The Carpenter – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Canada, 1988
Director: David Wellington
Writer: Doug Taylor
Cast: Wings Hauser, Lynne Adams, Pierre Lenoir, Barbara Jones, Louise-Marie Mennier

Release Date: February 18th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 86 Minutes 42 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: R
Sound: DTS-HD Stereo English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $44.98

"Alice Jarett, recently released from a mental hospital, is taken by her husband Martin to their new and spacious home, located deep in the countryside, for which Martin has hired a group of builders to complete its renovation. In the middle of the night, something stirs Alice awake, and as she goes to investigate, she is shocked to discover a remaining carpenter hard at work in the wee hours. Besieged by loneliness, Alice strikes up a casual friendship with the mysterious man, inviting him to continue working at his leisure. But as prowlers and unwanted guests begin turning up at the home, sometimes to harass, sometimes to menace, and sometimes to attack Alice, her carpenter always seems to be on hand to gorily dispatch anyone who comes too close. Has she found her guardian angel? Is she, in fact, a delusional psychopath? Or does the carpenter have his own axe to grind?" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Newly scanned & restored in 2K from a 35mm release print."

Here’s a disclaimer that plays before the film, "The Carpenter is presented in its fully uncut original version, restored from the sole known and believed surviving film element, a 35mm release print. Unfortunately, this print suffered severe censorship, with several gorier moments having been spliced out. A D2 master, the best available video copy of the unedited version, has been used to fill in the missing sections."

The Carpenter comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31.5 GB

Feature: 23.8 GB

Outside of the few moments taken from a D2 master, the bulk of this transfer looks excellent. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, black levels are strong, image clarity and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD stereo mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio sounds clean, clear, balanced, and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an interview with actor Wings Hauser titled Tools to Play With (7 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a making-of documentary featuring interviews with the cast and crew tilted Aggressively Itself (33 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with director David Wellington and writer Doug Taylor, an audio commentary with William Morris and John Dickson of The Oscarbate Film Collective and Podcast, reversible cover art, and a spot gloss slipcover (limited to 5,000 units).

Summary:

A couple moves into the home of a psychopath carpenter, who was executed years before for killing those that tried to interfere with him building his dream house.

The Carpenter was directed by David Wellington, who is most known for writing the screenplay for Zombie Nightmare. The Carpenter was produced by Jack Bravman, who is most known for directing the notoriously bad horror/comedy hybrid, The Night of the Dribbler, and the aforementioned Zombie Nightmare.

Though The Carpenter sets itself up as a Slasher film, it is actually more of a supernatural thriller. At the heart of this film is a story about a disturbed housewife named Alice, whose husband buys a home that needs a lot of renovation. And while there is never any doubt that Alice is not mentally well, the film never fully commits to if ‘The Carpenter’ character is a ghost or just a manifestation of Alice’s growing dementia. Either way, this is not a deal breaker, since both of these interpolations lend themselves perfectly to the story at hand.

The main attraction of The Carpenter is Wings Hauser (Vice Squad) in the title role. Another performance of note is Lynne Adams (Wild Thing), who portrays Alice, a housewife with psychological issues. These are the only performances that stand out; the rest of the cast are adequate in their respective roles. That said, the scenes that Wings Hauser and Lynne Adams share are the most memorable.

Though there are a few moments that drag, fortunately they never last too long, and things quickly get back on track. Visually, the moments in which the Carpenter character appears on-screen are, by far and away, the most stylish moments. When it comes to the kills, they are sufficiently gory and inventive in the way in which each victim gets knocked off, a different method for each victim. Ultimately, The Carpenter is a well-made psychological horror film that works as well as it does because of Wings Hauser's performance.

The Carpenter gets a first-rate release from Vinegar Syndrome that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer