This Is All the Spinal Tap You Need

I guess there's a temptation to call 1984's This Is Spinal Tap ground-breaking.  I've read so many people talk about how, when this came out, people couldn't figure out whether this was real, and only the hip people got it.  I think there's a lot of "print the legend" to that origin story.  I mean, mockumentaries were a thing long before this.  Heck, Woody Allen had made two.  Eric Idle and Lorne Michaels even did their similar "rockumentary" The Rutles years before this.  This kind of parody was the lifeblood of shows like SCTV and SNL.  In fact, the boys had even played Spinal Tap years before on network television.  So I don't know if it was really pushing any envelopes, but it was and is still a funny, well crafted flick.

Revisiting the original Spinal Tap in 2025, yes it still holds up as fresh and clever.  Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer have proved themselves to be brilliant comic actors and improvisors over their careers, but this is still their shining example.  Director Rob Reiner, probably pulling all the industry favors he can, has assembled an amazing supporting cast around them, including excellent comic turns from Bruno Kirby, Patrick Macnee, Howard Hesseman, Anjelica Houston, Paul Shaffer, Fran Drescher and scene stealer Fred Willard.  Some of these are just fleeting cameos, like Ed Begley Jr and Billy Crystal, but they all work together to enhance the perfect atmosphere.  The famous bits ("this one goes to eleven," etc) are as funny as ever, but they've also produced a credible human drama to house the jokes and the songs.

Criterion first released Spinal Tap as a non-anamorphic follow-up to their special edition laserdisc in 1998.  The rights soon reverted back to MGM who released their own special edition DVD in 2000, and then upgraded it to blu-ray in 2009, with an additional bonus disc.  Yeah, the extras situation is complicated, and we'll hash that all out below.  But the point is, you needed both the Criterion and MGM releases to have everything, and that's been the frustrating situation in the US all these years.  But now, looking to reclaim their title, Criterion has reclaimed... their title, with a new 3-disc UHD/ BD combo-pack.  Is it the ultimate edition we've been hoping for?

1) 1998 Criterion DVD; 2) 2000 MGM DVD; 3) 2009 MGM BD;
4) 2025 Criterion BD; 5) 2025 Criterion UHD.

The basic aspect ratio hasn't changed much over the years, but there have been slight shifts.  We start at about 1.78:1, which you pretty much had to upgrade once you got a widescreen set, anyway, since it's non-anamorphic.  You can see it's a little tighter on the right with extra picture vertically (especially along the bottom) compared to MGM's DVD, which is a just slightly windowboxed 1.83:1. The BD, a nice boost to HD that clears up a lot of compression and fuzziness, takes the opportunity to fine tune that to a more exact 1.85:1.  And Criterion's new transfer is also precisely 1.85:1, but you can see their new scan pulls out a little further to reveal some extra slivers of information around the edges.

This new scan, we're told in Criterion's booklet, is a "new 4K restoration ... created from the 16mm original camera negative and a 35mm blow-up interpositive."  I do wish these booklets gave us a little more details on the transfer, like what scenes were taken from an interpositive and why?  There's no reason the "About the Transfer" part of a 20-page booklet has to be limited to three sentences, including one about the audio.  But that gives us the basics.  This is 16mm, and not always from the OCN, so there's not going to be a fresh horde of fine detail.  When the band are standing in front of a bunch of tourist pamphlets in their hotel, you still can't read any of their covers.  Actually, your first take away will probably be that it's all a bit grey.  I say over and over how shots with HDR (and this UHD was done in Dolby Vision) will look darker than normal in SD because they're meant to be viewed on a higher nit display, but even accounting for that, Criterion's transfer is definitely on the dark side.  Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I'd guess the older transfers had a bit of a contrast and saturation boost to give them a more common, but less historically accurate look.  Anyway, Reiner is credited with supervising this, so let's hope he was paying attention.  It's certainly not distractingly dim in 4k, and the carefully rendered grain certainly gives this the most authentically filmic look of them all.

Audio-wise, the '98 Criterion DVD just has the original stereo mix, while MGM replaces it with a new 5.1 remix.  That's understandable for a rock concert movie, but a bit of a bummer for purists.  Their blu-ray bumps it up to DTS-HD, which is noticeably clearer in spots, and it brings back the 2.0l but the latter is disappointingly lossy.  So Criterion gives us the best of both worlds with the 5.1 in DTS-HD and the original stereo mix in LPCM.

Criterion's original DVD was surprisingly free of subtitle, but MGM quickly corrected that by introducing optional English and Spanish to their DVD and BD.  They also added French ones to the blu.  And now in 2025, Criterion drops those foreign ones, but keeps the English HoH.

The Final Tour

Now, I mentioned that the extras situation has always been frustrating with this film, and that hasn't been entirely cleared up; but they've gotten pretty close.  The '98 Criterion starts out with a lot of great stuff, including two fun but informative commentary tracks: one by the three stars, and one by Reiner, producer Karen Murphy, and their editors.  They also included almost 80 minutes of deleted scenes, practically a second feature's worth of content!  There's also some funny promo content and the early 20-minute "demo" version of the film called The Final Tour.

And MGM's DVD had a lot of that, including pretty much all the deleted scenes.  It's a bit confusing, because they list it all out differently in the menus... MGM ostensibly has eleven minutes less deleted scenes, but then they have stuff like the "Flower People" press conference listed separately, while that was among the deleted scenes on the Criterion.  And they have some bits, like a clip of Tap on The Joe Franklin Show, that Criterion didn't have.  MGM had a new, 5-minute interview with Reiner in character as Marty DiBergi.  The biggest short-comings were that MGM didn't have the two audio commentaries or The Final Tour - oof!  But they created their own, exclusive commentary with the stars in character as Tap, which is... kinda amusing, but wears a bit thin after a while.

The came MGM's blu, which essentially mirrored their DVD, in terms of both what it had and what it was missing, but they also included a new bonus DVD.  And this sucker was short - about twelve minutes of low quality, non-anamorphic footage in total.  It basically includes a brief performance by Tap from 2007 (introduced by Reiner and Ricky Gervais), and a short, but genuinely funny, interview with Guest in character as Nigel.  Nice to have, but MGM was clearly reaching just to add a "bonus disc" and make their new version more saleable.  Surely, they could've stuck those two little SD clips on their blu-ray.

Anyway, the good news is that Criterion is here to close the gaps.  Their new 2025 release has all three commentaries.  The Final Tour is back, and there are even more deleted scenes and promo clips than ever.  The Joe Franklin Show, the Marty DiBergi, the "Flower People" conference: all here.  There are also some new goodies, including a brand new half hour chat with Reiner and Patton Oswalt.  And there's a 2009 in-character interview feature with the band called Back From the Dead, which runs almost a full hour.  There are some clips (basically, the funniest scenes) from the 1992 television sequel The Return Of Spinal Tap, and the trailer for the new theatrical sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (I've seen it, and all the best jokes are in the trailer, so that honestly might be enough unless you're a real die-hard fan).  They also throw in a fun, full-color booklet with notes by critic Alex Pappademas.  The only thing they don't have are the MGM bonus disc clips from 2007.

So yes, this really is the ultimate edition that delivers all you need.  You could also track down one of the several low quality DVDs of Return Of Spinal Tap (fair warning: several foreign blu-rays claim to include this as a bonus feature, but it's a drastically cut down abridged version, so stay away from those) and that bonus DVD.  But honestly, I think after watching everything in this set, with a lot of the same jokes rehashed and same songs replayed, you'll already have had more than enough.  This is a really fun movie that still holds up, but it doesn't need to be a franchise.

