The Convent: 4K UHD Review
Last year Synapse released a Limited Edition 4K UHD of Mike Mendez’s horror/comedy The Convent, which included a slipcover and was limited to 4000 units. This week we get the same release, minus the slipcover. While I didn’t have a chance to cover the disk last December, I did get a copy of this week’s release for review.
The Convent reminded me quite a bit of and Night of the Demons and the Italian horror classic, Demons. Released in 2002 (though premiered at Sundance in 2000), the story centers on a group of college kids, who enter an abandoned church, where a group of nuns and a priest were violently murdered by a young woman named Christine four decades earlier. Rumors say that the building is haunted, but of course the teens don’t believe that. Their goal is to tag the church with their fraternity letters, but it turns out, they aren’t alone. Aside from a couple of cops (played by Bill Moseley and Coolio), there is also a group of Satanists with their own sinister plans. Needless-to-say, all hell breaks loose, and the college kids start getting attacked and demonically possessed.
The Convent is often quite silly, but damn is it fun. Joanna Canton is easily the stand-out as Clorissa, the goth girl, who is most excited to be at the haunted building. Unfortunately, her character gets demonized way too early. Given that the film only 79-minutes, I guess things need to move along swiftly and thankfully they do. As the story moves along, we learn there is much more to the events of the past, thanks to the appearance of the older Christine (Adrienne Barbeau) and of course, she needs to go back to where it all began to end things for good.
There is plenty of blood splatter for the gore-hounds. Plus, Mendez and cinematographer Jason Lowe make great use of lighting and camera angles. There is also a strong score from Joseph Bishara (The Conjuring and Insidious franchises). This was a first time viewing for me and I must say I am definitely a fan. Mendez embraces the campiness of it all and just brings the fun. I would actually love to watch this one in a theater with a crowd of horror fans, as it is definitely a crowd-pleaser.
The new 4K presentation with Dolby Vision was scanned from 35mm elements and supervised by Mendez. Considering there was never any kind of HD release prior, I am confident that this would be by far the best the film has ever looked on physical media. We also get a 5.1 master audio track that doesn’t disappoint, especially when the demonic action starts to kick-in. Weather you are a fan of this cult film or just a fan of horror-comedy in general, I highly recommend picking up this release.
Bonus Materials:
- Contains one 4K 2160p UHD disc and one 1080p Blu-ray disc
- 4K remaster of the uncut version supervised and approved by director Mike Mendez
- Mastered in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- 1 stereo surround mix from the original 16-track audio masters
- Cast and crew audio commentary
- “Lords of Hell” audio commentary featuring Saul and Dickie-Boy
- Video tour of both THE CONVENT and KILLERS film locations
- Vintage “Making of” featurette
- Vintage original studio Electronic Press Kit (EPK)
- “It’s Always Something with a Virgin” Liner notes from Corey Danna
- Deleted scene
- Gore outtakes
- Still gallery
- Promotional trailers
By: Marc Ferman