Blue Velvet

David Lynch's disturbing dissection of the underbelly of small-town life split the critics on its initial release in 1986. The discovery of a severed human ear by college kid Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) sets the wheels of this gruesome story of kidnapping, drug abuse, and murder in motion, as he hooks up with police chief's daughter Sandy Williams (Laura Dern) and singer/sexual abuse victim Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) to solve the mystery. Pulled along by his voyeuristic curiosity, Beaumont ends up way over his head. Sporting a beautiful new digital transfer, supervised by Lynch (who received an Oscar nomination for Best Director), this "special edition" features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the intriguing 70-minute retrospective documentary "Mysteries of Love" (containing new interview footage with MacLachlan, Dern, Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and others), a deleted scenes "montage" (comprised of still image sequences--reputedly two hours of extra footage has been lost), and the original "Siskel & Ebert" review (with Siskel liking, and Ebert disliking, the film). Still packing a potent cinematic punch over 15 years later, this is highly recommended. (R. Pitman) [Blu-ray Review—Nov. 22, 2011—MGM, 120 min., R, $24.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1986's Blue Velvet sports a fine transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Blu-ray extras include the 'Mysteries of Love' making-of documentary (71 min.), newly-discovered lost footage (52 min.), outtakes (2 min.), brief production vignettes (4 min.), the original Siskel & Ebert review (2 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a welcome Blu-ray debut for a contemporary classic.] [Blu-ray/DVD Review—May 21, 2019—Criterion, 120 min., R, DVD: 2 discs, $29.95; Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray, 1986’s Blue Velvet features an excellent transfer with a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include a 'making-of' documentary directed by Peter Braatz (89 min.), the 2002 'making-of' documentary 'Mysteries of Love' (70 min.), 'The Lost Footage' deleted scenes and alternate takes (53 min.), a reading by director David Lynch from his 2018 book Room to Dream (18 min.), a 2017 interview with composer Angelo Badalamenti (16 min.), the 2019 production featurette 'It’s a Strange World' (16 min.), 'Test Chart' vintage testing footage (2 min.), and excerpts by co-author Kristine McKenna from Room to Dream. Bottom line: a stellar edition of a contemporary classic.]