WILD AT HEART (1990) (Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review)

WILD AT HEART (1990) 

Label: Shout Select
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 124 Minutes
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD MA Stereo, 5.1 DTS-HD MA Surround with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1) 
Director: David Lynch
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd, Isabella Rossellini, Harry Dean Stanton

David Lynch's Southern Gothic road trip into Hell 'Wild At Heart' (1990) stars Nicolas Cage (Valley Girl) and Laura Dern (Blue Velvet) as incendiary young lovers Lulu and Sailor who are separated when he is imprisoned for manslaughter after a failed attempt on his life, an event ignited by Lulu's demented mom Marietta (Dern's real-mom Diane Ladd, Chinatown) who despises Sailor for reasons not yet known. He serves his time and few years later is released, with Lulu waiting outside to pick him up, right away the two embark on a Southern road trip that takes them through a nightmare south land where they catch a thrash metal show, run across a ominous car accident and wind-up Big Tuna, TX at a dead-end motel running on fumes, a seedy flea-pit populated by low-rent big-titty porn productions and hired assassins. The film has a heightened sense of reality that and is intercut with some strange Wizard of Oz-ish visuals including a visit from the Good Witch who compels Sailor to "don't turn away from love" when the chips are down. 

This is the film that introduced me to the real David Lynch, I had seen Dune and The Elephant Man but did not connect the dots that the same man made them, but this nightmare road trip made a mark, it scarred me a little, I'd never seen anything quite like it. At the time the closest thing I could compare it to from my own cinema experience was Tobe Hooper's black comedy TCM2, a comparison I think is still valid, both have this strange Southern nightmare aesthetic punctuated by moments of extreme violence and over-the-top performances. I love Nicolas Cage playing a Southern Gothic version of Elvis, his character decked out in a snakeskin leather jacket , which he more than once declares is "a symbol of my individuality, and my belief in personal freedom", with an Elvis drawl and a somewhat dorky bravado that drips right off the screen. His and Lulu's love is red-hot, they're inseparable, it's an them versus everyone else sort of love story with a decidedly Lynch-ian skew.

As they travel deeper into the dark heart of the American south Lulu's mother sends two men in search of her daughter; her on again/off again suitor/private eye Johnnie Farragut (Harry Dean Stanton, Repo Man) and her former lover/gangster Marcello Santos (J. E. Freeman, Miller's Crossing) who is more sinister, and who wants to do poor Farragut in. Were also introduced to a cast of strange characters that could only exist in a David Lynch film (with respect to novelist Barry Gifford), we have Mr. Reindeer (W. Morgan Sheppard, Needful Things) as the head of an assassin's guild who we see squatting on a toilet sipping espresso while a nude woman dances for his pleasure, or the bleach blond nightmares that are killers Perdita Durango (Isabella Rossellini, Blue Velvet) and her frightening sister Juana (Grace Zabriskie, Twin Peaks), also be on the lookout for Twin Peaks alum Sherilyn Fenn, Sheryl Lee and Jack Nance (Eraserhead). However, all other dark characters pale in comparison to the film's ultimate evil, Willem Dafoe as the greasy killer Bobby Peru, maybe one of the creepiest characters to ever leave a stain on the big screen, this is the film I saw him in first, completely ruining my image of him as anything but a low-life with those god awful rotten, worn-down teeth of his and devilish smirk that makes my skin crawl, gros. When he pulls a stocking over his head right before a doomed robbery attempt it's an image that will forever haunt by nightmares.

Audio/Video: Wild At Heart (1990) arrives on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory imprint Shout Select in 1080p HD 2.35:1 widescreen, I was comparing this to the now OOP 2014 Blu-ray from Twilight Time and they look identical right down to the grain structure with no notable difference in color timing or sharpness. The grain is nicely managed and colors look solid, skin tones are a bit warm but natural looking, and blacks are decent but grainy in spots. This is at least a five year old HD master, it would have been nice to have a new scan of the negative, but knowing Scream Factory there should be a Steelbook with a new scan in a year or two (wink-wink). 