Werner Herzog in Glorious 3D: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Oops!  Okay, this is the the last Werner Herzog left to be covered now (I'm pretty sure haha).  Anyway, this is a going to be a fun one for me, because it's the first 3D blu-ray to be covered on DVDExotica.  I'm talking, of course, about the 2010 documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, released on DVD and blu by MPI Home Video as a new release in 2011.  The blu-ray has the rare distinction of including the 2D and 3D versions on the same BD (typically, releases that feature both versions are doing so by including two separate discs).  That made it my first 3D blu.

This is a documentary about the earliest known cave paintings - over 30,000 years old - discovered in France.  And some of them don't look as simplistically primitive as you might expect.  A lot of tests had to be conducted to prove it wasn't an elaborate hoax.  Herzog and his small film crew are the first people allowed in by the scientists to film, and he apparently decided to shoot in 3D because of how the artwork incorporates the the bumps and crevices in the natural rock formations.  And a lot of time is dedicated to demonstrating how the paintings look under different light conditions and from different angles.  So the three dimensional element is meant to bring out additional nuance and stylistic decisions of these ancient artists.

And it's not all just ogling cave paintings... which is good, because there are only so many of them, and even as is, it starts to hit you, alright, this is the third or fourth look at the same pictures.  Herzog interviews the scientists and local historians who talk about the complex work involved in documenting and protecting the delicate art, and the history of the land and the early people who would've done the work.  And it's Herzog, so you can be sure he's also them about their dreams and life stories, as well as capturing producing gorgeous nature photography set to a powerful, original score.  There's also a wild prologue on the surrounding area and the consequences of modern man taking over ancient spaces.  So he guides a fascinating exploration even if you don't have a predisposed interest in cave paintings.

3D side-by-side: left eye left; right eye right.

So yeah, since this is my first 3D disc, I thought I'd take the opportunity to pull it apart and explore the dual-stream aspect.  So the third set of shots are the dual images you would see to make each from 3D.  Briefly, how it works is that a 3D camera shoots the film with two lens, side by side (y'know, like human eyes) and literally shoots the exact same film twice, simultaneously, from slightly different perspectives.  Your 3D set then plays the image at double speed - so two 24fps streams intercutting every single frame: left eye, right eye, left eye, right) and your glasses are synced to the TV so they each eye only sees the frame they're supposed to see, leaving your mind to compile them as a 3D image.  So above, the bottom two shots side-by-side may look identical, but they're not - they're filmed at slightly different angles.  And the 2D version, then, is actually just the left eye stream, as you can see below.

2011 MPI DVD; 2011 MPI BD.

Anyway, the film is presented in 1.78:1, anamorphic, and of varying quality, because Herzog clearly shot different parts of the film with different cameras.  The early footage of Herzog first entering the cave (the first screenshot on this page) was clearly interlaced and had to be de-interlaced, leaving ugly ghosted frames and stuttering camera pans.  But that's just the nature of the film, not a fault of the discs, and the picture improves as the film goes on.  They're both presumably taken direct from the DCP, and are identical in terms of color timing, framing, etc.  But unfortunately for those who hadn't yet upgraded to HD in 2011, the DVD interlaces recurring frames throughout the whole movie; but the properly progressive BD and doesn't have that problem.  And it's naturally clearer and less fuzzy than the DVD by virtue of being higher resolution.

Another difference is that the BD features lossless audio, bumping up the same 5.1 mix to DTS-HD.  Both discs also include optional English and Spanish subtitles.

Ode To the Dawn Of Man

I wouldn't say MPI's release qualifies as a special edition, but it has one very good special feature (on both the DVD and blu): a roughly 45-minute first-hand documentary on the creation of the music for this film by conductor Jason Solomons.  Ode To the Dawn Of Man is directed by Herzog himself, so you'll sometimes see it listed in his filmography as an original short film of his, which it legitimately.  It's also in HD on the blu, and includes optional English and Spanish subtitles, though the audio is lossy either way.  So that's a nice treat, though some other kind of extra, like a director interview, about all the other aspects of this movie would've been nice.  But that's all we get apart from the trailer and some bonus trailers.

