The Stepfather, From Shout To Scream

1987's The Stepfather is a taught little horror thriller that stands out just by virtue of being a little better in every department. It's got above average writing, thanks largely to a terrific idea taken from a shocking, true life story. There's this very traditional, middle-class, high family values kind of guy who seems completely innocuous and friendly. He's got a beautiful wife, nice kid; and everything's great as long as things are going his way. But if anything starts to go wrong, he'll murder his whole household rather than face their failure to live up to his idealistic fantasy of the perfect American family. And just like his real-life counterpart, instead of spending the rest of his life in jail, the titular stepfather simply changes his identity and moves in with a new family to try again. A family who has no idea that they'd better try their best live up to his fragile expectations, because their lives are on the line.

Update 2/12/16 - 9/12/24: Well, The Stepfather is no longer pre-Scream Factory, and it's also freshly restored in 4k, on UHD, with all new special features as a Collector's Edition.  And it's about time!

More than just the writing, though, it's an effective, well-directed little film with a subtly haunting score and most notably a defining role played by Terry O'Quinn. He delivers one of cinema's all-time memorable performances, as he turns from charming to chilling on a dime, to the point where it's taken him decades to go from being known simply as the stepfather to "that guy from Lost." He's crafted the perfect image of the very last guy you'd ever want to marry your mom and take over your home.

Not that the film's flawless. The plot flops around a bit in the middle, introducing and eventually just getting rid of a whole other lead character. A surviving member of a prior family is plodding along on the stepfather's trail while bickering with the local police, and it just never gets interesting or has any influence on the main characters. Really, everybody who gets between the audience and the main nuclear family, which is where all the drama is, just feel like they're padding the running time. But hey, you can't begrudge a horror film too much for tossing in a couple extra murders, and every time the camera focuses back on the leads, the film's back to firing on all cylinders again.

There's another potential issue that hangs over any issue of this film: is it uncut? The Stepfather's IMDB board is full of people looking for a television version with alternate scenes. And having grown up with a copy of this film taped off of cable TV, those scenes sound familiar to me, too. I'm pretty sure they're right.  They confirm it in the director's commentary, too, so we know Shout's aware of it.  But they're not included on any commercial release to date, either as part of the feature film or deleted scenes. Knowing Shout, I'm sure they tried.  So it's a nice dream, but unfortunately the standard R-rated cut is the only version on the table.

For the longest time, The Stepfather was conspicuously MIA on DVD, at least here in the US. There were a couple of generic, fullscreen VHS-sourced releases overseas. And in the mid-2000s, an alluring German DVD became the disc to try and import. It was anamorphic widescreen, and a must-have for US fans who didn't even have a domestic barebones disc. But finally, the 2009 Stepfather remake made the studio realize, hey, we don't even have the original out there. And so, there was no Scream Factory back then, but the parent label Shout Factory had dipped their toes slightly into the horror genre with their line of Roger Corman cult films and Miike's Audition. So they got this high profile title and made what is essentially the first Scream Factory Collector's Edition before there were Scream Factory Collector's Editions. At first this was a DVD-only title, released on its own in late 2009. But then they came back and issued a blu-ray version in 2010. And now, it's a full-blown, UHD/ BD 2-disc combopack Collector's Edition under the Scream Factory brand.

1) 2009 Shout DVD; 2) 2010 Shout BD; 3) 2024 Scream BD; 4) 2024 Scream UHD.

Both Shouts are full 16x9 widescreen at 1.78:1. The DVD has a very slight single letterbox bar going across the top that's lifted on the blu, giving the blu a very slim extra bit of image. Otherwise, these look very similar and are obviously struck from the same master. So naturally, the difference isn't terribly overwhelming, and that's less a compliment to the DVD than it is a mark against the blu. It's not bad, just kind of soft and light on detail. The grain looks kind of uneven and random on the blu; whereas it's almost entirely smoothed away on the DVD. So for sure the blu is better, with a clearer, slightly more distinct image.

