Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions

For our second Scream Factory pairing, well, I just couldn't leave out this essential Clive Barker film any longer.  Not that it's his only other worthwhile picture... I was pleasantly surprised with that Midnight Meat Train movie.  But this completes the trilogy of the only films he's actually directed, plus nipping at the heels of Hellraiser and Candyman, the trilogy of his best work on film.  So let's see what Scream Factory did with it.

Update 2/16/19 - 8/14/25: Scream Factory's done more with it this summer, with their 4k Ultra HD upgrade.  Let's get into it.

The premise feels a little self-indulgent, but Barker manages to pull all the elements together to work more effectively than they really should.  Scott Bakula plays an archetypal NY private eye. straight out of a 40's noir, hired by a mysterious and wealthy love interest (Famke Jannsen) to come to Hollywood and "help me help my husband... I know he's in some kind of trouble."  Said husband's a celebrity magician (the comic relief guy from The Mummy and Deep Rising, here for once in a convincing serious role) who's somehow mixed up with an evil cult in league with actual magical forces.  It gets pretty convoluted, with misleading illusions, classic noir plot twists and a huge cast of characters; but Barker manages to keep it all straight.

It's actually based on one of his Books of Blood stories, called The Last Illusion, but the story here goes in completely different directions.  It's full of eye candy, traveling from one exotic location to another, including the real Magic Castle in LA.  There's an army of vicious killers, an elaborate Vegas-style magic show, overt hetero- and homo-eroticism, secret doors, a killer monkey, flying monsters, gory special effects... clearly, Barker aimed to give audiences they could possibly want and mostly succeeds.  Not that it's a perfect film.  It's a detective story where we're introduced to all the villains before the hero, so the audience is mostly just waiting for the protagonist to get caught up and figure out what we already know.  And while most of the special effects are beautifully crafted by KNB, it also suffers from a terrible case of the Bad CGIs, being one of horror's earliest adapters and throwing some awful animation in our faces for what should be the film's biggest money shots.

a frame only in the theatrical cut

a scene only in the director's cut

And I suppose I should also talk about the two cuts of the film.  There's the original, R-rated theatrical cut, and then an extended director's cut that largely replaced it on home video.  It's a solid eight or so minutes longer, and movie-censorship gives a nice scene-specific breakdown of the distinctions.  But in short, the film was clearly cut for two different reasons at the same time: length for the studio and violence for the MPA.  So the extended cut gives us a nice dose of extra bits of nastiness as well as dry "regular" scenes that enrich the story and characters.  Barker's stated, and I strongly agree, that it's the preferable cut of the film.  The theatrical cut has very little unique footage, just a few trims and frames as specific edits are different - it's mostly just missing stuff.  Frankly, I see very little reason to ever revisit the theatrical cut; but hey, if labels want to give us the option, I'll take it.

MGM first issued Lord of Illusions on their DVD, which contains the director's cut, way back in 1998.  And except for them occasionally porting that disc over to another region, that's been all we've had right up until 101 Films commissioned it for blu-ray in 2014.  They put out a new HD transfer with a separate blu for each cut, and that's also what Scream Factory released State-side the same year, but with their reliably more fleshed out special features package.  Recently, the BD rights wound up in the hands of Sandpiper, who licensed a bunch of the MGM titles, and in 2024, they put out a barebones theatrical cut-only disc, which I guess is okay for a budget alternative?  But now in 2025, Scream's gone the opposite direction, releasing the director's cut on UHD, with all of their previous extras plus a little something more.  Yes, this is yet another instance of Scream releasing only one cut in 4k when they'd previously released two, but in this case they chose the right one, so it's all good.

1) 1998 MGM DVD; 2) 2014 SF theatrical BD;
3) 2014 SF director's BD; 4) 2025 SF UHD.

Unlike our last post, the difference between MGM's DVD and Scream's BD is huge.  That might be just as much about how surprisingly poor MGM's DVD is, though, considering it's a major studio disc of a modern film ...though it is a pretty old disc.  Anyway, it has a real murky look to it, almost like a tape source (but not) except with a bunch of artifacting, too, just in case you thought details weren't obscured enough.  Possibly they just up-res'ed the laserdisc?  It's at least anamorphic widescreen, and free of interlacing, but the DVD is distinctly below par, giving Scream an easy win.  For their part, the box just refers to their version as an "all-new, high definition transfer," and considering how light the grain is, this clearly isn't a fancy 2k scan or anything, but it's a pretty solid HD transfer that, again, stomps all over what came before it.  Besides the obvious boost in clarity and fine detail, and cleaner digitization, it also smartens up the color, which felt a little washed in a heavy red hue.  And they tighten up the aspect ratio from 1.77 to 1.84:1 (despite claiming 1.78:1 on the case).  Oh, and for the record, the theatrical and director's cut transfers are for all intents and purposes identical, though I did spot a little more film dirt/ damage on the few moments unique to the TC than the rest of either cut,  But even there, it's just a few sporadic moments, like the black spots you can see on the upper right of that TC screenshot I posted above.

