Deadly Manor

Director- Jose Larraz

Cast- Clark Tufts, Greg Rhodes

Country of Origin- Spain
 

Distributor - Arrow

Number of Discs - 1

Reviewed by  Scott MacDonald

Date- 03/26/2020

    For years it seemed that if you wanted to marathon Jose Larraz films you had 2 options, Vampyres and Black Candles, if you were lucky you could get a TV transferred copy of Symptoms.  In the last year we've seen a bunch of the director's lesser known work hit Blu-ray in nicely restored editions, that includes last month's Blu-ray release Edge of the Axe (Also from Arrow).   Now we are getting another Larraz slasher, Deadly Manor, which is also his second to last film.

   The film follows a group of people lead by Rod and Susan to a lakeside vacation. The group never arrive, and get trapped in a storm with a hitchhiker in an abandoned old mansion.  They start wandering and well start dying, as one is prone to do in slasher films.

    Deadly Manor makes a solid companion piece to Edge of he Axe, and I do think this one is actually more enjoyable than the prior. This really cannot be compared to his earlier films (much like Edge of the Axe), and just seems like Larraz doing horror work for hire, but the work is fun, and more Larraz-isms (I just made that up) seem to creep into this work than in the prior work.  The house does make for a solid creepy location, and the score is an effective, creepy, and slightly esoteric piece that helps elevate what could come across as a middle of the road slasher.

    Arrow Video presents Deadly Manor in a solid 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded edition that looks quite solid and without issue. Detail is excellent, color is well reproduced. Audio is crisp, clear, and without issue. Extras include another excellent commentary track by Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan that goes into the film's production history, Larraz, and so on.  There are also excellent interviews with actress Jennifer Delora, and producer Brian Smedley-Aston, a VHS trailer, and an interview excerpt with Larraz. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.