Great vid, couldn’t agree more! The movie is great and a must see for any genre fan (or good movie fan, for that matter).
Peter Hyams was one of the best directors of the 80s and the 90s. Unfortunately this is his final really good movie (in my opinion) and his career is pretty much dead now. And to make matters more depressing, same goes for the great cast (loved miss Miller since The Shadow and Hunt was great in Dune). You could argue that this was a star making role for Sizemore (it was in my case anyway), but that’s it and even his career went to hell soon enough. That’s why I hate the 2000s sometimes. They killed so many great moviemakers’ and moviestars’ careers.
Anyway, I saw the movie for the first time on VHS and a few more times on TV and never ever had a problem with the way it was lit. There’s nothing that you need to see but can’t. Still, glad to hear that the BR version does it justice.
btw
People are really spoiled about their movies’ visual quality. In the 90s, VHS tapes often had all kind of shit on them that made the picture less then pristinely clear (especially if you’ve rented them) and no one cared.
The only time I had to ask for my money back from a VHS rental place was when they once gave me a tape of Mercy (2000) (with Ellen Barkin and lesbian Peta Wilson) and the tape was upside down. By that I mean – someone actually took the tape out of the cassette, turned it upsidedown at a certain place (like twisting a candy bar wrapper), put it back in. I got to see the first 20 minutes before the tape went out because it’d reached the twisted part. Took me 20 minutes to convince the owner I wasn’t the one who did it.
Sizemore could have flourished and would be one of the biggest stars today but drugs ruined him. He has the chops and was well on his way but got severely messed up. A total shame.
I’m kind of surprised that Penelope Ann Miller never really took off. She was a name for a little while but never achieved that “next level”. I think a lot of people confused her with Naomi Watts and she blew up instead. Still, she is constantly working so its not like her star fell off. She just never became a household name. Still a great actress and I’m glad she continuous to make good work.
Linda Hunt of course continues to own it. Love that little lady.
Back in the VHS days we were just happy to get the film at all lol.
I rented a video once where someone had taped porn over the movie.
I loved this movie, saw it in the theaters back in ’97. I remember it best for the always gorgeous Penelope Ann Miller (don’t mind admitting a major crush on her back then…Carlito’s Way sealed it for me back in ’93), and Detroit’s own Tom Sizemore (my home town). I haven’t watched it since then, but it was creepy and suspenseful…should give the BluRay a viewing or actually buy it. I’ve always liked Peter Hyams’ films…I can remember being 9 or 10 years old and seeing 2010, and later that year watching Outland on VHS. It was maybe the third time in my life that I actually paid attention to who made the movie I was watching…Spielberg, Lucas and Hyams were the guys that got me interested in movies beyond that of a casual viewer. The whole “How did they do that?” interest sprang from that, along with a horrible addiction to seeking out DVDs & BluRays with director commentary tracks in my adult life 🙂
Great video once again Cecil. Sharing it around with my pals on FB & Twitter. Is it better to link to the Escapist or here…or both?
Stunning 90s redhead? Yep, Penelope Ann Miller. I think I first noticed her in Other People’s Money. Yow.
I like Hyams directorial style and I wish we had more like him these days. Not saying we don’t have any good directors, its just that it seems the ones who really, truly care about the craft are a dying breed.
Noe problem, thanks for sharing. Why not both! Why not Zoidberg!
I was bugged by the fact that this giant monster was so prissy an eater that he’d just eat the part of the brain he needed as opposed to scarfing the whole thing down. Didn’t they find a mostly intact brain on the floor at one point?
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Great vid, couldn’t agree more! The movie is great and a must see for any genre fan (or good movie fan, for that matter).
Peter Hyams was one of the best directors of the 80s and the 90s. Unfortunately this is his final really good movie (in my opinion) and his career is pretty much dead now. And to make matters more depressing, same goes for the great cast (loved miss Miller since The Shadow and Hunt was great in Dune). You could argue that this was a star making role for Sizemore (it was in my case anyway), but that’s it and even his career went to hell soon enough. That’s why I hate the 2000s sometimes. They killed so many great moviemakers’ and moviestars’ careers.
Anyway, I saw the movie for the first time on VHS and a few more times on TV and never ever had a problem with the way it was lit. There’s nothing that you need to see but can’t. Still, glad to hear that the BR version does it justice.
btw
People are really spoiled about their movies’ visual quality. In the 90s, VHS tapes often had all kind of shit on them that made the picture less then pristinely clear (especially if you’ve rented them) and no one cared.
The only time I had to ask for my money back from a VHS rental place was when they once gave me a tape of Mercy (2000) (with Ellen Barkin and lesbian Peta Wilson) and the tape was upside down. By that I mean – someone actually took the tape out of the cassette, turned it upsidedown at a certain place (like twisting a candy bar wrapper), put it back in. I got to see the first 20 minutes before the tape went out because it’d reached the twisted part. Took me 20 minutes to convince the owner I wasn’t the one who did it.
Thanks!
Sizemore could have flourished and would be one of the biggest stars today but drugs ruined him. He has the chops and was well on his way but got severely messed up. A total shame.
I’m kind of surprised that Penelope Ann Miller never really took off. She was a name for a little while but never achieved that “next level”. I think a lot of people confused her with Naomi Watts and she blew up instead. Still, she is constantly working so its not like her star fell off. She just never became a household name. Still a great actress and I’m glad she continuous to make good work.
Linda Hunt of course continues to own it. Love that little lady.
Back in the VHS days we were just happy to get the film at all lol.
I rented a video once where someone had taped porn over the movie.
I loved this movie, saw it in the theaters back in ’97. I remember it best for the always gorgeous Penelope Ann Miller (don’t mind admitting a major crush on her back then…Carlito’s Way sealed it for me back in ’93), and Detroit’s own Tom Sizemore (my home town). I haven’t watched it since then, but it was creepy and suspenseful…should give the BluRay a viewing or actually buy it. I’ve always liked Peter Hyams’ films…I can remember being 9 or 10 years old and seeing 2010, and later that year watching Outland on VHS. It was maybe the third time in my life that I actually paid attention to who made the movie I was watching…Spielberg, Lucas and Hyams were the guys that got me interested in movies beyond that of a casual viewer. The whole “How did they do that?” interest sprang from that, along with a horrible addiction to seeking out DVDs & BluRays with director commentary tracks in my adult life 🙂
Great video once again Cecil. Sharing it around with my pals on FB & Twitter. Is it better to link to the Escapist or here…or both?
Stunning 90s redhead? Yep, Penelope Ann Miller. I think I first noticed her in Other People’s Money. Yow.
I like Hyams directorial style and I wish we had more like him these days. Not saying we don’t have any good directors, its just that it seems the ones who really, truly care about the craft are a dying breed.
Noe problem, thanks for sharing. Why not both! Why not Zoidberg!
I was bugged by the fact that this giant monster was so prissy an eater that he’d just eat the part of the brain he needed as opposed to scarfing the whole thing down. Didn’t they find a mostly intact brain on the floor at one point?