This disc has always made me daydream about the day every TV is 3D.  I think Sony was pushing in that direction, but it never happened, and now that 3D discs are on the hard decline, I guess it never will.  Oh well; I would've loved to see Herzog's full three dimensional vision.  But even if you're not 3D capable, it's definitely worth picking up this blu, and even double-dipping from the DVD if you haven't already.

Let the Haunts Be Free: Clearcut

Sadly, we lost Graham Greene the other day.  He's one of the best - and most prominent! - Native American actors, period.  He really came to prominence in Dances With Wolves when he was nominated for an Oscar, though he'd been working for decades before that and has gone on to work constantly.  Even if you don't know who he is, you've seen him in everything from The Last Of Us to the MCU (he's Echo's grandfather).  And of course, he created the most beloved character in all of Canadian television.  So, when I heard about his passing, I thought I'd take a look at his overlooked but terrific horror outing: Clearcut from 1991.

I guess you could classify this as a supernatural slasher, though antagonist doesn't really do much slashing.  Based on the novel A Dream Like Mine by Canadian novelist MT Leroy, Clearcut tells the story of a white lawyer who takes up the side, rather unsuccessfully, of a native tribe feuding with a lumber mill.  He's taken on a dark kidnapping vision quest by Greene who may be the incarnation of a trickster spirit, or possibly just a local who's been pushed too far.  In the end, maybe it doesn't matter much anyway (from reviews I've read, apparently the novel takes at least as much of an ambiguous stance).  There's not a huge body count, the bulk of the running time is spent with just the three men (the third being Michael Hogan as the owner of the mill in a performance very reminiscent of Dabney Coleman in 9 To 5, but darker).  It's all pretty harsh and unflinching as this movie gets a lot of its strength from its anger.  And while everybody's good in this, Greene's shifty performance elevates the material, which might be a bit cliche or ham-fisted in certain aspects, to another level.

Severin gave us a pretty nice special edition BD of Clearcut as part of their celebrated 'All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror' boxed set in 2021.  But if you don't have a couple hundred dollars to lay down, don't worry, they released it as a separate, single disc edition in 2023.  Before that, this film had only ever been released as a barebones German DVD from Capitol Films and a triple-feature AAFES DVD from Spartan Home Entertainment in 2002.  If you're not familiar, AAFES discs are DVD made for and sold through the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, which is basically the official tax-free department store of US military bases.  I have to admit, I'd be curious to check out this disc first-hand; but of course they don't sell these DVDs anymore.

Anyway, I'm sure they're the exact same discs.  But for the record, what I have here is the 2023 solo release.

2023 Severin BD.

The back of the case says this film is 2.35:1, but in fact it's even wider at 2.44:1.  Said case doesn't get into the source of this transfer, and this release doesn't come with a booklet... maybe the big 126-page book included with the boxed set spelled it out for us.  But it's pretty obvious that this is taken from a print, anyway, with it's high contrast and milky blacks.  Film grain is surprisingly light, too, when you can spot it at all.  This film has lots of nice landscapes and scenery, and a decent sense of style, which helps this film get away with looking as rough as it does.  I'd love to see it restored from the OCN some day, but I have a feeling we're lucky to have gotten what we've got.

Severin offers both a stereo (presumably the original) and 5.1 (surely a remix; a curious inclusion) track, both in DTS-HD with optional English subtitles.

They've also given this film a very satisfying special edition, which can't necessarily be said for every film in the Haunts set (which is perhaps why this film got a solo release, while a title like Robin Redbreast has not).  For starters, we have an audio interview with the director, which plays as a commentary over the film.  We also get a proper audio commentary, which is fairly insightful, by by scholar and anthropologist Shaawano Chad Uran.  The director also provides a video introduction, and then we get two excellent interviews, on by the composer and one, yes, by Greene himself.  As a whole package, I'd say these extras are very satisfying, answering most of the questions that come to mind when watching this film.

