Audrey Rose (1977) (Blu-ray Review)
Directed By: Robert Wise
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Marsha Mason, John Beck
Rated: PG/Region A/1:85/1080p/Number of Discs 1
Where to get it: Twilight Time
In New York, Janice Templeton is happily married with the executive Bill Templeton and they live in a comfortable and fancy apartment with their eleven year-old daughter Ivy. One day, Janice is stalked by a weirdo and she tells her husband. Soon the stranger contacts them and invites the couple to meet him in a restaurant. Elliot Hoover tells to Janice and Bill that his daughter Audrey Rose died eleven years ago burned in a car crash and her soul would have reincarnated in Ivy’s body. Bill and Janice believe that Elliot is nuts and Bill tells his lawyer to get a restraining order against Elliot. However, Ivy has dreadful nightmares and only Elliot is capable to calm her down. When Elliot abducts Ivy, Bill and Janice go to the court to arrest him. But Elliot wants to prove that Ivy and Audrey Rose are the same soul.
Things get kicked off with a car accident here and from there we are tossed into a weird world where someone may or may not be the re-incarnation of a couple’s little girl now eleven years later. It somewhat reminds you of a film trying really hard to be the re-incarnation of The Exorcist, but Audrey Rose remains moderately entertaining without ever being able to reach such a high level as that. The film offers up some creepy moments, many of which come the father of the dead Audrey who is just so certain that his crazy talk is in fact what it going on. After a few crazy things take place on the screen, we soon have adults acting as mad as what they are witnessing! The film is bit long in the tooth, clocking in at just under two hours, but there is some entertaining stuff going down. I don’t think it is as epic overall as what the filmmakers would have wanted, but what we get isn’t a bad watch for a dark night when you have nothing else to do.
There are some things that don’t click as well here in the movie. Those things seem to really start near the later half of it. Things spiral out of control on screen in more ways than one, but the movie never does lose it’s watch-ability as you sit and wait for the other foot to drop. Our kid in question gives a mixed performance that I feel at times makes things a bit humorous, but other than that when things perhaps jump the shark in Audrey Rose I feel it mostly just adds entertainment value rather than actually hurting anything. While we could call the film a mixed bag, the transfer here seems a little mixed as well. There is always grain in the picture, more or less. Details can be seen for the most part, but are somewhat soft in other areas. Like the movie, it is mixed, but I think things lean more towards the good than bad on all ends.
- Trailer
