DARK AUGUST (1976)

 "ACCORDING TO LESLEY AND HER BUBBLE GUM CARDS, I'M GONNA NEED A PRIEST!" 

Included in Arrow's second "American Horror Project" box set, it's taken me this long to get to this one and I'm glad I did. 

The one phrase seemingly bandied about mostly about this film is 'slow burn' and that's true.  Of course, this is a good thing.  There is a difference between boring and a slow burn and this is the latter.  Sal Devito (J.J. Barry) accidentally hits a young girl with his car and kills her.  The death is found to be accidental and Sal is found not guilty; however, the girl's grandfather Mr. McDermott (William Robertson) is not so forgiving.  The grandfather pulls out all his hoodoo occult paraphernalia and calls up a demon to put a death curse on ole Sal.  Sal starts seeing not only the grandfather seemingly everywhere he goes giving him the side eye but also sees a spooky hooded figure hanging around the woods and environs of the property. 

Sal's girlfriend Jackie (Carolyne Barry) go over to their friends' house to have a nice evening.  Friend Lesley (Kate McKeown) happens to read Tarot cards and asks to read Sal's.  Lesley sees stuff in the cards relating to the grandfather's animosity and the young girl's death as well as a woman whose advice Sal must take if he wants to end to dark forces swirling around him.  This woman is Adrianna Putnam (the great Kim Hunter) and she is rumoured to be a witch.  Adrianna offers advice and counter-spells to Sal in the hopes of ridding himself of the evil influence.  But in helping Sal, Adrianna is making herself known to the demon forces as well.

DARK AUGUST is definitely a folk horror film in my opinion and would've been right at home in Severin's recent folk horror box set.  The original curse brought down by the grandpa -- who is an obvious practioner of folk magick -- as well as the occult ritual performed by Adrianna Putnam I think place it squarely into that subgenre.  I also got strong vibes of LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH while watching DARK AUGUST but that's probably less my own idea than an opinion of the film I read in a fairly recent issue of "Drive-In Asylum" in a review of DARK AUGUST.  The acting by all concerns is pretty good with Kim Hunter (obviously the only big star here) and J.J. Barry pulling out the best acting overall.  It's a little bewildering that this low budget, independent film managed to snag such a spectacular, Oscar-winning actor such as Kim Hunter to be in their film. 

During the ritual scene, some of the "occult language" can sound a little bit silly but Hunter plays it completely straight and gives it the weight and authority it needs.  By all accounts, Kim Hunter was actually fully supportive of the film and was behind it all the way; even appearing in a press conference (a rare thing for a small regional horror film) in order to bring attention to the project.  J.J. Barry is an actor I've seen here and there but can't really remember where; in DARK AUGUST he brings an emotional depth and intensity to the part of Sal that really carries the film.   J.J. Barry and Carolyn Barry (here billed as Carole Shelyne) were married in real life and both wrote the screenplay along with director Martin G. Goldman (who helmed the Fred Williamson vehicle THE LEGEND OF NIGGER CHARLEY 4 years earlier) so the trio were responsible for most of the film from written page to in front of AND behind the camera.  This is the film the obviously wanted to make and there is a sense, even for a regional independent film, of knowing exactly what they were doing here. Cinematography by Richard E. Brooks is exceptional and really showcases the "road less travelled" location of Stowe, Vermont.  While there's not a lot of outright spooky atmosphere, the psychological unease can be felt throughout. 

And that robed and hooded figure (the demon, by all accounts) hanging around the woods gives me vibes of both "Cousin Creep" -- the revived monster from THE CREEPING FLESH -- and the cat from the British public service short "THE SPIRIT OF DARK AND LONELY WATER".  There's no beating a spooky, hooded figure looming about.  And being a seventies flick, it has the 'required by law' downbeat ending.  The entire film strikes a very low key note all the way through and this is deliberate and necessary to tell the tale it's telling.  If you have an attention span (which is all the more rare with people as each year goes by, I'm afraid), I think you'll find, like I did, that this is a quiet little horror gem.