Let’s be honest right away. I’m not a huge Cronenberg fan. I’ve seen most of his movies and more often than not, I don’t end up loving them. That qualification right there probably puts me out of the running for giving a valid opinion on Dead Ringers. Nevertheless, this is my site and I can do what I want! First things first, I appreciate the hard work put into the Blu-ray from Scream Factory, but unfortunately, I did not enjoy the movie itself. If you want to read more (I forgive you if you don’t), please read on…
PRODUCT INFORMATION
DISCS: 2
RUN-TIME: 115 min
ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1, 1.66:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: English
REGION: A/1
RATING: R
PRODUCTION DATE: 1988
RELEASE DATE: Nov 15, 2016
PLOT SUMMARY
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 portrayals 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. David Cronenberg (The Fly) 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.
MOVIE REVIEW
How does one describe a plot for a movie they didn’t really understand? Let’s see if I can Tatlock it up a bit with what I think the movie was about.
Two Doctor twins are knee deep in hot snatch (Beverly’s words, not mine) at their gynaecologist office. Of the two twins, Elliot is known as the suave one who picks up all the ladies and after he is done with them, he dumps them off on Beverly, the meek one. It’s when Beverly meets sloppy seconds Claire Niveau that he falls in love. Unfortunately, Claire’s addiction to pills pulls Beverly down with her and it begins to ruin his life. Elliot beings to worry about his twin brother, as he sees him slowly crumble and start to lose his grip on reality. Elliot feels the only way to save his brother is to get hooked on pills as well and together they can get in synch and wean off of them. A terrible plan if there ever was one.
I honestly have no idea if that is what Dead Ringers is really about. Is it about the dangers of drug abuse? Terrifying body horror? Or the fear of mutant vaginas rearing their hairy heads? One thing I do know is that I was often so bored with the slow pace, I nearly dozed off at times.
It isn’t all bad, though, as the Dead Ringers shining star goes to, of course, Jeremy Irons in the role of the twin brothers. He excels at playing two slightly different characters. If there was one reason to see the movie it would be for his amazing performance.
I’m not going to waste your time anymore, as my opinion on this “classic” Cronenberg film isn’t going to be worth squat for anyone that loves the director and the film. There are a lot of people out there that love this movie. I, unfortunately, wasn’t one of them.
BLU-RAY OPINION
Scream Factory provides a Blu-ray for all the fans of Dead Ringers. They have done what I feel is a fantastic job at providing a package to please plenty of people. The Blu-ray comes split into two different discs, each offering a different aspect ratio. One is the original aspect of 1.78:1 and the other is the preferred Director’s aspect at 1.66:1. I watched the new Director’s preferred 2K scan and I had no problems with it. Each disc also provides two different audio options: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. When I watched the movie with the 5.1 soundtrack, I felt it had a bit too much bass at times.
As for special features, you have new interviews with supporting actors and crew. Nothing super special to be perfectly honest. Also provided is vintage interviews and two commentaries, one new one with writer William Beard and an old one with actor Jeremy Irons. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was disappointed there weren’t some new interviews with the man himself David Cronenberg and Jeremy Irons.
SPECIAL FEATURES
DISC ONE
- High-Definition Transfer Of The Film (1.78:1 Aspect Ratio)
- 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 TWO
- NEW 2K Scan At The Director’s Preferred Aspect Ratio (1.66:1)
- NEW Carey’s Story – An Interview With Heidi Von Palleske
- NEW Working Artist – An Interview With Stephen Lack
- NEW Connecting Tissues – An Interview With Special Effects Artist Gordon Smith
- NEW Double Vision – An Interview With Director Of Photography Peter Suschitzky
- Vintage interviews With Jeremy Irons, Director/Co-writer David Cronenberg, Producer Marc Boyman And Co-writer Norman Snider
- Vintage Behind-The-Scenes Featurette
- Original Theatrical Trailer
VERDICT
Dead Ringers turned out to be a movie that didn’t please me. I felt it was a tad bit boring, even with the brilliant performance from Jeremy Irons. Nevertheless, that is my useless opinion only and for everyone else that loves the movie, you’ll be happy with Scream Factory’s Blu-ray.