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Demoniacs AKA Les Démoniaques AKA Curse of the Living Dead (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Powerhouse Films Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (11th April 2024). |
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The Film
 The Demoniacs (Les Démoniaques) sees director Jean Rollin eschew his regular subject of vampirism for a brutal nautical tale of ritual horror and supernatural vengeance. A gang of ruthless pirates, known as ‘the wreckers’, rape two survivors of a shipwreck. The women, now mute, are guided by a mysterious clown to a ruined castle, where they receive magical powers with which to exact their revenge on the gang. Starring Joëlle Coeur (Schoolgirl Hitchhikers), John Rico (Blood Orgy of the She-Devils), Willy Braque (Lips of Blood), and Mireille Dargent (The Iron Rose), The Demoniacs is one of its director’s most shocking and violent tales of the fantastique.
Video
Jean Rollin's attempt to break away from his usual vampire oeuvre yielded the superior The Iron Rise (1973) and this, The Demoniacs (1974). I'm a big fan of Rollin's fantasy films but this one is not one of my favourites, although it's fair to say that many others rate it as one of his very best. I like the humorous and poetic side of Rollin and not the side that can occasionally include exploitative violence. Luckily it doesn't appear too much in his films ... that sadism makes it hard to watch. Unfortunately, The Demoniacs is the apotheosis of this unpleasant streak. The nudity and sex doesn't bother me but the explicit mixing of sex with violence does as in the copious amounts of rape and misogyny here. The film doesn't endorse this behaviour but it does wallow in it even if the perpetrators do get their comeuppance and pay the ultimate price by the end. I do like the psychological approach to the evil leader of the wreckers, The Captain (Jon Rico) is tormented by the ghosts of his victims. The surrealist fantasy aspects are also successful with the oddball clown figure opening up a celestial dimension to support the murdered women and helping them to get their own back. In the end an extremely mixed bag. It doesn't help that this is his longest film in its export cut; the version I watched for this technical review. It has interesting aspects and some quintessentially Rollinesque scenes but they don't save it for me. From the book: The Demoniacs was scanned, restored and colour corrected in 4K HDR at Film Finity, London, using original 35mm negative film materials. Phoenix image-processing tools were used to remove the many thousands of instances of dirt, eliminate scratches and other imperfections, as well as repair damaged frames. No grain management, edge enhancement or sharpening tools were employed to artificially alter the image in any way.This is a low budget film shot on the fly, as with most of Rollin's films but he always transcends these limitations with attractive cinematography. This new 4K restoration has done wonders for this film which in some earlier transfers looked murkier and duller than is usual for Rollin. The interiors are flatter, exteriors have greater contrast range but this is down to how they were all shot. Colours are vivid, flesh tones run the gamut from pale (the blonde victims) to ruddy (some of the pirates) to tanned (the captain). They all come over well. It's a warm looking film favouring reds (the clown's makeup and hair and tights sears the screen!), browns, oranges etc; the burning wooden ships look especially good; a mostly pleasing viewing experience. The range from highlights to deep blacks is excellent; the daylight scenes look stunning especially those scenes involving greenery. Grain is plentiful, especially in skies and darker, less well lit scenes. All three versions use the same restoration so my comments apply to the shorter edits (I scanned through those). There's not a shred of print damage, The Demoniacs could've been shot yesterday; the best I've ever seen this film look and no doubt the 4K UHD HDR version will be even better ('A+). 1080p24 / AVC MPEG-4 / BD50 / 1.85:1 / 100:05, 108:32, 85:45
Audio
French DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 (48kHz, 16-bit) (Theatrical version, export cut) English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 (48kHz, 16-bit) (Curse of the Undead) Subtitles: English (theatrical version, export cut), English HoH (Curse of the Living Dead) Given the low budget origins of the film the mono tracks are pretty decent; I favoured the French track as the film was made with production sound. Dialogue is clear and well served, sound effects are similar; the score is strident at times. It's adequate and gets the job done with little range or distortion. If cranked up some mild crackle and hiss is evident but it's to be expected. The canned crowd sounds layered over the bar scenes sound like they're being played live on set rather than added in post, but not like they're coming from the few actors seen.
