Dear Dead Delilah

A disintegrating family of plantation heritage are gathered at their isolated mansion, mostly waiting for the old lady of the house to pop her socks so they can get their hands on 'fair' share of inheritance.  They've also inadvertently acquired the services of a woman who once axed her own mom to death, subsequently serving time for it.  This old plantation bat is no going down so easily, however, and - out of sadistic fun? - hides a huge some of money somewhere on the grounds: first come, first served.  Thus ensues a frantic search for the fortune, occurring alongside the inevitable topping of various members of the family.

Dear Dead Delilah originates from way back in 1972, inexperienced director John Farris doing quite a good grindhouse job of constructing an offbeat tale about a bunch of greedy misfits housed up together. It can be talky for longer periods than necessary, but as the tension ramps up things get suitably screwed.  The director managed to get Agnes Moorehead on board to play Delilah (not dead, but pretty much all of the characters wishes she was), and she does a great job as the embittered rich (and therefore powerful) old lady.  The film captures the madness given birth by greed, and never more pertinent is that concept than it is in today's money-obsessed/driven world.

Vinegar Syndrome deliver their usual 2K scan of the best available elements of this otherwise obscure film, the 1.85:1 transfer frequently reaching 40Mbps along with DTS-HD mono audio mastered at a whopping 96KHz.  The picture quality depends on which part of the film you're at, sometimes looking out of focus, sometimes fantastic - looks like VS did the best job possible to me.  The disc contains just shy of two minutes of promotional material (including text-based items, which you can pause and actually read on the Blu-ray - a DVD is also contained for those yet to move on), and a twenty minute interview with the director, where he provides insight into various things including who else he considered for the Delilah role and how much he appreciated Moorehead's talents.  He also mentions the fact that the film's pretty nifty decapitation sequence earned it an X from the MPAA when originally submitted (they eventually got an R following appeal).  The VS cover is reversible, plus the limited edition is enclosed in a premium slipcase.  Slim on extras this is otherwise a nice film to have in the collection, especially looking better than it probably ever will.  For info, the disc plays on all regions.