Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Dear Dead Delilah (Vinegar Syndrome) Blu-ray Review

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Dear Dead Delilah (Vinegar Syndrome) Blu-ray Review



    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: August 21st, 2018.
    Director: John Farris
    Cast: Agnes Moorehead, Patricia Carmichael, Will Geer, Michael Ansara, Dennis Patrick, Anne Meacham
    Year: 1972
    Purchase From Amazon

    Dear Dead Delilah - Movie Review:

    The single directorial effort of John Farris, who would write The Fury a few years later, 1972's Dear Dead Delilah is a twisted low budget blend of soap opera melodrama and cheap exploitation/horror trappings that make it fit nicely alongside films made by the likes of S.F. Brownrigg and Andy Milligan (it would also play great alongside Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? and/or Strait-Jacket, but more on that in a little while). It's interesting to note that the film was the only feature produced by 'Cowboy' Jack Clement (though he did work on soundtracks for plenty of film and television projects), the same man who wrote a few early hits for Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Jerry Lee Lewis and plenty more. Maybe not so surprisingly when armed with that information, the film was shot on location in Nashville, Tennessee where Clement lived at the time.

    The titular Delilah Charles (Agnes Moorehead in her final feature film appearance), is the matriarch of a large estate surrounded by scheming friends and family. Confined to a wheelchair, she knows she is not long for this world, as do those around her. At the same time, a guy named Richard (Robert Gentry) hits a woman named Luddy Dublin (awesome one and done actress Patricia Carmichael) in the face with a football. He feels bad so he and his wife Ellen (Elizabeth Eis) bring her back to the Charles plantation to help out as her housekeeper and caregiver. Luddy, however, has a past - thirty years prior, her own mother was found on the end of a sharp axe, an axe swung by young Luddy herself! A lengthy stint in the mental hospital seems to have cured her, but of course, after her arrival on the plantation, bodies start piling up.

    But we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit here. Delilah's three younger siblings - Morgan (Michael Ansara) and his floozy girlfriend Buffy (Ruth Baker), Alonzo (Dennis Patrick, of Dallas fame!) and Grace (Anne Meacham), all of whom have issues and problems of their own - are all salivating at the thought of getting in on what Delilah now controls: the family fortune! Oh, and then there's the family lawyer, Roy Jurroe (Will Geer… yep, Grandpa Walton himself!). He seems trustworthy enough, right? And if that weren't enough, there are rumors that Delilah's dear, departed daddy did alright selling off some horses back in the thirties and as such, there's been a cool six hundred grand buried somewhere on the property. When Delilah says that she's planning to bequeath the plantation to the state, they're quickly up in arms over this… leading to a plethora of suspects and a few fantastic murder-set-pieces.

    Yeah fine, this thing is really dialogue heavy but how can you not love a movie with not just axe murders, but axe foreplay as well? Throw in some genuinely gory - and surprising - death scenes, weird regional flavor and a cast best described as erratic and its hard to go wrong. Some might complain about the pacing, but the scenes of extended dialogue only serve to ramp up not only the character development but the film's completely enjoyable goth soap opera elements. Farris, who also wrote the script, fills the picture with quirky, colorful characters and simply watching the cast inhabit these roles and interact with one another is satisfying enough. Consider the decapitations an added bonus.

    It's hard not to think of Joan Crawford when evaluating Agnes Moorehead's work in the picture. The elder actress probably best known for playing Endora for eight years on the popular TV sitcom Bewitched channels the same sort of haggish, bitchy vibe that Crawford (and Bette Davis) made trademarks of their later work in genre pictures. The film feels a bit like a low rent version of Strait-Jacket at times, but Farris is savvy enough to take things in their own direction before it is all over and done with. Despite some very familiar elements, the picture thankfully dances to the beat of its own drum often enough to stand out.

