American Horror Project Volume 2 (Dream No Evil, Dark August, The Child)
Director- Various
Cast- Various
Country of Origin- U.S.
Distributor - Arrow Video
Number of discs – 3
Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald
Date- 06/17/2019
In February of 2016 Arrow Video unleashed American Horror Project Vol. 1, it was a 3 film collection that contained regional American obscurities of the horror genre, and was curated by film historian Stephen Thrower. Fans have been clamoring for a Vol. 2 since the first was released, and now after a 3 year wait we have a new volume of the series with 3 new regional horror films again curated by Thrower, almost making this set like Nightmare U.S.A. the Blu-ray edition. The selections for this volume are Dream No Evil, Dark August, and the Child.
Dream No Evil opens in an orphanage where a young girl name Grace MacDonald is having a nightmare about her Father. Apparently, this young child is quite disturbed, however, eventually, she gets adopted by a church family, and integrates herself with them. This family is spearheaded by Faith Healer Rev. Bundy. She is his assistant, and eventually will become a performer in their family circus, when they change from traveling preachers to a traveling carnival. During all these years, she has never stopped imagining her Father rejoining her life, and one day when she goes to a small town, she finds word of him. Unfortunately, he is dead, but that doesn't stop Grace from having a relationship with him.
Dream No Evil was an interesting, but flawed horror experience. It has similarities to director John Hayes' XXX film Baby Rosemary (on DVD from Vinegar Syndrome). Which is understandable as the film started out as a R/X rated feature called the Faith Healer, but was cut down by the director to get a PG rating by the MPAA. The film feels quite disjointed with a scene of horror one moment, and a happy Irish jig the next. A lot of this could be explained by how cut down the film was from a potential original cut, going so far as to have voiceovers which explain sections of the narrative.
The second film in the set is the 1976 film Dark August. Dark August stars J.J. Barry as a New York City artist, Sal Devito, who moves to rural Vermont to get away from the city, and start his life over. Unfortunately, he doesn't start his new life well, and hits and kills a young girl with his car. This causes him and those close to him to fall under the wrath of a local magician, who is the girl's Grandfather. The man curses Sal, and causes him to be always looking over his shoulder for a mysterious figure in black that causes misfortune for those around him.
Dark August is a solid, atmospheric, creeper from director Martin Goldman The film has a kitchen sink attitude toward tone and content, and it fees like a lot of these ideas were improvised on set. The film has a nice element of suspense at times, but is not exactly scary. That being said it's quite a visually interesting film, anchored by solid performances, and atmospheric tone that works quite well.
The third film in the set is The Child. It opens with a young girl, Rosalie, feeding a kitten to a zombie. We then begin to follow Alicianne, a young woman who is moving back to her hometown to become the live-in Nanny for Rosalie. On the way she wrecks her car, and is warmed about the girl from a local resident that takes her in for a cup of tea. When she arrives she discovers the girl is quite bizarre, and angry at the world, possibly due to the recent death of her Mother. Rosalie makes frequent nocturnal trips to a nearby cemetery where she plays with her friends, those friends begin a group of zombies that are not to do her bidding.
The Child is the highlight of this set. It is a creepy atmospheric little shocker. Performances aren't great, this is less a part of the actors, and more likely the film was dubbed in post. There is a solid amount of gore here that should please splatter fans. The score is a atmosphere, and makes good use of synth based textures.
Arrow Video has offered Dream No Evil a very solid presentation. The film is presented 1:85:1 with a 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film. Everything here looks quite solid, and honestly quite remarkable considering the obscurity of the title. Colors here are solid, as is detail, black levels are nice and deep, and the whole presentation is quite filmlike. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD mono track in English, that conveys the sound of the film quite well.
Dark August is presented 1:85:1 in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer. Everything here looks quite fantastic, with colors being well reproduced, black levels having a nice amount of depth, and the grain looking quite natural. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD mono track in English that sounds quite solid, and without obvious issues.
The Child is presented 2 ways in 1:33:1 and 1:78:1 versions. The 1:33:1 appears to be the intended version as far as framing is concerned, but it works well in both ratios. This transfer is of solid quality, but there is quite a decent deal of damage from the source material including a lot of speckling, scratches, and the occasional vertical line. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD MA 1.0 track that sounds reasonably solid and without anything truly noticeable issue wise.
Extras for Dream No Evil Include another excellent in depth commentary by Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger. We also get a video appreciation of the film by Stephen Thrower, a video essay also by Thrower on the films of John Hayes. There is also a piece on Edmund O'Brien, and an audio interview with Rue McClanahan. Extras for Dark August include a new commentary track by director Martin Goldman, a video appreciation by Stephen Thrower, there are also a number of on-camera interviews, and an appreciation of Vermont Folk Horror, and much more. The Child has a commentary by the film's director and producer, a video appreciation by Stephen Thrower, a featurette with interviews with the director and producer, plus much more. American Horror Project Vol. 2 brings 3 regional American horror films to Blu-ray with amazing results. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
