The Driller Killer

[domino harvey]

In career that has encompassed such controversial classics as Ms. 45, Bad Lieutenant and Welcome to New York, none of Abel Ferrara’s films have quite managed to match the shock, extremity and downright notorious nature of The Driller Killer.

Ferrara plays struggling artist Reno, a man pushed to the edge by the economic realities of New York living in the late seventies and the No Wave band practising in the apartment below. His grip on reality soon begins to slip and he takes to stalking the streets with his power tool in search of prey…


One of the most infamous ‘video nasties’, in part thanks to its drill-in-head sleeve, The Driller Killer has lost none of its power to unnerve and is presented here fully uncut.


SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

Brand new restoration from original film elements
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by director and star Abel Ferrara, moderated by Brad Stevens (author of Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision) and recorded exclusively for this release
Brand new interview with Ferrara
Willing and Abel: Ferraraology 101, a new visual essay guide to the films and career of Ferrara by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of Cultographies: Ms. 45
Mulberry St. (2010), Ferrara’s feature-length documentary portrait of the New York location that has played a key role in his life and work, available on home video in the UK for the first time ever
Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil


FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Michael Pattison and Brad Stevens

[oh yeah]

Wait, so I'm guessing the audio commentary with Ferrara is a completely new one moderated by Stevens, and not just his infamous commentary for the old DVD set with Stevens talking in between? That's great news, but I'd also advise anyone who hasn't heard Ferrara's original commentary to seek it out, as it's one of the greatest and most hilarious ever recorded.

Overall the film is more interesting to me as historical document or auteurist document than some kind of great film but it's always nice to see Ferrara getting more recognition and this sounds like a very good release. (Still, as a Ferraraphile, I can't help but think that overlooked masterpieces like New Rose Hotel, The Funeral, The Addiction, 'R Xmas, Mary or Body Snatchers are far more deserving of finally getting on blu).

[antnield]

Bit of news on this one. During the restoration process it quickly became clear that the original camera negative contained a bunch of footage that wasn’t on any previous theatrical of home video release. So we contacted Abel Ferrara to find out more and he confirmed that this version was, in essence, an earlier attempt at a final cut which was then further finessed to create the version everyone’s familiar with. The additions amount to a second or two shy of five minutes, so we asked Abel if he would allow us to include this version on our release. He happily agreed, meaning the upcoming Blu-ray will contain both the theatrical cut and this ‘pre-release’ version.

Specs in full…

STEELBOOK EDITION:

• Limited Edition SteelBook featuring original artwork (2,500 copies)
• Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative of the never-before-seen pre-release version and the theatrical cut
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations in both 1.85:1 and 1.37:1 aspect ratios
• Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio
• Audio commentary by director and star Abel Ferrara, moderated by Brad Stevens (author of Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision) and recorded exclusively for this release
• Laine and Abel: An Interview with the Driller Killer, a brand-new interview with Ferrara
• Willing and Abel: Ferraraology 101, a new visual essay guide to the films and career of Ferrara by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of Cultographies: Ms. 45
• Mulberry St., Ferrara’s feature-length 2010 documentary portrait of the New York location that has played a key role in his life and work, available on home video in the UK and US for the first time ever
• Trailer
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Michael Pattison and Brad Stevens

AMARAY EDITION:

• Brand new 4K restoration from the original camera negative of the never-before-seen pre-release version and the theatrical cut
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations in both 1.85:1 and 1.37:1 aspect ratios
• Original Uncompressed Mono PCM audio
• Audio commentary by director and star Abel Ferrara, moderated by Brad Stevens (author of Abel Ferrara: The Moral Vision) and recorded exclusively for this release
• Laine and Abel: An Interview with the Driller Killer, a brand-new interview with Ferrara
• Willing and Abel: Ferraraology 101, a new visual essay guide to the films and career of Ferrara by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of Cultographies: Ms. 45
• Mulberry St., Ferrara’s feature-length 2010 documentary portrait of the New York location that has played a key role in his life and work, available on home video in the UK and US for the first time ever
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Michael Pattison and Brad Stevens

[Alphonse Tram]

This is fantastic news! I was going to pick it up, but now I've pre-ordered.

Now if only Arrow would release Ms. 45!

[oh yeah]

Just got this recently and I can't recommend it highly enough! Almost certainly the finest treatment a Ferrara film has yet gotten on home video (though the special edition of King of New York was pretty great too). I haven't yet checked out the film/transfer actually, but everything else is top-notch. Ferrara's commentary, recorded last year and moderated by Brad Stevens, is terrific -- a kind of more sober version of the infamously whacked-out one he recorded for the film's DVD release almost two decades ago. I'll always have a soft spot for the hilariousness of that earlier one, which I think should've been ported over, but Stevens gets a lot of good stuff out of Abel and Abel is willing enough on his own to offer all kinds of funny, random, off-the-wall musings. It's another great commentary from the greatest of commentary-givers.

Then we have the amazing gift of getting the entire film of Ferrara's 2010 doc Mulberry Street -- not a masterpiece of the form, maybe, but a must-see for Ferrara fans. If you enjoyed the shambling, rambling, hang-out quality of the "Not Guilty" doc by Rafi Pitts that filmed Abel just going about his everyday business, then you'll certainly enjoy Mulberry. It's got a lot of funny and interesting conversations between Abel and random people and celebs ranging from Frank Vincent to Matthew Modine, and it's a great glimpse into a fading culture/place.

The new interview with Ferrara is very good, as is the visual essay guide to all his films (probably more helpful to new fans than to old fanboys) -- but really, this set is worth it for the commentary track and Mulberry St. alone.

On a more superficial note, I got the steelbook version and it's quite beautifully designed...

Let's hope for more Ferrara from Arrow in the future. With the recent, high-quality (albeit bare-bones) blu-ray transfers of Dangerous Game, Body Snatchers, plus Napoli Napoli Napoli, it looks like we're finally getting some respect for Ferrara on home video. I've said it many times before, but it's time for his more experimental post-1993 work to get the treatment it deserves. I'd kill for a box combining The Addiction and The Funeral, or just for new, comprehensive releases of Mary, Go Go Tales, The Blackout, and especially New Rose Hotel, which still has yet to be upgraded from its circa-1999 non-anamorphic DVD, whose mediocre transfer comes with all the limitations that 1999-era DVDs entail.

[M Sanderson]

Seconded. Driller Killer is a wonderful film and that cold New York sunlight looks so fresh in this transfer. And those reds, in the subjective sequences, will never look more intense Very good remaster although the last three or four minutes are sourced from a film print.

Absolutely, we need the post Body Snatchers work from that perhaps peak1990s period in particular Addiction, Blackout, Funeral.

Every Ferrara film from 4:44 onward I think is on Blu ray. So we need all the divisive experimental stuff - that I admire a great deal - like New Rose Hotel, 'rXmas, Mary, Go Go Tales, absolutely.