Congo 4K UHD (1995) coming from Vinegar Syndrome

[JupiterMission]

Just confirmed:

Available for pre-order right now:
https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collecti...products/congo

This special limited edition deluxe magnet box + slipcover set (designed by JJ Harrison and Haunt Love), includes a 40-page perfect bound book and is limited to 10,000 units. It is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

TraviCom owner, and multimillionaire, R.B. Travis (Joe Don Baker, Walking Tall) sends his son Charles (Bruce Campbell, The Evil Dead) and his friend Jeffrey (Taylor Nichols, Metropolitan) to the Congo to search for rare blue diamonds that can work as powerful conduits for telecommunications lasers. When Charles and Jeffrey are ambushed, his ex-fiance Dr. Karen Ross (Laura Linney, The Truman Show), who observes the attack via remote video feed, is sent by R.B. Travis to follow in his son's footsteps back to the Congo to finish what was started and, hopefully, find Charles alive. Upon embarking, Karen encounters Dr. Peter Elliot (Dylan Walsh, Nobody's Fool), his assistant (Grant Helsov, True Lies) and a gorilla named Amy, who can communicate with humans via a sign language-controlled glove that translates her movements into audible dialogue (voiced by Shayna Fox, Reggie Rocket on Nickelodeon's Rocket Power). Dr. Elliot is on a poorly-funded expedition to bring Amy back to the Congo, which ends up being made financially viable by a Romanian philanthropist (Tim Curry, Clue) and Karen, who opts to tag along. Once in Africa, they meet up with their guide (Ernie Hudson, Ghostbusters) and find themselves targets of various local militaries, tribes, and a race of gray, killer apes along the way to find the Lost City of Zinj.

Based on a long-gestating 1980 novel by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Disclosure), CONGO started its adventure to movie screens well over a decade before it hit theaters in the summer of 1995. A similar mash-up of tech-heavy sci-fi and roaring adventure to blockbuster juggernaut Jurassic Park two years prior, Frank Marshall's (Arachnophobia) screen adaptation of Crichton's unclassifiable genre amalgam comes to vivid life with a script by noted playwright and screenwriter John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck, Joe Versus the Volcano), lush cinematography by Spielberg collaborator Allen Daviau (E.T., The Color Purple) and a suitably bombastic score by Jerry Goldsmith (Alien, Poltergeist). Vinegar Syndrome Ultra is proud to present this undeniable staple of mid-90s blockbuster filmmaking in its world UHD debut with a brand new 4K restoration from its original 35mm camera negative alongside a robust assortment of new extras.

directed by: Frank Marshall
starring: Laura Linney, Dylan Walsh, Ernie Hudson, Tim Curry, Grant Heslov, Joe Don Baker
1995 / 108 min / 1.85:1 / English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Additional info:

- 2-disc Set: 4K Ultra HD (High Bitrate UHD100) / Region A Blu-ray
- 4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
- Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
- Commentary track with author/screenwriter Kelly Goodner and film historian Jim Hemphill
- "A Crash Course in Ape School. Looking Back at the Creation of Congo's Gorillas" (50 min) - a new making-of documentary featuring interviews with Stan Winston Studio crew: Christian Colquhoun, Richard Landon, J. Alan Scott, and gorilla suit performers Misty Rosas and Nicholas Kadi
- "Withstand the Test of Time: A Conversation with Congo's Make-up FX Team" (13 min) - a featurette with artists Matthew Mungle and Michael McCracken
- "Journey into the Unknown" (25 min) - an archival making-of featurette
- Extensive behind-the-scenes photo gallery (7 min)
- Original teaser trailer
- Original theatrical trailer
- 40-page perfect bound book with essay by Simon Abrams, Matt Singer, and Justin LaLiberty (exclusive to the limited deluxe case edition)
- Reversible sleeve artwork
- English SDH subtitles

[starman15317]

I have an old laserdisc of this film but I've still never seen it.

[DMRI2006]

I could hardly justify paying for the Blu-Ray when it was in the bargain bin. $65 for the deluxe 4K...yeah I think I'm good lol.

[MifuneFan]

I remember enjoying this one when I was younger. Haven't seen it in a long time though, so not sure how it holds up now.

[motorheadache95]

Yeah I mean even the power of time and nostalgia isnt enough to get me interested in this one. It was a pretty lousy adaptation of the novel, and the effects were really bad. I’d actually support a new crack at it with Andy Serkis involved.

