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Released by: Kino/Redemption
Released on: March 31, 2012.
Director: Peter Newbrook
Cast: Robert Powell, Robert Stevens, Fiona Walker, Jane Lapotaire
Year: 1973
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The Movie:
Directed by Peter Newbrook in 1973 and wonderfully shot by cinematographer Freddie Young, The Asphyx was previously released by the late, great All Day Entertainment way back in 2000 or so. Since then it's seen other releases in other markets but none of them were great - some were cut, others framed wrong. Kino's new edition, released as one of their titles acquired in their deal with Redemption, finally sets this right.
Spirit photography is defined by Wikipedia as "a type of photography whose primary attempt is to capture images of ghosts and other spiritual entities, especially in ghost hunting."
That's the basic premise behind this one, as it tells the story, set in 1875, of a scientist named Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) who has been a widower for some time, long enough to have gotten engaged to his lovely new bride to be, Anna Wheatley (Fiona Walker). What Anna doesn't know, however, is just what exactly her new beau has been up to in his lab - spirit photography. See, Hugo believes that the photos he's been taking of people just mere seconds before they pass on are evidence of certain supernatural theories he holds to. Each one of the pictures has had a strange, inexplicable smudge on it which he understands to be a recorded document of the spirit as it exits the shell of the body.
At any rate, in order to help with his studies Hugo invents himself what is basically a movie camera before there were such things but while experimenting with it, filming his fiancé and his son Clive, he sees Clive hit a tree while paddling a boat and both he and his would be step mother drown - and wouldn't you know it, when he examines the footage later on, he sees that same mysterious smudge on the film, only this time, now that he sees it in motion, he notices it's not coming out of Clive but towards him. Further research on Hugo's part reveals that he may have discovered The Asphyx, a supernatural creature that actually pulls the spirit out of the body as it dies. Some more tinkering on Hugo's part improves his camera, which he tests when a criminal is put to death in a public square, and once again he captures the effect. Things get complicated when Hugo's adopted son, Giles (Robert Powell) figures out what his increasingly nutty but driven stepfather is really up to, though the fact that Giles is secretly lusting after his own sister, Christina (Jane Laportaire), won't do much for his case but soon enough Hugo's methods will soon prove to be his undoing.
Beautifully shot and quite well acted by a surprisingly respectable cast, The Asphyx is about as classy as a horror movie gets. It's also quite eerie, and manages to accomplish creating some legitimately unsettling moments without resorting to grisly gore set pieces or exploitation tactics. While the movie loses some of its momentum in the last half hour or so, even here the suspense stays thick and strong in spite of some obvious plot holes and the cast remain game throughout. The film also does a great job of mixing up some interesting elements of the Victorian era in which it is set, those being the advances in technology that were exploding at the time and that society's fascination with spiritualism and occult dabblings - both of which play a large part in what makes this movie work.
Though the script may lend itself towards occasional overacting what with its incredibly dramatic penchant for dialogue, Stephens turns in an admirable performance and plays things completely straight, coming close the scenery chewing but thankfully never actually crossing that line. The rest of the cast are good as well, but Stephens more or less steals the show here - it's his film in many ways. Just as important though, are the visuals. As mentioned, the film is shot pretty much perfectly and on top of this it makes great use of some period sets and props, particularly in the lab scenes which are just as good as anything Hammer ever conjured up in terms of design work and production values. The score, composed by Bill McGuffie, compliments everything rather well, adding emotional depth to a few key scenes and appropriately enhancing the more suspenseful scenes the way a good score should. The film does have some problems in the 'why would he do that?' department but otherwise proves to be a remarkably entertaining effort and a very well made one at that.
This release from Kino includes both versions of the film, the eighty-six minute long UK release and the ninety-nine minute long US release - you can watch either or, with the bulk of the transfer taken from the UK elements, the additional US bits added in from an inferior source. Most of what was added to the US version is extended bits of dialogue that take place between certain characters. They don't change the outcome of the story or the events all that much but in this version there is more character development and it feels a little more complete than the shorter cut of the film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kino has remastered The Asphyx for Blu-ray from the original 35mm negative and offers it up in a very impressive 2.35.1 widescreen AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer that mops the floor with previous standard definition offerings. Detail is excellent throughout and colors look nice and natural, never artificially boosted or too hot. Black levels are strong and texture is impressive not just in close-ups but in medium and long distance shots as well. There's really nothing to complain about here, this is a very good film like transfer that really offers up a drastic improvement over what we've seen before.
A note about the extended version of the movie: the snippets of footage that were taken to create this version came from an inferior SD source (see screen cap #3) which was mastered from an American release print that wasn't in the best of shape. As such, when you watch the extended version, you're going to notice some pretty obvious jumps in image quality. This is pretty easy to forgive, however - no one is going to argue that it would have been better not to included it here and given the excellent quality of the UK theatrical version, all in all this is a pretty minor issue.
The sole audio option on this disc is an English language LPCM 2.0 Mono track, but it's a good one. Dialogue and sound effects are clean and clear and properly balanced and never once will you notice any hiss or distortion. The levels are set right and the various characters who populate the story are easy to understand overtop of the score and effects. There aren't any alternate language options or closed captions or subtitles of any kind provided but outside of that, the movie shapes up very nicely in this department.
While we do get the two cuts of the film (which is the most important thing), we don't get much else. With that said, the disc does include the film's theatrical trailer and trailer's for Killer's Moon and Virgin Witch, all in high definition, as well as a nice still gallery of promotional materials. Menus and chapter selection for the feature are also provided.
The Final Word:
The Asphyx holds up very well, particularly when seen in as nice a presentation as it has received on this Blu-ray from Kino. It's a clever film with some fun performances, some great set pieces and an interesting premise and anyone with even a passing interest in British horror will absolutely want to add this edition to their collection.
