Director: Sam Raimi
Screenplay: Billy Boy Thornton and Tom Epperson
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes, Greg Kinnear and Hilary Swank
Country: United States
Running Time: 112 min
Year: 2000

Sam Raimi is the reason I love films. Let me explain. Back when I was a kid, I watched everything I could get my hands on but there was one film that completely changed how I watched films, Raimiā€™s adaptation of Spider-Man. It was the first film I remember watching that had me curious on how it was made. The (at the time) ground-breaking special effects, the creative cinematography, the comic-like feel to everything on screen, it brought a sense of wonder that few films have been able to eclipse in my 27 years of movie-going. I remember watching my 2 disc DVD of that film over and over again, watching the extras and falling in love with not just film, but home media too. Over the years, Iā€™ve dived into Raimiā€™s catalogue and Iā€™m at a point where I only have a handful of his films left until Iā€™ll have completed his filmography. One of those films was The Gift and the moment Arrow announced that they were releasing it for the first time on Blu-ray and 4K UHD in the UK, I knew I had to cover it for Blueprint: Review. What did I think of it, you might be wondering? Wellā€¦Ā 

The Gift follows physic medium Annie (played by Cate Blanchett) who finds herself wrapped up in some local town drama involving the unstable mechanic Buddy (legendary character actor Giovanni Ribisi!) and abusive husband Donnie (a shocking performance from Keanu Reeves) and begins to see terrifying visions involving Donnieā€™s missing wife. Itā€™s from Raimiā€™s 90s/super early 2000s output, which might be the most interesting in his entire filmography. Itā€™s the era where he made Evil Dead sequel Army of Darkness, revisionist western The Quick and the Dead, the original superhero film Darkman, sports drama For the Love of the Game and the Coens riff A Simple Plan. While not everything works from this period, it highlighted Raimi experimenting with a ton of different genres and styles of filmmaking and The Gift is no exception to that.Ā 

Reuniting with A Simple Plan actor Billy Bob Thornton, who wrote the screenplay for The Gift, the film has influences ranging from domestic dramas that would win over Academy voters, a bit of Italian giallo films (as mentioned by editor Bob Murawski on an interview for this release) and even some touches of J-Horror, which caught me by surprise. The thing that absolutely floored me with The Gift is how genuinely unnerving it is. It feels like the first time since The Evil Dead where Raimi is trying to scare the audience without his trademark campy humour.Ā 

Itā€™s a film that completely flies under the radar for most fans of Raimiā€™s work and Iā€™m beyond happy that Arrow Video are giving the film the proper home media release it deserves over here because Iā€™d honestly say it ranks highly in his entire catalogue for myself. The performances are excellent, with Reeves in particular blowing me away (his opening scene is one that you have to see to believe) but Ribisi giving the film his all, Blanchett being terrific and the range of supporting actors doing a great job too.Ā 

If youā€™ve been avoiding this one for a while because of the more middling reception, I highly suggest giving The Gift a chance. Itā€™s the exact type of film I wish labels like Arrow would release more, because itā€™s a key film in the career of one of the great American filmmakers thatā€™s rarely talked about. Sure, a release of Army of Darkness would be cool but seeing films like this and A Simple Plan receive releases is far more interesting to me. Check this one out!Ā 

Film:

The Gift releases on Limited Edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray January 27th via Arrow Video. The film recently received a release from Shout! Factory in the States, who collaborated with Arrow for this release (the extras, transfer, etc. are identical across both releases) so if youā€™ve picked that disc up, you know what youā€™re in for. Itā€™s a decent looking disc but itā€™s not going to blow anybody away. The restoration wasnā€™t sourced from the original camera negative, rather an interpositive so image quality isnā€™t perfect but compared to the old DVD releases, I imagine itā€™s a huge step-up in quality. Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10 grades are included and theyā€™re effective and service the film well. Audio wise, thereā€™s two tracks: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and a 2.0 stereo track. I tried both and ended up preferring the 5.1, but the stereo mix sounds solid too. Optional English subs are included. The following extras are included:Ā 

4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

New 4K remaster from the 35mm interpositive by Arrow Films and Shout! Factory

4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)

Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and optional lossless stereo audio

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

Brand new audio commentary by critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson

Brand new audio commentary by critic Meagan Navarro

Isolated music and effects track

Haunting Visions, a newly filmed interview with actor Chelcie Ross

Savage Waters, a newly filmed interview with editors Bob Murawski and Arthur Coburn

