Directed by: Mark Z. Dippe
Written by: Alan B. McElroy, Mark Z. Dippe
Starring: Michael Jai White, Martin Sheen, Melinda Clarke, John Leguizamo, Theresa Randle, Nicol Williamson
Year: 1997
Country: US
Running time: 96mins
BBFC Classification: 15
Arrow continues its (welcome) run of dusting off old 90s blockbusters that were initially maligned on their original releases with comic movie Spawn following the likes of recent releases The Cell, Poseidon, and Lost in Space in getting a snazzy new 4K/Blu Ray overhaul.
While Spawn deserves some of the criticism that has been thrown its way, it’s a much more enjoyable and better made superhero flick than one may remember. It sees Michael Jai White’s (in his first big lead role!) bad-ass mercenary, Al Simmons, betrayed by his duplicitous boss Wynn (a hamming it up Martin Sheen): burnt alive and sent to hell. Wynn is in cahoots with an evil entity called The Violator who is disguised on earth as a revolting clown and played by a buried-under-prosthetics John Leguizamo. He’s promised Wynn world domination via some deadly virus (or some such hokum!) in exchange for Simmon’s soul, which they need to lead the devil’s (the Clown’s boss!) army in taking over the earth. But Simmon’s escapes hell, and comes back to earth as the disfigured, cape wearing, super-powered Spawn, now hell-bent on revenge.
Adapted from Todd McFarlane’s dark fantasy comic book of the same name, Spawn the movie certainly lost a good chunk of its gothic grit and ultra-violence in its transition to the big screen. An adult oriented animated show that premiered around the same time on HBO adapted the comic to screen much more faithfully. Seemingly wanting to appeal to a younger audience, Spawn the movie jettisons a lot of the darker elements of the comic and certainly amps up the goofiness but brings some rollicking action and a couple of great committed performances from Michael Jai White and the scene stealing John Leguizamo. The two spar well with off one another as Spawn and Clown who at first form a shaky alliance only to become arch enemies. White does his best with the material, and excels in the action scenes, bringing Spawn to life but it’s ultimately Leguizamo’s show.
Buried under prosthetics he’s a hoot as the vile talking, shape-shifting demon all at once gross, funny, (almost) likeable, and deadly. Leguizamo goes full force and brings a slight edge of nastiness to proceedings that is lacking elsewhere. Sheen is great value too (and seems to be having a ball) and Melinda Clarke (Return of the Living Dead 3) makes for another vicious foe for Spawn, though is disappointingly dispatched all too quickly. Unfortunately, the great Nicol Williamson (Excalibur) is all but wasted as the earth-bound mentor/wizard, Cogliostro, who aids Spawn on his mission of revenge, and often looks bewildered in his few scenes!
However, there is some great action, melding the practical with (early years) CGI to amp up the comic book vibe and the makers do squeeze out a bit of gothic grime with the cool Cathedral setting where Spawn resides, and he and the Clown do most of their sparring. Much criticism has been thrown at the visual effects/CGI, at the time of release and in the intervening years, and while some of it has dated badly and perhaps didn’t even work on release (the hell bound sequences with devil creature Malebolgia are admittedly very dated CGI and jarring compared to the other effects), director Mark Dippe and his crew still get a lot right: especially for 1997 CGI. The Clown’s transformation into its true form, the monstrous Violator, is still impressive and holds up well, and the practical effects (particularly the Clown suit) from KNB are still remarkable to this day.
Yeah, it’s all a bit daft, the CGI cape effects don’t always work, and the tone flips from dark comic book to trashy exploitation, to goofy action B-movie at a dizzying pace but there is a lot to enjoy here. There’s an earnestness to Spawn that is sorely missing from today’s comic book movies/blockbusters, and you can see the ambition on screen. Perhaps this reviewer’s love for these types of older movies (and the fact he was a rabid Spawn comic book reader back in the day) tints the critical eye with rose or it may be this reviewer just loves to see a reborn from hell mercenary kicking the crap out of a foul-mouthed clown that transforms into a storey’s high demon!
Arrow Video will release Spawn on Limited Edition 4K UHD 6th October 2025
4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- 4K restorations of both the Director’s Cut and Theatrical Cut of the film from the original camera negatives by Arrow Films – film looks incredible and while the upscale certainly shows up the wonkiness of the hell set CGI sequences and Spawn’s cape effects, everything else (in particular the Violator set-pieces) hold up extremely well. It’s also nice that a dark, set primarily at night, comic book movie where you can actually see what is going on.
• Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options – not available at the time of review.
• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Torrani – – not available at the time of review.
• Double-sided foldout poster featuring two original artwork options – not available at the time of review.