That's all academic now, anyway, as Scream has struck an all new 4k master from the original camera negative, and issued it on a proper 4k disc in Dolby Vision HDR.  Grain is finally represented, so the image looks far more filmic, and more actual picture detail is discernible for the first time.  Look at dude's eyes in the first set of shots, for example.  Everything's just softer and less finely captured.  And the aspect ratio is now exactly 1.85:1, showing a little, but not unnoticeable, more picture along the left-hand side.  The color scheme for this movie is surprisingly muted, full of browns and gray shadows.  But the colors on the UHD still come off as more vivid and lifelike than ever before.

All the MGM and Scream discs feature a robust 5.1 mix, boosted to DTS-HD on the blus and UHD, with optional English subtitles.  But Scream has also gone back and recovered the original stereo mix, also in DTS-HD on the BD and UHD, which is a very nice touch.

And in terms of extras, Scream Factory certainly topped the 101 blu-ray, which only included the old commentary.  But they still came up surprisingly light in the special features department for this movie.  Almost all of the extras are legacy, which certainly doesn't mean that they're bad or anything, but I think we're just used to SF cooking up more goodies, especially on their "Collector's Edition," like this one. So yeah, the MGM has the commentary by Barker, plus a handful of deleted scenes, also with optional commentary by Barker.  He's a little stiff, but as the man so clearly behind all aspects of this production all the way back to the original short story, he has a lot of great insight to share.  They also have a text intro by Barker (definitely a laserdisc-era thing), an isolated music track, the trailer and an 8-page booklet.  And speaking of laserdiscs, as a former owner of the original 1996 one, I didn't notice until making this comparison that MGM dropped the 17-minute 'making of' featurette.

So one nice plus of the Scream disc is that they not only hold onto all the DVD stuff (except the isolated score... they dropped that for some reason), they bring back that little 'making of.'  And they dug up a substantial, hour long collection of behind-the-scenes footage, which is completely engrossing.  But in terms of newly produced features, there's just one thing: a 12 minute on-camera interview with the storyboard artist.  It's a good interview - even if you think storyboard artist doesn't rank high enough to pique your interests, I recommend giving it a watch - but that's it.  Well, that and a photo gallery, reversible cover art and a slipcover.  But for a Collector's Edition of such a high profile title, it kinda felt like the budget got somewhat slashed.

I suppose that's the case with the UHD, too, especially since we're down to a single disc.  But it's got everything from the 2014 edition plus a new interview with composer Simon Boswell, bringing us at least a little closer to a fully flush feeling special edition.  It's basically audio-only though (there's about 10 total seconds of black and white webcam they barely show), which is disappointing, but it's the first time we've heard from him regarding this film, so I'm glad to have it.  This 2025 comes in a slipcover, too, but no reversible artwork this time.  You do get an 18"x24" poster, though, if you order direct from Shout's site.

Scream's BD was already the best edition going, and an absolute must-upgrade over the DVD, unlike some of its peers (again, see how their Bubba Ho-Tep blu stacked up against MGM's initial DVD).  For such a widely released Barker film, you'd expect this film to have gotten more lavish treatment every step of the way.  But this upgrade to 4k levitates Lord of Illusions to a higher plane and feels more worthy of a permanent spot in our collections.

Carnal Knowledge Restored and Released In 4k

We conclude Import Week with a recent goodie.  The long-awaited restoration of Mike Nichols' 1971 classic Carnal Knowledge.  I remember a couple years ago when Studio Canal announced they were restoring the film in 4k, and everyone said "stay away from the old discs, now!"  But the actual 4k transfer on disc seemed to sneak out pretty quietly.  And of course, it didn't make it to America.

Update 8/9/23 - 8/10/25: Two years later and it's reached our shores!  And it's on a proper 4k disc to boot.  Also it's a special edition with some quality extras.  Woot!