The audio on the disc comes by way of 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA mixes, the surround track is decent, not a show-stopper, but there's some use of the surrounds that make it a viable option, I just prefer the more straight ahead stereo track, optional English subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extras is where we get new stuff that make this edition worth upgrading for, but first let's lay out the vintage 
e carry-over extras, we get MGM produced extras made for the special edition DVD, a 30-min making of doc with director David Lynch and stars Laura Dern, Nic Cage and Willem Dafoe, plus others, and about 21-min of extended interviews with the same bunch. Along the same lines we get a 7-min appreciation of the director by the cast of the film and David Lynch talking about the post-production of the film including color-timing, including minting a brand new scan from the OCN for the special edition DVD. Shout also include the 7-min vintage EPK, TV spots, trailer, and an image gallery for the film.

Onto the new goodies we get a brand new interview with Novelist Barry Gifford that runs about a half-hour, discussing the liberties Lynch took with the novel in adapting it for the screen, he seems to enjoy what Lynch did with the story and were it went, pointing out key differences and giving some back story to the origins of the novel he wrote. Not exactly new but new to Blu-ray are 76-min of extended and deleted scenes that were previously included on the pricey David Lynch: The Lime Green Set - it's great to have them here on an affordable stand alone release. We also get the unaltered Bobby Peru death scene minus the flash-bang and smoke that the director used to obscure the gore to secure the film's Rating.

Something you can find on the Twilight Time release not found here is an isolated music and effects audio track and the the 8-page booklet with notes on the film from TT staff writer Julio Kirgo, but in all other respects this Shout Select release renders that OOP TT release irrelevant in my opinion. The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork with a new illustration from artists Antonio Stella on one side and what looks to be a variation on one of the original movie posters, very similar to the TT release but cropped with a different logo.   

Special Features: 
- NEW Interview With Novelist Barry Gifford (30 min) 
- Extended And Deleted Scenes (76 min)
- Unaltered Bobby Peru Death Scene (1 min) 
- Love, Death, Elvis And Oz: The Making Of Wild At Heart (30 min) 
- Dell's Lunch Counter: Extended Interviews (21 min) 
- Specific Spontaneity: Focus On David Lynch (7 min) 
- Lynch On The DVD Process (3 min) 
- Original 1990 Making Of EPK (7 min) 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 min) 
- TV Spots (1 min) 
- Image Gallery (2 min) 

Lynch's Wilds At Heart (1990) is still one of my favorites from his venerable catalog, a Southern Gothic nightmare with two young lovers at the center of it all, surrounded by devils and killers with dark hearts. The new Blu-ray from Shout Select doesn't really improve on the A/V we saw with the Twilight Time release, but they do come through with some nifty new extras, those deleted scenes are worth the purchase price all by themselves. 

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ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981)

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981)

Label: Scream Factory

Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 98 Minutes

Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Kurt Russell, Isaac Hayes, Donald Pleasence, Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, Charles Cyphers, Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton, Lee Van Cleef, Season Hubley

In John Carpenter's Escape from New York it is established that the entire island of Manhattan has been evacuated and converted into an enormous walled prison following some sort of natural disaster. New York City has been walled-off from the rest of the world, all the waterways and bridges have been mined to prevent escape. America's criminals are incarcerated there, once you enter you do not leave ever. Inside the prison the city has become a lawless wasteland of outlaws lead by a hierarchy of criminals who rule the landscape with an iron-fist of violence. 

At the start of the movie Air Force one has been hijacked by the terrorist organization the National Liberation Front who are threatening to crash the jet and kill the president of the U.S. (Donald Pleasance). Making good on their threat a short time later the plane crashes into a skyscraper in Manhattan but the President survives after having been placed inside an escape pod. However, he falls into the hands of the Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes) who in turn demands that the inmates of Manhattan be allowed to leave the island within the next 24-hours or he will execute the president.  

