Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural

Richard Blackburn

Synapse Films

R1 DVD

Thirteen-year-old Lila Lee (Cheryl Smith) is known as the Singing Angel and is the star attraction at her local Baptist Church where she has been a ward for the last three years. She is born again and beams with purity and Christian devotion. Her gangster father has just shot his wife and her lover, and while on the run from the law is captured by the dark and brooding Lemora (Lesley Gilb). Lemora lives in an isolated mansion, surrounded by swamps and filled to the brim with her robed followers, all of which seem to be rather deathlike in complexion. Lemora sees picture of Lila and it reminds her of a long lost love and she decides to lure Lila to the mansion using her father’s illness as a ruse. Lila reads of her father’s illness and his desire to be forgiven on his deathbed and in ture Christian style decides to make the journey for a final reconciliation.

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural was released in 1973, and while unsuccessful on the commercial market, over many years slowly developed a cult following and a nearly mythic status as a classic film. It was unavailable for many years and if you were lucky a damaged VHS cassette was the best you could hope for. There were even rumors that the original negative had been destroyed and that the uncut print of the film was hence never going to be available. However, this all proved untrue.

Synapse was able to locate the original negative and create a truly high definition release of this film. The new edition is uncut and uncensored and offers a high definition 1080p anamorphic transfer supervised and approved by the director. The picture quality is trulysuperb and with its emphasis on night colours, blacks, greys and shadows, it is astounding just how clear this release is. The mono sound is clear and while certainly limited, does the job. The soundtrack, with its strange bursts of laughter, eccentric music and atmospheric sounds effects adds greatly to the texture of the film and is reproduced with good clarity.

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural is a classic vampire tale exploring unusual territory including issues of sexuality and emotion. Certainly Lemora has a strong sexual appeal and the inherent lesbianism makes the film all the more intriguing, never explicit there is a mood and atmosphere that is able to communicate in a subtle way which is far more effective that later more exploitative lesbian vampire fare.

While Lemora is a low budget film, its innovative filming, textured mood and eccentric soundtrack make it an extremely effective vampire classic which has developed quite a reputation over the years, it is well worth watching.

Extras include a full-length commentary with director Richard Blackburn, actress Lesley Gilb and producer Robert Fern. A well packed stills gallery with on-set photos, continuity pics, and posters. The original 99-page shooting script and there are some synapse promos for other releases.