Southern Gothic, a newly filmed interview with composer Christopher Young

Four archive featurettes: The Gift: A Look Inside, The Making of The Gift, The Cast on Sam Raimi and Sam Raimi on The Cast

Promotional interviews with Sam Raimi, Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves and Giovanni Ribisi

Footage from the filmā€™s world premiere

Music video for ā€œFurnace Room Lullabyā€ by Neko Case

Theatrical trailer, TV spots and radio spots

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Thinh Dinh

Illustrated collectorā€™s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Bilge Ebiri, original production notes and and an excerpt from the book The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi by John Kenneth Muir

Two new audio commentaries were recorded for this release, one with film critic Meagan Navarro and another with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson. The first track with Navarro is a good listen, offering an analysis on the film and her perspective on each sequence. Itā€™s clear sheā€™s knowledgeable about the work of Raimi and itā€™s an insightful track. The second commentary, with longtime collaborators Heller-Nicholas and Nelson is as delightful as ever, offering a huge selection of anecdotal information about the filmā€™s production, the pairā€™s thoughts on it overall and the numerous thematic threads that weave throughout the film. Two great commentaries that are easily worth your time.

Three newly recorded interviews are included on this release with actor Chelcie Ross, editors Bob Murawski and Arthur Coburn and composer Christopher Young. The Ross interview runs for around 7 minutes and features the actor reminiscing about the shoot, Raimiā€™s direction, the Billy Bob Thornton screenplay and working with actors like Katie Holmes and Keanu Reeves (thereā€™s lovely comments about Reeves, as expected). A nice little interview. The interview with Murawski and Coburn runs a little longer at 13 minutes and is a delightful time. Murawski shares his love for cult cinema out of the gate, talking about how excited he was about working on the film given that it was shooting in the same location as Lucio Fulciā€™s City of the Living Dead and his experiences working with another editor on the film (given his working relationship with Raimi). He compares The Gift to giallo cinema, which is an apt comparison, and talks about how Coburn saw the film more as a domestic drama. Itā€™s a solid interview and absolutely worth your time. Finally, Youngā€™s interview runs for 8 minutes and given how often the pair would collaborate again in the future (Drag Me to Hell, Spider-Man 3), itā€™s amazing to hear the story of how eager Young was to work with Raimi and the experiences working with him on The Gift. Young rocks the coolest jacket and shades during the interview too, just saying. All in all, these three interviews are solid watches that are worth your time if youā€™re a fan of the film and want to hear more from people involved in the production.

A Look Inside runs for 11 minutes and as expected from a promotional featurette from the year 2000, offers a brief yet decent look inside (ba-dum-tss) to The Gift and its production. A decent watch. The Making of The Gift is 7 minutes long and briefly talks about the production of the film, although it feels a little redundant after the prior A Look Inside featurette. The Cast on Sam Raimi is 4 minutes long and features the actors talking about Raimiā€™s visual style and what it was like working with him, but half of the runtime is featured with footage from the film. Sam Raimi on the Cast is 5 minutes long and features more of the same, but from Raimiā€™s perspective. You can tell that Raimi had a great time working with the cast but the dated approach to this featurette holds it back. I wasnā€™t huge on these featurettes, but itā€™s nice to see them ported over.

Four promotional interviews are also included, featuring director Sam Raimi and actors Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves and Giovanni Ribisi. Each of the four answers a series of talking points about the film. Raimiā€™s interview is 6 minutes, Reeves and Ribisi talk for around 3 minutes and Blanchett talks for around 4 minutes. Theyā€™re relatively by-the-numbers interviews but theyā€™re worth a watch if you want to hear Raimi and the actors briefly talk about the film.Ā 

Five minutes of footage taken from the filmā€™s world premiere is included, featuring red carpet interviews with some of the cast members.

An isolated music and effects track is included, which is great to see. Iā€™m always a sucker for these and being able to hear Youngā€™s score on its own is a fantastic extra.

The music video for ā€œFurnace Room Lullabyā€ by Neko Case is included.

The theatrical trailer, some TV spots and radio spots are included.

I wasnā€™t provided with the retail copy so I canā€™t comment on the slipcover or the booklet, unfortunately.Ā 

The Gift might be the most underrated film in Raimiā€™s catalogue and Arrow Video have done what youā€™d expect from them and given the film the release it deserves. With a solid transfer and a great selection of extras, this release should please any fan of Raimi. Highly recommended.

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