With few options left the New York Police Commissioner Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) offers a one-time deal to a former US Special Forces soldier turned criminal named Snake Plissken, who has just arrived at the facility for detainment following the attempted robbery of the Federal Reserve. Realizing that he's going in one way or the other Snake accepts the deal, to rescue the President and the contents of his briefcase, within the next 24-hours and receive a full pardon for his crimes. If he should fail his mission a timed explosive injected into his arteries will detonate and kill him, it seems that time is of essence. 

With that Plissken silently drops into Manhattan via a glider under the cover of darkness landing atop the world Trade Center. Afterward making his way among the labyrinth of ruins and the violent locals on his quest to rescue the President. Along the way he meets a friendly cab driver named Cabbie (Ernest Borgnine) who directs him towards Harold "Brain" Hellman (Harry Dean Stanton) and his busty lady friend Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau) who help him navigate the city and secure the President. 

Carpenter does a great job of world building, the garbage-strewn streets and colorful locals make for a fun and violent trip for the duration of the film. When Snake isn't dealing with the subterranean flesh eaters known as the crazies who roam the streets at night he must fight an enormous brute named Slag (Ox Baker) to the death for the entertainment of the Duke of New York.

Kurt Russell is quite the badass, a minimal talker and consummate ass-kicker, playing an Eastwood-type character against the Lee Van Cleef warden. He's iconic with his camouflage pants, the eye-patch, long hair and grizzled face.  Plissken has an I don't care attitude that makes him one of the best on screen anti-heros in all of cinema in my opinion. Here he's channeling Clint Eastwood Man with No Name to near perfection, this is great stuff. He plays it so well it's hard to believe this was casting against type as for year Russell was a known Disney commodity in such films as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, but he pulls it off to perfection. 

Issac Hayes makes for a bit of an understated but menacing villain, with his crew of cronies including Brain, and a whacked-out character named Romero (Frank Doubleday) who has a crazy look about him and a strange penchant for hissing. The strange cast of characters and aesthetic definitely gives the film a vibe similar to The Warriors (1979), I see the two as kindred spirits of a sort.  John Carpenter made quite a damn fine film with this one, a nihilistic slice of cinema with a fantastic cast of characters and one legendary bad ass by way of Russell's Snake Plissken. 

Audio/Video: John Carpenter's Escape from New york arrives on Blu-ray with brand new 2K hi-def scan of the inter-positive, struck from the original negative and the results are very pleasing. This one is a tad brighter than the previous MGM Blu-ray and offers more detail overall, some of the night scenes are more accessible and you can see just what the hell is happening onscreen, the older Blu-ray and Special Edition DVD of the film were impenetrable at times and being able follow what's happening onscreen is an added bonus. Additionally there's looks to be a new color grading happening, which looks good, if occasionally markedly different from  previous interpretation, which is what color grading boils down to, unless it it supervised by the original cinematographer. 

Sharpness and fine detail have never been the bread and butter of this particular film, shot on '80s film stock and loaded with dim night scenes this one has some issues in that area but the new transfer and improved contrast go a long way towards improving the presentation. 

Onto audio options we have a choice of DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0 and both are satisfying experiences, the 2.0 will be closer to the theatrical experience but the 5.1 is pretty great with a nice dynamic range and a sense of depth that doesn't feel forced, both option make the most of the score by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth.

Scream Factory have ported over nearly all the bonus content from the previous MGM DVD except for one trailers, a montage, and the Making of John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken Chronicles and the accompanying comic book, so you might want to at least keep that comic book if you are trading-up. Carried over from the DVD are  the Audio Commentary With Director John Carpenter And Actor Kurt Russell and the Audio  Commentary With Producer Debra Hill And Production Designer Joe Alves. If you have never listened to the original original commentary with Russell/Carpenter you are missing out, they have a great camaraderie and it makes for a fantastic commentary track, the same can be said of their commentaries for Big Trouble in Little China and The Things, three of the most enjoyable commentaries ever recorded in my opinion. Also carried over are a Deleted Scene: The Original Opening Bank Robbery Sequence, the Return To Escape From New York Featurette, Theatrical Trailers and an array of Photo Galleries. 

