7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, all is fine until an actress comes along and one of them falls in love.
Starring: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon, Shirley DouglasHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1, 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Both 5.1/2.0 options on each aspect ratio.
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
There have been any number of films which feature dastardly siblings, including some where the brothers or sisters are twins. While it’s certainly possible to craft a creepy film about non-identical siblings (the two mid-sixties Robert Aldrich efforts, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte — which admittedly features cousins — spring to mind), there’s something especially disturbing about twins, perhaps reaching down to a subliminal level of genetic identity that most of us non- twins aren’t able to fathom, and therefore fear. A comprehensive list of so-called “evil twin” movies would take up considerable bandwidth, but a cursory overview might include lesser remembered efforts like two films from 1946 which (separately) featured Aldrich co-stars Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, A Stolen Life and The Dark Mirror, and better remembered outings like Brian De Palma’s Sisters, and a 1964 effort which, like What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte and A Stolen Life, starred Bette Davis, Dead Ringer (some might waggishly argue that one Bette Davis was probably more than enough for most, rather than these multiple versions). Dead Ringer gets pluralized (so to speak) in one of the most memorable “evil twin” films ever made, David Cronenberg’s 1988 opus Dead Ringers. Star Jeremy Irons, playing twin gynecologists Elliot and Beverly (a male name in many British societies) Mantle, had already amassed a rather impressive resume by the time he came to Dead Ringers, having done stellar work in such films as The French Lieutenant's Woman and The Mission, but his turn(s) in Dead Ringers elevated his status even further, winning him several regional acting awards but rather surprisingly not even an Academy Award nomination.
Dead Ringers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.78:1
and
1.67:1 (as measured by our in house system), not 1.66:1 as advertised. Shout! is touting the 1.67:1 version as a new 2K scan (one assumes from
an IP), and in what is described as "director David
Cronenberg's
preferred aspect ratio." If our forum is any indication, this release is going to create some controversy from a number of angles, but instead of focusing
on what is "correct" (for I frankly don't feel qualified to offer an authoritative opinion absent the unlikely occurrence of Cronenberg or cinematographer
Peter Suschitzky chiming in to clarify), I'm simply going to keep this analysis to what I consider to be observable data. Shout! hasn't included any
information on the provenance of the 1.78:1 master, but it looks like it's older, as evidenced by a kind of harsh digital appearance at times and some
coarser grain than is seen in the 1.67:1 version (something that might argue toward sharpening having been applied). There are obvious color
temperature differences between the 1.78:1 and 1.67:1 versions, with the 1.78:1 version bathed in bluish tones, and the 1.67:1 version offering a
substantially warmer (and to my eyes, more natural looking) palette. While the 1.67:1 version has (again to my eyes) a more appealing color space,
it's
also fairly soft looking, especially when compared to what may be the artificially sharpened 1.78:1 version. Some of our forum members have
expressed
concern over actual framing inconsistencies, and there is ample headroom in some of the 1.67:1 version's shots. That said, I'd personally caution
against
using an old DVD (even a vaunted Criterion disc) as being an infallible guide, so, again, I'm not going to opine on what's "correct" and what isn't, and
simply state that there are clear framing differences between the two versions on this disc (irrespective of the differing aspect ratios), as well
as
the old Criterion DVD. Both versions here suffer from at least occasional vertical wobble, something that tends to be the case more with older masters,
though Shout!'s Cliff MacMillan has stated on our forum that the label attempted to "smooth" out this anomaly in the 1.67:1 version. My bottom line
assessment here is that both of the versions on this two disc set have their own separate issues, but that from a color temperature and grain
resolution
standpoint, the 1.67:1 version struck me as the better looking of the two, though it's also quite a bit softer looking than the 1.78:1 version. I'd rate
the
1.78:1 version at around 3.25 and the 1.67:1 version at around 3.75, leading to the average score shown above.
As should hopefully be obvious, I've tried to recreate the same screenshots from both versions, since I'm a firm believer that individual compare and
contrasts are often much more beneficial than my halting attempts at description. The 1.78:1 version is represented in screenshots 1 - 9,
and the 1.67:1 version in screenshots 10 - 18.
Both versions of Dead Ringers feature DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mixes. While the 5.1 mixes are identical on both versions, a member in our forum has posted that the channels are reversed between the two versions in their stereo iterations, something that does appear to be the case, as evidenced by sometimes subtle positioning in a track that is frankly not all that directional to begin with. For those interested, though, listen to the scene where Elliot brings the gold plated "device" back to Bev and notice the different placement of the footsteps. That said, I personally find this a rather minor annoyance, since the stereo track doesn't feature extremely wide separation in any case, and my preference is the surround track one way or the other, since (among other things) it offers a much more spacious accounting of Howard Shore's elegant and elegiac score. Fidelity is fine throughout both tracks, with no signs of dropouts or other damage, and with dialogue cleanly and clearly presented throughout.
Disc One (1.78:1 Version)
My hunch is Dead Ringers is going to be yet another hotly debated release, but my personal opinion is the 1.67:1 version is the better looking of the pair presented in this set, even if it has its own issues. As is usual with Scream Factory releases, the supplementary package is quite appealing and may help concerned consumers overcome qualms about the actual transfers. With caveats duly noted, Dead Ringers comes Recommended.
Warner Archive Collection
1946
2009
2008
1984
1979
Deviation / My Sister, My Love / The Cage / Don't Ring the Doorbell
1978
2019
Schock / Beyond the Door II
1977
1964
1964
The Apartment on the 13th Floor / La semana del asesino
1972
1988
1981
1986
Collector's Edition
1992
Special Edition
1976
2016
Warner Archive Collection
1962
1990
2018