After shocking the movie world earlier this summer, David Cronenberg‘s first movie in eight years, Crimes of the Future, is set to come to blu-ray this week and I’m here to explain why the movie is still worth checking out as it comes to home video.
When word got out earlier this year that Crimes of the Future would be David Cronenberg’s first movie in eight years, and that it would be a horror movie no less, the news piqued the interest of many people. After all, Cronenberg’s past entries in the horror genre are well-remembered for good reasons, so many were curious to see what Cronenberg could bring to the table at this stage of his career.
The answer, as it turned out, was quite a lot, as Crimes of the Future proved to be a mind-bending experience that was equal parts horrifying and thought-provoking. Crimes of the Future is set in an unspecified future time when humans can no longer feel pain and are going to increasingly drastic lengths in order to feel, well, anything. While bodies are mutilated in the name of “art,” it is being strongly implied that humanity is going through an unbelievable evolutionary change, one that might forever alter what it means to be human.
While the story of Crimes of the Future is definitely worth checking out on home video, there isn’t much else to look forward to on the blu-ray release. To my immense disappointment, this is a rather bare-bones release, with only a Making Of featurette and the theatrical trailers listed in the bonus features of the blu-ray. Given the deep topics being broached in the film, I was really hoping for a commentary track of some kind that might expand upon or otherwise explain what the film is trying to say. For now at least, it appears that it’s not meant to be, though I’m still holding out hope for a future release from Criterion and/or Arrow that might give me the bonus features I’m craving for this film.
Despite being a bare-bones release, the blu-ray of Crimes of the Future is definitely one that needs to be picked up this week as it is a stellar offering from David Cronenberg that will leave you questioning everything you think you know about humanity for hours after the credits have rolled.
