One expects low-budget slashers and greasy exploitation pictures to be lain by the wayside, especially from a region known at the time for knocking them out as tax write-offs; what is unusual is that Next of Kin plays more as kinetic art house than sleazy programmer, so one would think it would have been afforded a higher prestige at the time. However, both Barton and the house caretaker Connie insist that she did die and tell Linda not to go digging into the past. Here she is stalked through a retirement home instead of a big, shadowy old manor but in all other ways Next of Kin is a standard Old Dark House thriller. An old man is found dead in the tub, fully submerged in the milky water. Intrigued by her findings, Linda meets Dr. Last October, Australian company Umbrella Entertainment debuted a 4K-mastered Blu-ray with a gorgeous transfer and stacked with extras.
Tipped into the mix, however, is some genuinely unsettling imagery that keeps you guessing as to what is actually going on. I hope that Next of Kin will continue to be discovered, and Severin Films has more than done their part to ensure it does. In the United States, Severin Films worked with the same remaster to produce its local release of the film. In these interviews, director Tony Williams and actor John Jarratt discuss their work on Next of Kin. Almost as soon as she arrives, the home is targeted by someone who is killing the geriatrics. Barton are found dead, having been stabbed to death, in a bloody bathtub. Next of Kin is a 1982 Australian horror film directed by Tony Williams and featuring a score by legend.
For the record, I support the art house and the sleaze. In addition to the original theatrical trailer 2:55 , the disc also includes the U. This approach sometimes comes at the expense of plot, with some gaps in the story seeming to reflect the increasing fear and confusion of the heroine but making some aspects seem poorly-motivated like one or two characters that are barely around long enough to be red herrings. They eventually temp-tracked the film with Klaus Schulze tracks and got the rights to use the cues when they rejected the original score Schulze wrote for them. Next of Kin is undeniable proof of the power in image, and a simple story well told.
It soon becomes apparent that , and that something wants Linda dead. The synthesizer themes infuse the film with a very special ambience and actually make many visuals look a lot more stylish than they really are. Williams does reveal that a lot of material was not used including scenes of Linda arriving in town, although he does not really go into the material deleted from the ending. Loads of talented filmmakers emerged from the scene, including the likes of Mel Gibson, George Miller, Richard Franklin, etc. At first, everything seems normal. Umbrella Entertainment's recent release of Next Kin is sourced from a nice 4K remaster and features plenty of informative bonus feature.
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1. This sets in motion a nasty chain of events that eventually leads to Rita's killing spree seen in the film. . Linda also has an uneasy feeling that something is not right with the house and that she is being watched. Williams works only with light, shadow, and unique camera angles which create the illusion that whenever Linda becomes suspicious there is in fact someone close to her waiting to catch her off-guard. She copes by building a little wall out of sugar cubes.
But seeing how it was government funded like so many others, it was merely given a cursory release, a couple of festival screenings, and disappeared like the rest. While the deletion of a further fight scene from the ending might seem like an exercise in restraint, it appears as though fading out before the film's final shock was a wise decision as it might have provoked laughter. He acts as the brawns of the two, while Rita acts as the brains. The most effective contrasts emerge whenever Klaus Schulze's music has an important role to play. So, it is not exactly a shocker that Quentin Tarantino loves his film.
You will get a notification at the top of the site as soon as the current price equals or falls below your price. The performances range from average to very good, but in a way some of the rougher parts actually strengthen the type of credibility that the film pursues. Greenscreened in front of Montclare, Janisse discusses the film's themes of sins of the family and the fear of hereditary madness, the elderly as harbingers of death, the original concept and how it evolved, as well as the film's scoring and visual style. In the United States, Severin Films worked with the same remaster to produce its local release of the film. The ballroom footage 2:26 extract reveals that the sequence seen on the television set was not stock footage but something actually shot by Williams in 1978. An inexpressive electronic score does not help either. So what has Severin unearthed in addition to a great transfer taken directly from the original Australian vault elements? Do you remember what was the concept that they mastered to perfection? So, if you are like me, I encourage you not to outright dismiss the 5.
It was show less, force the mind to imagine the horror, and then build a tremendous atmosphere. The release is sourced from a recent 4K remaster that was struck from a 35mm interpositive. This is a brilliant example of how to do horror and unlike many of its time, has aged really well. Svet Atanasov on March 20, 2019 where this Blu-ray release scored 4. Overwhelmed at the prospect of running such a huge operation, she leans on head nurse Connie Gerda Nicolson — Gallipoli and Dr.
The second involves Linda finding a under her bed during the scene where the power goes out. Eventually, Linda uncovers her mother's diary which details identical events twenty years earlier. The film ends as she drives away while the diner burns. I have two minor complaints: First, the grading could have been a bit more careful because there are areas of the film with some light but noticeable black crush that definitely eliminates existing detail. It also has a good dynamic intensity, though it quickly becomes clear that the original soundtrack was never meant to be a stunner. For example, the casual footage from the café where Linda has a cup of coffee when she heads back home and later on barricades herself brings a sense of normalcy that ultimately elevates the darker and unhinged material even more. When her mother dies, Linda Stevens Jacki Kerin inherits Montclare, a retirement home set in the middle of nowhere that looks as if it belongs in a Pete Walker film.
It is not much, but the larger your screens is, the easier it will be for you to notice that occasionally the darker visuals become too 'thick'. There are even creaky old plot devices about diaries left by the mother and mad relatives in disguise, which are all standard elements of the Old Dark House genre. Following the recent death of her mother, Linda Kerin returns to take over her sprawling family residence, which is now being run as a rest home for the elderly. Certainly, Next of Kin is directed with a good deal more atmosphere than usual for a slasher film — like the moment when Charles McCallum unwittingly steps on a drowned face as he goes to get into the bath, or the image of an eye being stabbed through a keyhole. The score here sounds similar to his most famously linked act, with plenty of cues reminiscent of that legendary group. Umbrella Entertainment's release of Next of Kin is sourced from a recent 4K remaster that was struck from an original 35mm interpositive. Ryan, and her son are guilty of the murders.