Blue Velvet Blu-ray Review By Chris Chiarella

The Movie

Content-wise, Blue Velvet is the cinematic equivalent of turning over a rock, knowing there's something unpleasant underneath but being unprepared for what exactly we'll find. Style-wise, it too is something we had never seen before.

Following his father's stroke, young Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) leaves college to help out at home, but when he innocently stumbles upon a severed human ear, his overwhelming curiosity gets the better of him and he soon finds himself investigating the underlying crime on his own. Just as complicated, he strikes up a friendship with a wholesome hometown girl (Laura Dern), who happens to be a police detective's daughter.

The clues lead Jeffrey to the apartment of local lounge singer Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini) and before he knows what's happening he finds himself in the middle of a bizarre, abusive relationship between Dorothy and a ruthless, sadistic criminal (Dennis Hopper).

Blue Velvet challenges the notion of small-town American innocence, warning us of the dangers, the nearby violence by way of visual symbols: the "police line, do not cross" tape, the camera's descent to warring insects just below plain sight. And if you don't quite grasp the deeper meaning (as I didn't upon my first viewing in 1986), it's still freaky enough to enjoy at face value.

The Picture

A new 2.35:1 digital transfer was supervised by Lynch and released on a 2002 Special Edition DVD, and I have to wonder if this is the same one, but now in AVC format with a respectably high bitrate. The image is soft and kissed with a delicate grain, some shots displaying a pleasing level of detail. Blacks, while natural, often surrender little-to-no image detail, although figures emerging from shadows remain an interesting effect here.

The Sound

This disc is touted as "DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1," but most of the time this is true in name only. The rears are dead silent for the vast majority of the film, with a few of the music cues mixed into the surrounds, but some so faintly that I was hardly sure they were there at all. There are even fewer multichannel sound effects, but the transition down below grass level in an early scene is a good example.

Environments can possess a freaky tonal quality, albeit strictly in the front channels. The dynamic range feels somewhat compressed, while the dialogue is frequently quite low and could be clearer.

The Extras

Ported from the Special Edition DVD is the eight-part "Mysteries of Love" documentary which combines old and new interviews. Also here are four more brief, random interview snippets as well as Siskel & Ebert's original TV review of the film from At the Movies back in the day (one-and-a-half minutes). All of these are in standard definition.

The gem of this Blu-ray is the newly-discovered lost footage, over 50 minutes of deleted and extended scenes long discussed but never before available. The transfer and color correction were overseen by Lynch, and they are presented in HD and Dolby Digital 5.1. Some are looser and more improvisational than others, but all are fascinating while most bring a new context to what made the final cut.

There are also one-and-a-half minutes of HD bloopers, all of the behind-the-scenes laughter feeling curiously unexpected for this movie. Gone are the previously released deleted scenes montage (now obsolete?) and photo gallery, as well as the "Strange World" Easter egg from the 2000 DVD.

Final Thoughts

A nifty new transfer would have been a swell silver anniversary gift for Blue Velvet devotees, but those long-lost deleted scenes are the next best thing, and surely cause for celebration.

Product Details

Actors: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, George Dickerson, Dean Stockwell

Director: David Lynch

Audio Format/Languages: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English), DTS 5.1 (French, Italian, German, Castilian Spanish), Dolby Digital Surround 2.0 (Portuguese), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (Spanish)

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Castilian, Chinese, Dutch

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rating: R

Studio: MGM

Release Date: November 8, 2011

Run Time: 121 minutes

List Price: $24.99

Extras: Newly Discovered Lost Footage "Mysteries of Love" documentary "A Few Outtakes" Siskel & Ebert At the Movies (1986) Vignettes: "I Like Coffee Shops" "The Chicken Walk" "The Robin" Sita



Overall Video Audio Movie Extras