Import Corner: Death Valley (1982) (Imprint Films) Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots

The 80s were a time for all different types of slasher films and Death Valley falls into that category. The film mixes a family getaway made-for-tv movie with a slasher film. Did Death Valley win over this critic?

Studio: Imprint Films
Release Date: May 7th, 1982 (theatrical) / October 30th, 2024 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 28 minutes 6 seconds
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-50)
Picture: 1080p (1.78:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Slipcover: Yes (slip box)
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Paul Le Mat, Catherine Hicks, Stephen McHattie, Wilford Brimley, Peter Billingsley, Edward Herrmann
Written by Richard Rothstein
Directed by Dick Richards
Rating: R (bloody horror violence)

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Poster

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What's It About?

What starts out as an ordinary vacation into “Death Valley” instead becomes a nightmare from which the travellers neither awaken nor flee. Their relationships to one another, their sanity, and finally their lives becomes the targets of fiendish insanity in a huge surrealistic landscape where there is no place to hide.

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Video/Audio

DEATH VALLEY looks very nice. Film grain is here even if it is a thin layer which gives us some nice detail all around, both finer detail and larger. Skin tones skew towards the reddish side while colors all around pop. Blacks are deep but not too much and there doesn't appear to be any print damage or blemishes.

We get two audio tracks: a 2.0 and a 5.1. Both tracks sound great and I didn't find any noticeable differences between the two tracks

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Extras/Packaging

Audio Commentary with director Dick Richards - Richards is joined by filmmaker Edwin Samuelson for a nice sit down conversation that covers just about everything that could be covered about Death Valley. I found this to be an intersting discussion and would recommend it to those who want to learn all they can about the film.

"Sliced and Spliced: The Rise of the Slasher Subgenre and the Fall of the Studio Slasher Film" Video Essay by film historian Jarret Gahan (32m 2s, HD, 1.78:1) Gahan covers ground that will be VERY familiar to horror and slasher fans. I learned a thing or two but this was made mostly for fans newer to the subgenre.

"Strings and Screams" - Interview with composer Dana Kaproff (12m 33s, HD, 1.78:1) He got the job based on how well his agent could sell the film's producers. No demo. No nothing. Was happy to have the chance to use an orchestra instead of electronic music. He was a bit fearful of copying someone else but once he got the feel for the film, he was able to hit the themes he felt the film needed. He had a decent sized orchestra where he played down using woodwind and brass instruments. He liked using a string orchestra along with percussion. The question he gets asked the most is "Have you written music for anything I would have seen?"

TV Spot (27s, SD, 1.33:1)

Theatrical Trailer (2m 9s, SD, 1.33:1)

The packaging here is nice. We get a glossy slipbox featuring the film's original theatrical poster art along with the Imprint Films logo in the upper right hand corner. The 14mm clear blu-ray case features artwork I have never seen before. Inside the case, we find inner artwork which features a screenshot from the film. The disc features the same art as the slipbox.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

DEATH VALLEY is a lighthearted drama with scenes of killings happening every so often. The two don't meet all that well as you forget about the killer and that is not a good thing to have in your slasher film. There was a stretch of the film where no killings happen for a while and we left with Peter Billingsly having fun at a ghost town tourist attraction. It's fun watching Billingsly be a kid but then a murder happens and we remember we are watching a horror flick. I wish the filmmakers had committed to one of the two halves. This could have been a nice family comedy or it could have been a violent slasher flick. The stuff that it does with these genres, it does well. The two genres just don't mesh well here and it hurts the film in the long run.

This is a nice blu-ray. The picture and sound are great and I had a fun with the special features, especially the commentary track with Dick Richards and the interview with the film's composer. I can recommend this release, particularly to slasher fans looking for a lesser known title.

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Extras/Menus