Sophie's Choice (DVD/ Blu-ray Comparison)

So, I've been hemming and hawing to myself over whether to double-dip for Shout's blu-ray release of Sophie's Choice, but I never pulled the trigger. Then one day, I went to watch my DVD and whoops, it's not even anamorphic. So okay, definitely time to upgrade. It's got a big, new special feature and the price has come down anyway, so why not?

I feel dumb telling you guys that Sophie's Choice is a good movie, because it's an American classic. But on the other hand, looking at it from an outside and modern perspective, it kinda gives the vibe of a dusty, dull, creaky kind of thing students are forced to watch for school. You watch the trailer with Peter Macnicol talking in that heavy Southern accent and Meryl Streep moping around a brown period apartment wearing flower print sun dresses, and your mind instantly turns to pretentious local theater and you think, why would I sit down to watch that if I'm not being forced to, right?

But it's actually holds up as a really powerful, engaging movie. It's a little stiff in the beginning, admittedly. We've got a narrator telling us how we're watching him as a young man with dreams of becoming a writer moving into this quaint Southern town, and ho-hum, here we go. The weight of the first half really falls on Kevin Kline to bring this film alive, but wow is he up to the task! It was his first film, but he and Streep are amazing together and really hold the the film together. Macnicol's great, too, as the film's heart; but you really need the other two's energy. And by the time you start getting into the World War II stuff, the drama is riveting. Even if you know, without having seen the film, what Sophie's famous choice is, that doesn't really matter. It's not like The Crying Game or something where it's a critical spoiler; scenes like where she has to steal a radio from a little girl's room are just great cinema that will work on you regardless of what expectations or prejudices you bring in with you.

1998 ITC/ Artisan DVD top; 2014 Shout Factory DVD mid; 2014 Shout Factory blu bottom.

Alright, Shout Factory's release is a combo pack, that's why we've got three comparison sets here. Their DVD is naturally a standard def copy of their blu-ray and looks roughly identical but more compressed than the HD transfer, just like you'd expect. The real comparison is between the original, 1998 DVD (the only release we've had up 'till now) and the new blu. And boy, is it a big jump.

Again, the original DVD is non-anamorphic. But compared to the blu, it's also muddy, faded, dark and well, hey, at least it's not interlaced. What else could you expect? This is a 90s DVD. But it's more of a pleasant surprise to see that Shout has found more picture on all four sides. You could partly ascribe that to Shout's release being an unmatted 1.78:1 compared to the more correct AR of 1.85 (the DVD is actually more in the middle, at an unusual 1.81:1), but there's even more new picture on the sides, too. Just judged on its own, it's not an amazing blu-ray. It looks a little soft and is probably taken from an older master. I'm sure a fresh 4k scan could've been even more impressive if Shout had budgeted more for this title. But it's still a good, respectable blu-ray. And compared to our only previous option, it's an excellent jump up.

These subs are burnt in.

Audio wise, the blu-ray steps up from the DVD's Dolby 2.0 stereo with a DTS-HD track. The old DVD had optional Spanish subtitles, which Shout discarded, but they replaced those with potentially more valuable English subtitles. The German dialogue, meanwhile, has burnt in English subtitles on both versions no matter what setting you choose.

Things get interesting when you come to the extras. Both discs come with a very strong audio commentary by director Alan J. Pakula. Pakula has a lot to say, which makes for a very rewarding listen. Then the DVD has one more heavy hitter up its sleeve, an almost hour-long 'making of' documentary. This is a lot more than your usual promo featurette heavy with clips from the film and brief soundbites of all the actors saying how wonderful each other was to work with. This doc talks to the author of the novel, the composer (one of Sophie's Choice five Oscar nominations was for its score) and even interviews several actual Auschwitz survivors. It really goes above and beyond the call for a DVD extra. And besides that, there's the film's trailer, notes, and an insert with chapter stops.

The blu-ray doesn't have the documentary, though, which is a big loss. It has the commentary and the trailer, but instead of the doc, it has something new: a 46-minute round table discussion with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Alan J. Pakula's widow Hannah Pakula, Pakula's assistant Don Laventhal and author William Styron's widow; Rose Styron. This is a really good talk, a little redundant if you've seen the other extras, but with some fresh perspectives, too. And there's a different tone to these proceedings, as they take place so many years later, and after Styron and Pakula have passed, unlike the old DVD extras. So it's nice to pick this up, but such a shame we have to lose the documentary to get it. It's really frustrating that we have to choose between them, like... well, I can't think of an apt comparison at the moment, but you know, a really hard decision where you have to choose between two things you want to keep and find equally essential.

So yes, it's worth the upgrade. Even if the DVD was anamorphic, I'd recommend double-dipping, but I especially do since it isn't. But, if you're getting this film for the first time, I'd say don't stop there. It's worth tracking down the old DVD (which can be picked up quite cheap as of this writing) for the documentary as well. Between the two, then, you've got a really strong edition. And is there still room to grow? Sure, Criterion or somebody could beef up the transfer and pack all the extras together, plus maybe some new interviews. But I wouldn't expect anything like that for a very long time. And really, this existing combo works out pretty well.

And a Lesser Known Dan O'Bannon Lovecraft Adaptation...