You Are On Indian Land

This disc also includes three short films (all in crisp HD), which is more a carry-over of this being part of the All the Haunts box, since they don't have anything to do with this movie or the people who made it, except for a general Native theme.  Two of them aren't even horror.  The first is a 1968 mini-doc called The Ballad Of Crowfoot.  In fact, it's more of an early music video for the folk song "The Ballad Of Crowfoot" by Willie Dunn, set to a collection of early photographs of indigenous people.  It also features optional audio commentary by Willie's son, Lawrence and co-producer Kevin Howes.  The best of these shorts is a 1969 documentary called You Are On Indian Land, filmed during a protest blocking a bridge between the US and Canada when the two governments tried to prohibit native trade (because it was crossing the border "off the books" by going through their reservation).  Finally, the last is a very low budget horror called Consume from 2017, about a troubled man plagued by visions of his disappointed ancestors.  It's interesting in concept, but has a very amateurish student film vibe, and it's all building up to the world's most obvious Tales From the Crypt-style twist ending.

So it's a great little horror flick that doesn't get enough attention, but thankfully still got a first class release.  And I'm glad it's been made accessible outside the pricey confines of the boxed set... though I have to say that box has a lot of other great stuff in it, too.  So if you can swing it, I'd recommend going all in.  But if not, at least be sure to pick up Clearcut.  And Eyes Of Fire.  And Viy.  And maybe some of those BFI DVDs.  Yeah, there's a lot you don't want to miss out on, including this.

RIP Graham Greene.

The Remaining Herzog: Bad Lieutenant 2

It just occurred to me that I've covered every Werner Herzog film, barring those with physical releases still pending, save one.  So let's get 'er done!  Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is an in-name-only sequel to Abel Ferrara's notorious cop drama starring Harvey Keitel.  It came about because one of the producers of the original, Edward R Pressman (American Psycho, Party Monster), wanted to cash in on the title and hired Herzog who's said he'd never even heard of the first film.  He wanted to drop the title but couldn't, contractually, so here we are, with a 2009 Herzog flick, based on a script by a television writer named William Finkelstein, with an arbitrary title that's maybe slightly annoying to Ferrara films, but so what?  It got a Herzog movie produced - I'll take it!

Admittedly, on the sliding Herzog scale, this leans more towards the For Completists Only end rather than the Masterpieces, but it's pretty entertaining if you can let go of your expectations from the original.  It's certainly wacky and should please any fan of the "Nicolas Cage goes nuts" oeuvre.  It's still basically about a bad cop who gets redeemed(ish) by solving a bigger crime.  But this one's the kind of movie where, when a criminal gets shot, his spirit come outs breakdance, and where local iguanas get as much screentime as lead characters in the story.  Even by Herzog standards, it's eccentric.

And Cage is just the tip of this wild cast spear.  Can you imagine another film where Jennifer Coolidge (White Lotus, The Minecraft Movie), Xzibit and Val Kilmer appear together?  Not enough star power?  We've also got Eva Mendes, Fairuza Balk, Brad Dourif and Michael Shannon.  We also get great footage of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and some more quality imagery from Herzog's frequent collaborator Peter Zeitlinger.  So maybe it's not a masterpiece, but now that it's had some time to get out from under Ferrara's shadow, it might be worth a reevaluation.  It's quite interesting, at least.  And it's one of those early blu-rays that was over-produced (in terms of quantity), so you can pick it up dirt cheap.

2009 First Look DVD top; 2009 First Look BD bottom.

First Look released this concurrently on DVD and BD as a new release, so the only difference between transfers should be between the SD and HD discs.  But there are some other differences.  The DVD's AR is slightly off at 1.83:1, with a vertical pinch compared to the BD's correct 1.85:1.  More importantly, the DVD is interlaced (look closely at the first comparison shot), while the BD is properly progressive.  So if you've got the DVD, that's a good reason to upgrade right there.  Another reason is the boost to HD, which is considerable.  There's a lot of additional fine detail on the BD, and less compression noise.

