Review: 4K Collector's Edition of CLUE is Gorgeous with Fun New Bonus Features
Last month, Shout! Studios released a 2-disc Collector’s Edition 4K UHD+Blu-ray set of the cult classic film Clue. I’m a huge fan of the Jonathan Lynn-directed film and was excited to see how this remastered version compared to my DVD copy. Thankfully, Shout! was kind enough to supply me with a copy of the release to review, but all thoughts below are my own.
Here is the murderously funny movie based on the world-famous Clue board game. And now, with this special 4K version, you can see all three surprise endings! Was it Colonel Mustard in the study with a candlestick? Miss Scarlet in the billiard room with the rope? Or was it Wadsworth the butler? Meet all the notorious suspects and discover all their foul playthings. You'll love their dastardly doings as the bodies and the laughs pile up before your eyes.
There are two main things that make this Collector’s Edition a fantastic buy for fans. First, it’s not just them cleaning up the old DVD release. The UHD+Blu-ray use a 4K scan of the original camera negative. This translates to an incredible picture. Everything looks crisp and clear but not fake. It also is a bit brighter and more saturated compared to the DVD copy. I did keep swapping the DVD and Blu-ray copies on my TV for the comparison and the Blu-ray version is far superior.
The second reason to grab this version of Clue is the inclusion of three brand new bonus features. The first is an interview with Lynn who was the writer and director for the film. This was really interesting and he reveals how he ended up as director, a bit about how they filmed the movie, and even the fact that there were very few improvised moments. Lynn shared that because they had the three different endings and had to keep everything tight, he did not want the actors to improvise. That said, the infamous lines where Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn) talks about flames (you know the one) was one of the very few improvised lines. The other line that Lynn shares is when Mr. Green (Michael McKean) talks about going home to sleep with his wife at the end of the third ending. However, it is worth noting that this is a point of contention as Lynn believes he wrote that line but McKean believes he improvised it.
The second new feature is an interview with Jeffrey Chernov who served as associate producer. One of the cool things that I learned was that the team was able to film the entire movie sequentially. Of course, this has since led me and my wife to consider how this means that Lee Ving who played Mr. Boddy and Kellye Nakahara who played the cook probably had to be around for most of the filming, but had very little to do since they were corpses. A big part of this feature is going over how crucial and incredible Debra Hill was as producer.
Finally, film music historian Daniel Schweiger talked about the score by John Morris. In my opinion, this was the least interesting of the three most likely because it wasn’t Morris. Schweiger does a decent job talking about things such as how the theme is changed for a couple of the characters by using different instruments.
Honestly, I love this 4K remaster. It looks stunning and would honestly be reason enough for me to recommend this. However, the new bonus features add even more icing to the cake. It does cost about $36 (on sale from $40) from Shout! as of writing, but if you like Clue, the clear and vibrant picture is honestly worth it.