But now we have a fancy, new 4k restoration for the modern era.  And it's not that the original footage has a vast wealth of detail hidden away that Shout had neglected to tap into, and they hadn't borked the color timing or added unwelcome edge enhancement or other tinkering, but things are still better all around.  For one thing, the image is now more properly framed at 1.85:1, and that's actually unveiling a little more along the sides rather than just matting the top and bottom.  Even just comparing the two 1080p blus, grain is much more thorough, edges are sharper, and colors are a little more muted (Terry's apron, for example, is noticeably darker in the newer shots).  It's almost like the initial step from DVD to BD repeated.  It's not a massive change, but it's another clear move ahead.  And then of course on the UHD, colors are richer and more vibrant, sort of restoring the stronger colors of the Shout BD, but now in a more natural, realistic palette... though it's all very subtle across each version. In a few key scenes, the colors really are more attractive in HDR, though.

All four discs have fairly basic but solid 2.0 stereo tracks with the initial blu presenting it in lossless LPCM, and the Screams in DTS-HD.  It's worth noting that neither Shout Factory release included subtitles, but the new Scream set does.

Extras-wise, it was a pretty unexciting double-dip from DVD to BD, but at least there was a difference. Most of the extras were the same. You have a pretty solid audio commentary with director Joseph Ruben, who's thankfully got Fangoria's Mike Gingold enthusiastically prompting him along. Even more engaging, I found, was the almost half-hour documentary The Stepfather Chronicles, which is a great portender for the excellent featurettes we'd find on Scream Factory's releases. It's made by Red Shirt Pictures and is very slickly edited, talking to almost all the key players, from writer Brian Garfield to fan favorite Jill Schoelen. The only one we really miss Terry O'Quinn, who apparently doesn't like to talk about this film? That's a shame, and so that's about it for the DVD. The only other features are the theatrical trailer and a fold-out insert with notes by Cliff MacMillan.

The Shout blu keeps the commentary, doc and trailer, but loses the insert. Instead, they added a couple additional trailers including a German one, a video store promo, and trailers for both of the sequels. A slight improvement, but nothing to break out the checkbook for.

And now we have the new Scream Factory set, which ostensibly adds a lot, but really not a lot of value.  All the old extras are here except, curiously, for the German trailer and the video store promo.  No great loss, but still an odd decision.  Instead, we get three, count 'em three, new audio commentaries, in addition to the original.  The first is with Jill Schoelen, which is fun.  She's a good sport and enthusiastic about the film, but unfortunately she's forgotten a lot and was never part of a lot of the big decisions in the first place.  So when she's asked how the writers were brought together, or what was in those deleted scenes, she doesn't know.  And the moderator isn't a great help.  He certainly has a challenge, which I appreciate.  Jill says she never watched the sequels, and he says, well there goes several of my questions.  But unfortunately, his solution is to just keep offering his opinions on everything.  Want to know if he liked Anthony Hopkins or Brian Cox as Hannibal Lector?  You'll find out!  It's like, if you're not asking Jill a question or prompting her to share something, stop pontificating.  Who even are you?

And that's a perfect set-up for the next two commentaries,  both of which are by, I guess, experts (the back of the case smartly doesn't designate them as anything).  And they both just constantly describe what's clearly happening on the screen: "she's now completely suspicious of him and seeking answers, and newspaper articles, so he's on the cusp of getting found out, which is driving up the tension, which we see because he's not handling it well."  Yeah, obviously, we're seeing the movie, too.  They're like audio descriptive tracks for the blind, not audio commentaries.  But I still prefer those parts to all the "I love that line," "I love this shot," "oh, this is perfect"s.  These three people spend hours giving us their opinions (and surprise, surprise, they all love the movie - we already knew their opinions before we started).  Why do they think we'd care?  It's one thing if the director tells us he never really cared for a certain detail, or has a surprising favorite scene.  But when Schoelen and Shelley Hack are having the leaf fight, we get some random soliloquizing, "how fun is that?  I don't know about you guys, but every Fall that is an activity that I would get into, is just crashing around, making a bigger mess with the leaves I had just raked.  But it's worth it, you know?  These are the kinds of things, seasonal activities, you have to do."  What?  I can't imagine why Scream Factory thinks we want to hear these people keep telling us about themselves.  But I'm sure the ideal is just that it looks like a big deal when they list three new audio commentaries in their specs.

