Confessions of a Serial Killer (1985) Blu-ray (Unearthed Films) 7/23/24
The full 107 minute "Director's Cut" is finally coming to Blu-ray as an official release from Unearth Films. It has only ever had problematic DVD & Blu-ray imports (either heavily cut or altered) before now.
True, but for us video store kids, using the VHS artwork is the best choice.
Despite the 1985 year, this wasn't distributed in the US until 1992 via Roger Corman's New Horizons VHS label. With Silence Of The Lambs being the big hit of 1991, they were trying to capitalize on that movie's success.
True, but for us video store kids, using the VHS artwork is the best choice.
I am also a child of the video stores. I didn't remember that that crap was the VHS artwork. I thought it was done for the DVD. Anyway, it's terrible, exploitative artwork. Robert A. Burns looks nothing like that guy on the cover - who resembles a WWF wrestler, which cheapens the movie - and also never wears a mask in the movie.
As for comparisons with Henry: PoaSK, this film is not quite as good as that near-masterpiece, imo, but certainly in the same league, and deserves to be much more well-known than it is. Sadly, director Mark Blair never made another movie.
True, but for us video store kids, using the VHS artwork is the best choice.
Despite the 1985 year, this wasn't distributed in the US until 1992 via Roger Corman's New Horizons VHS label. With Silence Of The Lambs being the big hit of 1991, they were trying to capitalize on that movie's success.
I always thought this was a 90s movie so I was confused when I saw the year 1985 in the announcement for the blu-ray. I remember the film being very disturbing and of course the artwork on the VHS box made me rent it.
This is fantastic news! This is a great serial killer movie that not only precedes “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,” but in some ways is even better than “Henry” in my opinion.
Glad this finally got a release date, but wish it was a UHD. While it's been a glorious few years for my signature wishlist, the only one to hit the format is the still upcoming The Hitcher. I've always loved this film more than Henry. It also brings back great memories of the best rental shop in town, B.J.'s Video, also responsible for my love of Fulci via their New York Ripper tape. Now, to get Burns' awesome Mongrel released one of these centuries...
Glad this finally got a release date, but wish it was a UHD. While it's been a glorious few years for my signature wishlist, the only one to hit the format is the still upcoming The Hitcher. I've always loved this film more than Henry. It also brings back great memories of the best rental shop in town, B.J.'s Video, also responsible for my love of Fulci via their New York Ripper tape. Now, to get Burns' awesome Mongrel released one of these centuries...
My local video store was also called B.J.’s. Are you from Burleson?
I only saw this once, but I remember being quite disturbed by it back then. May have to pick this up.
The most disturbing moment that always stands out in my memory from it was actually something heard/implied, rather than shown. That nosey neighbor listening outside that night. Creepy as hell.
WOW. I know this movie was cut, but didn't know it was by almost 20 minutes. Can't wait to get this.
The US VHS was technically "uncut" at around 95 mins. The overseas DVDs used possibly a TV cut with the violence and nudity removed, bringing it down to around 90 mins.
I haven't seen this new version yet, but it has been making the VOD rounds for the past few years and currently is on Tubi. I think when they were restoring the film to make the HD transfer, the director added an extra 12 minutes of scenes to make a Director's Cut, not necessarily stuff that was edited for content.
The US VHS was technically "uncut" at around 95 mins. The overseas DVDs used possibly a TV cut with the violence and nudity removed, bringing it down to around 90 mins.
I haven't seen this new version yet, but it has been making the VOD rounds for the past few years and currently is on Tubi. I think when they were restoring the film to make the HD transfer, the director added an extra 12 minutes of scenes to make a Director's Cut, not necessarily stuff that was edited for content.
This is correct, i watched it last year & there were dialogue scenes in it that i had never seen before on previous watches.
The full 107 minute "Director's Cut" is finally coming to Blu-ray as an official release from Unearth Films. It has only ever had problematic DVD & Blu-ray imports (either heavily cut or altered) before now.
I got shipping notification for this yesterday...happy I chose priority mail! I should have it Monday. I'll be sure to report on region locking. But I hope someone chimes in with packaging pics and comments before then. The polaroid gallery supplement, being such haunting props in the film, I'm very eager to check out. Going by the specs on the recent German release that was uncut w/ various artwork variants and seems to follow Unearthed's extras list...this looks like it will include both 1.85:1 + 1.33:1 transfers! Can't wait. I wish overnight express was an option.
This release is all region, ignore the A locked cover info...obviously that seller didn't check the actual disc before listing. The aspect ratio is 1.33:1-only, by far my preferred ratio for this movie. The transfer is beautiful, a noticeable improvement over streaming and plays at a high 30's to low 40's mbps. I'm more than pleased...I was starting to lose hope we'd ever get a nice release of Confessions of a Serial Killer. A trivia tidbit via a still image of the original canned film elements reveals the original title was Crimes of a Drifter (never read or heard this anywhere before) Tonight I plan on checking out the audio commentary & Robert A. Burns/Rondo Hatton documentary, surely plenty of new info on these! If they upgrade this to a 4k, it'll be day 1 for me!
Unearthed did a pretty solid job with the Blu-ray. I think the film works best with the 1.33:1 ratio, and thankfully the natural 16mm film grain is restored now! The old digital release (and the cut German Blu-ray releases) looked somewhat DNR'ed.
Optional subtitles are offered in standard English, and additionally in English SDH.
It looks nice and gritty, and fits the film perfectly. Finally after all these years, the definitive uncut release is finally here!
The Bonus Features are all excellent, and the 100-minute documentary Rondo and Bob is a great euology honoring the life and work of Robert A. Burns. If anyone is curious, it also offers optional English subtitles.
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00001.MPLS AVC 1:46:32 30,936,697,536 40,494,370,211 38.72 34.86 LPCM 2.0 1536Kbps (48kHz/16-bit)
I'd appreciate if anyone could help me with this: Is THIS particular German edition worth buying for? Is there any complaining about the picture quality against Unearthed Films release, anything at all???
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Confessions of a Serial Killer (1985) Blu-ray (Unearthed Films) 7/23/24
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