Darkman coming to 4K UHD.

[Monterey Jack]

Hitting this February from Scream Factory. Makes me wanna dance...!

[AndyDursin]

Anything beats the old master that's out there. Or will, I should say!

[Monterey Jack]

New commentary...and more importantly, new deleted scenes!

[Monterey Jack]

Someone in the BR.com forums got their copy today, and...

Got my copy early, checked Deleted Scenes and there is 37 minutes worth and look to be from a film source. I fast forwarded to see what was included and the famous scene with the villain naked on the bed of gold is there! There also seems to be a LOT more Ted Raimi as well as a lot more of Frances Mcdormand. I apologize for not actually watching them but I wanted to report that they seem significant and of good quality!!!

SUPER excited for this now, especially as I may get it tomorrow.

[AndyDursin]

My review copy popped in today. Didn't get a chance to watch it yet.

Sounds good though. I mean that old master really was in need of updating so it won't take much. The deleted scenes sound like the rare time Shout accessed some library materials on their own but between this and Jennifer 8 that's a good job by them.

[Monterey Jack]

Sounds good though. I mean that old master really was in need of updating so it won't take much. The deleted scenes sound like the rare time Shout accessed some library materials on their own but between this and Jennifer 8 that's a good job by them.

I was expecting nothing but a handful of brief scene extension scraps (like the 4K Cliffhanger, maybe), but this is like a full fourth of Raimi's intended two-hour rough cut! Normally I'm not too futzed with deleted scenes (most are cut for a reason), but I've been wanting to see these for years, especially the "Inside the mind of Peyton Westlake" stuff Universal panicked over being "Too weird" and insisted on being excised. Very happy SF went to the lengths to dig this stuff up.

[AndyDursin]

They're dailies -- not even taken off a workprint -- so it's interesting to look at them because typically we don't see deleted material in that kind of condition, minus music and a lot of editing. Just gives you a nice perspective on elements that were trimmed. Mostly it's scenes with Frances McDormand, some with her and Colin Friels, some with Neeson. Most of the "Darkman" trims seem related to Ted Raimi. In most instances they seem like good cuts. I don't think the movie needed to be longer than it was.

The transfer on the film is great. Nice detail, nice use of HDR without being crazy. Shout's been doing a better job of late on their releases and this adds to that roster.

I saw DARKMAN with my mom in high school, I've always liked it even if it's sort of just a one-off, fast-moving Raimi exercise that's out of here in 90 minutes. It's not great but it's fun. Like a Phantom of the opera mash-up that kind of (since it went into production before Batman was released) presaged the whole super-hero thing. It did OK in theaters but the R rating undoubtedly hurt it at the box-office though, I remember the theater being packed with kids and teens (like me!) being chapperoned by their parents.

[Monterey Jack]

It did OK in theaters but the R rating undoubtedly hurt it at the box-office though, I remember the theater being packed with kids and teens (like me!) being chapperoned by their parents.

I remember a lot of the comic books I was buying at the time had the poster on the back covers. Would not happen today for an R-rated movie (not that kids buy ACTUAL comics books anymore...).

[AndyDursin]

It was definitely a different time in the 80s because the R rated movies were sometimes marketed for kids like ROBOCOP, RAMBO, etc. RAMBO had all kinds of kid-oriented merch (cartoons, video games, water guns, etc.) out there, so did ROBOCOP. Until PG-13 kicked in and Hollywood really figured it out, that grey area between PG and R was untapped audience potential if they leaned into the R rating!

I mean, you had many PG-13 movies that were more offensive than R movies many times. A couple (single?) of f-bombs got you an R whereas PG-13 could be packed with sex jokes. My parents took me to all kinds of R movies if the main reason they were R was just profanity.

In fact the only time I was ever walked out of a movie by my mom happened twice -- and they were both PG-13 movies that were filled with sexual content (PARENTHOOD and REVENGE OF THE NERDS 2).

[Monterey Jack]

The deleted scenes reel is FASCINATING, especially the Ted Raimi stuff, which indicates that his demise in the finished film was a reshoot (and that he was left totally insane and ranting and raving in an alley after being toyed with and tormented by Darkman, instead of being killed outright). Also we finally see the notorious bit with Colin Friels' baddie writhing naked on a bed covered with gold coins. It's all raw and presented totally out of order, but it's a treat to see this stuff, even if we only get one additional "Inside the mind of Peyton Westlake" freak-out scene (cinematographer Bill Pope -- in his fine commentary recorded for the previous Scream Factory Blu -- intimated there was at least ten minutes' worth of this material that got trimmed by a leery Universal as being too "out there").

I'm delighted SF managed to dig this stuff up and present it in as good a quality as possible. The final cut of the movie is likely better for this being taken out, but I'm glad us DarkFans are finally able to watch most of the excised scenes after hearing rumors about them for thirty+ years. The movie itself looks smashing in its newly spiffy 4K transfer, and it remains a potent, highly-charged piece of comic-strip pulp. It's not "great", but like Brian De Palma's The Fury, it has the hedonistic, kid-in-a-candy-store buzz of a low-budget indie filmmaker finally given the keys to a big-studio production, and going totally, gleefully apesh!t. I loved the movie on a totally straight-faced melodramatic level as a teenager, but as an adult, the florid romanticism of the writing and hellzapoppin' wit of Raimi's kinetic camerawork is even more enjoyable. It's inherently shallow, but grand fun to watch, and thankfully doesn't overstay its welcome like so many overstuffed, bloated superhero sagas these days. This release is...just fine. [tape rewinds] Just fine. [tape rewinds] "Just fine. Heh-heh-heh..."

[Monterey Jack]

[AndyDursin]

I'm with you, certainly in comparison to these completely impersonal, bloated, corporate-made super-hero movies, DARKMAN shines even more now than it did when it came out.

[mkaroly]

I have never seen this movie - it just didn't look good at the time.

[Monterey Jack]

I have never seen this movie - it just didn't look good at the time.

You should give it a shot. It’s aged extremely well, especially compared to today’s greenscreen superhero slush.