Coming from William Peter Blatty, the author of the original book 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane' of which this film is based on, and also the author of 'The Exorcist', I was sure this was going to be another horror masterpiece that has unfortunately been forgotten about by most in time.
It's certainly a masterpiece, but not a horror.
If anything, I'd describe it as a dialogue heavy drama/thriller.
Col. Kane arrives at an insane asylum for military personnel, he's to be the new psychiatrist.
Something seems off about him straight away, to us the audience and to the inmates and workers at the asylum as he allows the inmates to play out their fantasies and doesn't tolerate any violence or bad attitude toward them.
Despite the oddness of Kane, everybody seems to start liking him rather quickly.
It's a very intelligent film about mental health issues, the good of man and the fear of what the lack of control and goodness in men can do.
It does have a twist along the way, which unfortunately we've seen quite recently in another film, so straight away at the beginning I guessed that's what would be really happening. I won't mention it in case you watch and can't figure out what the twist is.
The acting in the film is something special, it has some legendary actors in, including Stacy Keach who plays Col. Kane, Scott Wilson (Hershel from The Walking Dead), Robert Loggia, Tom Atkins and more.
Because of such a brilliant cast, it makes everything seem true to humanity which is essentially what the film is about on the deepest level.
The transfer of the film itself is also amazing, it isn't the best looking of Second Sight's releases but is still damn near perfect in both sight and sound.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- THE WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR (16:38) - An interview with William Peter Blatty about the movie and the original book.
- CONFESSIONS OF KANE (14:31) - An interview with Stacey Keach about the film and how he was cast in it.
- THE DEBRIEF OF SGT. CHRISTIAN (07:46) - An interview with Stephen Powers who played Sgt. Christian mainly about his role in the film.
- DESIGNING THE CONFIGURATION (11:44) - Interviews with production designer William Malley and art director J. Dennis Washington. All about set design, clothing design, where they filmed etc.
- KILLER ON MY MIND (08:54) - An interview with soundtrack composer Barry De Vorzon about how he became to be the composer on the film, some of the problems they had to begin with and just how he got his mind around composing the movie.
- THE PARTY BEHIND THE CURTAIN (14:02) - Interviews with Tom Atkins, Jason Miller, Richard Lynch and William Peter Blatty. All interview excerpts from previous sessions except for the Blatty interview, again speaking about the movie and behind the scenes.
- ARCHIVE FEATURETTE WITH MARK KERMODE (06:47) - Mark Kermode reviewing of the film with excerpts of an interview with Blatty about both The Ninth Configuration, The Exorcist and Legion, what they're about and how they all differ but contain themselves in a trilogy.
- OUTTAKES AND DELETED SCENES (20:44) - Some strange, some funny and some overbearing deleted/unabridged scenes from the first cut of the film which would change the over all viewing of it. Some of which would have been better to have been kept in so we could understand certain parts, others which have been taken out understandably for different reasons. We then have a single outtake and a variation on the ending of the film.
- AUDIO COMMENTARY - William Peter Blatty and Mark Kermode speak about the film and Mark interviews and jokes with Blatty.
Overall this film is powerful in message and delivery, definitely something you should not miss.
I give this film and release a well deserved:
9/10
The film will be released 25/04/16 and you can preorder by clicking here.