Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made Blu-ray Movie Review

Return to the Well of Souls

Reviewed by Michael Reuben August 19, 2016

The documentary Raiders! (subtitled "The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made") is about two types of film fans. The first consists of a group of misfit kids, who, in 1982, undertook to make a shot-by-shot remake of Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark. They drew storyboards from memory, shot with early-vintage Beta and VHS cameras, made their own props, sets and costumes and miraculously escaped injury, even when one "actor" was set on fire with gasoline. The gang stuck with their project for eight summers, ultimately completing what came to be called "The Adaptation", with the exception of one sequence: Indie's rescue of Marion Crane from a Nazi aircraft known as "the Flying Wing", for which the requisite props and pyrotechnics were more costly (and dangerous) than even this inventive group of fans could re-create.

The second type of film fan in Raiders! is a creature of the digital age. Long after the makers of The Adaptation had grown up and gone their separate ways, their work was discovered on bootleg cassettes by a group of film fanatics that included Harry Knowles, director Eli Roth and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League. In 2002, The Adaptation was screened as part of Knowles's annual Butt-Numb-a-Thon Festival, and the crowd went wild. Suddenly this exercise in extreme fandom became a hot property. With the help of a Kickstarter campaign, The Adaptation's creators were inspired to reunite and complete the project.

Tim Skousen and Jeremy Coon, who made the tongue-in-cheek documentary That's So John Rad! for Drafthouse's release of Dangerous Men, followed the process as this group of adults sought to complete the unlikely project they began as kids. Now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Drafthouse Films, Raiders! is their story.

Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala

The Adaptation began in 1982 as a project by three twelve-year-old boys from Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Chris Strompolos assayed the iconic role of Indiana Jones, adventurer, professor of archaeology and finder of rare objects. His friend Eric Zala directed, drew storyboards and mastered the French accent of Belloq, Indie's evil rival. Jayson Lamb worked the camera, edited the footage and crafted the do-it-yourself special effects, which included making a plaster cast of Eric Zala's head that had to be removed by an emergency room doctor—one of many mishaps that the fledgling filmmakers took in stride. Raiders! chronicles their labors through contemporary interviews with the three collaborators, as well as family, friends, fans and other participants, including Eric Zala's younger brother, Kurt, who played so many supporting roles that the frequent appearance of his name in the credits has inspired a drinking game. Excerpts from The Adaptation shows the young auteurs' attention to detail, while archival outtakes document their many setbacks and false starts.

Intercut with this historical exploration is a contemporary adventure, as the film's team returns to Mississippi for their attempt to complete the Flying Wing sequence, with its flames, explosions and complex fight choreography. These portions of Raiders! are captured in real time, as the intrepid amateurs battle hazards familiar to every film crew, including inclement weather, malfunctioning machinery and a tight schedule with no margin for error. One pyrotechnical effect malfunctions spectacularly, and the documentary cameras are there to capture what could have been a fatal accident. Still, possibly the most dramatic moment in the modern-day sequences is the phone conversation in which Eric Zala pleads with his impatient day-job boss, who's threatening termination, to let him remain on location for just two more days. The anguish on the director's face as he contemplates the prospect of having to abandon his dream, just when it's almost in his grasp, is agonizing.

Appearing throughout Raiders! are excerpts from an interview with original Indiana Jones co-star John Rhys-Davies ("Sallah"), who provides memorable observations on the enduring appeal of the original film. Directors Skousen and Coon describe in their commentary how they managed to obtain Rhys-Davies' participation.

Because of legal restrictions, The Adaptation itself cannot be distributed commercially, but Raiders! provides extensive excerpts, which range in quality from grainy VHS to the digitally captured new scenes. The end credits feature a side-by-side comparison of shots from both the original Flying Wing sequence and The Adaptation's remake, and it's astonishing how closely they line up. Raiders! is a tribute to a rare and special variety of fandom. The Adaptation's makers were driven to create (or at least re-create) something they loved, and their need was so great that they persisted even as their friendships frayed and their lives took different directions. Long after they thought they had moved on, their persistence won the admiration of a new generation of film geeks. Even Spielberg joins in the applause.

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The image on Drafthouse Films' 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of Raiders! varies widely according to the source. New footage captured digitally during interviews and production of the "Flying Wing" sequence is sharp, clear and detailed featuring a rich but realistic palette. Archival material varies from mediocre to awful, according to the quality of the original source. Among the weakest are excerpts from local TV station broadcasts, which aired interviews with The Adaptation's creators at various stages of its production. The disparate sources were harmonized on a digital intermediate, on which presumably the images were made as presentable as possible. Except for source-based issues, the Blu-ray is free of noise, banding or other interference. Drafthouse has mastered Raiders! at an average bitrate of 31 Mbps.

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Raiders! arrives with a 5.1 mix encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, but as with most documentaries, the sound is weighted toward the front with the emphasis on interviews and events happening in real time. Spoken words are almost always clear and are subtitled when ambient noise drowns them out. The dynamic range is broad enough to lend authority to explosions that accompany the finale of the Flying Wing sequence, but Raiders! doesn't aspire to sound like an action film. Underscoring is supplied by Anton Sanko (Alpha House).

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1; 32:29): A "play all" function is included.
• Kickstarting with Chris' Family
• Sneaking into the Theater
• Indy's Gun
• Early Camera Trouble
• The Marion Situation
• Prepping the Airplane
• The Last 48 Hours
• The Shotgun Story
• Editing and Fighting
• The Spielberg Letter



• Outtakes from The Adaptation (1080i; 1.33:1; 19:33): The outtakes are not separately listed or selectable. At the Q&A listed below, Jayson Lamb describes the boxes of material through which he sorted to assemble this collection.



• Q&A from Alamo Drafthouse Premiere of The Adaptation (720p; 1.78:1; 40:43): Recorded before and after the official premiere of The Adaptation on May 31, 2003, this Q&A catches Zala, Strompolos and Lamb in the first flush of excitement over having their project rediscovered. At this point, the group had not yet undertaken the filming of the Flying Wing sequence, and the reason for its omission is one of the first questions.



• Commentaries


• With Writer/Director Tim Skousen and Producer/Director Jeremy Coons: Informal and enthusiastic, the film's two directors tell overlapping stories about the film's production, as well as relating some of the history they had to omit. Of particular note is their account of their interview with original Raiders co-star John Rhys-Davies, who proved to be a valuable contributor, even though he knew little or nothing about The Adaptation.


• The Raiders Guys Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos: Many of the stories related by these two driving forces behind The Adaptation have already been told, either in the documentary itself or at the Q&A listed above. But they are repeated here with additional detail and explanation and with an enthusiasm that is undiluted by the belated acclaim the fan film has received. The commentary also touches on the amateur filmmakers' private lives as adults, which have proceeded along very different paths.



• Trailers
• Raiders!: Theatrical Trailer
• 20,000 Days on Earth
• A Band Called Death
• The Final Member
• I Declare War



• Booklet: The enclosed booklet contains a selection of Zala's hand-drawn storyboards, plus film and disc credits.



• Digital Copy: As always, digital copies from Drafthouse must be downloaded directly and are not available through services such as iTunes or VUDU.

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Adaptation is one of those "believe it or not" phenomena that make great documentaries. Producer Scott Rudin is reportedly trying to develop a fictional version of The Adaptation's creation, but the real story is so remarkable and the personalities so engaging that I doubt they could be improved upon. Skousen and Coon have done a fine job of organizing and presenting a long and complicated history, and Drafthouse's Blu-ray reproduces their efforts faithfully. Highly recommended.