After The Resurrected, how about another Dan O'Bannon Lovecraft adaptation? This is a much more obscure one called Bleeders that came out in in 1997. Now, O'Bannon didn't direct this one, but he does have a writer's credit and if you're a fan, you can feel him in the material. So, who did direct it? Peter Svatek, who's best known for, uh... Witchboard III, I guess. Yeah, this is a film from A-Pix Entertainment, a video company that was known for putting out cheap direct-to-video B-movie junkers and "erotic thrillers" for late night cable throughout the 90s. I don't imagine it's where O'Bannon really wanted his script to end up. You know how Full Moon shot Subspecies 2 & 3 back to back, on the cheap? Imagine if Kubrick's people slipped them a script and asked, "hey, could you guys quickly shoot this thing we wrote called Eyes Wide Shut while you're at it?"

But, while it's a big step down for O'Bannon, making it easily his worst horror film. It's also a big step up for A-Pix. It's an ambitious story for them to tackle. And when you step back and look at the locations and general production values, you can tell that at least some people involved in the production really cared and wanted to rise to the challenge and create something better than their usual output. But not everybody; it's a very uneven film, more Lurking Fear than From Beyond. ...But, it's definitely better and more credible than Lurking Fear. And, in fact, The Lurking Fear is the Lovecraft story this is based on.

After a prologue about an incestuous European countess who took her family to America and then quietly disappeared, we meet a a strange anemic man who sails into a small island town with his nurse and girlfriend in search of his family history and possibly a clue to the cure for his mysterious blood disease. It seems he's arrived at a bad time, however, because the town is digging up their graveyard over a scandal where the dead were buried in cheap, knock off coffins rather than the ones their families had purchased. Things get even more upsetting when they discover that something had been getting at the bodies while they were underground. So they team up with the local doctor (Rutger Hauer) to uncover all the dark secrets.

It's an intricate little story with a lot of cleverly interconnected parts, and some traditionally Lovecraftian pay-off. The effects are pretty good, too. But some poor acting - sometimes due to the actors being wildly miscast in their roles, and sometimes due to some good old fashioned bad acting - along with a generic point-and-shoot visual style add up to a pretty amateurish film that really can't sell audiences on its deliberately slow pace. Some sturdier performances and more colorful atmosphere could've really pulled audiences into this story. But as it is, this one really requires a lot of work on the audience's behalf if they're going to get anything out of it. On the other hand, there's definitely something there if you're willing to pan for it. I mean, you're going to have to concentrate pretty hard just to ignore one character's laughably unconvincing wig.

Now, you've probably noticed that the DVD cover I scanned here doesn't say Bleeders on it, but Hemoglobin. That's because this isn't the standard US disc, but a UK import. Why do I have that version? Because Bleeders has apparently been cut for an R-rating. Bleeders is already a flawed film, so cutting stuff out of it only makes it worse. If you're going to give this film a fair shot, you've got to at least seek out the Hemoglobin version. And while I'm not sure if every DVD from every country titled Hemoglobin is complete, I can promise you this edition from ITC Film is.

So there aren't any extras, of course, and the soft, fullscreen transfer looks like they just used the same video master as the VHS. But apart from the darker scenes getting a bit murky it looks alright for that level of cheapo, home video release. I mean, it's a lot better quality than The Kindred was. And it's at least got the trailer on it, which is worth watching just to hear the totally unfitting music they cut the footage to.

Apparently, there's actually a Japanese laserdisc of this film in 2.35(!), which I'd love to see. But until one of those surfaces, this will have to do. There's also a 1.85:1, non-anamorphic French DVD, but it has no English language options.
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Update 9/22/15: I noticed on Amazon that this DVD was given a USA re-release by a label called Fries Home Video/ Ardustry in 2006. My expectations were zero that this label I've never even heard of before had done any kind of upgrade, and the ugly banner they added to the bottom of the cover sure doesn't inspire confidence, but I figured I'd check and see if they had the uncut version. Plus, I never took any comparison shots of the old 1998 DVD, so this would be an opportunity to put the US/ UK Bleeders/ Hemoglobin DVDs side by side as well.

US Home Fries DVD on top; UK ITC DVD underneath.

So yeah, it's the same ugly VHS-sourced full-screen master. In fact, it's worse, because it has serious ghosting problems, as you can see in the second set of shots. But... but, but, but the million dollar question is: is it uncut? And yes, it seems to be! It has absolutely every bit of nudity and violence on the ITC disc from the UK. Maybe that's why it has the ghosting - they ripped the PAL DVD? Whatever the reason, for US fans, it means you don't have to worry about importing after all. Although it might be worth it anyway, depending how badly that interlacing bothers you. But, I mean, it's going to look like an ugly VHS no matter what.

Naturally, Fries hasn't added any extras or anything, apart from some bonus trailers for other films they've released, including Breeders. But it's still missing the actual Bleeders trailer, which is available on the UK disc. One notable thing they have done, though, is add a 5.1 mix (in addition to, not instead of, the 2.0 stereo mix all the other DVDs have had). So it's just a question of whether you value a 5.1 mix or an original trailer and no ghosting. Since both are underwhelming, more likely, you might just want to go with whichever one you come across that's cheaper.
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Again, I definitely wouldn't put Bleeders anywhere near the level of The Resurrected or From Beyond. But if you've seen all the first class Lovecraft films and are still looking for more, there's definitely value to be found in this little oddity. In fact, this movie is pretty similar to The Resurrected on a script level, in terms of both tone and content, so long as you can look past the much lower production values. Just be sure you're seeing it uncut.