Blue Velvet: Special Edition DVD Review

Title: Blue Velvet: Special Edition

Region: One

Genre: Thriller/Noir

Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, George Dickerson, Dean Stockwell, Jack Nance, and Brad Dourif

Writer: David Lynch

Director: David Lynch

Feature length: 121 minutes

Extras: “Mysteries Of Love” Documentary, Deleted Scenes Montage, Original “Siskel & Ebert” Review, Photo Gallery, Theatrical Trailer, and TV Spots

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, French Dolby Stereo Surround 2.0, and Spanish Monaural Sound

Subtitles: English Captions and Closed Captions and French, Spanish, and Portuguese Subtitles

Packaging: Keep Case Within A Glossy Slipcase

Chapter Stops: 28

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Stereo Surround Sound, and Monaural Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1986/DVD Release: 2002

Theatrical Distributor: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)

Home Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

"It's a strange world. Isn't it?" It certainly is when you take a step into the mind of David Lynch through one of his films. "Blue Velvet" is arguably one of David Lynch's best films if not the best film of his career. The film is dark, humorous, depraved, thrilling, and bizarre all at the same time and probably a lot more. At the time of the theatrical release the average movie theater customer did not always know what to make of the film while others were enthralled by the signature style David Lynch created and perfected in terms of telling a compelling story in a highly artistic and out of the ordinary manner. "Blue Velvet" has a deceptively simple storyline. College student, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) returns to his quaint small country town after his father suffers a stroke. While walking through a field, he discovers a severed human ear and begins investigating the case with the help of high school senior Sandy Williams (Laura Dern) and soon finds himself embroiled into a mystery involving a disturbed nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini) and a Nitrous inhaling sadistic killer, Frank Booth, (Dennis Hopper.)

The film brings together actors who had appeared and/or would go on to appear in other David Lynch projects that include Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, Dean Stockwell, Jack Nance, and Brad Dourif as well as the haunting musical collaboration of composer Angelo Badalamenti. The film itself is a pre-cursor of other projects that Lynch would create, most memorably the cult TV series "Twin Peaks" and in some ways the film adaptation of "Wild At Heart" by David Lynch presents an inverse of themes explored in "Blue Velvet," but instead of presenting an underworld lurking beneath "Our Town," "Wild At Heart" presented its heroic characters as lost people searching for goodness underneath all of the chaos and badness the world has around them. Both of these films are highly acclaimed, but "Blue Velvet" is a bit more accessible because it is for the most part a more coherent film than "Wild At Heart."

MGM had previously released a standard DVD release two years ago, but has revisited “Blue Velvet” with a brand digital transfer supervised by David Lynch. Presented in the anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio that preserves the way in which the film was exhibited theatrically, this new transfer is a bit darker than the previous DVD, but the colors appear richer somehow. One can really appreciate the palette of colors that make up the costumes and production design more than before with this new DVD edition, which is important because what the characters wear and where they go greatly defines the “worlds” from which they are coming from as well as how they interact.

A new English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is also provided and it is excellent considering this film is about 15 years old. There is a discrete use of the rear channels and an aggressive use of the base that rivals contemporary film soundtracks. A French Language Dolby Surround Soundtrack is included along with a Spanish Language Two-Channel Monaural Soundtrack. English Captions and Closed Captions as well as French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded on to the DVD as options too.

This new DVD release includes a reprint of the insert from the previous release with productions notes about the film featuring anecdotes regarding the casting from Kyle MacLachlan's weariness about taking on the lead role as Jeffrey to Dennis Hopper whole hearted acceptance of one of the most memorable screen villains of all time, Frank Booth. According to David Lynch, Hopper declared, "I've got to play Frank. I am Frank!"

The menus have new voice bytes from the film such as when you press play you’ll hear Laura Dern say “It’s a weird world” and if you choose languages you will hear Isabella Rossellini say “Be with me. Please, please, be with me.” While if you choose the scene selection menu, which I’m surprised was retained since Lynch in the past has preferred not to have his films segmented visually like audio tracks on a CD, you will hear MacLachlan replying to the question “Do you sneak into apartments to see the girls undress?” “Never before this.” The music cue was too loud for me to make out the voice byte that Isabella Rossellini says from the film when I selected the special features menu. There are three Easter eggs that are pretty easy to find. One shifts the full motion scenes on the main menu while another features Director of Photography Frederick Elmes discussing the Robin at the end of the film. The third Easter egg features Kyle MacLachlan revealing the origins of the “Chicken Walk.”

The menus feature animated transitions and are easy to navigate. The keep case comes within a glossy cardboard slipcase like previous MGM Special Edition DVD titles such as “The Usual Suspects” and “Bull Durham.” The extra features on this DVD include the feature length documentary “Mysteries Of Love,” which features brand new videotaped interviews with Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern as well as excerpts from interviews and behind-the-scenes footage with David Lynch from 1987. Various crewmembers are also interviewed and much of the rumors about the making of the film are discussed as well as the initial reaction when it was released and the hindsight acclaim for the film. The documentary was produced by Automat Pictures and is excellent. It can also be viewed as 8 short featurettes or as a whole with a length of 70-minutes.

There is a montage of stills from deleted scenes lost that have been reassembled as best as possible according to the original screenplay with Angelo Badalamenti’s score from the film in the background and a clip from the 1986 “Siskel & Ebert” review is included along with extensive photo galleries, the original theatrical trailer and TV spots.

As a whole this is well worth the upgrade from the previous release and a great DVD. “Blue Velvet: Special Edition” will debut on DVD-Video from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment on Tuesday, June 4, 2002.

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