Pete Walker (Die Screaming Marianne, House of Whipcord) is at it again serving up another sickly disturbing downbeat tale of terror. Frightmare (aka Frightmare 2 and Once Upon a Frightmare, can ya dig it?) is just as cold hearted and freaky today as it was in 1974. With deadpan delivery and a tone of serious decline in family values, there's no happy times in here folks, so be warned.

In a B&W prologue Edmund and Dorothy Yates (Rupert Davies and Sheila Keith) are sentenced to spend some down time in a mental institution for committing unspeakable acts of cannibalism. Cut to present times and their subsequent release, they live reclusively in a desolate farmhouse. All the while their oldest daughter, Jackie Yates (Deborah Fairfax) while living in London is looking after her delinquent 15 year old sister, Debbie (Kim Butcher). Debbie has a knack for coming home at 2am (unacceptable for a 15 year old) while Jackie has a knack for sneaking mysterious packages to her parents after 2am (weird, huh?). The authorities say Dorothy has been cured, but a bizarre chain of events seems to prove otherwise. Cure or no cure, Mrs. Yates is up to her old tricks again as she lures unsuspecting victims to a grisly doom after a lighthearted tarot session (lighthearted in the sense that each session seems to end with the card of Death). In the mean time Jackie's male "friend" Grahm (Paul Greenwood) does a bit of snooping of his own (big mistake) and soon wishes he hadn't. Dysfunctional family values aside, everything begins to crumble as sanity is questioned, and in classic "stick with 'em" style, it appears as if it's a case of like mother like daughter.

It's a rare treat to find a film in which all of the thematic elements come together to form near cinematic perfection. Lucky for us Frightmare is one of these instances and a pure triumph for director Pete Walker. Sheila Keith steals the show as the truly disturbed Dorothy Yates and is able to shift gears at the drop of a dime. Full of incredibly witty dialogue and plenty of grisly chills, there is absolutely nothing to laugh about behind these walls. Frightmare remains to this day as intense as it ever was (also a rare occurrence). With atmosphere, well developed characters and a nice bit of the red stuff, Frightmare is sure to please on many levels (in classic British style). They sure as hell don't make 'em like this anymore and that is just a damn shame.

Frightmare is presented on DVD in a full frame transfer and looks much better than it ever has before on home video. There may be a bit too much headroom, as the transfer probably could have benefited from a slight letterboxed transfer, perhaps 1.66:1. Are we missing any information? No, most likely not, but it would have made the framing seem a bit more proportioned and comfortable. A minor complaint at best. Throw away those murky washed out VHS pre records, you won't need 'em anymore. There are minimal amounts of print damage, some specs and dirt and a few light scratches here and there. Colors are fairly sharp and stable. Any other noticeable defects most likely will lie within the original budgetary restrictions (harsh lighting schemes etc.). Frightmare has never looked this good on home video before and probably won't ever look any better (might I add that you can't go wrong with Image's recent price drop on the title as well).

Sound is presented in an adequate mono mix. There's nothing special here, but dialogue is quite clear with very little to no distortion. I never expect too much from a mono track, as long as it is audible with no distortion, I'm sold. That's exactly what you get here.

Extras? Extras? We don't need no stinkin' extras! Nada, zip, zilch, the big goose egg. Go figure, not even a freakin' trailer. You pop the disc in and the movie starts. You hit menu and it's a chapter list. That's all nothing else. Pretty chintzy if you ask me, sheesh!

Anyone interested in a lesson of true HORROR 101 should really do themselves a favor and check out this disc. True terror is here folks, don't miss out. With a high creep factor and a low retail price, you just can't go wrong. Like many of the so called "classics" Frightmare delivers, in spades. Frightmare is an experience that you'll not soon forget, and that is guaranteed! (NOT a guarantee).