    Dear Dead Delilah - Blu-ray Review:

    Vinegar Syndrome debuts Dear Dead Delilah on disc for the first time in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer “newly scanned and restored in 2k from 35mm vault elements.” The picture here isn't as pristine as most of the label's offerings tend to be but it sure as shit beats the VHS sourced DVD-R's that have been making the rounds over the years into the dirt. The image is quite stable, showing some minor print damage here and there but nothing so serious as to take you out of the movie at all. Colors are generally solid, though some scenes look a tad uneven - likely due to the original photography. Skin tones look just fine and the transfer is nice and film-like, showing plenty of fine grain and along with that, frequently impressive detail and texture, even in the film's many darker, nighttime scenes.

    The only audio option on the disc is an English language DTS-HD Mono track. Some of the dialogue is occasionally a bit muffled but it seems like this stems back to the original recording rather than an issue with the disc. Otherwise, no issues here. Most of the dialogue is pretty clear and the score sounds good. Optional English SDH subtitles are included and can be selected by using your remote (but not from the main men).

    The main extra on the disc is a twenty-minute interview with director John Farris entitled Family Secrets: The Making Of Dear Dead Delilah. He speaks quite candidly about making his directorial debut, the involvement of infamous producer Jack Clement, his work in the live theater scene and how that affected the casting of the film, working with Moorehead, the locations used for the feature and quite a bit more. It's a very interesting piece and sheds some welcome light on the history of the film.

    A still gallery, menus and chapter selection round out the extras on the disc, though it does come packaged with some reversible cover art (featuring the more infamous headless corpse/torso-face image on the reverse!). As this is a combo pack release, we also get a DVD version of the movie featuring the same extras and taken from the same transfer.

    Wonder Women - The Final Word:

    Dear Dead Delilah is a blast. Those who appreciate a healthy dose of melodrama with their axe murdering will absolutely get a kick out of this low budget regional oddity. Vinegar Syndrome's disc isn't stacked with extras but it presents the film in nice shape and the interview with Farris definitely adds some value to the package. All in all, a really entertaining picture finally given its due on home video.

    Click on the images below for full sized Dear Dead Delilah Blu-ray review screen captures!









































    • Maureen Champ
      #1
      Maureen Champ
      Member
      Maureen Champ commented
      Editing a comment
      Why this BD-cover has came from Beleth The Demon of Incest?

    • Gary Banks
      #2
      Gary Banks
      Senior Member
      Gary Banks commented
      Editing a comment
      What the hell is that on Michael Ansara's head? A dead squirrel?

      This is another one I've wanted to see.

    • John Bernhard
      #3
      John Bernhard
      Senior Member
      John Bernhard commented
      Editing a comment
      Originally posted by Maureen Champ
      Why this BD-cover has came from Beleth The Demon of Incest?
      It's original foreign artwork, so someone else stole it.
    Posting comments is disabled.

Latest Articles

Collapse

  • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Severin Films
    Released on: April 30th, 2024.
    Director: Lee Frost
    Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
    Year: 1969
    Purchase From Amazon

    Hot Spur – Movie Review:

    Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
  • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Mondo Macabro
    Released on: April 9th, 2024.
    Director: Max Pecas
    Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
    Year: 1985
    Purchase From Amazon

    Death Squad – Movie Review:

    Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
    ...
    03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
  • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Quality X
    Released on: February 28th, 2024.
    Director: Chuck Vincent
    Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
    Year: 1982
    Purchase From Amazon

    Roommates – Movie Review:

    Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
  • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Blue Underground
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Jess Franco
    Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
    Year: 1970
    Purchase From Amazon

    Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

    Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
  • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Saul Bass
    Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
    Year: 1974
    Purchase From Amazon

    Phase IV – Movie Review:

    Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
    ...
    03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
  • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
    Ian Jane
    Administrator
    by Ian Jane


    Released by: Radiance Films
    Released on: March 26th, 2024.
    Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
    Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
    Year: 1969-1972
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

    Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
    ...
    03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
Working...
X