Original title: The Legend of Doom House
Year: 1971
Country: Belgium
Region code: B
Content: Blu-Ray
EAN: 5060974682690
Image: 1.85:1 (1080p)
HDR: -
Audio: Dutch
Subtitles: English
Rating: 15
Genre: Horror
Distribution: Orson Welles, Susan Hampshire, Michel Bouquet, Mathieu Carrière, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Walter Rilla
Director: Harry Kümel
Synopsis:
Jan (Mathieu Carriere, Police Python 357), a sailor newly arrived onshore is unsure about returning to land but makes the journey to visit his childhood home only to find it no longer there. He goes to Bar Venus and joins his friends but an altercation leaves him knocked out cold. He wakes up in Malpertuis, a gothic mansion presided over by his uncle, Cassavius (Orson Welles). All the inhabitants of Malpertuis are waiting for Cassavius to die and the opportunity to inherit his vast fortune. But Cassavius wishes anyone who inherits to stay there forever. Jan investigates as those who leave meet with mysterious deaths. Harry Kümel's (Daughters of Darkness) phantasmagoria is a Matryoshka doll of fantastic ideas, realized with stunning photography by Gerry Fisher (The Exorcist III) and scored by Georges Delerue (Contempt). Newly restored and overseen by Kümel, it is released on Blu-ray for the first time in the world.
Extras:
BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
New 4K restoration of the film overseen by director Harry Kümel
Audio commentary by Harry Kümel and assistant director Françoise Levie (2005)
New interview with Harry Kümel (2025)
New interview with author and gothic horror expert Jonathan Rigby (2025)
Malpertuis Archive - an archival documentary on the making of the film featuring Kümel, actor Mathieu Carrière and director of photography Gerry Fisher among others (2005)
Orson Welles Uncut – a featurette on the casting of Welles, including rare outtakes of the actor (2005)
Susan Hampshire: one actress, three parts - an archival interview with the actress, including screen tests and contributions from cast and crew (2005)
Archival interview with Michel Bouquet and Harry Kümel from Belgian television (1971)
Jean Ray, John Flanders 1887 - 1964 - an archival interview with the source novelist and co-writer of Malpertuis (2005)
Malpertuis Revisited - Harry Kümel revisits locations from the film (2005)
Malpertuis: The Cannes cut - the rejected version of the film which premiered in Cannes (100 mins, SD)
The Warden of the Tomb - Kümel's early film based on Franz Kafka's play (1965)
Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
Limited edition 80-page perfect bound booklet featuring new writing by Lucas Balbo, Maria J. Pérez Cuervo, David Flint, Willow Catelyn Maclay, Jonathan Owen
Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in rigid box and full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