Being a Scream Factory Collector's Edition there are loads of new extras to enjoy, beginning with a brand new commentary from actress Adrienne Barbeau and cinematographer Dean Cundey moderated by Sean Clark, offering some interesting anecdotes about the making of the film, not anywhere near the level of geek-gasm as the Carpenter/Russell track but still a good listen. 

Then onto five new featurettes produced fr this release, beginning with  Big Challenges In Little Manhattan: The Visual Effects Of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (14 Mins) featuring interview with Dennis and Robert Kotak who speak about creating the miniature in camera effects used on the film, the glider scene, working with James Cameron on Corman productions Battle Beyond the Stars and Galaxy of Terror before collaborating on Escape from New York. Scoring The Escape: A Discussion With Composer Alan Howarth (19 Mins) is conducted by Sean Clark with the composer relaying how he came to collaborate with Carpenter, how their collaborations worked in the studio and he even sits down at the synthesizer and plays a few clips of the score. Howarth and Clark also discuss various releases of the soundtrack including the original LP, expanded score CD and the more recent Death Waltz LP.

On Set With John Carpenter: The Images Of Escape from New York with Photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker (11 Mins) is an interview with the on-set photographer who shares numerous behind-the-scenes pics while discussing her role as film historians on Carpenter sets. Lots of great shot including one of Avatar director James Cameron painting a glass matte painting used in the film. 

I Am Taylor: An Interview With Actor Joe Unger (9 Mins) who was cut from the film when the original opening bank robbery scene was cut from the film, nonetheless he is here to discuss his time on the film. The last of the new extras is My Night On The Set: An Interview With Filmmaker David DeCoteau (5 Mins) HD whom relays his night on set during the making of the film when Roger Corman's team was brought onto to do some of the insert shots for the film. Lastly we have a reversible sleeve of artwork, though I prefer the original artwork featuring the decapitated statue of liberty in the background, even though it is not a scene from the film. 

Special  Features
Disc One 
- NEW 2K High Definition Scan Of The Inter-Positive, Struck From The Original Negative
- NEW Audio Commentary With Actress Adrienne Barbeau And Director Of Photography Dean Cundey
- Audio Commentary With Director John Carpenter And Actor Kurt Russell
- Audio Commentary With Producer Debra Hill And Production Designer Joe Alves
Disc Two 
- NEW Big Challenges In Little Manhattan: The Visual Effects Of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (14 Mins) HD with Dennis Skotak, Robert Skotak and more
- NEW Scoring The Escape: A Discussion With Composer Alan Howarth (19 Mins) HD
- NEW On Set With John Carpenter: The Images Of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK With Photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker (11 Mins) HD
- NEW I Am Taylor: An Interview With Actor Joe Unger (9 Mins) HD
- NEW My Night On The Set: An Interview With Filmmaker David DeCoteau (5 Mins) HD
- Deleted Scene: The Original Opening Bank Robbery Sequence (11 Mins) HD
- Return To Escape From New York Featurette (23 Mins) SD
- Theatrical Trailers (3 Mins) HD
- Photo Galleries – Behind-The-Scenes (143 Images) , Posters And Lobby Cards (49 Images) 

John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981) looks great in HD and the new Scream Factory bonus features make this the most comprehensive and definitive edition to date, a winner all the way around, easily topping the MGM Blu-ray with improved brightness and contrast, you can now see what's actually happening in a few of those darker scenes that were previously murky. Escape from New York is a badass movie and now we have a proper badass Blu-ray release of it to enjoy. 

Blu-ray Review: CHRISTINE (1983)

Christine (1983)

The Limited Edition Series

Label: Twilight Time DVD
Region: Region FREE
Rating: R
Duration: 110 Minutes
Audio:  English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Video: 1080p Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Robert Blosson
Tagline: How Do You KilL Something That Can't Possibly Be Alive? 

