The Film:
As most people who follow the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) closely will know, they have become a lot more relaxed in more recent years with the most current example being Emmanuelle passing uncut last week. Back in the 1970's, they had a different rating system which was U (all ages), A (over 5's), AA (Over 14's) and X (over 18's). Assault, back on first submission to the BBFC was given an X rating, the equivelant of today's 18, most likely due to (non-explicit) scenes of sexual assault. In today's society however, the BBFC have lowered this film's rating to a 15, which I am surprised at.
Directed by Sidney Havers (Knight Rider, Airwolf, The A-Team), Assault is a film about a series of attacks that have been happening in woodland opposite of a girls school. It started off with a rape, but now a murder has happened, with art teacher Julie West (Suzy Kendall - Torso) finding the body and spotting the murderer flee the scene. The police have now drawn up a list of possible suspects and against their wishes, Julie West decides that to stop another murder from happening, that she must team up with a local journalist played by Freddie Jones (The Libertine), and use herself as bait to trap the killer. The real question is, will she end up geting herself murdered or will the vicious attacker be caught?
Although the film is definately watchable, it is also not the best murder mystery film, and actually reminds me a lot of some Italian giallo's including Forbidden Photos Of A Lady Above Suspicion and The Black Belly Of The Tarantula. Whilst the mentioned films are good, Assault falls a little short from them even though it has the same mix of sex, murder and red herrings littered throughout. I think that this is mainly due to the fact that the story doesn't seem quite as well polished or layered as other similar films. The good side is though, that the acting is pretty solid, especially by Lesley-Anne Down as the silent rape victim Tessa. The score by Eric Rogers is also worthy of a mention. This is a film that is definately worth a watch and most would probably love to find a place for this in their collections. Fans of murder-mysteries may find this nothing that they haven't seen before though.
The DVD:
Video:
Unfortunately, Network have given us a non-anamorphic transfer for the film set at 1.75:1. Thankfully, it's still an OK transfer though, and better than most non-anamorphic ones I have seen in the past. With minor noticeable grain and dirt throughout, I also noticed a lack of clarity on occasion, usually during the scenes set in the darkness of the woods. There were no major scratches or any other damage to the print, but I would've loved this to have been enhanced. No subtitles have been included.
Audio:
Network have provided the film's original English Dolby Digital Mono track which has been dual encoded. Dialogue is clear throughout and volume levels were consistent. There wasn't much background noise noticeable and when it I did hear it, it was kept to a low level of volume. Obviously, I would've liked to see this given the surround treatment to help the atmospheric, dark tones of the film, but what we have is fine.
Extras:
We start off the extra features with what has become somewhat of a (welcome) regular appearence on Network releases, an episode of Tales Of The Unexpected, entitled There's One Born Every Minute. Starring Frank Finlay, the episode focuses around a quiet middle aged couple who inherit £50000 and decide to gamble it on a property deal. The episode originally aired June 5th 1981.
Other than that we get an image gallery and a trailer.
