determined to stay: the macabre history of 1408 is both a chal- lenge and a dare. Once inside 1408, however, Enslin realizes too late that the room is haunted. The dare to stay overnight in a supposedly haunted place is a familiar narrative formula of the horror film, linking 1408 most obviously to pictures such as THE HAUNTING (1963), while the ho- tel room setting links it to King’s own previous THE SHINING. Like the haunted spaces of THE HAUNTING (or a film such as BLACK NARCISSUS for that matter), the location causes its occupants’ repressed and un- conscious desires to emerge, initiating the subsequent slow dis- integration of their (presumably) stable personalities.
Dimension’s handsome, color- ful presentation is letterboxed at 2.40:1, while the DD-5.1 sound- track is richly detailed and nicely imbued with Gabriel Yared’s at- mospheric score. Dimension’s
“Widescreen Edition” has supple- ments consisting of interviews with cast and crew totaling 4m 34s; the only other supplement is a 2m 30s theatrical trailer. The soundtrack is also available in French, and sub- titles are offered in Spanish and in English SDH. A “Full Screen Edi- tion” and a two-disc “Collector’s Edition” ($24.95) with additional supplements are also available. There is no domestic Hi-Def re- lease of the film as of yet, but an all-region Blu-ray edition has been issued overseas on the Dutch Filmworks label.
CRAWLSPACE
1971, Wild Eye, DD-1.0, $14.99, 73m 57s, DVD-1 By Shane M. Dallmann
Wild Eye kicks off its “TV Movie Terror Collection” with a much-appreciated (if bare bones) video debut of a long- unseen tragic thriller directed by ONE STEP BEYOND’s own John
Newland (DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK). CRAWLSPACE (not to be confused with the 1986 Klaus Kinski vehicle) was adapted from Herbert Lieber- man’s novel by Ernest Kinoy. Arthur Kennedy and Teresa Wright star as Albert and Alice Graves, an elderly, childless ru- ral couple who find them- selves strangely drawn to a young handyman known as Richard (Tom Happer). The kindness and attention they show Richard is reciprocated in a most unexpected man- ner—the homeless handyman promptly sets up housekeeping in the Graves’ crawlspace. Rather than oust the intruder, Albert and Alice agree to take him on (“temporarily,” of course), recognizing the void he fills in their own lives. Un- fortunately for the Graves, Richard’s obsession with main- taining his new “family ties” eventually leads to outbursts
Tom Happer as a handyman who sets up housekeeping in Arthur Kennedy and Teresa Wright’s CRAWLSPACE.
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