Extras
Audio commentary on the Export Cut by film historian Tim Lucas (2024) Audio commentary on selected scenes by writer-director Jean Rollin and an identified moderator (50:01) (2005) A Lucas yaktrak is to be celebrated; very carefully planned and written. This one contains an extreme mount of detail concerning the film, its influences, its making etc. Lucas has been one of the great champions of Rollin's work, starting with his much missed Video Watchdog magazine starting in the early '90s. After David Pirie's book Video Watchdog picked up the mantle at the same time Redemption in the UK started releasing the films. The Rollin track covers the film from a much more personal standpoint; the conception, writing, casting and making are covered with anecdotes. Both are presented in lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 112Kbps). The Rollin commentary accompanies a cutdown version of the film assembled from the restored footage. 1998 forward by Jean Rollin (can only be played with the export cut)(0:19) "Jean Rollin Introduces The Demoniacs" 1998 introduction (3:07) Rollin starts off his longer introduction by stating that he had more money and a bigger crew for The Demoniacs and plenty of fighting and action. He considers it an expressionist film and it was his first non vampire epic and wasn't a big success in Paris. Presented in upscaled SD in 1080p24 1.78:1 in lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (48kHz, 112Kbps) and no subtitles. "Jean-Pierre Bouyzou: One of the Demoniacs" 2024 featurette featuring a vintage interview (20:42) "The Iron Eagle: Willy Braque on The Demoniacs and Jean Rollin" 2024 featurette featuring a vintage interview (10:06) "One Perfect Shot: Paul Bisciglia on The Demoniacs and Jean Rollin" 2024 featurette featuring a vintage interview (8:39) "Vengeance and Purity: Stephen Thrower on The Demoniacs" 2024 interview (41:48) 81:15 worth of interviews discussing the film. All are interesting with the Bouyzou / Braque / Bisciglia pieces heralding from prior releases albeit reedited. If you have the 2005 3-disc Dutch Encore DVD set or the 2012 US Kino / Redemption BD they that material will not he new to you. They're great interviews with people who knew Rollin and / or worked on the film and provide plenty of fascinating commentary - Braque is especially amusing talking about the relaxed attitude to sexuality of the times, and working on Rollin's films, which led to him getting divorced ... twice! Braque has since left us (1933-2022) sadly so has Paul Bisciglia (1928-2010) so their contributions take on extra value and resonance here. Thrower is always a welcome contributor to these releases (he's the go-to guy for Lucio Fulci and Jess Franco film extras) and he kicks off recounting how Rollin films were introduced to both the UK and USA. I first found out about Rollin's films in exactly the same way Thrower did, via David Pirie's book The Vampire Cinema (1977). The older pieces are presented in upscaled SD in 1080p24 1.78:1 in lossy French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (48kHz, 112Kbps) with optional English subtitles. The Thrower segment is 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (48kHz, 112Kbps) with no subtitles. As usual, Stephen really does a deep dive into the film and the cast and keeps us rapt with his stories and comments, my favourite extra. Outtake Footage (2:07) What it says in the tin, more of the ship burning basically only with no dialogue just sound effects. In the same quality as the feature albeit with less restoration. Presented in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy French Dolby Digital 2.0 sound (48kHz, 112Kbps). Original Theatrical Trailer (3:04) Vintage promo in 1080p24 1.78:1 with lossy French Dolby Digital 2.0 sound (48kHz, 112Kbps). The Demoniacs Image Gallery: Original Promotional Material (92 images) Excellent, chunky HD still gallery. 80-page liner notes book with a new essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, an archival piece on the making of the film by Jean Rollin, an archival interview with Rollin, an archival interview with actor Monica Swinn and full film credits Another superb book, every page is one to savour, especially as I'm less invested in the film itself. The behind the scenes at Re more interesting for me in this case. I found the detailed interview with Swinn the most interesting with her insight into her career being particularly of note.
Packaging
Not sent for review.
Overall
One of Rollin's more controversial films gets the deluxe treatment and it looks and sounds fabulous in a new 4K restoration. Extras are good and the package is absolutely essential for fans, especially those who're 4K UHD capable. The addition of the higher resolution and HDR will not doubt be even better than the BD set for review ('B+').
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