Next of Kin (Blu-ray) (1982)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Reversible Cover Audio Commentary-Director Tony Williams and Producer Tim White Audio Commentary-Mark Hartley, Jackie Kerin, John Jarratt & Robert Ratti Interviews-Cast & Crew-Director Tony Williams, Cast John Jarratt Featurette-Return to Montclare: Location Revisit, 2018 (10:28) Additional Footage-Before the Night is Out: Ballroom Footage, 1979 (2:25) Deleted Scenes-(4:26) Trailer-Original Theatrical Trailer (2:53) Trailer-UK VHS Trailer (2:52) Trailer-German Theatrical Trailer (3:14) More…-Alternate German Opening (1:28) Gallery Short Film
Rating
Year Of Production	1982
Running Time	89:20 (Case: 86)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Tony Williams
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Jackie Kerin John Jarratt Alex Scott Gerda Nicolson Charles McCallum Bernadette Gibson Robert Ratti
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Klaus Schulze

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Linda Steven (Jackie Kerin) inherits the Montclare Retirement Home, an old, rambling, Gothic, house, in a small Australian town when her mother dies. Linda grew up at Montclare but had left decades ago; she now returns to take up the running of the home. Some people she knew are still at Montclare; Connie (Gerda Nicolson), who has been running the home, Dr Barton (Alex Scott) and aged, turning senile, long-time resident Lance (Charles McCallum). Although the home is losing money and Linda is thinking of selling, a new resident, Mrs Ryan (Bernadette Gibson), arrives during a storm, brought by her nephew Kelvin (Robert Ratti). In town, Linda also renews her friendship with old friend Barney (John Jarratt) and romance blossoms.

     Strange things start happening at night at Montclare; taps are turned on and left running, lights fail, candles are lit and windows mysteriously are open, after previously being closed. Linda starts going through her mother’s things, including her diary, and is stunned to find that many of these same unexplained things were recorded by her mother years before. Linda is also having nightmares and visions, seeing human shapes that are suddenly not there. Even more unsettling, an elderly resident is found dead in his bath, again something that mirrors another death two decades before. Is Linda going mad, or is something far more sinister going on in the house?

     Next of Kin is co-written and directed by New Zealander Tony Williams; he only directed one feature film prior to Next of Kin and none afterwards. The film has all the usual “haunted house” tropes; a spiral staircase, an attic, ill lit corridors, a cat meowing in the dark, creaks and groans from the boards, rain, wind and thunder outside, figures suddenly appearing from the dark. There is also obvious symbolism, such as a spider in its web. The problem is that the film does not do enough with them and the tension is also undercut by a very 1980’s avant-garde electronic score by Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulze. The film is shot from the POV of Linda; Jackie Kerin does a decent job of suspicion, confusion, stress and later terror. A young John Jarratt, much later of Wolf Creek (2005) fame, does not have a lot to do.

     Next of Kin starts at the end, with a blood-stained woman, who we discover is Linda, standing by her ute with a child in the passenger seat, before winding back to the events that led her there. The film has its moments and is certainly creepy and atmospheric during the first two thirds as one would expect with an old dark house with a past, and people with secrets. But the film spends so much time setting up the creepy atmosphere and “red herrings” that the revelation of the real villains, when it arrives, and what happens next feels like it belongs in another type of film.

Video

     Next of Kin is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.77:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     The film has received a 4K restoration and while some exterior scenes can look soft, detail in interiors and close ups are strong. Colours are bright and vibrant with fabulous blue sky, green leaves and the yellow and brown countryside. The red in the opening title is deep. Interiors on Montclare have beautiful period detail; lamps, iron bed heads, wood panelling and wallpaper. Some of the interior and exterior scenes in the dark are very dark indeed; shadow detail is almost non-existent and it is hard to see what is happening. There were a number of small marks but otherwise this is a nice clean print except for a colour bleed at 57:48. Blacks were solid, skin tones are fine, brightness and contrast consistent.

     English subtitles are available.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     The film audio is a choice of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 or English DTS-HD MA 2.0. The commentaries are Dolby Digital 2.0. The film was originally shown with a mono audio.