John Carpenter's 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's novel Christine starts off fantastically, with the revving of an engine and the razor bad ass bite of George Throrogood's "Bad to the Bone". The setting is a 50's era Detroit car production plant where '58 Plymouth Furies are rolling off the assembly line, before the scene is finished one man's hand will be mangled and another lays dead, the car's not even off the production line and already a malevolent force is out for blood, it's a great opener. 

Christine (1983) has always smacked to me a bit of Dan Curtis's film Burnt Offerings (1976) wherein a decrepit old house possesses and consumes an entire family, particularly the matriarch played by Karen Black. The evil house consumes and feeds upon the inhabitants fear, the further the family spirals out of control the more opulent the formrlydecrepit home becomes, rebuilding itself one shingle at a time, at one point literally shedding it's skin. That's very much what we have here, as the classic American nerd Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon, De Palma's Dressed to Kill), who comes complete with taped up thick-rimmed glasses,  spots the rusting carcass of a '58 Plymouth Fury for sale. The owner George LeBay (Roberts Blossom) sells the rusted deathtrap to Arnie for $250. Arnie's unlikely jocular best friend Dennis (John Stockwell) fruitlessly attempts to dissuade the transaction but Arnie is oddly drawn to the car. Dennis himself drives a sweet '68 Dodge Charger and Arnie wants a sweet car of his own, but there's something more to it, he's seduced by the car almost immediately. LeBay reveals the name of the car as Christine and tells of his departed brother's tragic devotion to her. Blossom is fantastic as the creepy coot, too. Christine has no shortage of interesting characters, from Harry Dean Stanton's Det. Rudy Junkins to Arnie's mother, portrayed sternly by 70's  TV actress Christine Belford. One of the more menacing characters is the switchblade wielding, John Travolta-esque Buddy Repperton who taunts the awkward Arnie along with his cohorts Moochie, Richie and Don, Arbie refers to this foursome as "the shitters". 

When Arnie arrives home with the wreck his mother is less than pleased with his purchase and in the ensuing argument it is decided that the car may not take up space in the family driveway, forcing Arnie to take the decrepit Christine to Darnell's Do It Yourself Garage where we meet the cantankerous proprietor Will Darnell (Robert Prosky, Gremlins 2: The New Batch), a greasy jowled curmudgeon who upon seeing the car pull into the garage trailing an oily fog tells Dennis "Kiddo, you sold him that piece of shit, you oughta be fuckin' ashamed of yourself" and when Dennis retorts that he tried to talk him out of it Darnell's response is "You shoulda' tried harder". 

Only Arnie seems to see what inner beauty the wreck might hold and sets about restoring Christine to her original beauty salvaging parts from Darnell's wrecking yard, the further along into the restoration the more Arnie is consumed by the car, running his hands over her body like the curves of a woman. His confidence grows, his eyesight mysteriously improves and  his style changes, too. He begins to the dress the part of a late-50's teen, he listens to 50's music and starts dating a pretty young girl, Leigh (Alexandra Paul, Dragnet). 

Consumed by Christine Arnie distances himself from Dennis and his relationship with the parents is strained, devolving into nightly spates of vulgarity, at one point even wrapping his hands around his father's neck. The once dweeby nerd has become something of an anti-social asshole. Concerned for his friend Dennis returns to the home of LeBay in search of answers and the creepy codger reveals that his brother Roland, his wife and even their young daughter all died in the car, apparently Christine's appetite for blood did not end at the factory.

When Arnie shows up at the highschool football game with a cherried out Christine and the cute Leigh on his arm it so distracts Dennis that he gets pummeled on the football field with a career ending injury, it also catches the attention of Buddy Repperton and his gang of toughs whom are dismayed that Arnie should have such a gorgeous hot-rod, their jealousy  sets in motion a series of events that ill lead to a lot of fatalities. 

