24: Aw yeah, now it's on! Demon Witch Child has been restored and released on blu from Ediciones 79 in Spain. Big thanks to Bruce of Cinema Arcana for hipping us to that in the comments. And thanks to JMan for pointing out that Help Me... has also been released on blu from AGFA, but I don't think I'll be reviewing that one anytime soon. 😜
Since Code Red's disc is a double-feature, before we get to the neglected masterpiece, let's get the other film out of the way first: the "piece of crap" from this post's title. It's a little film called The Possessed. Actually, both films have been called The Possessed. That's why they're paired up on the same disc. Otherwise, they have nothing in common.
This The Possessed - on-screen title: Help Me... I'm Possessed - is an American film from 1974. Screenwriter Bill Green also stars as a doctor of a sanitarium/ castle somewhere in Southern California. He has a hunchbacked assistant, a mad woman for a sister and a new bride who begins to suspect unorthodox things are going on behind closed doors. Patients are tortured and killed, and an unseen monster chases a nurse through the woods. But things aren't nearly as interesting as that description makes it sound. It's mostly long, droll scenes of conversations as characters stand around in front of a static camera. It's just tongue-in-cheek enough that there's nothing to get invested in, but utterly fails in its attempts at humor with dialogue like, "who are you?" "I'm fine. How are you?"
I have to admit... I do love this location. |
2013 Code Red DVD. |
But the real gem is 1976's The Possessed - on-screen title: Demon Witch Child - a delightful killer kid film from Spain. This one's written and directed by none other than Amando de Ossorio, the man behind The Blind Dead and Lorelei's Grasp. But Demon Witch Child may have actually usurped all his other work as my favorite de Ossorio film. It's just so much fun. If you appreciated Cathy's Curse, oh boy, this is like its equally nutty prequel.
The premise is perfectly simple: the local police bust up a coven of witches, so their leader takes revenge by possessing the chief's daughter. It starts off in some predictable Exorcist rip-off territory - not that that's a bad thing - with the girl floating out of her bed and a priest being brought in to chase the evil out of her. But she quickly transforms into a delightful, balding foul-mouthed witch child, using her powers to wreak havoc on everyone in her life. She laughs maniacally as she displays all kinds of fun magical powers and goes pretty psycho in some edgy ways that I'm super tempted to spoil right now, but I won't.
Meanwhile, everyone's trudging around in super 70's earth tones, and there's a melodramatic subplot where the priest's ex-girlfriend has become a prostitute. The local townspeople form a mob and dig up graves, the bad-ass police captain, the parents, the priest and an ace reporter are all following separate paths to find the truth, and the witch cult comes back to help their crazy little girl kidnap a baby.
Admittedly, the pacing drags at points, with dubbed dialogue and scenes which can only be honestly described as bad writing. The score is also clunky, though it concludes with a pretty dramatic, rousing number, that reminded me of Frizzi's main theme for The Beyond. And Code Red clearly agrees with me, because it's the music they use for the DVD menu. There's also a weird aspect to the DVD presentation where the first minute of footage repeats with alternate credits over it. Unsurprisingly, Ediciones 79 fixes that.
This print's been badly damaged, but we've got the fingerprint of the man responsible! |
2013 Code Red DVD top; 2023 Ediciones 79 BD bottom. |
The DVD's mono audio is about the same as the other The Possessed, too; except the crackly hiss and pops are just a little bit worse. A word or two are dropped when damage causes the film to be spliced, but for the most part, you can get used to it. You won't have to, though, with the new blu which is infinitely cleaner and clearer. Edicione 79 gives us both the Spanish and the English tracks, though only the Spanish is in DTS-HD. The English track is lossy. And sadly, the only subtitles included are (removable) Spanish ones, so we're stuck with the English dub. But, then, we always have been; and both tracks appear to be dubs, anyway.
There's basically nothing by way of special features on the double-feature DVD; we don't even get the films' trailers. We just get the traditional Family Honor trailer on start up and a couple of Code Red bonus trailers. But Ediciones 79 has some real goodies. Unfortunately, the only English friendly one among them is the trailer. That's nice to get, but some of the other stuff is so tantalizing and frustratingly untranslated. Chief among them is a 20+ minute interview with the demon witch child herself, Marian Salgado! There's also another brief featurette that talks to her a bit more at a film festival, and introduction by the Ediciones 79 guys, a longer discussion between the Ediciones guys about the film, and a short horror film from 2023 called Angustias, which also stars Maria Salgado. Their release also includes fun, reversible artwork styled after an old VHS cover, and the first limited run of 666 copies also includes a slipcover, booklet and poster. Code Red's presentations what they are: direct, un-restored standard def transfers scanned from a pair of beat up old film prints. They sure beat the video-tape crapola that came before 'em, but we don't have to accept that as the best offer anymore; we have proper blu-rays now. It sure is frustrating that the Spanish blu didn't throw in English subtitles (though understandable... it is a Spanish release, after all), but it's light years beyond what we've been stuck with up 'till now.
Fingers Crossed, Scream might be thinking about this title for 2018.
ReplyDeleteLove Demon Witch Child. It's so strange & atmospheric
ReplyDeleteHorror flick trivia: Marian Salgado, who played the possessed girl in Demon Witch Child, dubbed Linda Blair's dialog in the Spanish language version of The Exorcist.
ReplyDeleteHa! That's pretty awesome.
DeleteAs I recently found out, "Help Me... I'm Possessed" actually made it to Blu-ray, as part of the American Genre Film Archive's "Blood-A-Rama Triple Frightmare" set. In comparing screenshots, it looks to be the same source on the Blu-ray, with color correction applied.
ReplyDeleteAlas, no such luck for "Demon Witch Child." Figures that "Some Other Piece of Crap" would be the one available in HD.
Actually, de Ossorio's THE POSSESSED / DEMON WITCH CHILD just came out on legit Spanish Blu sourcing a gorgeous new 2K restoration. English or Spanish audio choices, but no English subs.
ReplyDeleteWHOA - news to me! Just ordered a copy. =)
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