Deadly Blessing Blu-ray Review

• 24th Mar 2013

If there are two things I hate in a horror film (and I mean hate as in it makes a chill go down my spine) it’s eerie religious music with chanting and snakes running free inside a house. Unfortunately for me this film was blessed with both!

This is my first introduction to Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessing, and I’m not sure why? Having seen all of Wes’s other outings both early like Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes and the obvious later mainstream titles like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. Even titles like Shocker and The People Under the Stairs didn’t escape my viewing pleasures so why this one? After watching the extras on Arrow Video’s latest Blu-ray release my memory was jogged by the video cover graced with the frightening image of the great Michael Berryman which is exactly what made me rent The Hills Have Eyes. I cannot however keep beating myself up over this slight hiccup in my history of horror viewing and can only look forward and tell you that I am glad I have had this opportunity to finally view what I can honestly say is one of Wes Cravens most important pieces of work. I think it’s quite obvious that this is the film that paved the way for Wes to enter mainstream horror films. Deadly Blessing did not quite have the notoriety of his previous films, like the hard hitting Last House on the Left. Nor did it have a main killer with the character like Freddy Kruger, but what this film did do is bridge the gap between the two!

Deadly Blessing is about a couple who live in a farming community mainly inhabited by a sect of people called Hittites. Hittites live very much like the Amish community but they have no connection and to steal a line from the film “they make the Amish look like swingers”.

Martha (played by Maren Jensen) and her husband Tom (Jonathan Gulla) have a nice house called Our Blessing on an isolated farm. Tom was a former Hittite who was snubbed by his family for marrying somebody outside of the community and using machinery on his farm considered to be the work of the devil.

When Tom is mysteriously killed by his tractor, things take a turn for the worse for Martha. Her friends come to visit her from LA to try and cheer Martha up and keep her company. But shortly after their arrival some strange a horrific events start to take place. Considered by the Hittite’s to be serpents and messengers of the Incubus (a demon that prays on the faithful in their sleep or just comes and takes you like a beast) the girls fear for their lives and have to hold their own against an old time religion hell bent on driving out the incubus!

The terrifyingly stern and god fearing leader of the Hittite community is played wonderfully by Ernest Borgnine, a favourite of mine since his role in the Devil’s Rain (take note of that title Arrow, I want to see it in your catalogue shortly!) and Michael Berryman also had an eerie presence, albeit too short as another member of the Hittite community. Sharon Stone has her first big part in a film as Martha’s friend Lana, getting her foot in the door for bigger Hollywood offerings in the future!

The acting from the cast was what I would call above par for this sort of film of its time. It was very well written with a great plot instead of being filled with blood and gore. The only let down for me was the ending, Which I won’t give away for those of you that haven’t seen it, but I know they were going for a Carrie – esque ending which really missed the mark altogether and if the previous hour and 39 minutes hadn’t have been so solid it would have stopped me from ever watching it again, But that’s my opinion!

There is one scene which made me glad I had seen this movie after A Nightmare on Elm Street and for those who have seen this you will know exactly what I’m about to say. The scene in ANOES where the glove comes up between Nancy’s legs has always been one of my favourite scenes in the franchise. I thought it was original……Wrong! It had been done before, by Wes himself! Change the glove with knifes for a snake (which I had quoted earlier) and we have an exact replica of that scene! Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good scene, but I’m just glad I saw the Freddy version first.

Now to the technical bit, well as technical as I get anyway. I don’t think this is one of the best Blu-ray transfers I have seen. It’s not awful, but it’s not quite as clear as some of Arrows previous releases. Slightly better than the upscaled DVD picture (I checked) but not the best. I know a lot of this is dependent on the original negatives and things (see technical) so I’m not going to bash it too much as what Arrow does excel in are extras, and we have a healthy set for you on this disc.

You get an audio commentary with Wes Craven and Interview. An interview with the legend Michael Berryman which goes into how the face of horror got plastered across video cases across the world! An interview with screen writer Glenn M. Benest which has a very informative and interesting look into the behind the scenes of deadly blessing and how he came to meet with Wes Craven. He also backs up my theory on the films ending so that came as a nice surprise!

As it’s nearly that time of year Arrow have even hidden some Easter eggs on the disc for you to track down. Also the now standard reversible sleeves with original and newly commissioned artwork and collectors booklet too! And if that wasn’t enough they even supply you with the DVD edition of the film with the set too! These guys at Arrow are far too kind and generous as always!

So to sum up, another wonderful set from the lovely people at Arrow Video to add to your collection! Keep them coming Arrow, you’re doing a great job.

Deadly Blessing available from the 25^th March

Shane Meekings