While at the drive-in with Leigh the car reveals itself as quite a jealous bitch, after an intense make-out session in Christine Leigh chokes on her cheeseburger, the doors lock preventing Arnie from getting in to assist her, the dashboard lights up with an unearthly glow as she nearly dies, it's great stuff. That same night Repperton and the band of teen thugs visit Darnell's garage and reek some destruction upon Christine, they completely ruin her. It's the I Spit on Your Grave (1978) of car destruction, she's utterly destroyed. Windows are busted, the body is smashed, the vinyl has been slashed and adding insult to injury Moochie  leaves a steaming turd on the dashboard. 

The event traumatizes Arnie, he vents his frustration on his parents and even on poor Leigh who only tries to console him. He returning to the garage later that night in an attempt to restore Christine spoiled beauty. However, the vehicle reveals to him that it can restore itself in a fantastic series of shots. Arnie steps back from the car and says "okay, show me" to the cue of a brilliant John Carpenter synth score, the headlights flicker to life with some great lens flare and with a stroke of special effects magic the car restores itself to mint condition.

At this point we know 100% that something supernatural is happening, if we hadn't already, before this you could maybe assume the former tragedies were unfortunate coincidence, that a short in the wiring spurred the radio to switch on and off, but from here there can be little doubt, Christine and Arnie are intrinsically joined by some malevolent force and neither will sit idly by and forget about the insult perpetrated upon her by Buddy and the other shitters of the world. 

The first to go is Moochie whom is chased down an alleyway, he takes refuge in the narrow relief of a loading dock too slim for Christine to traverse but he's wrong. The car's engine roars in defiance, wheel sending up plumes of white smoke, sparks flying as she squeezes through the passageway peeling back her  side panels to crush the young man who shit upon her dashboard. 

A later sequence  features Christine giving chase to Buddy, Richie and Don in Buddy's '67 Chevy Camaro. The chase culminates  at a service station, the teens flee the car for the safety of the garage just as the vengeful car spears the camaro, crushing it, pushing it into the station crushing Richie and rupturing a fuel tank that sends the entire station up in an enormous fireball incinerating Don. Outside Buddy witnesses the inferno and against belief Christine emerges engulfed in flames and continues her pursuit. It's a haunting scene in the pitch black of night as the fiery '58 Fury runs Buddy down leaving a burning corpse as she continues on down the road like a fiery nightmare. The car returns to Darnell's where Will witnesses the charred classic return to it's bay, grabbing his shotgun to investigate the car claims yet another victim as the curmudgeon is crushed to death behind the steering wheel.

With the perpetrators of the car-rape dealt with appropriately the focus of the film now centers around the alliance of Leigh and Dennis whom are no longer willing to stand by and let Christine consume their friend Arnie. The final showdown happens at Darnell's garage and ends with Arnie being thrown through the windshield of Christine as she attempts to kill Leigh. Arnie's impaled with a shard of glass, the wound is fatal, and with his dying breath he gently caresses Christine's chrome grill one last time. Enraged by Arnie's dead, Christine, ever the jealous and bloodthirsty companion, reconstitutes herself enough to go after Leigh one last time, it's Dennis whom stops the haunted ride with the assistance a vintage bulldozer, he mounts the cursed car, crushing it beyond repair, bringing it's reign of terror to an end. 

Christine is a timeless film, this is classic piece of Americana horror from John Carpenter and perhaps the only one of his director-for-hire films that maintains his cinematic identity, it's a lean muscular film with lots of rewatch value. Other films Carpenter directed for hire include the Chevy Chase comedy vehicle Memoirs of the Invisible Man (1992) and the remake of Village of the Damned (1998) with Christopher Reeve and neither film "feels" like a Carpenter experience, a lot of that has to do with the fact that he did not compose the score for either wherein with Christine he and longtime collaborator Alan Howarth bring the magic with an understated but very Carpenter-esqu score, so effective with just the right amount of menace and trademark stingers, the film also benefits from a fantastic oldies soundtrack with hits from Johnny Ace, Little Richard, Richie Valens, The Rolling stones and Robert and Johnny. 

