The Criterion Collection
announced its February slate of new DVD and Blu-ray product offerings this past
week and this is a special Valentine Day’s present (or two) in the mix that
will have film buffs celebrating the day with more than chocolates and flowers.
Feb. 13, on the eve of
Valentine Day, will have home theatres ablaze with the new 4K restoration of director
Jonathan Demme’s 1991 Best Picture-winner, The Silence of the Lambs. Both the Blu-ray and DVD releases will be
double-disc sets.
In addition to capturing
Best Picture laurels, Demme won the Oscar for his direction and both Jodie
Foster and Anthony Hopkins took home the gold for their performances as Clarice
Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter respectively … Ted Tally also scored for his
script adaptation of Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel.
Bonus goodies begin with
the vintage 1994 commentary (originally a Criterion/Voyager laserdisc
commentary … before the arrival of DVD in 1997) featuring director Jonathan
Demme, writer Ted Tally, actors Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins and FBI
profiler, John Douglas.
There are also 35 minutes
worth of deleted scenes, a newly minted video session with critic Maitland
McDonagh (author of “Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario
Argento” and “The 50 Most Erotic Films of All Time: From Pandora's Box to Basic
Instinct”), a vintage video session (circa 2005) with Demme and Foster, documentary
filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz’s 2001 feature-length documentary, Inside
the Labyrinth: The Making of The Silence of the Lambs and various
featurettes, including some of the original theatrical making-of material.
Also getting a new 4K
restoration on Feb. 13 is the late George A. Romero’s 1968 horror masterpiece, Night
of the Living Dead. A
double-disc Blu-ray SKU and a three-disc DVD edition are in the works.
If you are just looking
for a priced-to-collect edition of Night of the Living Dead, then Mill
Creek Entertainment’s recent Blu-ray release is an excellent choice, but if you
want bells and whistles (and then some), look no further than this Valentine’s
Day present from The Criterion Collection.
We begin with a
“never-before-presented” work-print of the film, with was titled Night
of Anubis … rumors about this work-print surfaced in 2015 and it
appears that The Criterion Collection has it for fans to enjoy. Also making a debut here are 16mm dailies (which
have not been seen prior to this release).
There are two vintage
commentary options, vintage video sessions with Romero and actors Duane Jones
(as Ben) and Judith Ridley (as Judy in Night of the Living Dead and as Lynn
in Romero’s 1971 film release of There's Always Vanilla) and a number
of new featurettes related to the film’s editing, the score and the direction
of the living dead.
Also on tap for the month
of February from The Criterion Collection are: A new 2K restoration of director
Louie Malle’s 1958 crime thriller, Elevator to the Gallows (Feb. 6 as
both DVD and Blu-ray editions); a new 2K digital transfer of director Satyajit
Ray’s 1966 film release of The Hero (Feb. 20 for DVD and
Blu-ray selections); Japanese filmmaker Kon Ichikawa’s 1963 film, An
Actor’s Revenge, gets a 4K restoration on Feb. 20 (Blu-ray and DVD
editions will be available), and the month wraps on Feb. 27 with the release of
double-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions of director Tony Richardson’s 1963 Best
Picture-winner, Tom Jones (a 4K restoration featuring both the theatrical and
director’s cut of the film are included).
