Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Primal Scream Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 9, 2020

William J. Murray's "Primal Scream" (1987) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Dark Force Entertainment/Code Red. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage promotional piece; exclusive audio commentary by the director and crew members; and making of featurette. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The private eye

I would have very quickly lost interest in Primal Scream if it looked better polished and its plot was a little less fractured. It is one of those low-budget head-scratchers that actually plays with a number of interesting ideas and, in the process, manages to remain unpredictable for a long period of time. The film also has an interesting style. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is different in a way that works well with its unpredictability.

The future. Private detective Corby McHale (Kenneth McGregor) is approached by a wealthy and beautiful middle-aged woman and offered a lot of money to investigate the past and present dealings of a man running a large international corporation. But shortly after McHale goes to work the woman’s brother is killed with a deadly substance named Hellfire whose components are harvested by space engineers operating on behalf of the corporation, and the murder case sends the detective in an entirely new direction chasing an elusive killer.

Director William J. Murray and Dan Smeddy’s screenplay for Primal Scream is an amusing collection of ideas that feels a bit like a rough blueprint of the great screenplay David Cronenberg produced for Naked Lunch. The gap in quality between the two is rather dramatic and Cronenberg’s film unquestionably pushes its audience down a much deeper and more interesting rabbit hole, but Murray’s film is quite trippy as well. The reality in which the private detective is placed for instance is anything but conventional, and once he begins tracking down the killer his mind often questions its boundaries like Peter Weller’s bug exterminator does the Interzone. However, instead of evolving into something similar to the Interzone where the surreal regularly becomes real, the private detective’s reality flourishes as a pulpy neo-noirish playground where various strange characters do things to distract him. It is not always easy to tell why they do it and at the same time the script mixes different ideas that pull the film in opposite directions, so for a while it definitely feels like the chaos is part of an intriguing puzzle. Though it may sound somewhat odd, this ambiguity is the film’s greatest strength because it infuses it with an unusually stylish atmosphere.

So, what happens next?

The film begins to make sense, and the more it does, the more amateurish it looks. The private detective suddenly stumbles upon the right clues that he needs to solve the murder case that sent him on his twisted journey and the strange characters around him become entirely ordinary individuals. After that Hellfire takes the spotlight again and shortly after an unoriginal resolution gives the private detective’s mind a much-needed break.

There is a lot of material in this film that comes together quite well, so it is most certainly not one of those it-is-so-bad-it-is-actually-cool gems. However, whether because of budget restrictions or some other reason, it loses its courage to be different and at the end simply decides to play it safe because it is the right thing to do. But it was the wrong thing to do. Its best moments are actually the ones where Hellfire feels like a distraction and the private detective is on some kind of a trip that would permanently overwhelm his mind. This is where the film should have flourished more and eventually ended -- into the abyss of madness.

Primal Scream Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Primal Scream arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Dark Force Entertainment/Code Red.

It is very easy to tell that this release was sourced from a recent master because the entire film has a very stable and overall very attractive organic appearance. However, it is a raw master that retains some scratches and vertical lines, and even a few transition jumps. To be honest, I don't have a problem with these inherited limitations, but I have to point out that they are of the type that modern digital tools can easily eliminate. Delineation, depth, and clarity are very good, though there are some fluctuations that are part of the film's original cinematography. Colors are stable and overall very nicely balanced. There are absolutely no traces of problematic digital corrections. All in all, the release is sourced from a somewhat rough but otherwise very strong organic master that actually makes the film look quite unique. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Primal Scream Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Clarity, sharpness and stability are very good. However, from time to time some light background pops and even background hiss can be heard. They are in no way distracting and you will have to turn up the volume of your system to hear all of them, but they are there and my guess is that that all were transferred when the current master was prepared. Dynamic intensity is good -- or at least for a low-budget film from the late '80s.

Primal Scream Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Hellfire Promo - a vintage promo that was apparently created in 1981. In English, not subtitled. (6 min, 480/60i).

• Made a Movie, Lived to Tell - this featurette reunites William J. Murray with some of the people that made Primal Scream. The folks discusses their backgrounds and how they made the film during the '80s. In English, not subtitled. (46 min, 480/60i).

• Audio Commentary - director William J. Murray and members of his team go down memory lane and explain how Pirmal Scream came to exist.

Primal Scream Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Had Bill Murray flipped the switch on the private detective's mind and then made his search for the killer and Hellfire parts of a giant never-ending psychedelic experience, Primal Scream would have turned out to be a pretty special film. I don't even think that he would have needed a bigger budget for that kind of a genuinely trippy thriller; a slightly bolder and tighter script would have been enough. I still enjoyed Primal Scream quite a bit and think that it could be a terrific companion to Garagehouse Pictures' release of John Coats' very atmospheric genre-bender Foes. RECOMMENDED.