It's been a great couple of years for fans of Canadian body-horror pioneer David Cronenberg.
While I've not been terribly impressed with his contemporary work, I have been pleased at the wealth of re-releases of his classic work on Blu-ray over several labels. The latest pair hitting home video are his late '70s Marilyn Chambers vehicle, Rabid, and the Jeremy Ironsiest Jeremy Irons film ever, Dead Ringers, featuring a double dose of your daily recommended dosage of Irons. Both discs hit store shelves in November, and we have the details below.
Rabid, while not his finest film, is definitely a lot of fun and was actually the first Cronenberg film I saw on the big screen at an all-night horrorthon back in the mid-90s. That night remains one of my fondest memories of my early cinephilia, and Scream Factory's new release is packed to the gills with supplemental material for fans to enjoy.
Rabid November 22nd, 2016
Cronenberg’s provocative take on the vampire mythos will makes its Blu-ray debut with the release of the Collector’s Edition Blu-ray of Rabid on November 22nd, 2016 from Scream Factory.
Brimming with bonus features, Rabid includes over 90 minutes of brand new bonus content, including new interviews with author Jill C. Nelson and Marilyn Chambers’ personal appearances manager Ken Leicht, and actress Susan Roman. Fans can pre-order their copies by visiting ShoutFactory.com
After undergoing radical emergency surgery, Rose (former adult film star Marilyn Chambers in her first leading role in a mainstream film) develops an insatiable desire for blood. She searches out victims to satisfy her incurable craving, infecting them with an unknown disease which, in turn swiftly drives them insane… and makes them equally bloodthirsty.
Follow the lovely but deadly Rose through her terrifying ordeal as victim by victim, the spreading circle of casualties grows... until no one can escape their grisly fate of becoming... Rabid.
Rabid Bonus Features
- NEW 2K scan from the negative at the director David Cronenberg’s preferred aspect ratio (1.66:1)
- NEW audio interview with author Jill C. Nelson (Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women of Classic Erotic Cinema, 1968-1985) and Marilyn Chambers’ personal appearances manager Ken Leicht
- NEWYoung and Rabid – an interview with actress Susan Roman (33 minutes)
- Audio Commentary with writer-director David Cronenberg
- Audio Commentary with William Beard, author of The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg
- Archival interview with David Cronenberg (21 minutes)
- Interview with executive producer Ivan Reitman (13 minutes)
- Interview with co-producer Don Carmody (16 minutes)
- From Stereo to Video – A video essay by Caelum Vatnsdal, author of They Came from Within: A History of Canadian Horror Cinema (26 minutes)
- Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spot
- Radio Spots (U.S. and U.K.)
- Still Gallery
Cronenberg’s 1988 film Dead Ringers, is among his strangest, and that’s saying something from a director who turned a man into a fly and had parasitic monsters using vaginal armpits as transport in some of his work. This film, the story of identical twins gynecologists and the bizarre love triangle they create, is a masterpiece of understated strangeness. Scream Factory are presenting the film in two different framings, both 1.78:1 and Cronenberg’s preferred 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Home video geeks will know that Dead Ringers is one of the most controversial films on DVD and it has never had a truly comprehensive edition, but Scream Factory appears to be ready to remedy that, and I’ll be happy to trade in my old discs for one set that does it all.
Dead Ringers November 15th, 2016
Cronenberg’s haunting tale of twin gynecologists and the woman they both love will make its Blu-ray debut November 15th, 2016 from Scream Factory, in conjunction with Morgan Creek Productions. The two-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray of Dead Ringerscomes loaded with bonus features, with over three hours of new bonus content including new audio commentary from author William Beard and new interviews with actress Heidi Von Palleske, Stephen Lack, special effects artist Gordon Smith and director of photography Peter Suschitzky. Fans can pre-order their copies by visiting ShoutFactory.com
Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold) is in love with handsome Beverly. Or does she love Elliot? It's uncertain because brothers Beverly and Elliot Mantle are identical twins sharing the same medical practice, apartment and women – including unsuspecting Claire.
In a role that won the New York Film Critics Circle Best Actor Award, Jeremy Irons plays twin gynecologists whose emotional dependency collapses into mind games, madness and murder. Cronenberg won the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards Best Director honors for melding split-screen techniques, body doubles and Iron's uncanny acting into an eerie, fact-based tale.
Dead Ringers Bonus Features
DISC 1 (1.78:1 version)
- NEW Audio Commentary with writer William Beard, author of The Artist As Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg
- Audio Commentary with actor Jeremy Irons
DISC 2
- NEW 2K scan at the director’s preferred aspect ratio (1.66:1)
- NEW Carey’s Story – an interviews with Heidi Von Palleske (19 minutes)
- NEW Working Artist – an interview with Stephen Lack (24 minutes)
- NEW Connecting Tissues – an interview with special effects artist Gordon Smith (19 minutes)
- NEW Double Vision - an interview with director of photography Peter Suschitzky (12 minutes)
- Vintage interviews with Jeremy Irons, director/co-writer David Cronenberg, producer Marc Boyman and co-writer Norman Snider (17 minutes)
- Vintage Behind the Scenes Featurette (7 minutes)
- Theatrical Trailer