Besides the commentaries, we get a new on-camera interview with Schoelen, which is nice, but between the audio commentary and her participation in the documentary, you know.  Do we really want to hear all her anecdotes in triplicate?  To be fair, she doesn't say all the same things in all three, but still, a lot is repeated.  The only other new stuff is a stills gallery and a slipcover.

No matter what, the new Scream Factory is the definitive release.  The best transfer, finally in 1.85:1, finally with subtitles for those who need 'em.  This is the way to go.  It's too bad the new extras didn't add much value; but just taking this release on its own, it looks and sounds terrific, and the older extras are still here, and they're pretty great.  I mean, part of the problem Scream had this time, is that apart from roping in O'Quinn or unearthing those deleted scenes, their package didn't really need much else.  They weren't lacking for features from the start; they just had to look like they were giving us more.  So highly recommended, just know that you don't have to waste your time sitting through all four commentaries.  Read a book or play a video game instead.

The Cinematic Catalog of Steven Wright

One thing I don't want to lose sight of here at DVDExotica is coverage of rare and unique discs.  It shouldn't just be the same handful of boutique labels represented over and over.  So, to that end, I thought I'd make another post similar to our Cinematic Catalog of Josh Kornbluth entry, though this one is a little smaller.  I'm talking about celebrated stand-up comedian... and filmmaker Steven Wright.  You might just know him as the man on the couch in Half Baked or Stan Spielberg in The Muse, but this man has an Academy Award.

He won that Best Short Film, Live Action award for his first film, 1989's The Appointments Of Dennis Jennings, which he wrote and starred in.  He didn't direct it - Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) did - but he went on to direct his next one.  But here he plays a waiter, unsure of his relationship with Laurie Metclaf, so he goes to see a psychiatrist for help.  That psychiatrist is played by Rowan Atkinson, though, so you can image how well that goes.  Naturally, having Wright talk to a psychiatrist is often just an excuse to unleash his deadpan humor.  I assume some of this stuff is straight from his stage act.  But the film takes the opportunity to invent cutaways and imagery to tell jokes he couldn't do through words alone.

And yes, a story does reveal itself.  I mean, you wouldn't waste Atkinson as just a straight man, nodding along to Wright's stand-up, no matter how creative it is.  Wright is revealed to be a paranoiac, and his paranoia is proven to be correct in the most absurdist ways.  Like a Zucker Brothers film, The Appointments is packed full of every kind of gag: in the foreground, in the background.  When he picks up a newspaper, the headline's a gag.  And while a few of them are a little creaky, Wright's humor tends to be timeless, so most of them still play.  And the story itself is clever in its own right.

2000ish DVD.

I've seen this DVD listed online as an HBO release, but I think that might just be because this is an HBO Movies film.  Their logo isn't on the case or anything, and though it has a proper UPC, this otherwise feels like an independent product.  If you're hoping for extras, that'd be great, but forget it.  There isn't even a DVD menu.  The film itself is presented in 1.31:1, which is fine.  I'm sure it was made fullframe to air on HBO at the time.  But the picture's fuzzy like the transfer came from a tape, and yep, it's interlaced.  The 2.0 mono track is very basic but fine, and of course there are no subtitle options.

Ten years later, Wright returned to the movie camera, this time not just to write and star in his second film, 1999's One Soldier, but to produce and direct it as well.  This used to play on IFC all the time.  I swear, though, they used One Soldier and Tex, The Passive-Aggressive Gunslinger to balance out their time slots every single day.  Fortunately, both are ingenious delights, so it never bothered me.

Anyway, One Soldier's a little artier than Appointments.  Both flicks are only about half an hour, but this one's in black and white with slow, static shots, wistful Ken Burns-style voice overs, a gentle score and just a generally slower, less gag-packed pace.  But it's still full of Wright's distinct humor.  It's a period piece, set immediately after the civil war, with Wright playing an accordion-playing soldier who's fallen into an existential funk.  It's not as crowd pleasingly comic as Appointments, but it's a more interesting, mature work.  A little bit anyway.  Wright certainly achieves a distinct, absorbing mood here that makes you wish he'd continued to pursue filmmaking.

2009ish DVD.

One Soldier looks to be another home brew disc with similar art layout.  Again, it's presented in 1.31:1, and though the source is 16mm, the image actually looks sharper and clearer than Appointments.  It's still interlaced, though, which is a bummer.  And once again, it just has the basic 2.0 mono track with no subtitles (except for a few that are burned into one scene), no menu and no special features.

misframed version

I ordered The Appointments Of Dennis Jennings off of Amazon back when they carried it, and I got One Soldier direct from Steven Wright's website, both back around 2000.  I've just checked and, surprisingly, both DVDs are still available on his site as of this writing.  It's worth noting that One Soldier is also included as an extra on the 2007 Image DVD of Wright's stand-up special When the Leaves Blow Away, but there the film is incorrectly framed at 1.75:1, matting off a good chunk of the top and bottom of the picture.  So you should really stick to the original disc.

I'd love to see both films get restored in HD on blu; they could really use it.  But I bet if a Vinegar Syndrome partner label or some such picked them and restored them as a double-feature, it'd sell.  Maybe they could get Gunslinger, too.  But I really don't see any of that happening anytime soon, so I'd grab those discs from Wright's site while you still can.

M.I.A. Remember My Name

It's been a while since I've done an M.I.A. post - I try to be sparing and highly selective with them - but this is one that's really frustrating for me.  1978's Remember My Name is an excellent film I'm a big fan of that's never been available on disc in any capacity.  Not even a dodgy full-frame VHS rip DVD in another region, not even a laserdisc, nothing.  And it's a big studio (Columbia Pictures) film with major movie stars and everything.  When I first saw it, I thought, oh, I need to own this one, but again, there was nothing available.  And every year or so I give another desperate check around the 'net, just to see if it got quietly released in Japan, Spain, Australia or someplace, but nothing ever turns up besides the sporadic bootleg, presumably made to satiate equally desperate fans.  It's one of those, "please, won't anybody take my money?!" situations.

Remember My Name is an adult drama, written and directed by Alan Rudolph (Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, The Secret Lives of Dentists), produced by Robert Altman and starring Geraldine Chaplin - yes, Charlie's daughter - as a working class woman stalking a married construction worker, played by Anthony Perkins.  Yes, he gets to be the normal one this time; but he's no less effective for it.  There are also some great early supporting roles by Jeff Goldblum, Tim Thomerson (Trancers, Dollman), Dennis Franz and Alfre Woodward.  Chaplin's had a long and storied career, acting in everything from Dr. Zhivago to Jurassic Park 5; but this is really her showcase role.  She manages to be at once ice cold and relatable.  And she's beautiful, so at first you're thinking, well gee, I don't think I'd mind having this woman stalk me.  But then she slowly teaches you why, oh yes, you certainly would in the end.

And yet this is not some bombastic Fatal Attraction-style thriller with jump scares and a body count.  This film stays grounded from beginning to end.  In fact, reading user reviews online, I've learned the understated finale disappoints a lot of viewers; but that's just the kind of movie this is, putting artistic truth ahead of a pandering, popcorn climax.  Rudolph's camera is slow and elegant, easing through a humble culture of beer and cigarettes.  It has some of that Altman feel, but focused on a singular, personal story rather than his signature scattershot ensemble.  The soundtrack is an odd choice, scoring the whole thing with nothing but these loungey jazz tunes by Alberta Hunter and her orchestra does make it feel dated.  But it's good music and definitely gives the film more of a distinct identity.

So, as always when I make one of these posts, my greatest long-shot hope is that somebody working at a studio or boutique label will stumble upon this and take up the challenge.  I've been elated to remove the "M.I.A." tag from several posts for films that've received nice, special edition blu-rays over the years I've run this site.  However I suspect the problem in this case is that ownership has shifted to Lions Gate, who we all know love to neglect their catalog titles; and this ain't exactly a Vestron-kinda flick.  But maybe I'm wrong.  Or even if I'm right, maybe they can be cajoled.  After OFDb managed to convince LG to let them release The Resurrected in Germany, I feel like anything's possible.  And hey, that paved the way for a US Scream Factory Collector's Edition.  So fingers crossed.  Hey, every day leadership changes at Warner Bros, my first thought is that maybe now they'll finally stop suppressing The Devils.  We just gotta keep banging the drum.  #ReleaseTheCarterCut, baby!

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker

I remember first seeing 1982's Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker's iconic cover on the Pocket Books paperback as a kid and thinking this must be some wild Nightmare On Elm St. type story, with this astral gateway or whatever opening up out of the boy's chest revealing a giant evil eye floating inside.  Turns out it was just a bad drawing of a knife being held in front of the kids, with the killer's eye in the reflection, and this is a completely non-supernatural thriller.  And God only knows how the title's meant to connect to the story.  But, hey, it's still pretty interesting.

Update 4/16/19 - 8/24/24: As we bid adieu to Update Week 2024, it takes its bows with Severin's recent 4k upgrade of the off-kilter slasher Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker.  And if you want something a little more highbrow, we've also finally added the Kino Lorber DVD of Andrei Tarkovsky's Mirror.

I guess you'd say Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker, a.k.a. Night Warning - let's just call it Night Warning - is a character study/ slasher.  Billy Lynch is just a baby when his parents die in a spectacular car accident that was later ripped off in the Final Destination films.  So he's raised by his aunt (Susan Tyrrell, Academy Award nominee for Fat City), who's just a little too over-protective... to the point of homicidal psychosis.  Tyrrell is fascinating to watch, and as the film builds to its demented climax, it's a blast.  It's got a minimal, effective score.  The closing credits mention a proper theme song called "Little Billy Boy" with lyrics and everything, but we don't seem to ever hear it in the movie.

Unfortunately, the film putzes around a lot in the middle.  Bo Svenson's a police detective who's constantly barking up the wrong tree, including persecuting Billy's gay basketball coach.  This whole subplot stumbles clumsily over the line between preachy after-school special and offensively politically incorrect and barely has any connection to the central story either way.  You've got a pretty interesting supporting cast, though, including Julia Duffy from the Newhart show as the girlfriend and Bill Paxton in one of his earliest film roles as Billy's rival.  Horror fans will also immediately recognize Britt Leach, Mr. Sims from Silent Night Deadly Night, as a police officer with more of a clue.

No Code Red release felt more conspicuously absent from this site than this one.  Like Witchmaker, Night Warning had never been available on DVD until CR finally brought it home in 2013 (after having originally been announced back in 2007).  At the time, it was a DVD-only release with CR swearing up and down it would never be re-issued on BD, but we all knew they'd break down eventually.  And in 2017, they finally did, releasing it as a "Diabolik Exclusive Blu-Ray" (in quotes, because you could also get it from sites like Code Red's bigcartel and the Dark Forces Superstore 🤷).  And now the film's back, this time in Severin's hands, in a loaded 2-disc 4k set.

1) 2014 Code Red DVD; 2) 2017 Code Red BD;
3) 2024 Severin BD; 4) 2024 Severin UHD.

The DVD tells us its transfer comes from a "brand new HiDef master from the original camera negatives (that were reported lost by basement dwellers)."  And the blu-ray's transfer comes from a "brand new 2017 2k scan from the original camera negatives (the vault finally found it after misplacing it years ago!)."  And yes, this bears out, because the DVD transfer was a revelation compared to the previous VHS rips and junk fans had been living with for so many years.  The DVD case says it's 1.85:1, but it's actually 1.78.  Regardless, though, it looks great in a surprisingly clear anamorphic widescreen edition.  When the blu was finally announced, I didn't expect anything more than to have the same transfer slapped onto a higher resolution disc.  And I would've been fine with that, just tightening up some of the fuzzy compression of standard definition.  But no, we've got a fresh scan (also 1.78:1) which looks even better, revealing more picture along all four sides, with much sharper and cleaner detail, and even more notably, some very attractive color correction.  The colors weren't bad the first time around, but now this looks like the work of a major studio.

1) 2014 Code Red DVD; 2) 2017 Code Red BD;
3) 2024 Severin BD; 4) 2024 Severin UHD.

There wasn't much damage on the DVD, but even that has been cleaned up on the blu.  There's still a bit, but the film feels refreshingly clean now.

And Severin's new 4k scan?  Well, it actually is 1.85:1 this time.  It's not entirely free of damage, and it's different damage, but it's about comparable to the previous blu in that respect.  The biggest difference is probably the grain structure, which really comes through in this new 4k scan of the negative.  Even the 1080p blu looks much more filmic than Code Red's, which feels slightly out of focus by comparison, and then the UHD just takes it that much further.  And the colors look a little more subtle and authentic now.

Both Code Reds just feature the original mono track with no subtitle options.  It's bumped up to lossless DTS-HD on the blu, but it still has a core background hiss, with the occasional crack and pop.  Severin's DTS-HD track has a hiss to it, too, but it's less pervasive.  And they've added optional English subtitles for the first time.

Code Red's DVD is an impressively endowed special edition.  But if you only see one DVD extra in your life, and I mean on any DVD ever, you've got to watch Susan Tyrrell's on-camera interview.  She tells us right off the bat that she "hated every damn minute of it" and has "a lot of horrifying stories to tell."  It looks like she started out recording an audio commentary, but they wound up with just this perfect, eleven minute piece where she goes from "I'd fuck anybody to get out of this picture... except Bo" to "brilliant!  That's a great scene!"

And if you're disappointed to've missed out on a potential audio commentary, don't worry; we've got still got two.  One by Billy himself, Jimmy McNichol, and one by co-writers Steven Breimer (who also produced) and Alan Jay Glueckman.  We also get on-camera interviews with McNichol, Steve Eastman who played the coach, Breimer and effects artist Allan Apone, plus the original theatrical trailer.  Thankfully, the blu-ray carries over absolutely everything from the DVD and also has reversible cover art with the Night Warning artwork.

Thank goodness, Severin was able to include that Tyrrell interview, along with all the other Code Red extras.  They've come up with a bunch more stuff, too, including an audio commentary by producer Eugene Mazzola, moderated by Red Shirt's Michael Felsher.  It's one of those meandering ones that interviews him about his career more than this specific film, but it's still interesting.  We've also got some great, new on-camera interviews with Bo Svenson(!), director of photography Robbie Greenberg and editor Ted Nicolaou.  Yes, that Ted Nicolaou.  They've also dug up an additional TV spot.  The first pressing comes in a slipcover, and both pressings include reversible cover art.  None of the three art pieces they chose use the classic "evil eye" imagery, however.

I - as I'm sure many of you felt - was quite reluctant to double-dip on this title in 2017.  After all, most of us who bought the DVD edition in 2014 only did so after being flat-out guaranteed repeatedly that a blu-ray was impossible.  So seeing a replacement roll out after that felt a bit like being conned.  But considering the deluxe treatment Severin's giving it now, I feel much better about the triple-dip.  😎

Contesting Alexander Payne's Election

Unfortunately, I think a lot of people write Election off as being a "teen movie," like Clueless, or at best one with slightly more edge like Mean Girls.  And then they don't watch it for the same reason they don't browse the YA section of their local library.  And it's certainly understandable why anyone would walk away from the marketing feeling that way.  Not only are more than half the stars break-out teenage actors making their early marks, most of the story takes place in a high school, and it was distributed by MTV Productions, who don't exactly have a strong track record of mature output.  So I don't knock anyone who got that impression; but I'm hoping now that Criterion's putting it out, more grown-up film watchers will discover it.

Update 1/23/18 - 8/24/24: Criterion raised Election to BD, and now Paramount has lifted it up to UHD.  How did they do?  Let's look.  I've also added the DVD version to our Coup de Chance page.  And I know Day 7 feels like the natural end to Update Week 2024, but check back tomorrow, we'll be doing one more Day!

There's a reason this is an R-rated movie, which probably took a nasty bite out of this film's box office returns.  Strictly financially, at least in the short term, letting it go out R was probably a bad decision.  But thankfully they looked at the long-tail view of artistic credibility.  Because Alexander Payne has some very adult sensibilities that are on full view here; and I mean that both in the high-minded, sentiments-too-complex-for-developing-young-viewers-to-appreciate sense, and in the more guttural naughty-stuff-younger-audiences-shouldn't-be-exposed-to-yet sense.  I mean, this story is set in the aftermath of a teacher forced to resign because he was having sex with an underage student.  So hopefully that alone signals potential viewers that maybe this isn't one to put on the TV in front of their kids and walk out of the room, but also a hand-wave to more serious cinephiles to suggest, hey maybe something is going on in this film besides just the formulaic platitudes of the typical Hollywood fodder this film initially appears to be.

A lot of the extras talk about what a keen political satire this film is, and how the microcosm of the high school election this film centers around is such a great send-up of our country's parties and candidates.  And I guess that's here to some degree.  But I really think this film is so much stronger on a genuine, human story.  Election is based (on an then unpublished novel by Tom Perrotta about) a real life incident where a school principal wound up fired and disgraced because he a pregnant girl was elected prom queen and he tried to deny it and cover it up, even to the point of setting all the ballots on fire.  Like wow, how does a man get to that stage in his life?  Sure, it might be fun to extrapolate that Chris Klein's character might have a bit of a George Bush hot take in it.  But it's utterly fascinating to explore the utterly unromantic desperate lives in small town Omaha.  The sociopathic ambition of student Reese Witherspoon crossing paths with the spiraling surrender of teacher Matthew Broderick at the absurd crossroads of an utterly meaningless student council.  It's brilliant.

Paramount originally released on DVD in 1999, the rather early days of DVD and when this film was brand new to home video.  But it still holds up fairly well as an anamorphic, widescreen edition with a commentary.  I've still got it, so we'll delve further into it below.  In 2009, Paramount reissued it on blu; but since I was fine with the DVD and utterly convinced this film deserved a proper special edition that would one day come, I held out.  And in 2017, Criterion brought that vision to life with a proper special edition blu-ray with an all new 4k scan of the original 35mm camera negatives and some great extras.  But you know what happens when a 4k scan hits blu-ray right?  A 4k Ultra HD release is inevitable, and this summer, Paramount gave us just that in a BD/ UHD Paramount Presents combopack.

1) 1999 Paramount DVD; 2) 2017 Criterion BD;
3) 2024 Paramount BD; 4) 2024 Paramount UHD.

So, like I said, even the old DVD is anamorphic (and no, not interlaced), giving us just a slightly window-boxed 2.29:1 picture.  Criterion makes the minor correction of re-framing it to exactly 2.35:1, revealing slivers more around the edges, especially the top and left.  Nice start, but the real improvement naturally comes down to the fine picture quality.  The DVD really shows its age when you get in close and see all those ugly compression artifacts, which are replaced with perfectly crisp clarity in Criterion's new scan, which brings out every speck of film grain.  The one flaw, which I'll preface by saying is not really all that bad, and only obvious in a side-by-side comparison like this, is the color timing.  It's a 2010s Criterion, so say it with me, "it has a green push."  Now, to be fair, Paramount's DVD here has a bit of a red push, so making the colors absolutely perfect would result in the film leaning a little more towards the green side.  But the pendulum has swung too far.  I mean, look at the second set of shots above.  I'll concede that the principal (right)'s shirt is up for debate, but surely Matt Malloy (of In the Company of Men fame, on the left)'s shirt is meant to be white, not cyan.  Anyway, it's a small flaw of an otherwise fantastic transfer.