When I've been away from Carnal Knowledge for a while, I start to lose my affection for it.  "Do I really need to sit and revisit two guys being sexist for two hours with the lesson that sexism is bad?"  But as soon as I start to rewatch it, I'm instantly sucked in.  The writing is too real, the performances are too strong.  Yes, not just Jack Nicholson.  Art Garfunkel, Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret and West Side Story's Rita Moreno are all operating on the same level (keep your eyes open for the onscreen debut of Carol Kane, too).  It's elegantly photographed and scored, but most importantly, the script feels like a stage play... in the best way.  And in fact, it sort of is.  It's based on an unproduced or published play written by Jules Feiffer, who actually won the Pulitzer Prize as an editorial cartoonist.  And I think it's that mix of satirical edge and observation insight that elevates this beyond some banal battle of the sexes think piece.

MGM released Carnal Knowledge on a barebones flipper DVD (fullscreen and widescreen) in 1999, and that's been the entire story in the United States until 2025.  So in the meantime, I'd had my eye on previous BDs from Japan (expensive) and Spain (forced subtitles) over the years, but that all went out the window when Studio Canal restored the film in 4k, and that transfer was released in France and Germany.  I went with the German one, co-released by Art Haus and Studio Canal.  That was pretty sweet, but now Criterion's given us the 4k restoration on a proper 4k UHD as a full-blown special edition combo-pack.

1) 1999 MGM fullscreen DVD top; 2) 1999 MGM widescreen DVD;
3) 2022 Art Haus BD; 4) 2025 Criterion BD; 5) 2025 Criterion UHD.

Wow!  MGM's DVD is a perfect example for novice viewers of why it's important to watch a film in the correct aspect ratio rather than avoiding "the black bars."  Their 1.33:1 fullscreen presentation just lops off both sides of the picture, almost removing more of the image than it leaves in.  Though they do at least Pan & Scan to keep the most important element in the frame.  MGM's widescreen 2.35:1 is actually drawn out slightly further, showing a sliver more than Art Haus's 2.35:1, but obviously in terms of picture quality, it's a whole different world.  For starters, apparently Anne Margaret's bathrobe isn't blue!  The DVD looks like it's taken from a print, with its excessive contrast, while Studio Canal is giving us a fresh 4k scan of the original camera negative and looks it.  Colors are more subtle and natural, detail is clearer, and information that was once lost to the shadows is now restored.  Film grain, that just came off as vague splotches on the DVD, is now rendered clearly and authentically.  It's generally brighter, but without blowing out the highlights.  In short, it's night and day.

Criterion, as you'd expect, are using Studio Canal's 4k restoration, which their booklet tells us was taken from the 35mm separation masters because the OCN is too damaged.  Comparing the two BDs, I'd say Art Haus has slightly better compression.  But they also gently tweaked the saturation and contrast, which is an equally slim improvement.  So if you're just getting a standard blu-ray, it's pretty much a tie.  But the UHD with HDR and naturally higher resolution is the obvious winner.  Any issue with the 1080p compression is wiped away, and the colors are even more attractive.

Every disc offers the original mono track, in DTS-HD on the BDs and UHD.  MGM also had English and French subs, while AH/ SC has additional French and German dubs, also in mono DTS-HD, and German and French subs.  Criterion brings back English subtitles, which is welcome.

MGM's DVD is completely barebones, without even the trailer.  The new BD doesn't have it either, but they did come up with something: an untranslated audio-only interview with a French critic.  I'm vaguely curious as to what he said and I certainly would've given it a listen if it were English friendly, but I'm not too brokenhearted about it.  It's not like they managed to interview someone from the cast or crew.  So unless you're fluent in French or German, this release is as barebones as every one in the past.

But now we've got some English stuff!  And I have to say, when the specs were announced, I thought, ehh... okay, definitely better than nothing.  But actually, it's better than better than nothing, it's a good little package.  Let's start with a vintage interview with Mike Leigh, done by Jason Reitman after a screening.  Again, I was thinking, well, best they could get since he passed... at least we get to hear from him in some capacity on the disc.  But actually, it's a really good interview, and the sound and picture quality are solid.  Neil Labute does a commentary, which starts out strong, though he runs out of things besides "I love this shot, too" by the second half.  I'd say start listening to it, and just shut it off when you get bored; you won't miss anything after that.

