Grandmother’s House/Darkroom

Director– Peter Rader/Terrence O’Hara

Cast- Brinke Stevens, Eric Foster, Aarin Teich, Jill Pierce

Country of Origin – USA

Distributor - Vinegar Syndrome

Number of discs – 2/2

Reviewed by -Scott MacDonald

Date- 05/01/2019

     Nico Mastorakis is a pioneering filmmaker in the realm of exploitation cinema.   He began his career as a director with the shock exploitation classic Island of Death, and continuing on with such cult classics as The Zero Boys and Hired to Kill. Outside of making  his own film's he also had an excellent side career as a producer of genre fare during the 80's and 90's. Vinegar Syndrome have seen fit to put out some of these Mastorakis productions on Blu-ray this April, including a spin on the template of the Stepfather Grandmother's House, and a straightforward slasher film Darkroom.

    Darkroom follows Janet (Jill Pierce) who comes home to her family's farm, and decides to spend time with current boyfriend Steve.   Coincidentally, a killer decked out in a rain coat begins a killing spree in the rural area Jill calls home, and ends up killing her sister Cindy. The killer takes photos of the bodies he kills, and develops them in his personal "Darkroom", hence the title.  Janet, Steve, their family and friends realize quickly they are the target of the killer, and begin to try and figure out who it is, and how to stop it before he strikes again.

    I've sort have gone "Born Again Slasher" in the last few years.  I had burned myself out on the genre in the early 2000's, and only watched more familiar ones for nostalgic purposes after that. However, in the last 5 of so years with the resurgence of horror through stellar Blu-ray releases, I've come back to the slasher, to watch films I haven't seen, or rewatch films I thought were duds, so needless to say with Vinegar Syndrome's lurid and sleazy looking artwork in hand, I was excited for what was sure to be, an excellent sleazy giallo-slasher hybrid.

    Unfortunately, I may have set my expectations too high.  Darkroom is a pretty by-the-numbers slasher experience with only the Darkroom element setting it aside from the pack. The location is limited to the farm and surrounding area, which works well for the rural horror vibe of the film.  The killer with his rain coat disguise, and brutal kill methods is effectively creepy, unfortunately, most of his murders happen off-screen depriving fans of what they come to these films for most. The film does have a whodunit side to it, effectively placing it somewhat in the giallo-esque camp. 

    The performances for the most part are pretty lacking with the exception of Sarah Wilde as Cindy, who dives right into playing a typical 80's teenage cinema girl.    Darkroom is the debut feature film by Terrence O'Hara, and it kind of shows.  The film has a workmanlike quality in its direction, and the pacing is quite a bit slow here. The beginning and end of the film are reasonably solid, but the middle portion just drags.  

    Grandmother's House directed by frequent Mastorakis collaborator Peter Rader fares much better than Darkroom.  It channels the vibe of recent horror hit the Stepfather, but creates something effectively creepy and bizarre.   The film follows David and Lynn, their Father just died, a few short years after their Mother passed. Now orphans they are forced to live with their Grandparent's played by  Len Lesser (Seinfeld) and Ida Lee. This is not an ideal situation, and immediately David begins to have nightmares about their Grandfather burying dead bodies. Unfortunately, it turns out not be much of a dream, but a template for the reality in which their Grandparents are insane murderers who keep a crazed woman shackled in their barn, and more.

    I really had zero expectations for Grandmother's house, and fortunately, it blew my limited expectations out of the water. This is a film that has a stream of darkness a mile long, that creates genuine scares, and involves creepy twist that don't feel out of place. It also has a nice surrealist vibe to it that helps it to stand out quite a bit more. Lee and Lasser are truly effective as the creepy grandparents, and Brinke Steven does a solid turn in her role here.

    Vinegar Syndrome present Darkroom with a 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the OAR of the film.  Everything here looks quite excellent with some minor damage from the source, and the occasional soft-spot. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track in English which comes through clear and crisp for the most part. Extras include 2 interviews with actors from the film, a gallery, and trailer.

   Vinegar Syndrome presents Grandmother's house in a similar excellent 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer.  Everything here looks quite solid, and naturally filmlike. Details are excellent, colors well-reproduced. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD 5.1 track in English, that sounds quite solid bringing the sound to crisp new HD life. Extras include an interview with Peter Rader, another with scream queen icon Brinke Stevens, and another interview with director of photography, and writer Peter Jensen. There is an archival making of, still gallery, and trailer.