Spawn: Director's Cut (1997) - June 4th 2018

[UpsetSmiley]

Release date: 4th June 2018

Purchase Links: Amazon £10.99 | Base £8.99

[Synchg]

the uk always has the best blu ray covers, if it wasnt for those ugly rating logos

[McCrutchy]

Interesting that this is coming so late, and not in the HMV Premium Collection, either. Perhaps they passed on it, but I'm not aware of any Spawn-related material that's been announced for later this year, so it seems a tad strange. Still, I'm not one to complain, and I will probably pick this one up, since I never got round to picking up the US BD.

Also, I didn't realize that this was Nicol Williamson's final acting role until his death at 75...fourteen years later. I find it strange that he never acted in any other film or TV production (or theatre production, as far as I can tell) despite seeming to be in good heath until at least 2009, and I wonder if the experience of making the film soured him on acting?

[ManOfTheForest]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Interesting that this is coming so late, and not in the HMV Premium Collection, either. Perhaps they passed on it, but I'm not aware of any Spawn-related material that's been announced for later this year, so it seems a tad strange. Still, I'm not one to complain, and I will probably pick this one up, since I never got round to picking up the US BD.

Also, I didn't realize that this was Nicol Williamson's final acting role until his death at 75...fourteen years later. I find it strange that he never acted in any other film or TV production (or theatre production, as far as I can tell) despite seeming to be in good heath until at least 2009, and I wonder if the experience of making the film soured him on acting?

I had a vague recollection of a comment regarding Nicholson and Spawn but I had to look it up to be sure.

Williamson's son is quoted as saying "By the time he'd made Spawn, he was done with it" of acting in general. So I think whatever experience he had on Spawn or opinions of the film itself, it seems he was retiring anyway. I can't find any further explanation of why he retired - maybe no reason except just because he wanted to.

[Jim B.]

Terrible film. Don't blind but without seeing it first. Hopefully the new film they are planning will be better (can't be any worse). The dark days of bad comic book movies.

[ManOfTheForest]

Originally Posted by Jim B.

Terrible film. Don't blind but without seeing it first. Hopefully the new film they are planning will be better (can't be any worse). The dark days of bad comic book movies.

McFarlane wrote the new one himself and will direct. Is aiming for a horror rather than superhero with it. Blumhouse is involved too.

[BigNickUK]

Originally Posted by Jim B.

Terrible film. Don't blind but without seeing it first. Hopefully the new film they are planning will be better (can't be any worse). The dark days of bad comic book movies.

Subjective.

Great film in my opinion, and pretty darkly comedic, been looking forward to getting this

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by BigNickUK

Subjective.

Great film in my opinion, and pretty darkly comedic, been looking forward to getting this

A 'Great' film, come on. If you said it's not that good but I enjoy it i could buy that, but 'great'?

[indisposed]

Imported this last year. I still have a certain amount of nostalgia for it, but it isn't really a good film. The tone is all over the place, everyone seems to be acting in completely different films from one another and the effects were patchy even for the time, ranging from pretty good (Spawn's cape still looks pretty cool) to downright amateurish (any of the hell sequences).

Like I said, it still has a certain amount of nostalgia for me (though I wonder why sometimes), but I can't imagine a first time viewer getting much out of this.

[ManOfTheForest]

Originally Posted by Jim B.

A 'Great' film, come on. If you said it's not that good but I enjoy it i could buy that, but 'great'?

As BigNickUK said it is his opinion.

The comment " If you said it's not that good but I enjoy it i could buy that, but 'great'?" doesn't really make any sense.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by ManOfTheForest

As BigNickUK said it is his opinion.

The comment " If you said it's not that good but I enjoy it i could buy that, but 'great'?" doesn't really make any sense.

Yes it does - I expect we all have films we like for whatever reason that we know aren't great. You'd be a pretty boring person if you only liked acknowledged classics. Just because you have a soft spot for a particular film doesn't by definition mean you think it's a great film.

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by BigNickUK

Subjective.

Exactly. I remember this as an enjoyable one watch blockbuster. Good fun but no intention of ever seeing it again. There are far worse comicbook films out there, even recent ones such as Deadpool, Fantastic 4 reboot (admittedly that was the studios fault) and Suicide Squad coming to mind.

[ManOfTheForest]

Originally Posted by Fnord Prefect

Exactly. I remember this as an enjoyable one watch blockbuster. Good fun but no intention of ever seeing it again. There are far worse comicbook films out there, even recent ones such as Deadpool, Fantastic 4 reboot (admittedly that was the studios fault) and Suicide Squad coming to mind.

Was Spawn a blockbuster? I thought it was only moderately successful at the box office?

What didn't you like about Deadpool - if you can explain without spoilers because I haven't seen it yet? Just curious as you the first person I have encountered who didn't like it with the exception of a few people who didn't like the violence.

[Darby1985]

Sure opinions are subjective but I think anyone claiming Spawn is better than Deadpool would have to admit they're swimming against the tide with that claim.

[indisposed]

As for Williamson, I remember they talk about him briefly on the commentary track. They say he was totally professional and a great pianist when the cameras weren't running, but they also remark that he could be very intense on set. Apparently, he tried to endear himself to (I think) Mcfarlane's young daughter in full Cagliostro garb and she burst out crying. Feeling dejected and without missing a beat, he turned to McFarlane and deadpaned "the story of my life".

[Billz]

I saw this once as a kid, and the clown character basically caused Coulrophobia in me..

Haven't seen it since.
And yet, I'm tempted to get this to see if I can make it through.

[ManOfTheForest]

Originally Posted by Billz

I saw this once as a kid, and the clown character basically caused Coulrophobia in me..

Haven't seen it since.
And yet, I'm tempted to get this to see if I can make it through.

You didn't get coulrophobia. Coulrophobia is defined as "the irrational fear of clowns".

Nothing irrational about it.

That said the clown demon in the film and the animated series just annoyed me rather than creeped me out. He just talked way too much.

The Negan of clowns.

[UpsetSmiley]

Now please excuse me as I take up a perfect opportunity to post this gif.

[Interdimensional]

Originally Posted by UpsetSmiley

Now please excuse me as I take up a perfect opportunity to post this gif.

Well
I have the Cinefex issue where they detail the creation of the visual effects of Spawn. Amazingly they used this on their cover.

It was mentioned that they'd originally created a rod puppet devil for this scene which had proved unsatisfactory. Well, maybe so, but just going by the photo of the puppet, it looked substantially better than this.

[ManOfTheForest]

Originally Posted by Interdimensional

Well
I have the Cinefex issue where they detail the creation of the visual effects of Spawn. Amazingly they used this on their cover.

It was mentioned that they'd originally created a rod puppet devil for this scene which had proved unsatisfactory. Well, maybe so, but just going by the photo of the puppet, it looked substantially better than this.

Can you post the picture of the puppet?