Then there's an interview with Feiffer.  Unfortunately, it's audio-only.  But it's over 45-minutes long and pretty great!  Be sure to listen to it if you have the patience to sit and stare at a still image for almost an hour.  There's an interview with two critics sitting very close together, which is pretty good, and gives out you the basic info about the film.  And there's a nice little interview with the editor's biographer, including a snippet of audio from the man himself, talking about his approach to the film.  There's also the trailer, a radio spot, and a full-color, 42 page booklet.

Outside of netting Nicholson or one of the other celebrity leads for a sit-down, Criterion's package was about as good as you could hope for.  And man, it looks great.  And it's a real must-have film, even if you might have to push yourself to go back every so often to remind yourself.  And now it's got a first-rate disc to help lure you.

You Can Count On Manchester By the Sea

Here at DVDExotica, we appreciate all kinds of movies, even those you don't have to hide from your parents and children.  Sure, usually I'm a wild-haired film snob waving his finger at the television screen shouting, "you're giving 'Best Picture' to that pandering piece of dumbed-down Hollywood pap?"  But sometimes I do stumble onto a film simply because it's been nominated and come out saying to myself, wow, that really was an excellent movie.  And here are two such examples, 2000's You Can Count On Me and this year's Manchester By the Sea, both by writer/ director Kenneth Lonergan.  In fact, I think I may've spotted a subtle similarity in their stories.

Update 5/13/17 - 8/6/25: Finally, we have You Can Count On Me in 4k, thanks to Criterion's new BD/ UHD combo-pack (also available as a single BD release).

You Can Count On Me stars Mark Ruffalo as a thirty-something, orphaned drifter, getting into bar fights and doing odd jobs to barely scrape by with no anchor or goal in life.  Following a death in the family, he returns home to the small town he grew up in, where he's widely known as an infamous trouble-maker.  At first he maintains a civil distance, but as they're staying together, he's pressured into reconnecting with his nephew who grew up with only one parent.  He winds up taking his nephew to see the father he'd never known, and it goes disastrously.  Still, it turns out to be a necessary growing experience for the boy, they ultimately wind up bonding and we see the strength of the drifter's character hidden by all the flaws he wears on his sleeve.  Though he ultimately [SPOILER technically, but not really, because it's clear this is the direction the story was always headed in.  Like, don't worry; this won't ruin the movie for you if you haven't seen it] leaves the town and his nephew behind to return to the seemingly empty life he left behind despite being pleaded with to stay and live in their hometown, we know they'll see each other again, because they've grown together into a genuine, loving family.  The supporting cast includes Matthew Broderick in a terrific, stuffy but scene-stealing comic role and Lonergan himself in an amusing and well-played bit part.

Manchester By the Sea stars Casey Affleck as a thirty-something, orphaned drifter, getting into bar fights and doing odd jobs to barely scrape by with no anchor or goal in life.  Following a death in the family, he returns home to the small town he grew up in, where he's widely known as an infamous trouble-maker.  At first he maintains a civil distance, but as they're staying together, he's pressured into reconnecting with his nephew who grew up with only one parent.  He winds up taking his nephew to see the mother he'd never known, and it goes disastrously.  Still, it turns out to be a necessary growing experience for the boy, they ultimately wind up bonding and we see the strength of the drifter's character hidden by all the flaws he wears on his sleeve.  Though he ultimately [SPOILER technically, but not really, because it's clear this is the direction the story was always headed in.  Like, don't worry; this won't ruin the movie for you if you haven't seen it] leaves the town and his nephew behind to return to the seemingly empty life he left behind despite being pleaded with to stay and live in their hometown, we know they'll see each other again, because they've grown together into a genuine, loving family.  The supporting cast includes Matthew Broderick in a terrific, stuffy but scene-stealing comic role and Lonergan himself in an amusing and well-played bit part.

Look, I'm not criticizing either film by playing up their similarities.  And obviously they're not strictly identical.  You Can Count On Me also co-stars Laura Linney as the nephew's mother, whose subplot is almost as important as Ruffalo's.  And the nephew character is now an older teen with more adult concerns, excellently played by Lucas Hedges, in Manchester By the Sea.  Manchester also delves deep into the drifter's backstory, which is only touched on in exposition in You Can Count On Me, unveiling a deeper tragedy.  They have unique scenes of humor and drama.  I actually think it's a compelling return to the first film's themes by Lonergan, and the two films actually play even stronger together than as separate, unconnected works.  Both deserved their Academy Award nods more than most of their peers, and I highly recommend the pair, especially if you've seen and enjoyed one, but not yet caught the other.

