In the 1970’s there were tons of films released in theaters and some were major hits. From George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead to the Italian Lucio Fulci’s film Suspiria there were tons of horror movies for fans to choose from. However, because of all these films there were more than a few that were lost in the shuffle. The folks over at Arrow Films released volume 1 of these lost classics and they are releasing another volume as well! But will you want to check out this new collection?
This volume contains three films which are Dark August, The Child and Dream No Evil. Dream No Evil was released in 1970 and deals with a young woman who is trying to find her father. However, in her quest to find her father she is drawn into a world of madness. Dark August was released in 1976 and this film deals with a young man who was involved in a hit and run where he kills a little girl. The little girl’s father is an occultist and places a horrible curse on the young man. Will he be able to overcome this horrible curse or will he succumb to it? The last great offering was released in 1977 and it is called The Child and this is my favorite of the lot. This deals with a little girl who’s mother suddenly passes away however, this young girl is not what she seems. She has telekinetic powers and has the ability to raise the dead. Now with this new found power she raises the dead to hunt down the people responsible for her mother’s death. Each of these films has been masterfully restored from the original negatives to 2k scans and all of these look simply amazing. The sound also has been restored to the original uncompressed mono audio which sounds wonderful. There are also English subtitles, which is also a nice bonus for the hearing impaired. Also, each of these discs have original artwork that were done for each of the releases by the very talented Twins of Evil. The crown jewel of this, other than the slipcase, is the massive 60 page book that comes with this boxed set. This tome talks about all three of the films that were done by these visionary directors and comes complete with stills from each of these films. 
And that is the tip of the iceberg of this massive 3 disc set! Each of the films have special features and the ones for The Child include the original trailer and press-book, interviews with the director Robert Voskanian and producer Robert Dadashian. Also on this disc is an audio commentary with director Robert Voskanian and producer Robert Dadashian, moderated by Stephen Thrower. An appreciation of the film hosted by Stephen Thrower rounds out the special features just on that one disc. Dark August has interviews with both writer-director Martin Goldman and producer Marianne Kanter. There is also an audio commentary with Martin Goldman as well as the original press book. A featurette entitled The Hills Are Alive: Dark August and Vermont Folk Horror has author and artist Stephen R. Bissette talking about Dark August and its context within the wider realm of genre filmmaking out of Vermont. And last but not least the special features for Dream No Evil has filmed appreciation by Stephen Thrower. There is also a brand new audio commentary with Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan who worked on the film. The next featurette called Hollywood After Dark: The Early Films of John Hayes covers the films of John Hayes from 1959-1971. The last two features deal with the actors in the film which are the character actor Edmond O’Brien and excerpts from an audio interview with Rue McClanahan (who also played on the Golden Girls). 
If you love horror films and want to seek out some of the forgotten films of the era then you need to check out American Horror Project Volume 2. For more information on this and other films head over to https://arrowfilms.com and get ready to rediscover some of these forgotten classics.
