'Dark August' (1976) - Martin Goldman.

Even if you don't have an especial fondness for slow-burning 70s occult horror, Martin Goldman's Dark August is a sombre, unjustly neglected folk horror gem. Darkly atmospheric throughout, this compellingly macabre nightmare of satanically simmering hatred, demonic possession, and supernaturally sinister revenge deserves greater recognition. Eerily understated, Goldman's Dark August enjoys an abundance of ominous set pieces, a moody score, and engaging performances from a talented cast. The evocative vistas of Stowe, Vermont provides a stirring backdrop for the sanity corrupting forces of Black Magic unleashed herein.

After moving to the rural splendour of Vermont to begin a new life with his pretty girlfriend Jackie (Carolyne Barry), Sal Devito (J.J Barry) suffers a terrible, doom-auguring road accident which initiates the most grievously psychological and spiritual repercussions. Sal's waking life warps disturbingly into a paranoid, reality tormenting nightmare. Unnervingly convinced that the malevolent instigator of all this torment is the grief-stricken old man McDermott (William Robertson), Devito's beleaguered mind reaches breaking point. Desperate, his only hope for succour is, perhaps, the backwoods healer/psychic, Adrianna Putnam (Kim Hunter). Adrianna courageously places herself in the most dire jeopardy in order to banish this increasingly baleful male spirit, darkly born of an uncontrollable hatred!

Martin Goldman's unsettling occult melodrama has an authenticity that is more effecting than the blandly hysterical, jump-scare murder marathons of today. 'Dark August' has maintained its strange fascination, simmering with palpable malevolence. The vast open expanses of Vermont only seem to oppressively increase Devito's debilitating sense of existential despair as his malign hexing intensifies. These inexorable forces of supernature, elephantine in stature and unknowable to man's meagre thinking fatefully erupts in a preternatural climax of otherworldly terror! Arrow Video are to be congratulated in restoring this previously lost occult classic for any who relish quality storytelling, great acting, genuine mystery and a little humanity along with their blackened cauldron of Satanic grue!