Both discs offer you the choice of lossy stereo mixes or 5.1s, which is uncompressed TrueHD on the blu.  They also both include optional English and Spanish subtitles.

And extras - the same across both discs - are pretty good here, too.  The main feature being a 31-minute behind the scenes making of documentary, which is quite good with lots of fly-on-the-wall footage.  Even if you're not huge on Bad Lieutenant 2, any serious Herzog fan should be glad to have this doc.  There's also a gallery of photos by Lena Herzog (Werner's wife), and the theatrical trailer.  Oh, and a bunch of bonus trailers are packed on there as well.

So yeah, if you haven't got it, I do recommend this one, especially given the price and everything.  If you want to spend a little bit more, though, it's worth pointing out that various import versions, including the UK and DE blus, include additional EPK interviews with the cast and crew as well.  And this might be the right time for it, as a third Bad Lieutenant film, directed by Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, As the Gods Will), is actually coming out later this year.  Make a trilogy of it.

And with that, I guess I close the book on Werner Herzog coverage, at least until a new film of his gets a disc release.  ...Or I update an older post with a 4k restoration, which I'm actually planning to do soon.  I've been threatening Update Week 2025 for a while now, and it's about due.

Hotel Terminus: a Vital Documentary, Even On DVD

Hotel Terminus is one of the handful of landmark documentaries by French filmmaker Marcus Ophuls (The Sorrow & the Pity).  It's an extensive (four and a half hours) exploration of the infamous "Butcher of Lyon" Nazi SS officer Klaus Barbie.  The titular hotel being where Barbie set up his gestapo headquarters in France, where he tortured and killed citizens suspected of being affiliated with the resistance during the French occupation.  Ophuls had previously been nominated for an Academy Award, but this is the one that won.  Yet as of this writing, it's still only available on DVD - From Icarus Films Home Video here in the states - but at least it's a less janky release than The Troubles We've Seen (i.e. there are actual, functioning menu screens).

If you've seen his other works, you know what to expect: constant intercutting between an impressive collection of interviews with but survivors and perpetrators of horrific war crimes, with occasional inserts of vintage footage from other sources to make his points.  And, like Troubles, to occasionally slip in his cynical humor.  Moments in this film play like a antecedent to Michael Moore's Roger & Me, like when Ophuls shows up at the front door of a former gestapo chief to ask him what crimes a 2 year-old girl could have committed against the party to make him take her away from her family.  When he gets it shut in his face, "O Holy Night" plays on the soundtrack as the director wishes the Nazi a "merry Christmas" through the door.  One of several necessarily irreverent moments amid what is naturally highly grim stuff.

2010 Icarus DVD.

Icarus's DVDs (two dual-layered pressed discs) are presented in fullframe 1.34:1, which is pretty much the proper OAR.  Actually, disc 1 is very slightly windowboxed, while disc 2 is purely pillarboxed, so the framing could probably be slightly tweaked if anyone were to restore this in 4k someday.  The film was shot on 35mm, so apart from some rough archival footage in the mix, this could probably stand to look a good deal better if they did.  Also, the frame rate seems a little screwy; some frames are interlaced (look closely at the second shot), others are duplicates.  You barely notice it in motion with all these talking heads, but I wonder if they took this from a PAL source.  Again, it's not too problematic for DVD, but definitely something to improve upon if they ever bring this to HD.

The DVDs just feature the original, multilingual mono in 2.0.  English subtitles are burnt into the picture for the foreign languages, with no subtitle option for the English audio.  There are also no extras, not even a trailer, though it does come with a nice, full-color 12-page booklet reproducing a 1989 Washington Post interview with Ophuls, which is definitely worth the read.

So obviously I'm not shy about how much I'd like to see this restored for BD and/ or UHD, but at least this film has a disc release, unlike several of Ophuls other essential documentaries, including The Memory of Justice and A Sense of Loss.  Sounds like the makings of a world class box-set to me.  But considering the state most of films have been languishing in, I'm not holding my breath.  At least we've got this.