[drb999]

It’s a decent movie. I enjoyed it. Of course the novel is better.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by drb999

It’s a decent movie. I enjoyed it. Of course the novel is better.

Any Crichton novel is better than the associated movie.

[JupiterMission]

Originally Posted by starman15317

I have an old laserdisc of this film but I've still never seen it.

You're missing out! It's a really fun jungle adventure movie, as Ebert pointed out, with a great cast and awesome production design and creatures. Very fun post-Jurassic Park 90s blockbuster. Also has a phenomenal score.

I've seen it dozens of times and never tire of it. My friends actually rented a theater and screened it for me for my bachelor party years ago.

Story time:
I was nine when it came out, and being Jurassic Park and Michael Crichton obsessed, I bugged my parents for weeks if not months about seeing this. I read the book, lit up every time a commercial came on, etc.

Well, one Saturday afternoon my dad asked me to hop in his old Jeep Cherokee and go for a ride with him. He wouldn't say where we were going. I kept asking what was up and finally he said, "Listen, when you were born the doctors said that you had a condition. They said it might go away when you got older, but it might not. So we're going to the hospital, and they're going to do some tests and see if you're going to be okay or not."

I was stunned. I asked how long I'd be gone for. "We don't know." What's the condition? "We're not sure." Am I going to die? "We don't know."

I still remember that we were passing over a highway on an overpass when he told me this. I could tell you the exact spot.

"Anyways," he said. "Look into that bag in the back seat and make sure mom packed enough clothes for you."

I was in the front passenger seat, so I reached back and pulled down the side of a paper grocery bag. Inside was a re-usable popcorn bucket that you got cheap refills on at our nearest AMC theater.

"It's just a popcorn bucket..."

My dad laughed.

"WE'RE GOING TO SEE CONGO?!"

He confirmed that yes, we were going to see Congo. And I've never been the same but I've always had a deep love for the film. Maybe because for a brief moment at the age of nine I thought I was going to die of some rare medical condition, and I'd been granted a new lease on life and the first thing I got to do was see Congo, but the movie also has Ernie Hudson, Bruce Campbell, Tim Curry, killer apes, cool lasers, ancient diamond mines, sesame seed cake, and all sorts of stuff so who is to say.

[raptors661]

I'm assuming the one listed on their site is the "limited deluxe case edition" that has the booklet? It doesn't specify either way.

[starmike]

I saw this once in the theater. It was ok. I don't remember much about it.

[Driver78]

I can finally throw away my two dollar-feeling Paramount Blu with terrible cover art.

[Telemachus]

Stop eating my sesame cake!

I know Dr. West is down for this

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by starmike

I saw this once in the theater. It was ok. I don't remember much about it.

I actually saw this at a drive-in in 1995 and was underwhelmed. It has some good moments particularly with Hudson and Curry, but most of it is very mediocre.

[raptors661]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Stop eating my sesame cake!

That quote has been said so many times in our household growing up.

[Torgon]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

And then just like every other Vinegar Syndrome Ultra release, a standard case version will be on the market sometime later.

I’m in this group. I’ve got a few ultra releases, but this is not one I need as such. Good film, but no need to spend big bucks on it. I have higher priorities, lol.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

I actually saw this at a drive-in in 1995 and was underwhelmed. It has some good moments particularly with Hudson and Curry, but most of it is very mediocre.

Including the apes and their articulation. It's amusing there's a whole documentary on them here, when that FX work was lacking even when the movie came out.

I mean, I found this movie mildly entertaining, but it could have been really great, and wasn't.

[RYJAPE21]

My ultimate guilty pleasure. I watched this a ton on VHS as a child, and I’m finally reading Chrichton’s novel for the first time (which is admittedly wayyy better). Still, this was an easy preorder for me. Love Tim Curry’s role (and accent).

[gooey]

Originally Posted by Driver78

I can finally throw away my two dollar-feeling Paramount Blu with terrible cover art.

that thing is selling for $56 used on ebay

[Yautja_Warrior]

Fun movie, saw it in the cinema back in the day.

Only thing I dislike about it is they kill Bruce Campbell off in the opening. This movie would have been even better with him as one of the main characters.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by RYJAPE21

My ultimate guilty pleasure. I watched this a ton on VHS as a child, and I’m finally reading Chrichton’s novel for the first time (which is admittedly wayyy better). Still, this was an easy preorder for me. Love Tim Curry’s role (and accent).

All of Crichton's novels are excellent. I have read every one of them a few times, but I still feel that Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man are his best.