That didn't mean the film, called The Frighteners, was bad. On the contrary, for many people it was a fantasy highlight of the nineties, melding Peter Jackson's preferences with impressive technical leaps forward. And it did pave the way for his Lord of the Rings films, proving to many industry insiders he had the producing skills and effects know-how necessary.
The Frighteners has had several very decent releases over the years, including gigantic making-of documentaries dwarfing the film itself. But this is the age of 4k-UHD and Dolby Atmos so a new one was bound to happen. The Germans thought: "why not go large?" and distributor Turbine Medien created a Limited Ultimate Edition with six discs, a book, posters, the works.
It's been out for a while but still available, and it's quite the looker, so here is a gallery of shots. Click on the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or at the center of each to see a bigger version.
Here is the box: a big box.
Opening it reveals there is not much air in there: what space is left over from the disc-holder and the book is filled with posters and cards.
All contents spread out. Several of the art card have film trivia texts on the back.
There are six discs in this set: two 4K-UHD discs and 4 Blu-rays. On these, you get the film in its theatrical version and the (13 minutes longer) director's cut. On one of the Blu-rays you even get the director's cut in an open matte version, adding footage at the top and bottom of the regular versions.
For Dolby Atmos fans: the director's cut on both the 4K-UHD and the Blu-ray has it.
The backside of the disc-holder. Pretty!
A closer look at the book. It's a making-of tome that is nearly 200 pages thick.
In it, you get.... well basically whatever you'd want in an edition like this. Designs, interviews, and an intricate look at how they made the film.
Warning though: it's all in German. The discs are English-friendly, but the book is not.
The (back)end of a fantastic release. Let's see what Turbine does next...