Blu-Ray Review: Audrey Rose

The question of what happens to us when we die has taxed the human psyche since the days of early man. The innate need for something more, something better, than this mortal coil has driven us towards religion. The carrot of paradise for ‘being good’ or the stick of eternal damnation for ‘being bad’ is a neat method of social control, but what if we got the chance to be reborn? Reincarnated into another life. Audrey Rose considers the implications.

Bill (John Beck) and Jane Templeton (Marsha Mason) are happily married and both deeply love their 11-year-old daughter Ivy (Susan Swift). However, she has become besieged by powerful nightmares which they can neither prevent or cure. One day, Jane notices a strange man following them home. He reveals himself to be Elliot Hoover (Anthony Hopkins), a man who lost his wife and daughter in a tragic automobile accident, and thinks the child’s soul is now in Ivy.

Audrey Rose approaches the subject of possession from an entirely unusual angle. Instead of Catholic priests and exorcisms, Robert Wise’s tense drama dabbles in Hinduism and the concept of the cycle of samsara; birth, life, death and rebirth. While some of the acting is overwrought and the story occasionally grates, this choice adds extra layers to what is a fascinating, intelligent and thoughtful psychological drama.

Product features:

Brand new 2K restoration by Arrow Films from a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative
High Definition (1080p) Blu-Ray presentation
Original lossless mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Brand new audio commentary by film critic Jon Towlson
Faith and Fraud, a brand new interview with magician Adam Cardone about reincarnation and belief in Audrey Rose
Then and Now, a brand new featurette looking at the New York locations used in the film
I’ve Been Here Before, archive visual essay by Lee Gambin looking at reincarnation in cinema
Investigator: The Paranormal World of Frank De Felitta, an archive interview with the author and scriptwriter of Audrey Rose
The Role of a Mother, an archive Interview with Marsha Mason
Hypnotist: Inside the score for Audrey Rose, an archive interview with film music historian Daniel Schweiger
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Christopher Shy
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: fully illustrated collectors booklet featuring new writing by critics Kimberly Lindbergs and Johnny Mains