While we truly love- in spite of its shortcomings, the whole idea behind the somewhat new Warner Archives Collection, the recent release of two movies of the week from the early 1970s bears scrutiny. Surely there cannot be demand for titles such as these in the marketplace. And why release these when so many other forgotten classics (feature films- not TV productions) still lie in the vaults?
It surely cannot be the restoration or mastering process, since the whole idea behind the Archives collection is to do a simple transfer of the film without remastering, fancy menus, or even scene selections. We just get the standard preset chapter breaks at every ten minutes of run time.
That being said, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) and Bad Ronald (1974) are not so bad for the genre, but again, the genre is what holds them back. The transfers are as expected, roughly what you could gather from an older TV airing. Yet true to form you will have a hard time finding these titles outside the world of the Warners Archive.
Bad Ronald sounds rather pedestrian but in reality it has a nice twist. New homeowners discover the have an unknown roommate in Ronald as he slowly terrorizes them. Evidently he’s been hiding in a secret room since killing a neighbor years prior.
In a somewhat simliar storyline, newlyweds who’ve just inherited an old mansion decide to…..you guessed it, open a secret room. Needless to say all hell breaks loose shortly thereafter.
Both titles, plus lots more are available at the wbshop at wbshop.com.
