4K UHD Review: Scream Factory’s Darkman (Collector’s Edition) 

Before Sam Raimi took on Dr. Strange or even Spider-man he created his own superhero.  Scream Factory has upgraded Darkman to 4K UHD with an all-new restoration encoded with Dolby Vision.

The Film 

I still remember seeing Darkman in the theaters opening weekend.  It was at Pacific Theaters Northridge 8 pre-1994 Earthquake.  In their biggest house before it was torn down.  It was one of those houses that could show 70mm and often did.  I got to see so many classics in that house – Willow, Ghost, They Live, Back to the Future II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and others.  There was something special about that big house and seeing films there that burned into my memory.  

The opening moment was one of the scariest and badass piece of comic book villainy I had until that point.  It was just the opening, but the entire film was the first time I saw and connected comic book imagery to film.  The mixture of comedy, pathos, action, and thrills is the kind of over-caffeinated cocktail that made/makes a Raimi film so enjoyable.  It was what hooked me on not just Darkman but pushed me to find Raimi’s other work and made me a fan for life not missing a single film in theaters.

Darkman proves that Raimi even early in his career had complete control of the film medium no matter the budget or style of the film.  Like his Evil Dead series, there is an authorship that can only be Raimi – even with studio interference to try to make the film more “palatable”.  It’s impossible for Darkman to be anything but Sam Raimi’s Darkman.  One just needs to watch the DTV sequels they made.  One will see how much is lost with the lack of Raimi’s involvement at the directing level.  

However, the film would not be what it is without the complete and unflappable work of Liam Neeson as Payton / Darkman.  Though some, myself included, knock the film for not being a Bruce Campbell vehicle – those thoughts have subsided over the years.  Darkman is the classic it is today because of the casting of Neeson.  There isn’t a blink, wink, nod, or any sort of indication that he’s playing it tongue-in-cheek.  Neeson takes the Lon Chaney Jr. approach to it – an absolutely sobering and tragic psychological portrait of a man who’s lost everything.  Even when the film is being cheeky, there are several times it is, Neeson isn’t.  That is the key that allows Raimi’s film to push its arched tone – Neeson grounds everything even when it’s asked to do truly deliriously lunacy (see the Carnival moment and Cat watching him breakdown moments for the audaciousness of Neeson’s performance).  

Darkman is exactly the film that Raimi and company set out to make.  A Gothic Superhero film with all the trapping and conventions of both.  Batman by way of The Phantom of the Opera.  

The Transfer

The all-new 4K Restoration from the Original Camera Negative in Dolby Vision (HDR-10 Compatible) approved by Director Sam Raimi and Director Of Photography Bill Pope is the type of restoration you hope for.  Full native 4K from the OCN.  This is a truly marvelous upgrade in every way to even Scream Factory’s 2014 Blu-ray Edition (has it been a decade!).  The image itself is free of any dirt, scratches, hairs, or any other ephemera that can show up on a print (even a Negative).  The image itself is sharp and robust with wonderful depth in both color reproduction and black levels.  The grain structure gives the entire image a look of a freshly struct print.  The Dolby Vision encoding ensures that the dynamic range between bright and dark is amazingly detailed leading to a luminous darker lustery image.  Bravo to Scream Factory for doing all the hard work of bringing us an upgraded image to a package they’ve released before.  

The Extras

They include the following;

• NEW Audio Commentary with Filmmaker And Darkman Superfan Josh Ruben

• Audio Commentary with Bill Pope
• NEW Deleted Scenes
• “Dissecting Darkman” – An Interview With Actor Liam Neeson
• Interview With Actor Frances McDormand
• “The Name Is Durant” – An Interview With Actor Larry Drake
• “The Face Of Revenge” – Interview With Makeup Designer Tony Gardner
• “Henchman Tales” – Interviews with Actors Danny Hicks and Dan Bell
• “Dark Design” – An Interview With Production Designer Randy Ser And Art Director Philip Dagort
• Vintage “Making-Of” Featurette 
• Cast & Crew Interviews 
• Vintage Interviews 
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Still Galleries 

NOTE: The Audio Commentaries are the only special features ported over to the 4K UHD. 

The archival Audio Commentary with Bill Pope hosted by Blu-ray producer Michael Felsher begins with how he got the job for Darkman.  Some of the other details from the track include Raimi’s style and how they approached the visual style; the Coen’s influence during the early era of their career – including “secret drafts” of each other’s film; the comic book sensibility and how the approached it during production; the student film version of Superman that he and Barry Sonnenfeld made in film school;  Pope’s inspiration to become a cinematographer; the VFX work in the pre-CGI era and the amount of lighting it took to produce the work; working with Frances McDormand; the bigger budget and the issues this brought to the film; Raimi’s directorial style – including the craftiness of Raimi and studio politics; the changing of who were studio execs; the troubles with the production from the studio and their wants from the film that was opposing Raimi’s vision; a larger discussion of the deleted/cut sequences; Raimi’s adherence to storyboards and how that related to working with other department heads like Pope and production designer, costumes, Make-up FX; the studio notes on the cat in the warehouse; the style of Raimi during early era and Raimi during the big budget era; the work of Bruce Campbell in the film beyond his Cameo at the end; the stunt work throughout the film – including a discussion of a very dangerous stunt that almost didn’t get filmed; discussions throughout about the complex camera shots and angles and how they were accomplished; a larger discussion of working with the various actors in the film; discussions throughout the various actors; a discussion of the challenges of filmmaking the make-up FX work; and much more.  

The second Audio Commentary is all-new with Filmmaker and Darkman Superfan Josh Ruben hosted by Justin Beam (from Reverend Entertainment) and Shout Producer Jeff Rolland and begins with introductions about themselves and how they saw the film.  Some of the details from the track include where their love of the film came from; the development of the screenplay – a larger discussion of Raimi and Tapert’s hope to create a franchise; Ruben’s Raimi fandom at the time and his lack of knowledge of Evil Dead at the time; a larger discussion of Raimi’s directorial style not just in Darkman but in his career and how it’s evolved since his early work; a discussion that Darkman is in the Universal Monster Movie Cannon; Darkman’s similarities to other Monsters from that Cannon; Raimi’s openness to mentor newer filmmakers; a larger discussion of the work of Tony Gardener and the Make-up FX work; the post-production process – including loosing editors and Raimi’s pushing towards his style; the production budget and how Raimi’s style helped this; the opening and critical response at the time; the eventual VOD franchise that came to be; the lasting effect of Darkman; and much more.  

Deleted Scenes (37:00) – this all-new feature looks at the various items cut from the film.  Some of it is just odd bits and ends and others are full-on scenes and subplots cut from the film.  The scenes are pulled from the actual film negative and show the open matte frame (1.33 before it was cropped to 1.85).  For any Darkman fan, this is a goldmine of footage that has been discussed in various commentaries and interviews for years but never seen.  Some of the deleted scenes include the entire subplot concerning Strack’s father; more between Payton and Julie’s relationship; extended versions of Payton’s visions; the infamous gold coin bed scene with Strack; and the alternate fate of Ted Raimi’s character; and much more. 

“Dissecting Darkman” – An Interview with Actor Liam Neeson (7:29) – in this archival interview the star discusses his love of the original script; the various actors that were up for the part (Bill Paxton and Gary Oldman); his love of Raimi and his style as a director; the operatic style of the piece and much more.  There is true affection and love by Neeson for the film and the part. 

“The Name Is Durant” – An Interview with Actor Larry Drake (15:59) – in this archival interview with the actor Drake opens with his looks and how he’s leaned into them to his own success.  Some of the other details include his audition process and how he got the part; the single reservation he had about the script; the acting in duplicate that the role required; his inference of some of the character’s life outside of the film; the helicopter action scene; the VOD sequels; the failed TV startup of Darkman; and much more.  

“The Face of Revenge” – Interview With Makeup Designer Tony Gardner (13:21) – in this archival interview the Makeup FX designer discusses his prior work on Evil Dead 2 that led to Raimi hiring Gardner for the film.  Some of the details include the actual hiring process; how he initially sculpted for Bruce Campbell and how different Liam Neeson’s sculpt had to be to make the change; Neeson’s great attitude with the design of the Makeup; the troubles and collaboration with Bill Pope; and much more.  

“Henchman Tales” – Interviews with Actors Danny Hicks and Dan Bell (12:57) – in this archival interview with Hick and Bell both open with how they auditioned and got the part.  Some of the other details include playing the villains; their respective points of view on their characters; and more.   

“Dark Design” – An Interview with Production Designer Randy Ser and Art Director Philip Dagort (16:49) – this archival interview with Ser and Dagort begins with the referencing of comic books and Universal Monster Movies but not specifically one title or film.  Some of the details include how Raimi’s style changed their respective jobs; the challenges of doing the film in a non-CGI world; the world-building they had to do and the challenges for them there; examples of the models they used to build; some of the challenges they had with bringing Raimi’s vision of pieces of equipment Darkman uses; and much more.  

Interview With Actor Frances McDormand (10:50) – in this archival interview the actress begins with how she met and got to know Sam Raimi years before making Darkman.  Some of the details include how she became involved with the project; her development (with McDormand) of the character with Sam Raimi; working with Liam Neeson; working with Raimi and the difficulties with the heightened style Raimi brought the film; the make-up FX and how much she loved it; her stage work and training and how that helped with Darkman’s stunt work; and much more.  

Darkman Vintage “Making-Of” Featurette (6:26) – this vintage EPK is a true blue old-school making-of that would be shown on Cable in the early 90s.  It is more of an explanation of plot and style than anything else – which includes a voice-over narration by Don LaFontaine aka the trailer voice himself.  Featuring Interviews with Sam Raimi, Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Larry Drake, and others.  

Cast & Crew Interviews (8:59) – an extension of the making of EPK with interviews with Sam Raimi, Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, and Larry Drake done in that sort of EPK style featuring the interviewee discussing the film generally as B-Roll footage plays.  

Vintage Interview Gallery – a selection of extended interviews featured in the two above vintage EPK material.  Each goes over the standard questions of what interested you about the movie/role, discussion of their character, working on the film with Sam Raimi, etc.  There’s a wealth in the raw interviews but it is very glossy unlike the different interviews done by Scream Factory.  

• Colin Friels (12:14) 
• Frances McDormand (20:42) 
• Liam Neeson (28:02)
• Sam Raimi (23:09)

Theatrical Trailer (1:46) 

TV Spots (4:24) – a gallery of 12 30-second TV ads.

Still Galleries – the galleries are all broken down into submenus.  The galleries can be navigated using your remote or allowed to run automatically.  

• Behind the Scenes/Makeup Effects (4:47) – The gallery consists of 56 stills.
• Posters and Artwork (2:07) – The gallery consists of 25 posters and art. 
• Production Stills (8:42) – The gallery consists of 104 production stills – some from deleted scenes. 
• Storyboards (8:22) – The gallery consists of 100 storyboard pages some of Raimi’s own work. 

The Final Thought 

Darkman gets a beautiful upgraded and restored transfer and new special features from Scream Factory for their already overstuffed collector’s edition.  HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATIONS!!!!

Scream Factory’s 4K UHD Edition of Darkman is out February 20^th