Stars:
Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, and Ahna Capri
Writer:
William Welch
From
An Original Story Idea By: Sean McGregor
Director:
Bernard McEveety
Feature
length: 92 minutes
Extras:
Trailers
Languages:
English Monaural
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and That
Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1970/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
A
Satanic horror and thriller movie with a PG rating? I would have never have
believed it, but despite the disturbing connotations and occult narrative, this
film is actually blood and nudity free. L.Q. Jones stars and produced this film
about a hidden town where the children disappear and a coven of Satanists have
put forth a sinister plan that leaves the adults trapped and at their mercy
until a few brave souls attempt to find out exactly what is going on and stop
it.
I
suspect this was inspired in part by the success of “Rosemary’s Baby” and
the obsession with the occult that grew and backlashed against the more
traditional horror films that usually featured a screen monster of some type
like the Hammer Films. Eventually the success of high concept action thrillers
like “Jaws” and horror films like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and the
huge success of “Halloween” ended the public’s interest in the occult and
traditional monster pictures on the big screen in favor of the creature that
could be lurking just below the waves of the ocean or the hidden maniac within
that really quiet person who lives next-door.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment’s DVD edition features an anamorphic widescreen
transfer made from a brand new high definition master with an aspect ratio of
approximately (2.40:1). The picture quality is mixed with a fine grain visible
throughout and a soft focus that might be more a characteristic of the time in
which the film was produced than the actual transfer itself. There are a few
scratches on the print too, but nothing too bothersome. A clear two-channel
English Monaural Soundtrack is included along with English Captions and Closed
Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Thai
Language Subtitles encoded on to the DVD as options.
A
widescreen trailer with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound for “Hollow Man”
and a full-framed Stereo trailer for “The Craft” are included too. The menus
are standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate. “The
Brotherhood Of Satan” will debut on DVD-Video from Columbia TriStar Home
Entertainment on Tuesday, August 13, 2002.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.