DISC 1 – DIRECTOR’S CUT
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and lossless stereo audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Brand new audio commentary with comic book expert and podcast host Dave Baxter
• Audio commentary with Todd McFarlane, Mark A.Z. Dippé, Clint Goldman, and Steve Williams (1998)
• Hell’s Perfect Son, a brand new interview with actor Michael Jai White – fun interview with White who looks back on how he got cast, what it was like working under layers of prosthetics, and while he enjoyed the experience is a little dismayed that the film didn’t turn out like he was expecting (the makers opting to appeal more to a younger audience, cutting character beats to cram in more effect shots!). However, he talks highly of his fellow cast, especially Martin Sheen, with some great anecdotes from the shoot.
• Spawn Support, a brand-new interview with actors Melinda Clarke and D.B. Sweeney – another fun interview with some of the supporting cast, the two of them touching on their careers, how they became cast in Spawn, and the mainly positive experience they had making the film. They talk fondly of the experience, also have great praise for Sheen, and Clarke has same great stories about the fitted costumes she sports in the film. Good stuff.
• The Devil’s in the Details, a brand-new interview with animatronic creature and special makeup effects artists Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero – excellent interview with two of the founding members of KNB, Berger and Nicotero are warm, intelligent, and insightful interviewees. Starting off with some great anecdotes about working on Schwarzenegger’s Eraser prior to the Spawn gig, the two give a great insight into how they came aboard the film, how they melded their practical effects with the new CGI technology, and the ups and downs of working on such a big production. Some great tales on working with Jai White and Leguizamo, the obstacles with the various practical suits, and some great behind-the scenes photos from the production showcasing the full scale Violator in action. There’s also a couple of great shots of the practical versions of the Malebolgia monster and Spawn’s cape in action before they were (unfortunately) replaced with CGI. Great stuff and could has watched a whole hour of the two of them discussing Spawn and their careers.
• The Devil’s Music, a brand-new interview with music supervisor Happy Walters – interesting interview about how the multi-million copy selling soundtrack album was put together which was arguably more of a hit than the film! Accompanying soundtracks (physical copies) to major film releases were big business back on the 90s and the Spawn soundtrack was a big seller (this reviewer still has their copy which they listened to over and over back in the day!) and Walters (a movie music mainstay) discuss how they got all the big acts to collaborate and contribute: The Prodigy, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Henry Rollins, Tom Morello, Sneaker Pimps, Filter & The Crystal Method, just to name a few!
• Order Out of Chaos, a brand new interview with editor Michael Knue – fascinating interview with editor Knue looking back at working on the film and the complexities (of the time) of editing live action and CGI together. Knue is a cool dude and talks of his craft and his experience working on Spawn with positivity, an industry vet (having cut the likes of Night of the Creeps and The Hidden) he also drops some interesting, not to mention disparaging, remarks on his time working on the much maligned The Crow: City of Angels! Good stuff.
• Todd McFarlane: Chapter & Verse, an archival featurette from 1998 in which Spawn creator Todd McFarlane reflects on how the film adaptation stacks up against his original comic book vision – Spawn creator waxes lyrical about adapting his darker more adult orientated comic book for the masses, touching on how the movie (would always inevitably) differ from the source material, trying to appease the MPAA, working with a big studio, and how the animated series (released around the same time) was the darker/truer adaption of the comic. It’s quite dated, albeit interesting, but would be fascinating to see if McFarlane still felt the same way now.
• The Making of Spawn, archival behind-the-scenes featurette – very retro but fun making of featurette that’s actually hosted by Michael Jai White! It’s very dated in style and certainly a promo fluff piece but it’s cool to see all the principals talking about the making of the film and there is a wealth of excellent behind scenes footage showing filming, stunts being staged, and some great stuff with Leguizamo in the Clown costume.
• Preview: Todd McFarlane’s Spawn – The Animated Movie – cool trailer for the animated movies/series.
• Theatrical trailer – very retro trailer featuring the voiceover heard on many of the time (in fact the trailer is so 90s it hurts!), which certainly tries to sell the film as an action film geared to a much younger audience!
• Scene-to-storyboard comparisons
• Original Todd McFarlane sketches
• Spawn concept and sketch gallery
– 3 featurettes of cool original sketches featuring those from Spawn creator McFarlane (including his very first drawings of the character!), production sketches that show key sequences being mapped out (such as the Clown’s transformation into Violator), and then the actual finished scenes from the movie for comparison.
DISC 2 – THEATRICAL CUT
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and lossless stereo audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Another excellent release from Arrow giving a dust off to 90s blockbuster that deserves another look. Excellent selection of special features backing up the film once again with some great input from those involved: though would have been nice to see additional contributions from Leguizamo and director Mark Z Dippe to get their thoughts on the film now. And as always if you’re going to watch one version of the film, the director’s cut is the way to go!