     Dialogue is clear. The surrounds featured rain, wind, lightning and thunder, house sounds, the cat meowing, the truck crash, explosion, but not to the extent of more modern horror films. Indeed, silences can be more effective, as they were in this film. The synthesizer score by Klaus Schulze sometimes worked but often felt intrusive. The sub-woofer added rumble to the storm effects, engines, the truck crash and explosion.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
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Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
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Alternative Cover

Audio Commentary

     Recorded in 2018, director Tony Williams and producer Tim White sit together. This is a low key, rather matter of fact commentary with long silences. They do speak about how the film came about, European influences on the style and look of the film including Roger Vadim’s Blood and Roses (1960) and Last Tango in Paris (1972), the effects, the music, the ground-breaking (at the time) use of Steadicam, problems with the cat, how the film disappeared and was later championed by Quentin Tarantino, setting up and filming the crane shot at the climax.

Audio Commentary

     Not Quite Hollywood director Mark Hartley provides information and asks questions of cast Jackie Kerin, John Jarratt and Robert Ratti. This is a relaxed and chatty commentary, and Jarratt is deadpan funny, as they talk about their careers and how they were cast, their subsequent life and careers, the cinematographer, the score, people they knew and worked with in the Australian film industry, other cast members, the director and anecdotes of the shoot.

Extended Interviews from Not Quite Hollywood (25:26)

     These interviews were conducted by Mark Hartley for his documentary Not Quite Hollywood which was released in 2008. The bulk of the running time (over 21 minutes) is an interview with director Tony Williams. He speaks about how he got involved in the project, the scripting, influences, his intentions, the style and look of the film, sets and the end sequence but he also has a lot to say about the Australia film industry at the time and especially the limitations of the 10BA tax concession model. Actor John Jarratt (about 4 minutes) speaks about that final shot of the film, DP Garry Hansen and the Gothic feel of the film.

Return to Montclare: Location Revisit, 2018 (10:28)

     Locations used in the film Overnewton Castle, Keilor, Illawarra House, Toorak, Cosmopolitan Hotel, the cemetery and other locations around at Trentham and Outlook Crescent Clarkfield are revisited and contrasted with footage from the film accompanied by the film score.

Deleted Scenes (4:26)

     Some scenes were shot but deleted from the film and assumed destroyed. What is left are strips of film which are shown as stills. A text screen explains what is happening.

Before the Night is Out: Ballroom Footage, 1979 (2:25)

     The extended ballroom scene which appeared on TV in the climax of the film.

Original Theatrical Trailer (2:53)

UK VHS Trailer (2:52)

German Theatrical Trailer (3:14)

     With a German voiceover and the film’s German title Montclare: Erbe des Grauens.

Alternate German Opening (1:28)

     With the film’s German title.

Image Gallery (10:37)

     Almost 90 images. No music; they can be advanced with the remote but do also advance automatically. Sections include posters, promo art and packaging from around the world, behind the scenes photographs taken by Tony Williams and Jackie Kerin, storyboards and annotated script pages, location sheets and press clippings.

Tony Williams Short Films

    Two TV segments directed by Williams for the “Survey” programme on NZBC in 1971. They are black and white and show a range of artefacts. There is no menu: the two play one after the other. The two are:

     The Day We Landed on the Most Perfect Planet in the Universe (30:08): a text screen announces that “this film has been developed from the ideas and fantasies experienced by a group of New Zealand children”. A primary school teacher interacts with his class of students.

     Getting Together (31:07): our propensity as humans to herd together in groups such as Scouts, Service or Professional Clubs, Sporting and Hobby groups or through religion.

     This Australian released Next of Kin is currently the only one available.

     Quentin Tarantino is a fan of Next of Kin which is a decent recommendation. It tries to be a classic, gothic (or giallo) horror and it certainly has its moments of tension and terror, but while it ticks all the usual “haunted house” boxes it does not quite connect the squares or provide enough clues to the real villains. Still, we must be thankful that Umbrella are releasing some of these older Australian genre films in HD, with restored video, decent audio and an excellent array of extra features.

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Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall