Enough Is Never Enough Of the Stuff!

Larry Cohen's extremely eccentric masterpiece The Stuff has been available on DVD since Anchor Bay released it in 2000. It was certainly a must-have for fans at the time, but it finally received a much needed HD upgrade in 2014, and man is it an improvement.

Update 1/5/15 - 7/29/25: "Update?"  More like a complete overhaul.  This is one of my earliest posts that didn't adhere to my now adopted format.  And it turns out I still had a page where the screenshots were all jpgs, so I had to replace everything.  But that's appropriate, because a complete overhaul is what Arrow's given The Stuff with their brand new, UHD/ BD release!

Admittedly, if I was a film producer and Mr. Cohen came to me with this script, I'd never back it. I'd be like, I loved your past work and you've proven yourself commercially for decades, but you've clearly dived far too deep into self indulgence with this one. You've taken the balance you usually strike of an underlying wit in your traditional genre films and pushed it way out of whack, becoming down right silly and bizarre. But I'm so glad he didn't listen to the profit protecting producers of this world, and made this movie anyway.

Superficially, The Stuff is a spin on the already off-beat cult flick, The Blob. That film starts off with an old man wandering off in the woods at night and finding a small, crashed meteorite. He touches it and a pink slime gets on his hand, which oozes up his arm and kills him by dissolving him. Well, in this film an old man is wandering out and finds a bubbling pile of white ooze on the ground in the snow. He touches it and... tastes it and it's wonderful. Suddenly, it's the new dessert sensation that's sweeping the nation. But it turns out to have a horrible secret. Soon, only a corporate saboteur played delightfully by Michael Moriarty, along with a small boy and Saturday Night Live's Garrett Morris wind up the only people who can save the world from a zero calorie doom.

If anything, it turns out to be more of a spin on Invasion Of the Body Snatchers, but it's a pretty broad spin.  This film has a terrific cast, including not only the names above but Danny Aiello, Paul Sorvino, Cohen regular James Dixon and even the original Where's the Beef lady reprising her role for an in-film ad campaign.  The special effects are mixed... some look great, some pretty poor.  But it all somehow works in this service of this story that's constantly veering off in new and entertaining directions.  This is a film that takes a specific mind set to really appreciate, but if that's you, you're going to love this movie.

This entire police station sequence is absent from the final cut.

Now, if you've heard any Larry Cohen interviews (including all of the ones on these discs), you know he's been unhappy with the final cut, regarding changes the distributors imposed on him.  He's talked about various scenes that were in the original cut but were now lost to the world, because he had no idea where that footage was.  Well, Arrow found it!  They've got a 35mm print of his original pre-release version, which turns out to be over half an hour longer.  It's also got a completely different score.

Is it better?  Well, yes and no.  There's some material I think they should've left in that I had a great time with, and other material that was better cut but still enjoyed.  The shorter run time does give the film a tighter pace, and some stuff, like the romance and extra Stuff commercials add some lag.  But any fan of The Stuff should be delighted to see this alternate version.  There are some great lines and weird moments (including a scene where the older brother performs The Telltale Heart for a for a perturbed cop).  And if you notice, the closing credits list five celebrity "special guest stars," but only four appeared in the film.  Well, now we've found that fifth one: Laurene Landon.  And the original score is pretty good, too.  It's definitely an alternate cut I'll return to for future watches.

Anchor Bay released the initial DVD in 2000, and it was pretty great for its time.  Then Image reissued it as a very skippable barebones edition in 2011.  But the next noteworthy release was Arrow's UK special edition blu-ray, first released as a BD/ DVD combo pack in 2014.  For the record, they went on to release it in the US in 2016, then they reissued it in the UK in 2017 and the US in 2019, but the only significant difference is that they were single disc BD releases.  It felt like the final word on the film, with its 2k restoration and all new special features, but 2025 has proven that wrong.  Now Arrow has restored the film in 4k on a proper UHD cooked up some more new extras, and of course unearthed that pre-release cut (on BD only, since it's taken from a print).

1) 2000 AB DVD; 2) 2014 Arrow DVD; 3) 2014 Arrow BD;
4) 2025 Arrow UHD; 5) 2025 Arrow BD (pre-release cut).

So they're all anamorphic widescreen, but the aspect ratio is shifting around here, which Arrow initially corrects from AB's 1.82:1 to 1.83:1, but as you can see, they also uncover a lot more information on the left side and along the top.  1.82 to 1.83 may not sound like much, but in this case, it's a big difference.  The UHD tweaks it a little further, to a proper 1.85:1, but it's a much more subtle fix.  Interestingly, the pre-release cut is also 1.85:1, but cropped back down the way the original DVD was.  Arrow's 2014 scan is a much cleaner, more natural image than AB's disc, though admittedly, the colors look a little faded. This was right around the time of Arrow's infamous Demons blu, though, and it's nowhere near as bad as that.  Especially since, in comparison, the DVD looks over-saturated and contrast-y.  But the film definitely looks its best in the new 4k scan.  The old blu has really nicely rendered film grain already, and there's not really anymore detail to add to the picture, but the colors are much more vibrant and absorbing.  The pre-release cut, meanwhile, is much more contrast-y and washed, but that's to be expected given the source elements.

All five versions have the original mono in 2.0, and the blus bump it up to LPCM.  Anchor Bay did not include subtitles, but all the Arrow discs include removable English ones, even the pre-release cut.

So Anchor Bay started us off with a Larry Cohen commentary, and if you've heard any of his, you know there's always great.  He has a fun attitude and is happy to share all his secrets.  They also threw in the theatrical trailer and an insert.  But disappointingly, Arrow's 2014 dropped the commentary!  They just about made up for it, though, with their original retrospective documentary, which runs almost an hour long, featuring interviews with Larry Cohen, producer Paul Kurta, special effects creator Steve Neill, female lead Andrea Marcovicci, and film critic Kim Newman.  It also featured the original theatrical trailer and an extra fun bonus: The Stuff's Trailers From Hell episode (more DVDs should include these!), featuring the director of Saw 2 & 3, Darren Bousman.  It also has reversible artwork and a 24-page booklet by Joel Harley.

The good news now is: the commentary is back!  Arrow's 2025 release has both the 2000 commentary and the 2014 doc.  And they have new stuff!  There's a lost interview with Cohen and Kurta (or technically two, edited together) that was shot but not used for the King Cohen documentary.  Unfortunately, they don't say anything they didn't already say, practically verbatim, in the doc and commentary.  But since Cohen's no longer with us, it's nice to get any piece of lost footage back.  Arrow's also recorded a new commentary, by two experts, who spend most of their time repeating what Larry said in his own commentary, along with reading peoples' filmographies and discussing other films.  In other words, thanks for making the effort, Arrow, but this one should absolutely be skipped.

Oh, and surprisingly, Arrow has also slapped the 2015 42nd Street Memories documentary (which I've written about here) on this disc.  It's already been included as an extra on multiple different releases of various films over the years, and it doesn't have much to do with The Stuff.  But if you don't already have it (I think this is the third time it's entered my collection), it's nice to have.  They've added a couple more trailers and TV spots, but disappointingly, they dropped the Trailers From Hell.  Honestly, I'd rather have that then all the new stuff, but just getting the documentary and Cohen commentary together on this release is already a win.  And hey, more is always better than less.  This one also has reversible artwork and comes in a slipcover, with a 32-page booklet with everything Harley wrote for the previous book, plus a new essay by  Daniel Burnett.

I know everybody's excited about Scream Factory's Day Of the Dead announcement (so am I!!), but I don't see anything toppling this release as disc of the year for me.  An underrated film I love getting a 4k remaster on UHD, an alternate version I never thought we'd get to see, the old commentary back with all new stuff?  This is the one I've been obsessively monitoring the mailbox for, and now that it's hear, it's everything I was hoping for.

We Watched... We Waited... Now Our Time Has Come. Lifeforce, the Director's Cut in 4k!

Lifeforce has a hell of a pedigree.  It's a script by Dan O'Bannon, adapting Colin Wilson's novel Space Vampires, directed by Tobe Hooper and produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus.  For Cannon, this was their entry into blockbuster budgeted special effects epics meant to compete with the likes of Star Wars and Krull.  For Hooper, this was his homage to Hammer; the kind of film they'd be making had they still been making them in the 80s.  In terms of box office, this movie wasn't such a success, but in terms of what's up on the screen, I'd say both parties pulled off exactly what they were going for.  This is the Hammer summer tent-pole release that never was.  It stars Steve Railsback (Helter Skelter, Trick Or Treats), Peter Firth (Equus, Northanger Abbey), Patrick Stewart and most iconically, Mathilda May.  The effects are lead by Star Wars' own John Dykstra and there's an amazing score by Henry Mancini and The London Symphony Orchestra.  In short, it's a blast.

Significantly, there are two cuts of this film: the theatrical cut and the international cut.  The latter is over fifteen minutes longer, with many alternate shots and takes.  I recommend movie-censorship.com's detailed break-down if you really want to study the differences.  Now, calling the longer version the International version can be misleading, implying that it's an extended alternate cut, sure, but maybe excessively lengthy or extended arbitrarily.  One need only dip your toes into the film's many special features (more on them later) to hear that this is unquestionably the director's cut.  It's the whole crew's preferred cut.  The distributors (Trimark) took the film away from the filmmakers, and even Cannon, and cut it down against everybody's wishes.  They also changed the title from the novel-accurate Space Vampires, though some of the crew concede that may've been a wiser choice.

The original Vestron laserdisc of Lifeforce was a cropped, fuzzy 1:33 presentation of the theatrical cut that barely felt better than watching a VHS, so it was a big deal when MGM introduced the director's cut in 2.35:1 in 1995.  And it's that second laser that MGM carried over to DVD back in 1998.  Unfortunately, as you could probably guess of a disc that old, it was non-anamorphic; and all of these discs were barebones.  They reissued it on DVD in 2005, and I copped it at the time hoping for an upgrade, but sadly the actual contents of the disc were the same.  So it was a big deal when Scream Factory and Arrow released special editions of both cuts in 2013.  I went with Arrow because they had more extras, and their steelbook retained the original poster art.  And when the film was remastered in 4k, both companies released it again.

But I figured a proper 4k disc would be coming around the corner soon enough, and predictably, Scream released an actual UHD release in 2022.  But what's this?  They only put the theatrical cut on 4k?  Yes, it's proven to be one in a long, infuriating line of Scream Factory cheaping out on their 4k editions (see also: Army of Darkness, Exorcist III, Night Of the Creeps, etc).  I understand times are tough and budgets can't be unlimited, but I'm sure not gonna pay for a UHD when the only version I'm ever going to watch is still BD-only!  So I kept the faith in Arrow and sure enough, now in 2025, they've released both cuts in true Ultra 4k HD via their latest 2-disc limited edition.  It even has some more, new extras.

1) 2005 MGM DVD; 2) 2013 arrow BD; 3) 2025 Arrow UHD.

Well, the back of the MGM case says it's 2.35:1, but it's actually 2.42:1, cropping a little more around the edges than Arrow's actual 2.35 discs.  But it's really the non-anamorphic part that makes it unacceptable now, even by SD standards.  Also, whoops!  Is the DVD missing a red filter for the early space tunnel sequence?  Lifeforce was released in 70mm, so it's primed to benefit from the higher resolution of a UHD than almost any other movie actually shot on film.  And that bears out.  Besides just much better encoded film grain, the UHD has more real detail.  Like, you can read the word "MEDICAL" on the doctor's badge in the first set of shots on the UHD, but not the DVD or BD, where you can't even make out the semblance of letters.

Arrow's new booklet keys us into some interesting facts about their image.  Specifically, that they're using Scream's transfer for the theatrical cut, which was scanned from the original 35mm negative (yes, the film was shot in 35 and blown up for 70mm prints... so I guess the increased detail is actually just the natural benefit of a fresh 4k scan) in HDR10/ Dolby Vision.  But then Arrow restored the international cut in 2024 by scanning a 35mm interpositive in 4k and compositing that in on their own.  So most of this is the 2022 transfer with newly scanned IP footage spliced in.  Above, I took the first set of shots from the theatrical cut and the second is a shot only in the international cut.  I have to say, I never spotted the seams in motion, but zooming into the footage on PC, the grain is definitely less defined.  You can barely make any out in that last screenshot, which is also true of the older blu.  So yeah, the difference in quality is there, but I can't imagine using it as an excuse not to release the composite cut in 4k.

For the audio, MGM just gave us a 5.1 mix (obviously not original for a 1985 movie) with optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.  In 2013, Arrow preserved that 5.1 mix in lossless DTS-HD, but also gave us the original stereo in LPCM, with just the English subs.  For the record, Scream did the same with their release, except their 2.0 was also DTS-HD.  Anyway, now in 2025, Arrow keeps both of those tracks (and subs) but also adds a third Dolby Atmos mix, which was apparently also made (for the theatrical cut) by Scream.  Then Arrow went ahead and produced their own Dolby Atmos mix for the International cut as well.

MGM started us off with the bare minimum special features: an equally non-anamorphic trailer and an insert booklet with notes.  It's Scream Factory and Arrow who brought the extras to the table, and many were the same across their dual releases.  For starters, both have audio commentaries with Hooper (excellent despite his moderator constantly cutting him off) and effects artist Nick Maley, who worked more on the make-up side of the effects.  Both also have three excellent on-camera interviews with Hooper, Railsback (a little short) and Mathilda May.  Seriously, if you're only willing to spend a little bit of time with Lifeforce, just watch these.  Then there's the trailer and some TV spots.

Scream Factory also, briefly, had one other extra: a vintage half-hour documentary called The Making Of..... Lifeforce.  I say "briefly" because, apparently Shout Factory assumed they had the rights to this along with the film itself, but apparently they didn't and got in trouble for it, so they had to re-issue the disc with this removed.  Only people who pre-ordered or scored very early copies have the version with this doc on it, which is a shame, because it's excellent.  Unlike every other extra for this film, including on future releases, this is full of behind-the-scenes footage.  It has quick interviews with the cast and crew on location, including some not otherwise interviewed on any Lifeforce release, but more important is all the impressive footage of the amazing giant sets, explosions and scores of extras running around in "walking shriveled" make-up.  I'd be even more bothered by the loss of this doc, however, if it hadn't already been released on laserdisc, not as an extra for the film, but as its own release.  It's The Making Of..... Lifeforce on one side, and The Making Of..... Invaders From Mars (the Hooper remake, natch) on the other.  It's a shame neither Scream nor Arrow could make a deal to include this on any of their releases, but at least it's out there.

So, anyway, that wraps it up for Scream Factory's extras.  It also came with reversible artwork, a slipcover, and a poster if you pre-ordered directly from Shout.  But Arrow had more.  First off, they've got a third commentary with effects artist Douglas Smith, who did more of the outer space visuals.  This one's a little dry (the moderator is full of "CGI just doesn't feel as real as physical effects" observations that plagued every commentary from that time), but Smith has some good memories fans will enjoy hearing.  And they've got an original feature-length retrospective documentary.  It's often redundant if you've watched the other extras, but there's also some candid talk (i.e. about drug use on set) that nobody got into in other features, and some cast and crew members nobody else got to talk to them, so it's definitely worth your time.  Arrow also has an isolated music and effects track (in LPCM stereo) nobody else included.  Their release also included a 28-page booklet by Bill Warrens and a slipcover, though as I already mentioned, their alternate steelbook release looks much better for using the iconic original artwork.

That's been the whole story for extras until now.   Arrow's and Scream Factory's respective 2017 and 2018 remastered editions didn't include any new extras, nor does Scream's 2022 UHD.  But now in 2025, yes, Arrow has included some new stuff.  First of all, there's over 45-minutes of never before released interviews with Hooper and several other crew members shot for the 2014 Cannon Films documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films.  Hooper in particular repeats a lot of anecdotes we've heard already, but there's new stuff here, too, particularly (as you'd expect) involving their working relationship with Golan and Globus.  And there's a new, roughly fifteen minute comparison between the theatrical and television versions of Lifeforce[above], which uses several alternate shots and other edits to make it broadcast safe.  They've also thrown in the original credits sequence without the text covering it.  This release includes a new, completely different 24-page booklet by Frank Collins, an art-card for Bastard Swordsman from their recent 'Shawscope Volume 3' boxed set, reversible artwork and a slipcover... though disappointingly, they've ditched the original artwork again.

That all adds up to Arrow's 2-disc UHD set easily being the definitive edition.  I hope you held out and didn't get suckered in my Scream's edition.  And I hope fans support this superior release, and it in turn helps nudge Scream into putting all of their films' versions onto UHD, not just the theatrical cuts.  Let's reverse this depressing trend.  More sales of a higher quality product ought to win out over cutting corners to save a few bucks.

Grindhouse's The Beyond Truly Goes Beyond

There have been a few delays and push backs, but Grindhouse's new blu-ray special edition set of Lucio Fulci's The Beyond has finally reached my doorstep. But it's been worth it, because you know what they say about rushing greatness. Grindhouse originally released this on DVD through Anchor Bay in a very cool, special edition collector's tin in 2000. But now, fifteen years later, it's time to see how they've topped themselves.

Update 3/31/15 - 4/30/25: Wow, my first update to span a full decade.  I can't believe I've been at this that long already; it doesn't feel like it.  Anyway, y'all know what this is; we're taking a look at Grindhouse's new 4k restoration 6-disc UHD/ BD/ DVD/ CD mega-set.

The Beyond, of course, is pretty much THE Lucio Fulci film. I mean, hardcore zombie or giallo fans might prefer Zombi or Don't Torture a Duckling. And serious long-term fans who've watched all his classics a dozen or more times might have slowly edged City Of the Living Dead up over this through the years. But by and large, The Beyond is generally considered his masterpiece. Set in New Orleans, the plot is practically indescribable. Hell just literally breaks loose and every horrific supernatural thing that can go wrong does go wrong, from spider attacks to psychics to zombies. It's very gruesome and thankfully takes itself entirely seriously; but it's still got a very colorful, fantastic tone that gives the proceedings a soft, inoffensive edge. It's just great music and great lighting capturing one captivating set-piece after another. And giving this film almost an action here with David Warbeck gives the film a bit of adventure film flavor.  It's pretty much the ultimate.

1) 2000 Grindhouse DVD; 2) 2011 Arrow DVD; 3) 2015 Grindhouse BD;
4) 2025 Grindhouse BD; 5) 2025 Grindhouse UHD; 6) 2025 Grindhouse DVD.

The 2.32:1 anamorphic DVD looked pretty fantastic when it was released in 2000, but as time passed and technology improved, it was starting to look a little stiff. There's no denying us fans were hoping for a new 2k or 4k scan in 2015, since it's pretty much the crown jewel in Grindhouse's catalog. But even using the old HD master, their first blu showed us how much better the film could look. A color re-balance certainly helps a lot here, but it's just a cleaner, more natural and detailed image all around. With a wider, 2.41:1 AR, we also seem to have a little extra picture information on all four sides.  Oh, and Arrow's 2.35:1 DVD (which, for the record, is the corrected version, not the original recalled one with the black & white intro) leans more towards the red, closer to Anchor Bay, but milder, and keeps that extra info around the edges.

On this new 4k version, which you can watch with the intro properly sepia-toned or in full color, Grindhouse has settled on 2.39:1, and it's clearly the most colorful version.  Even if we just compare the 1080p blus, rather than the Dolby Vision/ HDR UHD, The Beyond has a bolder, more saturated look.  Just look how blue that morgue is now.  Grain is much better captured here than on the old blu, which was far ahead of the DVDs, but still somewhat patchy and pixelated.  Also, just for fun, and perhaps to show off how impressive their new restoration is by comparison, Grindhouse has included an SD/ DVD transfer of the 7 Doors of Death cut, too.  It's 1.50:1, with the sides lopped off.  Even for DVD, it's soft, with grain only represented by vague lumpiness, and presumably taken from an old tape master, with color timing closest to the AB disc.  It's a fun curiosity piece.  But the UHD is gorgeous.

A lot of times, Italian horror has been given to us in English dub only, and we had to wait for fancier re-releases to get our choice of the English or  Italian tracks.  But Anchor Bay gave us both right away, including the original English mono, a stereo and a 5.1 mix, plus the Italian mono with optional English subtitles.  What can I say, The Beyond's always been recognized as special.  Interestingly, Arrow kept all three versions of the English audio, and the subs, but ditched the Italian track.

In 2015, Grindhouse brought it back, bumping up the English mono and 5.1 mixes to DTS-HD, but keeping the Italian lossy.  There was also some discussion on the blu-ray.com forums of little pops in the audio of the original English mono track. I've listened for myself and yup, I do hear them. And I can also confirm that they're not there on Anchor Bay's mono track. It's a little disappointing, and I do wish they weren't there; but it feels very minor especially within the context of the audio track generally feeling much fuller and stronger overall.  And anyway, it's been cleaned up on the new 2025 set, so forget about it!  Now we have the original mono, stereo, 5.1 and Italian mono all in DTS-HD, and the English subtitles.  Some online listings mention two sets of English subs - standard and SDH - but the SDH are not actually on here.  It's just the one set of "dubtitles" that match the English audio, plus subtitle tracks for two of the audio commentaries.

...And perhaps most notably (although I don't want to under0state just how excited I am to finally get both mono tracks lossless), Grindhouse has included The Composer's Cut!  Strictly speaking, it's the same cut of the film, but it's been entirely re-scored by original composer Fabio Frizzi with all new music.  It's a little calmer and more noodley - I prefer the original myself - but it's interesting to hear the variations.  Fans should be excited to at least check it out once.  And Grindhouse gives us the best of both worlds, because we get the choice, with the new track also in DTS-HD 5.1.

But let's talk about extras! If you weren't already bowled over by Grindhouse's updated presentation of the film itself, you certainly will be by the massive amount and quality of features they've delivered. There's so much, in fact, I've decided to itemize everything on the original DVD and each subsequent set:

Anchor Bay DVD extras:

• Commentary by David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl
• Images From the Beyond: a collection of stills galleries (less interesting) and video (more interesting), including a short interview with Fulci, a short clip of David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl at a convention, Darvid Warbeck speaking at a convention, and Lucio and Warbeck doing a Q&A
• US, International and German trailers
• The opening sequence in color
• Necrophagia music video
• Easter Eggs) 7 Doors of Death trailer and a trailer for Cat In the Brain (there also seems to be another highlight-able link for a third easter egg on the second page of special features that doesn't actually work)

Grindhouse BD extras:

• Commentary by David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl
• Intro by Catriona MacColl
• 48 minute documentary on the making of The Beyond
• A 2-part phone interview with Fulci
• Interview with Larry Ray
• Interview with Catrina MacColl
• Interview with Cinzea Monreale
• Interview with Gianetto De Rossi and Manrizio Trani
• Footage of Catriona MacColl speaking at a convention
• Footage of David Warbeck speaking at a convention
• Interview with Terry Levene
• The opening sequence in color
• US, International and German trailers + US rerelease trailer
• US TV spots
• US re-release radio spot
• An overwhelming number of stills galleries
• 14 bonus trailers for Grindhouse's other titles
  
• Easter Eggs: the full set of Images From the Beyond extras (some of which are duplicated on disc 2 of this blu as well), a series of brief interviews (23 minutes worth) from Paura, the 7 Doors of Death trailer, a 10+ minute audio track of whispering and moaning(?), the Necrophagia music video, and a brief but nice featurette comparing location shots from the films to footage of them as they look now

Grindhouse UHD extras:

• Commentary by David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl
• Commentary by Sergio Salvati
• Commentary by Gianetto De Rossi
• Intro by Catriona MacColl
• Intro to the Composer's Cut by Fabio Frizzi
  
• Interview with scholar/ director of Fulci for Fake Simone Scafidi (over an hour long!)
  
• Interview with Fabio Frizzi about the new Composer's Cut
• Footage of Frizzi and his band performing the Composer's Cut live, with an introduction by Bruce Campbell(!)
  
• 48 minute documentary on the making of The Beyond
• A 2-part phone interview with Fulci
• Interview with Larry Ray
• Interview with Al Cliver
  
• Interview with Catrina MacColl
• Interview with Cinzea Monreale
• Newer interview with Cinzea Monreale
• Interview with Michele Mirabella 
• Interview with Dardano Sacchetti
• Interview with Giorgo Mariuzzo
• Interview with stuntmen Ottaviano Dell'Acqua & Massimo Vanni
• Interview with Ugo Celani
• Ugo Celani outtake
  
• Interview with Pino Colizzi
• Interview with Michele Romagnoli (Fulci's biographer, who worked on a draft of The Beyond 2 with Fulci)
  
• Interview with poster artist Emanuele Taglietti (though for the record, he just made the new poster on the cover of this box, not the original movie poster)
  
• Interview with Gianetto De Rossi and Manrizio Trani
• Footage of Catriona MacColl speaking at a convention
• Footage of David Warbeck speaking at a convention
• Footage of Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck speaking together at a convention
• Footage of Lucio Fulci and David Warbeck speaking at a convention (a separate, 46 minute video, not the short one from Images From the Beyond)
  
• Brief footage of Catriona MacColl and David Warbeck at yet another a convention
• Interview with Terry Levene
• The Beyond In the Age of Aquarius, a new 40-minute featurette talking to Terry Levene and editor Jim Markovic on the 7 Doors of Death cut
• Terry Levene outtake 
• Jim Markovic outtake
• US, International and German trailers + US rerelease trailer
• US TV spots
• US re-release radio spot
• More 7 Doors of Death spots
  
• An overwhelming number of stills galleries
• The bonus trailers for Grindhouse's other titles
• All the old Easter Eggs: the full set of Images From the Beyond extras, the interviews from Paura, the 7 Doors of Death trailer, that 10+ minute audio track of whispering and moaning (yes, it's back), the Necrophagia music video, and the location featurette

Everything in purple is new to the blu-ray and everything in red is new to the UHD.  That is an increasingly massive and impressive load of features. You might even say overwhelming. Many of the interviews are quite lengthy and they're all substantial. Grindhouse has linked up with Freak-O-Rama, who've done a bunch of excellent features for high profile Italian horror titles from Scorpion and Code Red, among others.  And you might recall that UK's Shameless Screen Entertainment released a blu-ray of The Beyond in 2020 with a bunch of exclusive extras, including a Salvati commentary (actually recorded for a French DVD back in 2004, but Shameless were the first to translate it to English) and an interview with actor Michele Mirabella, who had never been on a Beyond disc before.  Well, Grindhouse licensed those and they're all here on the new 2025 set.  The only extras of note they didn't snag are Arrow's, so let's look at those.

Arrow DVD extras:

• Commentary by David Warbeck and Catriona MacColl
• A second commentary by Antonella Fulci (Fulci's daughter) and moderator Callum Waddell, which I'd recommend to hardcore fans only.
• Intro by Cinzea Monreale
• Interview with Cinzea Monreale
• Q&A session with Catriona MacColl
• Interview with Terry Levene (perhaps it's worth noting that Grindhouse trimmed over a minute out of Naomi Holwill's opening animation, so theirs is technically shorter, though the actual interview length is the same)
  
• Interview with Gianetto Di Rossi
• 25 minute featurette where Roberto Forges Davanzati, Daria Nicolodi, Antonella Fulci, Dario Argento, Giannetto De Rossi and Sergio Stivaletti remember Fulci (not the same as the one on GH's disc; this set of different interviews purports to come from a future Paura part 2).
  
• Interview with Catriona MacColl
• The opening sequence in color
• International trailer
• Easter Egg: Darren Ward remembering David Warbeck - a brief (4+ minutes) interview with the director of Warbeck's final film, Sudden Fury

Their collection is pretty impressive in its own right. Some of what's here stems from the old Anchor Bay release, and a little of what originated here got ported to the Grindhouse set. But still everything in blue is exclusive to the Arrow release, which as you can see, is most of it. Admittedly, some of it is pretty redundant. Both discs interview Cinzae Monreale, for example, the actress who played the blind woman. They're different interviews, filmed at different times in different locations; but naturally she winds up saying most of the same stuff in both. You'll hear some of the same anecdotes almost word for word from Catriona MacColl - her stuff was already getting redundant on the Grindhouse disc, now it's more. But other features, like the exclusive interviews with cameraman Roberto Forges Davanzati or the Darren Ward easter egg, are more original and rewarding even if you've already got the Grindhouse set.

Here's how it looks in the dark.

And usually I don't devote too much space to the packaging, but how can I not here? The original DVD release came in a very cool tin case. Inside, it also had six international poster replicas and a chapter insert of cardstock, and a fat, 48-page booklet. And it was a numbered limited edition of 20,000 copies. Holy cow, it's crazy to think 20,000 was a tight limited pressing in the days of Twilight Time making 3000 of even their Oscar-winning titles, and Code Red still shifting units of a blu they only made 1000 editions of two years prior.

Anyway, it might seem hard to top that DVD tin, but I think Grindhouse at least equaled it. Their blu-ray set comes in a very cool, glow in the dark slipcover. You've gotta charge it up under some strong light; but when you do, it looks pretty great. It also comes with a slimmer booklet and a bonus CD of the film's soundtrack, which has also been remastered. That's something a lot of fans would pay the cost of this blu for all on its own.

Meanwhile, the Arrow set comes in their usual (in those days) windowpane slipcover with reversible artwork inside, a substantial, 32-page blu-ray sized booklet and a fold-out poster.

And now Grindhouse's UHD set is a thick, side-loading slipbox housing a fancy book designed to resemble the book of Eibon, which looks really cool, but unfortunately houses all the discs in cardboard sleeve pages.  Pray you don't get any scratched!  Anyway, there's also a 100-page full-color book, which includes multiple essays and gallery pages, but also Sacchetti's complete, original treatment.  And they include another soundtrack CD, this time of the new  Composer's Cut score (hang on to your previous soundtrack CD for the original score, which thankfully came in its own separate sleeve, so you can just slot it into this box).  And if you ordered one of the first 3,500 copies direct from Grindhouse you got a fun bit of swag: the Eye of Eibon(!), a creepy little eyeball that always looks up no matter how you turn it.

The new set's a little pricey ($66.66), but with all its versions (with the intro in color or sepia, the Composer's Cut, your choice of English or Italian, the 7 Doors of Death cut), this massive 6-disc set looks like it'll be the definitive release of this true horror classic for a long time to come.  And you can't say it doesn't include enough content to justify the expense.  Before the update, I used to recommend picking up the Arrow, too, for their exclusive extras; and you still might want to if you're a die-hard collector, or the sort of hardcore fan who has the mark of Eibon tattooed somewhere on your body.  But at this point, Grindhouse's edition is so exhaustive, it would take the dedication of a druidic scholar to come away from it wanting to watch any more special features.

Mallrats: Night of Mallterror

Well hey, it's April Fool's Day!  This calls for something light and silly... how about Kevin Smith's Mallrats?  That's one I've had on my to-do list for a long time, with multiple editions ready to compare even before Arrow swooped in with their fancy, limited edition restoration.  Maybe it's not the most essential title, but it's perfect for today.

Update 4/1/23 - 8/21/24: It's Day 5 of Update Week 2024, and of course I couldn't let Arrow's sweet 4k Ultra HD upgrade of Mallrats pass without covering it here on this page.  Well, granted, I did at first.  But it's here now for Update Week!  And I've also updated my Simpsons page to cover Mill Creek's recent blu-ray release of their Icons Unearthed documentary.

I discovered 1995's Mallrats when it hit home video like most of America.  I'd been aware of its theatrical run, but it was a huge surprise when it turned out I thought this by-the-numbers teen hormone comedy starring Beverly Hills 90210's Shannon Doherty was actually pretty brilliant!  I never would've touched it if I hadn't recognized it was from the same writer/ director as the indie darling Clerks.  That was just enough to push me into a "well, I've already seen everything else in the store, but boy is this going to suck" rental.  The names Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck all meant nothing to me at the time, though I did recognize Michael Rooker from Henry: Portrait Of a Serial Killer, which was a touch of inspired casting.

"The dirt mall" a.k.a. the US1 Flea Market,
a place that was just as awesome as it's depicted in the film.

Watching it today, it doesn't entirely hold up, but a lot of it still works.  Much of Mallrats is an endearingly crude send-up of the kind of films it was marketed as, but there are some points where it's just the filmmakers being genuinely immature and letting us down.  Never mind the stuff that hasn't "aged well," like the jokes/ crucial plot point surrounding "Trish the Dish" and child molestation.  But Lee is the perfect actor for Smith's voice, like Fellini's Mastroianni, and this is some of his smartest writing, in a vehicle that works better than any of his subsequent work, which rapidly descended into Awful territory (sorry, View Askew fam).  This and Clerks are the only two Smith films I need in my collection as an adult; "I have no respect for people with no shopping agenda" is still one of my all-time favorite movie lines.

Mallrats debuted as a special edition DVD in 1999 from Universal, including over an hour of lost footage.  There was actually supposed to be a laserdisc, too.  There'd already been a barebones one out for a few years, but the new special edition laser and DVD were supposed to coincide.  I actually went to New York where Smith was signing copies on release date, and that's where I found out the laser had been cancelled and there were only DVDs.  This was before I had a DVD player, and I was so annoyed I never bought the original DVD until it was reissued as part of Universal's "High School Reunion Collection," along with other teen-lead titles like Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Weird Science and Dazed & Confused.  Actually, all of the main characters in Mallrats are post-high school age, but who's counting?  Obviously not Universal.  Anyway, as soon as I copped that, it was reissued as a restored 2-disc set in 2004 with an all new director's cut and everything.  D'oh!

It was reissued a few more times along the way, including as a 2009 "Triple Feature Film Set" with Fletch and Happy Gilmore before ultimately being released on blu in 2014.  Universal's reissued that a time or two, too - my copy is a 2018 release.  But in 2020, Arrow came to sweep the playing field, giving the film a new 4k restoration, 3 cuts and even more new extras in a fancy, 2-disc limited edition.  And in 2022, they released the unlimited single disc standard edition (don't worry, though, I've got the 2-discer, so we can examine everything).  Then finally, in 2023, Arrow upgraded their 1080p BD set to a proper 4k UHD set, with everything from the 2020 set, except the TV cut, which frankly, is no loss.

1) 2003 Universal DVD; 2) 2004 Universal DVD; 3) 2009 Universal DVD;
4) 2018 Universal BD; 5) 2020 Arrow BD; 6) 2020 Arrow BD; 7) 2023 Arrow UHD.

[This first shot is missing from Arrow's TV edit.]

Starting with the 1999 DVD, it's not bad.  It's slightly windowboxed to 1.82:1, which, hey, is close (all the rest are letterboxed to a proper 1.85).  But it's anamorphic, progressive, the colors look accurate - that's pretty solid for a disc from the 90s.  But it does get better in 2004; they didn't just add extras.  The AR's fixed, the colors are brighter/ stronger, and the compression is stronger, sharpening up detail (look at Lee's teeth in the first set of shots, for instance).  It was a nice upgrade.  So it's interesting, then, that the 2009 DVD goes back to the old 1999 transfer.  I initially assumed the Triple Feature, which puts Fletch and Happy Gilmore together on disc 1, was just throwing in disc 1 of the 2004 set in as their second disc, but nope, they went backwards.  I guess they used the set as a way to offload their remaining stock of the out-dated discs.  Oh well, nobody's messing with that Triple Feature DVD in the HD era anymore anyway.

So let's talk high def.  Universal's blu is another upgrade, but not by a whole lot.  The 2004 DVD was a bigger advancement from the 2003 DVD than the 2014 BD is to the 2004 DVD.  It's got cleaner edges and clears up the lumpy compression artifacts that are standing in for film grain, but that's about it.  Grain is barely hinted at, and granted, this is a movie with fine grain, but we should see somethin'.  And we do, finally, when we get to Arrow's blu.  Now it finally looks like film.  On the UHD, it's really perfect with cleaner edges, and the Dolby Vision HDR keeps the colors natural except around neon signs and a few other vivid mall elements, where they're really allowed to radiate beautifully.  And while Arrows discs are still matted to 1.85:1, we get a little more image around the edges of the frame.  Because they're using an updated, 4k scan of the 35mm OCN... except for the additional scenes added to the Director's Cut.

1) 2004 Universal DVD; 2) 2018 Universal BD;
3) 2020 Arrow BD; 4) 2024 Arrow UHD.

So these are the four discs that offer the director's cut, which is really like an arbitrarily extended cut.  Basically, that hour+ of deleted scenes from the 1999 DVD were cut back into the film to create this overlong alternate version, which really does not play nearly as well.  It's less funny and the pacing is a slog.  It's nice to have as a curiosity for serious Smith fans, but honestly, these scenes should have stayed deleted.  It was wild to see how far afield the story once went (Jeremy London gets in a shoot-out with the mayor while dressed as a soldier from the Revolutionary War!), but all that's best consumed as bonus content.  Anyway, every disc also presents this film matted to 1.85:1.  For Arrow's remaster, a "35mm interpositive element was also scanned in 4k for the content unique to the Director's Cut version," approved by Smith and DoP David Klein.  As you'd expect, then, the added footage doesn't look quite as good as the rest, but it's not bad, and you could easily miss the switch from the Theatrical to Director's Cut footage.  Universal's blu still benefits from HD, clearing up that compression and sharpening its edges.  And Arrow's grain structure isn't as thorough, even on the UHD, as the rest of the film; but it still improves on the older blus, once again zooming around to reveal extra picture along the edges.  In fact, it adds a bit more to this footage than the rest.

And Arrow's TV cut is mostly identical to the theatrical.  Their booklet explains that it "contains a few instances where an alternate take were used in the assembly.  ...These takes have been inserted using the best possible elements available."  And that switch is a lot more obvious, looking like a zoomed in video-tape source, ever so slightly window-boxed to 1.85:1.  You can see why they didn't restore it to 2160p on the new UHD set; though you'd think they could've left it on there at 1080p.  The flaws are all part of the charm of the TV cut anyway, since the biggest selling point is the poorly over-dubbed curse words and the "fake Jay" they have replacing Mewes lines, since he never went to the ADR sessions.  That's vaguely amusing, but they show clips of it in the other extras on these discs, so there's no real reason to have included this as a whole other cut in the first set anyway.  At the end of the day, I figure hey, you can't be mad at Arrow for erring on the side of giving you everything they possibly can (although, as we'll see in a bit, they didn't quite do that), and you can't be mad at Arrow for dropping something that didn't merit inclusion in the first place.  This whole cut is purely academic.

So let's talk audio.  Universal has pretty much always given us the one 5.1 mix with optional English subtitles for everything, including the DC.  They bumped it up to DTS-HD on their blu, and the DVDs also included a French dub (on the Theatrical Cut only), with an additional Spanish dub on the 2004 disc, but that's the underwhelming story.  So that's another nice thing about Arrow, they recovered the original stereo mix.  So both cuts have both the 2.0 and 5.1 in DTS-HD with optional English subtitles on the 2020 and 2024 releases, though the TV cut just has a lossy 2.0 (with the optional English subs).

Extras are plentiful, too, and a little more complicated than I thought when I first pre-ordered my Arrow set a couple years ago.  The 1999 DVD (and my 2003 version) start us off rather nicely.  There's an audio commentary by Smith along with his producer Scott Mosier, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes and moderator Vincent Pereira.  If you're familiar with Smith commentaries, you know they're robust and boisterous, but still manage to impart some good insight and behind-the-scenes info.  You won't want to miss it.  There's also the 60+ minutes of deleted scenes, which are introduced/ hosted by Smith and Pereira, an over 20-minute making of featurette, a music video, fullscreen trailer, and an easter egg of Smith and Pereira basically making fun of DVD easter eggs.

The 2004 DVD, and Universal's later blu-rays, have all of that and more.  Besides adding the extended cut, they add a new intro to the cut by Smith to explain what you're about to see, a 50+ reunion Q&A with the Smith and the stars, a new 20+ minute retrospective, outtakes, on-set cast interviews, a sarcastic and surprisingly caustic Q&A with Smith, some bonus trailers and a whole bunch more easter eggs (a total of eight, including the one from 1999), mostly consisting of additional outtakes and interview clips.

Arrow keeps most of that, but loses a few key pieces, including the original 1999 'making of' featurette.  They also ditch the 50 minute Q&A and about twelve minutes of easter egg outtakes and fun little bits.  But they've added new stuff, which I have to admit, is a worthwhile trade.  There are two new interviews with Smith (one exclusively dedicated to producer Jim Jacks, who passed away in 2014) and one with Mewes.  And yes, all these extras get redundant and anecdotes start to repeat, but there's some good new info and hindsight in this stuff.  Then there are two featurettes that interview a bunch of crew members for the first time - one of them's animated, since they clearly only got audio recordings, but these are still great.  And that's just what's new on disc 1.

If you sprung for the Limited Edition, there's a whole second disc.  Besides the two alternate cuts, the bonus blu also offers another intro by Smith, this time for the TV edit, a vintage EPK featurette for the film's soundtrack, with Smith and Mosier talking about the bands they got to work with, two stills galleries, a new easter egg with Smith telling a funny anecdote about the Easter Bunny scene, and most impressively, two full hours worth of dailies from the original shoot.  The picture quality is a mess, and casual fans will be bored, but die-hards should be riveted.  The limited edition also includes a full-color 24-page booklet, a double-sided poster of both in-movie schematics, one of Arrow's standard film cards (mine was for Shock), reversible artwork and a slipcover.

And the new UHD has everything the 2020 set had, except for Smith's intro to the TV cut, natch.  It even comes with all the same swag, including the slipcover, booklet and awesome double-sided schematic poster.

Originally I wrote, "honestly, I think Arrow would've been better served forgetting the TV cut and hanging onto those extras they dropped, but it is what it is."  Well, they got it half right, just missing that the whole idea of my suggestion was that they could use the space to include the older but still preferable extras.  D'oh!  But if you're 4k-capable, there's no denying that the new UHD set trumps all that came before it.  But Askewnians may still want to hold onto an old Universal disc as well for those additional extras.