"Idle Hands" was released to theaters in 1999 in which it received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics along with dismal box office grossing only 4.2 million against a budget of 25 million. It had the misfortune of being released only 10 days after the Columbine tragedy which hurt its chances somewhat. The film mixed teen comedy with R rated horror violence & gore in which a teenager's right hand becomes possessed and begins killing his friends and family much to his shock and dismay. The cast includes Devon Sawa in the lead of Anton, Seth Green & Eldon Henson as his best friends, an incredibly sexy Jessica Alba (who was only 18 when this film was made) as Anton's crush, and an amazing looking Vivica A. Fox (her body is a work of art!) who is tracking the possessed hand as it transfers from person to person. Fred Willard also has a small role at the beginning of the film.
I saw the film initially in a theater back in 1999 and enjoyed it quite a bit. The mix of comedy and horror worked for me quite well. The entire cast does great work with Devon Sawa displaying a natural knack for physical comedy when his right hand becomes possessed. "Idle Hands" has steadily gained an audience over the years and is now a bona fide cult classic.
"Idle Hands" received a special edition DVD release back in 1999 featuring a commentary track, a making of featurette, the original ending, a storyboard comparison, and the theatrical trailer. It got its first blu-ray release by Image Entertainment in 2013 which featured a terrific transfer but sadly was bare bones in terms of any extras.
Scream Factory gave the film some blu-ray collector's edition attention in 2020 in what can be labeled as the definitive edition of this film. Fans should be ecstatic with this blu-ray release of "Idle Hands"!
Scream Factory repurposed the same transfer from the previous blu-ray for this release. The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio utilizing the AVC codec at a beefy bit rate usually staying locked in at 36 mbps. Simply put the movie looks great with nice colors, contrast/black levels, accurate skin tones, and detail throughout. No digital noise reduction or sharpening appears to have been used. I do not have the previous blu-ray to compare but from what I have researched online, the Scream Factory disc features a superior encode compared to the Image Entertainment disc from 2013 which used the same HD master. I can't imagine the film looking any better other than a 4K UHD release.
Audio wise we get two options in a 5.1 DTS-HD master audio mix and the original 2.0 channel DTS-HD master audio mix too. I watched the film with the 5.1 lossless mix and thought it sounded great with the dialogue, music, and sound effects to be evenly mixed. English subtitles are included for the hearing impaired.
In terms of extras, Scream Factory commissioned a lot of new stuff in addition to thankfully porting over the DVD's extras too. The full list of extra content is as follows:
- NEW Audio Commentary With Actors Devon Sawa, Seth Green, Elden Henson, And Vivica A. Fox
- NEW Bloody Punk Fun – An Interview With Director Rodman Flender (12 min. 53 sec.)
- NEW Stoner Headspace – An Interview With Actor Elden Henson (9 min. 42 sec.)
- NEW This Face, These Hands – An Interview With Actor Sean Whalen (10 min 59 sec.)
- NEW Sleight Of Hand – An Interview With Actor Christopher Hart (15 min. 9 sec.)
- NEW Written In Blood – An Interview With Writer Terri Hughes Burton (5 min. 51 sec.)
- Audio Commentary By Director Rodman Flender And Actors Seth Green And Elden Henson
- Deleted Scene (i.e. the original ending) With Optional Audio Commentary (9 min. 19 sec.)
- Commentary By Director Rodman Flender
- Vintage Making-Of Featurette (6 min.)
- Storyboard Comparisons (3 min. 4 sec.)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min. 26 sec.)
For the first few months, the Scream Factory edition comes with a slipcover with newly commissioned artwork. You can flip around the artwork on the case itself to have the original theatrical poster which is nice.
Fans of "Idle Hands" should be very happy with Scream Factory's collector's edition blu-ray. The film looks and sounds great in addition to containing a nice assortment of new extras along with all of the vintage extras from the ancient DVD release too. If you own the bare bones 2013 blu-ray from Image Entertainment of the film, the upgrade to the Scream Factory edition is highly recommended and well worth it in my opinion.
| Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
|
DVD
December 7, 2010 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $24.90 | $16.13 |
|
DVD
August 31, 1999 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $7.50 | — | $4.00 |
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Top reviews from other countries
metheape
Ein Kindheitsfilm, den ich nie vergessen habe
Reviewed in Germany on October 19, 2011
Denny Kraus
Einfach Klasse !
Reviewed in Germany on October 22, 2021
Denny Kraus
Reviewed in Germany on October 22, 2021
Man hat hier Blu Ray und die DVD Version.
Die Blu Ray Version ist richtig gut, die Qualität lässt den Film nicht wie aus dem Jahr 1999 aussehen.
Einfach klasse, für mich ein absoluter Klassiker der in die Sammlung gehört
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