The Resurrected - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

As a big-time horror fan and lover of practical monster effects, I was very surprised to have never seen this movie before. The Resurrected, directed by Dan O'Bannon, who is most known for penning the script for Alien (1979) and later for directing the cult classic The Return of the Living Dead (1985). Only his second directorial effort, The Resserected, relies heavily on its visual effects more than the uneven movement of the plot. Obannon attempts to meld the genres of Private Eye style Noir with Lovecraftian horror, which, as a concept, could be a great story; however, the director doesn’t quite complete the merge with some scenes that overstay their welcome and some comedy that doesn’t quite land.

The film follows a private detective, John March (John Terry), who gets commissioned by Claire Ward (Jane Sibbett) to investigate her husband, Charles Ward (Chris Sarandon), a scientist who moved his mysterious experiments from the pool house of their mansion into a spooky abandoned house. The plot gets a little convoluted from here on out. John and Claire investigate the house, form a romance that sometimes gets forgotten, and discover Charles’ secret plan: reanimating corpses, which somehow gives him immortal life. There is also an overly long flashback to the town's founding, where we see Charles first hatch his plan. This scene, while adding considerable runtime, is far more interesting than the modern-day plot following the PI and Claire, and feels almost like a true gothic horror film rather than an amalgam of noir and body horror.

Once the film returns to the modern day, O’Bannon unveils the creature designs while Claire and John search Charles’ secret underground dungeon full of his failed experiments. These creatures are impressive, not to the level of The Thing or any of Cronenberg's films, but they are grotesque and monstrous, with some good stop-motion effects and monster prosthetics. The problem with this scene is that Obannon tries to make it more of a comedy than a grand revelation of the monstrous. The biggest problem with this movie is that it doesn’t know what tone it wants, the noir elements are more satirical deliberately feeling like when Looney Tunes spoofs a noir, and the Lovecraft elements are creepy and effective but the melding of these two elements could work but I feel like it’s trying and failing to achieve something like Evil Dead 2 levels of horror comedy and falls flat whenever it’s introduced almost as if it was an afterthought. While the movie isn't great, it’s still moody, and I'm glad I gave it a watch.

Vital Disc Stats: 4k UHD/ Blu-ray 
This release of The Resurrected arrives as a two-disc release through Vinegar Syndrome. The discs are housed in a black 4k case and include a 4k disc that stores the film and another region A Blu-ray disc that holds the special features included in this release. This release also includes a reversible sleeve with two different covers to choose from. Those lucky enough to order in time from the Vinegar Syndrome website were treated to an exclusive slipcover. 

This release was scanned from the original 35mm camera negatives and presented in Dolby Vision HDR.  This release looks pretty good; the film grain is intact while still looking sharp and clear with little interference at all. The color timing looks excellent and stays true to the period's vision without introducing a modern blue hue, which sometimes comes through in new restorations. The best-looking scenes are those that were filmed to look like the 1700s, with stark, gorgeous orange lighting that feels lit by a fire, and the shadows it creates juxtapose nicely and look really impressive. The only reason this wasn’t a higher rating is that the rest of the film’s cinematography is pretty good, but not as good as the period-specific lighting. This doesn’t look perfect, however. The movie has occasional shots that the 4k restoration enhances, but it’s mostly a run-of-the-mill film from a cinematographic standpoint. This release is still the highest-quality version of this film available, so I would recommend picking it up for that reason.

This audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo. The restoration of the audio, along with the video, is good and clear throughout the picture. The music in this film sounds great and never overpowers the dialogue of a scene, and the dialogue is always clear. While the fidelity is serviceable to the film, there is not much more to say about the audio quality other than it serves its purpose but isn’t extravagant.

The supplements are the most significant selling point of this release. Totaling around 187 minutes of extras, the content includes several interviews on the film's association with Lovecraft, the music, the genre-bending script, the monster design, and the actors. The supplements include:

• Audio Commentary featuring producers Mark Borde and Kenneth Raich, writer Brent V. Friedman, special effects artist Todd Masters, and actor Robert Romanus.
• Interview with actor Chris Sarandon (21:00)
• New interview with Chris Sarandon (15:00)
• Interview with actor Robert Romanus (14:00)
• Archival interview with actress Jane Sibbett (15:00).
• Interview with film critic and author Kim Newman (25:00)
• Interview with author S.T. Joshi (24:00)
• Interview with writer Brent V. Friedman (18:00)
• Interview with composer Richard Band (10:00).
• Interview with production designer Brent Thomas (08:00)
• Interview with special effects artist Todd Masters (16:00).
• Extended Scenes (18:00)
• Theatrical Trailer (1:45)
• Japanese Trailer (1:54)
• Acceptance speech at the Chainsaw Awards (03:00)
• Photo Gallery

The Resserected is a good attempt at a genre-bending take on H.P. Lovecraft’s novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The movie itself is averagely entertaining; however, it overstays its welcome in a few scenes and is tonally a mess. Having said that, the creature designs are fun, and I loved the scenes set in the past. I would hope to see a version of this without the hokey Noir addition to the script. The restoration of this film is serviceable and is most likely the highest-quality copy available. The biggest draw of this release is the gigantic selection of special features, which you can spend an extra two hours watching. I would suggest checking this movie out, and I would especially grab this release even if there is a passing interest in horror or weird tales. Worth A Look