the characters take their bows) being moved to the front of the picture—awkwardly resulting in the cast being named twice in a row. In addition, the alleged theatrical trailer included on the Anchor Bay disc is nothing more than a reprise of the titles. Three TV spots and a still gallery are included, and an “Easter Egg” hides trailers for Rankin/Bass’ THE WACKY WORLD OF MOTHER GOOSE (a cel-ani- mated feature) and the aforemen- tioned MAD MONSTER PARTY?. THE DAYDREAMER is presented in standard format, with no ap- parent image loss. The picture, color and sound are strong and vibrant. English close-captioning and a 19-chapter menu round out the package.
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK: SPECIAL EDITION
1981, MGM Home Entertainment, DD-5.1 & 2.0/MA/16:9/LB/ST/CC/+, $29.95, 98m 45s, DVD-1 By Shane M. Dallmann
John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK scarcely re- quires an introduction, let alone another review (see VW 27:49,
82:51) in this magazine—but MGM’s long-awaited two-disc “Special Edition” DVD set is in a class by itself. The set finally gives the fans everything they’ve been asking for for years—and then proceeds to go the extra mile. Disc One offers the feature in 32 chapters, with the soundtrack expertly upgraded to Dolby Digi- tal 5.1. However, the multiple au- dio tracks on the disc have caused the original Dolby Surround mix to fall by the wayside and the French-language option is in mono. The John Carpenter/Kurt Russell commentary from the film’s laserdisc release has been restored here (it was missing from MGM’s earlier no-frills disc), and a brand new commentary track from producer Debra Hill and produc- tion designer Joe Alves has been added. However, the reference to “last year’s” release of HALLOW- EEN H20: TWENTY YEARS LATER puts this talk in the company of the previous track as having taken place well before the 9/11 disas- ter, so the filmmakers’ thoughts on this production (and its preva- lent use of the World Trade Cen- ter) as applied today remain
unexplored. Perhaps it’s just as well; the idea of withdrawing such films as ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and the 1976 KING KONG from circulation in the wake of the tragedy was met with spirited re- sistance from the viewing pub- lic, and the significance of such imagery is probably best left for the individual to determine. The film itself, found here in an anamorphically-enhanced high- definition 2.35:1 transfer, has never looked better.
The bounty of Disc Two in-
cludes RETURN TO ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, a 23m featurette (pro- duced and directed by Michael Gillis) which includes input from Carpenter, Russell, Hill, Alves, Adrienne Barbeau, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, co-writer Nick Castle and DP Dean Cundey; a look at the creation of the SNAKE PLISSKEN CHRONICLES comic se- ries (a sample mini-issue has been included in the packaging); “Snake Bites” (a “best of Snake” montage set to the music of Michael Kross); the theatrical trailer and two teas- ers; a 74-item photo gallery (be- hind the scenes, production, lobby cards) and an “Easter Egg” radio
Snake Plissken? I heard he was dead! Kurt Russell keeps coming back in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.
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