It seemed crazy that You Can Count On Me had not been released on blu-ray, not even to coincide with the recent release of Manchester By the Sea.  All we had was the 2001 DVD from Paramount, which was at least widescreen and has some decent special features.  The exact same thing could be said for Lions Gate's 2017 Manchester By the Sea release, except they did also release a blu-ray version.  In fact, it's a combo-pack, so we can compare the DVD and blu.  And now, finally in 2025, we have You Can Count On Me on blu, and UHD even, thank to Criterion wisely picking up and restoring the film in 4k from the original 35mm interpositive.  So let's look at that first.

2001 Paramount DVD top; 2025 Criterion BD mid; 2025 Criterion UHD bottom.

Paramount's You Can Count On Me DVD isn't bad for being so old, at least it's anamorphic and uninterlaced.  It's framed at 1.77:1, with a slight pillarbox bar on the right-hand side, that was probably hidden in its day by the TV overscan area.  It looks soft and murky by today's standards and sure was ready for Criterion's boost to HD.  The reflection on that lake looks pretty jittery in motion.  So Criterion fixes the AR to 1.85:1, revealing more picture along the sides, an d even a smidgen vertically.  It also color corrects that feint red hue that seemed to gently plague so many DVDs of that era.  Film grain is barely visible even on the UHD.  Honestly, it looks DNR'd; I had to double-check that this wasn't shot digitally.  But there's no question the image is crisper and clearer on the new Criterion discs compared to the old DVD, and we can now make out plenty of detail (like Rory Culkin's eyes in the shot above) we couldn't before.  So despite my reservations, it's a major upgrade.

The DVD includes the option of a 5.1 mix or a 2.0 stereo track, both in Dolby.  Criterion does away with the stereo option (which is just fine; your player will naturally handle that mix-down anyway) and bumps up the 5.1 to DTS-HD.  Both discs include optional English subtitles.

2017 Lions Gate DVD top; 2017 Lions Gate BD bottom.

blu-ray left; DVD right.

In comparison, Manchester By the Sea looks so much clearer and more vibrant.  Seeing the shots on the same page like this really illustrates how much You Can Count On Me could use a new release.  But, anyway, taken on its own terms, Manchester's blu is a pretty sharp; even its DVD counterpart looks almost as good.  But of course, when you get in close, you see all the texture that's lost in SD (was fake film grain added to this movie?).  Lions Gate letterboxes it to 1.85:1, and gives us a 5.1 mix (in DTS-HD on the blu), with an additional Spanish dub and optional English and Spanish subtitles.

You Can Count On Me's DVD isn't exactly a packed special edition, but it has a small, somewhat satisfying selection of extras.  The main asset is an audio commentary by Lonergan, who's a good guide through his work.  There's also a brief featurette, which talks to Lonergan and the cast.  It's short, but not overloaded with clips from the film, making it a bit more filling than many of its ilk.  There's also the film's trailer, some bonus trailers and an insert.

Criterion keeps the commentary and conducts some really good, brand new interviews with Lonergan and stars Ruffalo, Linney and Broderick.  It's pretty impressive they were able to get Ruffalo now that he's a Marvel Avenger.  They also have the trailer, and a 32-page, full color booklet with an essay by Rebecca Gilman and a reproduction and Lonergan's original one-act play.  One disappointing, small step backwards, though: Criterion dropped the featurette.

For Manchester, Lonergan's back with another audio commentary, which is about as good as the first, though frustratingly he never once mentions You Can Count On Me; suggesting this story was completely invented on its own by Matt Damon and himself, with no connection to any previous work.  Okay.  There's a similar featurette, as well, which gets some nice quotes from the cast and takes a look at the filming location, again without getting bogged down in promotional clips.  This time we also get three deleted scenes, and again some bonus trailers. There's no insert (except for one of those digital download code sheets), but it does come in a slipcover.  In fact, if you're a collector, you should know there are actually two alternate slipcovers out there.  The one I have pictured above, and a newer repressing that swaps out the Golden Globes banner with one touting its Academy Awards instead.

So yeah, I heartily recommend both films; the Academy got it right in these cases.  And hey, here's how I ended this in 2017: "[m]aybe if we hold a candle light vigil or something, we can get a nice 4k scan of You Can Count On Me from Criterion or somebody?"  Never doubt the power of candlelight!