Martha (Maren Jensen, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) is a city girl living in the middle of nowhere with her farmer husband Jim Schmidt (Douglas Barr, THE UNSEEN), who was disowned by his Hittite kin (lead by his stern father Isaiah [Ernest Borgnine, MARTY]) for going off to college and equipping his neighboring farm with modern conveniences. Their only friendly neighbor is widow Louisa Stohler (Lois Nettleton, TV's DAYS OF OUR LIVES), whose daughter Faith (Lisa Hartman, WHERE THE BOYS ARE '84) is constantly harassed by slow-minded Hittite William Gluntz (Michael Berryman, THE HILLS HAVE EYES) who he accuses of being the "Incubus." One night, Jim gets up and finds that someone has painted the word INCUBUS on his barn wall, and he is promptly crushed to death by his own tractor. Widowed Martha is determined to stay on the farm despite tensions with Jim's family who view her and her visiting city friends Vicky (Susan Buckner, GREASE) and Lana (Sharon Stone, BASIC INSTINCT) as "serpents" and are adamant that the farm stay with the family. Tensions are heightened when Jim's brother John (Jeff East, PUMPKINHEAD) neglects his prim fiancee Melissa (Colleen Riley, THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II) in favor of Vicky, Lana is terrorized by a dark figure, a snake turns up in Martha's bath, and William (initially thought to be behind the scares) turns up dead. Is there a killer lurking in the shadows or is the incubus looking for a new bride.

The film was the brainchild of screenwriter Glenn M. Benest and producer Max Keller, whose TV movie SUMMER OF FEAR (based on the young adult horror novel by Lois Duncan) - which also featured East - was previously directed by Wes Craven (although SUMMER OF FEAR only showed theatrically overseas as A STRANGER IN OUR HOUSE, the film's TV title is seen on a theater marquee in this film). Jensen, Buckner, and Stone (in her second role following a small bit in STARDUST MEMORIES) make a memorable main trio, and the supporting cast (particularly Borgnine and Nettleton) is impressive. Cinematographer Robert Jessup (RACE WITH THE DEVIL) gets the most out of the Texas-lensed locations (which could convince for the Midwest) and James Horner's (WOLFEN) score is derivative yet effective. The CARRIE-esque surprise ending was tacked on at the insistence of the producers; and while it goes against the logic of the screenplay (which is more of a psychological thriller than a horror film), it would have been almost expected by this point in horror movies (and certainly by contemporary viewers of eighties horror films). The barely-glimpsed (all the better) incubus was the work of uncredited make-up effects artist John Naulin (RE-ANIMATOR) and really does not hold up to the digital presentation. The dream sequence featuring Sharon Stone and a tarantula is creepy, but less surreal than Craven's next horror hit A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, but DEADLY BLESSING showed that Craven - better known for LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT at the time - was capable of delivering a slick studio film (and it is a superior work to his eighties and nineties studio works, which were - with the exception of THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW - polished but uninteresting).

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Blu-ray

Blu-ray

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Chapters 12

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow - Region 'B' - Blu-ray (March 2013): I'll ramble... The Arrow has a slight technical superiority (bitrate) and has a brighter image with more grain, but it is also negligibly cropped. In some scenes I prefer the deeper Shout! Factory image with richer contrast - others the Arrow with its cooler skin tones and pleasing textures. There is probably not a big enough difference to sway purchases based on the visuals.

Audio, I might lean to the US edition - not only for the 5.1 bump but the stereo sounds a bit more robust as well - a shade more depth while the Arrow linear PCM can bring up the high-end a shade better. Both offer the optional English subtitles.

I'll slightly lean to the Arrow for the extras - Craven commentary matching the Shout! Factory and a superior dose of video extras/interviews plus the unexplored Easter eggs, art, liner notes etc. . Unless you are a huge fan of Deadly Blessing it doesn't seem prudent to venture outside your own region locale - the Arrow is a solid Blu-ray package - and we certainly recommend!  

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