Blu-ray:  Twilight Time brings John Carpenter's Christine to Blu-ray for the first-time ever with an MPEG-4 AVC encode presented in it's original scope aspect ratio (2.35:1). The HD master from Columbia-Sony is sourced from a stunning print with precious few if any defects. It's a wonderful presentation with nice, deep  color saturation, particularly the reds, Christine's cherry red body just pops off the screen. The film benefits from the 1080p upgrade with nice clarity, the fine detail is amped up and the film's natural grain has never looked better, this is a magnificent video presentation. The lossless English language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sounds superb, too. Not the most immersive track but the surrounds do get some effective use. It's a crystal clear presentation that's well balanced, the 50's rock n' roll soundtrack and John Carpenter's score sound great, when Christine's engine revs up it was a bit startling, great stuff and we get optional English SDH subtitles, too. 

Blu-ray Menu Screen 

We get the very same extras from Columbia's special edition DVD ported over to the Blu-ray beginning with a nice Audio Commentary with director John Carpenter and star Keith Gordon whom has become a director in his own right directing Robert Downey Jr. in The Singing Detective (2003) as well multiple episodes of suspenseful TV programming such as Showtime's Dexter and A&E's The Killing. It's an entertaining track with not a dull moment. 

There are three featurettes Ignition (11:52), Fast and Furious (28:55) and Finish Line (7:17) that are sourced from the same interview with director John Carpenter, producer Richard Kobritz , screen write Bill Philips and stars Keith Gordon, Alexandra Paul and John Stockwell. each segment is peppered with clips from the film, behind-the-scenes shots. Combined at nearly 48 minutes it's a pretty comprehensive look back at the making of the film as Kobritz explains Stephen King offering manuscript of unfinished work to him to produce following Salem's Lot (1979) and what a big deal that was at the time when King was the unparalleled king of fiction at a time before the Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowlings of the world. He turned down producing Cujo (1983) to take on the very Americana Christine, also bringing John Carpenter onto the project following the poor box office The Thing (1982). Carpenter goes into the "birthing" scene at the top of the film, extolling the virtues of cinematographer Donald M. Morgan and shooting the effects insert shots to give Christine's Resurrection shots "more juice". The interviews with the cast are pretty enlightening and add to the overall enjoyment of the film particular Keith who speaks about the Carpenter's direction to sexualize his interactions with the car, flubbed takes and Carpenter keeping it lose on set. We also get 20 Deleted and Alternate Scenes (26:02) featuring an extended version of the bullies trashing Christine but it's easy to see why most of these were judiciously left on the cutting room floor. 

Exclusive to Twilight's Time's Limited Edition Blu-ray is the signature Isolated Score Track which showcases John Carpenter's sparse and sublime score. Worth noting is that Carpenter's score does not actually begin until almost the sixteen minute mark and is pretty sparsely used throughout the film Another signature item is the 8pg. Collector's Booklet with Julie Kirgo's illuminating liner notes, red-tinted screenshots and behind-the-scenes pics and the original theatrical poster. All in all a fantastic edition from Twilight Time, the only omission would be some Trailers, TV Spots or Radio Spots for the film. 

I do find it odd that Columbia did not see fit to release this on their own in greater numbers, Twilight Time's edition is a limited edition of 3,000 and is already out of print and demanding upwards of $100 on the auction sites, regardless more John Carpenter on Blu-ray is always a cause for celebration and I look forward to 1080p presentations of The Fog (1980), Prince of Darkness (1987) and In the Mouth of Madness (1994). 

Special Features: 
- Audio Commentary with Filmmakers John Carpenter and Keith Gordon
- Isolated Score Track
- Deleted and Alternate Scenes (26:02)
- Ignition (11:52)
- Fast and Furious (28:55)
- Finish Line (7:17)


Verdict: A classic piece of Americana and an effective slice of r-rated teen horror, Christine is an underrated John Carpenter entry, one that's taken for granted after years of cable channel reruns. I think maybe it gets lumped in with many of the more mediocre Stephen King adaptations we've seen throughout the years but one deserving of celebration. It'd been a few years since I last watched the film and it's surprising how well it's held up these past thirty years, one hell of a haunted car ride. 3.75 Outta 5 

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