And Paramount's new edition?  Kinda still a little too green.  They're probably using the same base master.  Their 1080p BD actually looks a little faded, like all its colors have been bleached a bit; but that's not a problem on the UHD with its Dolby Vision HDR10.  And its boost in resolution makes Election look more filmic than ever.  It doesn't blow the previous blu away, since that was already top notch; but this is even better, no question.

Now, originally the DVD gave us a choice between a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Surround mix and a 5.1, plus optional English subtitles.  Interestingly, Criterion only gives us the 5.1, now in DTS-HD, with optional English subtitles.   For the record, the 2009 Paramount blu-ray didn't have the stereo track either.  And Paramount's new UHD does the same, except they also throw in a French Dub (also 5.1 DTS-HD) and additional SDH and French sub tracks.

The DVD gave us a great audio commentary by director Payne.  He has a lot to say, on everything from the locations to the terrific soundtrack, and only occasionally pausing briefly towards the end of the film.  But that's all Paramount had ever given us (this is true of their 2009 blu, too); no trailer, no nothin'.  Well, Criterion really picks up the slack here.  First of all, yes, they carry over Paramount's commentary.  Then they add a terrific 40+ minute documentary, which shows behind-the-scenes footage, an original alternate ending, and interviews everybody from the cast and crew, drawing in the experiences of the big stars, the novelist, some of the teens who only had bit parts, and even several different critics.  Only one key person is really missing: Reese Witherspoon.  But then, hey, the next thing they give us is a nice, on-screen interview with Reese Witherspoon!  So really, we get everything you could want.  They even include a local newscast about the film shoot taking place in their operational high school (yes, shooting went on as real classes were taking place).  And yes, finally the trailer.

But that's still not all, because Criterion has also remastered and included Payne's student film, The Passion of Martin (a 4k scan of the original 16mm negatives, presented in 1.32:1).  Now, it's a student film, so it's definitely flawed and unpolished compared to a professional production like Election.  But once you get past that, it gets pretty compelling and genuinely funny, thanks in no small part to being based on a strong novel.  An on-screen text director's statement addresses most of the issues I had initially had with it, so I recommend doing what I didn't and reading that first.  Then Payne also gives a good on-camera interview talking about the early days of his career, the making of Martin, and how it all lead and connects to Election.  Also included is a 10-page fold-out insert with notes by Slate film critic Dana Stevens.

Paramount's new release, unfortunately, does not include the Criterion extras, not even the trailer, giving us a frustrating choice to make.  But they do preserve the commentary, and they've cooked up something new for us.  It's billed like a 3-part documentary, but really it's one joint interview with Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor.  It does include plenty of clips from the film, and even a bit of B-roll, but it's basically just one half hour interview.  It's a good one, though, and any fan should be happy to receive it.  Is it as good as the complete Criterion package?  No, but it is a temptation in itself, despite not being the comprehensive coverage you might've expected.  Paramount's new release also comes in a fancy slipcover with a gatefold front you can open to reveal the movie's poster image.

Alexander Payne's gone on to become pretty well recognized as a quality filmmaker, regularly working with people like George Clooney these days.  But I still don't think he's ever topped this, his masterpiece, which certainly has its devotees but ironically, is still broadly overlooked.  We all know that entrance into the Criterion Collection isn't 100% purely an artistic meritocracy (cough cough, Armageddon), but Election lives up to the every definition that a Criterion title is and should be.  And at the same time, it's accessible and funny enough to play right alongside something like Christmas Vacation or Raising Arizona.  So you should absolutely own this.  And the ideal way would be to have both the new Paramount, and the Criterion (BD or save a few bucks and just get the DVD for the extras).  But just one or the other will probably be enough for most people.  So choose accordingly.