| Edition |
Special Edition |
| Series |
Stephen King |
| Chapters |
32 |
| Release Date |
8/28/2001 |
| Packaging |
Keep Case |
| Screen Ratio |
1.85:1 |
| Subtitles |
French; Spanish |
| Audio Tracks |
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 [CC]
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono [CC]
FRENCH: Dolby Digital Mono
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Mono
|
| Layers |
Single Side, Dual Layer |
| No. of Disks/Tapes |
1 |
|
| Purchase Date |
8/21/2001 |
| Owner |
Thomas Eisenmann |
| Store |
Best Buy |
| Purchase Price |
$14.98 |
| Condition |
Excellent |
| Reviewed |
Widescreen Review
|
| Bit Rate |
448 KB |
| Anamophic |
Yes |
| Links |
IMDB
|
|
Anamophic
|
(The supplements description for this title is reproduced as it appears in our print issue (Issue 53), which accounted for several Brian De Palma titles in one write-up.)
A lot of Brian De Palma movies have been released on DVD recently (and we have six of them reviewed for you in this issue), and here are three of his most well-liked. While none are the most feature-packed discs you’ll encounter, the noteworthy aspect of each are the Laurent Bouzereau-produced documentaries. De Palma’s work has always been controversial, and here’s your chance to see why.
Bouzereau (producer of documentaries found on discs of Jaws, 1941, Close Encounters, numerous Hitchcock films, and many others) continues to produce fine documentaries, and fans and non-fans alike will gain much insight into these De Palma classics. Bouzereau, a life-long fan of Brian De Palma’s work, has covered his career extensively in the books The De Palma Cut and The Cutting Room Floor.
Going through the discs one by one, Obsession is the least feature-packed of the lot and the only substantial extra is the 36-minute documentary Obsession Revisited.
Moving on to Carrie, De Palma’s 1976 take on the classic Stephen King novel, this one actually contains two 40-plus-minute documentaries: Acting Carrie and Visualizing Carrie: From Words To Images. In addition there is a featurette running just over five minutes on Carrie The Musical. Yes, you read that correctly! The disc also includes an Animated Photo Gallery running six minutes and a Stephen King And The Evolution Of Carrie biography, as well as a Trailer.
One of De Palma’s most controversial—and best—films is Dressed To Kill. Here, Bouzerau serves up the 42-minute documentary The Making Of Dressed To Kill, as well as two featurettes Slashing Dressed To Kill (which runs ten minutes and details different cuts of the film: R, Unrated and TV broadcast) and Dressed To Kill: An Appreciation by Keith Gordon. There’s an Animated Photo Gallery as with the Carrie DVD as well as a menu-based Photo Gallery featuring ad slicks, international posters, poster concepts, and lobby cards.
Also of note on the Dressed To Kill release is that the DVD offers an option of viewing the original R-rated theatrical cut or the unrated edition. The unrated cut runs roughly 30 seconds longer than the R-rated edition.
All of the documentaries here were produced in a similar style and compliment one another and the work of Brian De Palma very nicely. (Michael Coate) |
|
Story Synopsis:
Based on Stephen King’s novel, Sissy Spacek stars in her Oscar® nominated role as the tortured teenager, Carrie White. Known to some as “Creepy” Carrie, she is the butt of cruel jokes by her peers. But Carrie has telekinesis-the power to manipulate objects without touching them-and when a group of vicious teens make her the victim of a ruthless prank at the senior prom, Carrie unleashes revenge that causes all hell to break loose, taking you to the very depths of horror. (Suzanne Hodges)
DVD Picture:
Compared to the previously issued non-anamorphic DVD, this new anamorphically enhanced 1.85:1 DVD exhibits a sharper, brighter and more defined image. Viewed alone, the picture is sharp and nicely detailed. Colors are rich and well balanced, with generally accurate fleshtones and deep blacks. At times fleshtones can seem slightly orange or reddish. Shadow delineation is nicely rendered, offering better visual information and definition in the darker scenes than the previous DVD. The source element is revealing of artifacts, dirt and some film grain. At times, fine details shimmer, and there is some break up due to pixelization, but otherwise the picture should be quite pleasing for the film’s age. (Suzanne Hodges)
Soundtrack:
The Dolby Digital 5.1-channel remastered soundtrack is essentially the same as that for the previous DVD soundtrack, except for the higher 448 kbps bit rate. While there are moments that revert to the original mono, there are also many instances of a reasonably wide soundstage presence, as well as moderate to prominent surround engagement. Fidelity, as expected, is limited, but the newly incorporated music recordings sound somewhat better. There’s also a curious, very peculiar instance of extracting ambience from the original audio in Chapter 9 – you just have to isolate the surrounds to hear for yourself. The stereophonic music has a palpable, holosonic presence. In Chapter 27 there is a dramatic, creative holosonic engagement, including the split surrounds which adds a new dimensional perspective in this pivotal scene. The low-end is fairly noticeable, including some harmonic extension for the music, and an occasional jolt with .1 LFE activity, notably the explosion in Chapter 30. This is a soundtrack re-purposing effort that seems to be effective, and is worthy of commendation. (Perry Sun)
