Dead Ringers
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: David Cronenberg
Screenwriter: David Cronenberg, Norman Snider
Cast: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated R | 115 Minutes
Release Date: November 15, 2016

Co-written and directed by David Cronenberg (Videodrome, The Fly), Dead Ringers stars Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune) as Elliot and Beverly Mantle, identical twins and gynecologists who operate a medical practice in Toronto that specializes in the treatment of female fertility problems. Elliot, the more suave and self-assured of the two, seduces women who come to the Mantle Clinic. When he grows tired of them, Elliot passes the women on to the shy and passive Beverly, while the patients remain unaware of the switch.

Claire Niveau (Geneviève Bujold, Anne of the Thousand Days), an actress with a history of prescription drug abuse, comes to the world-renowned clinic in hopes of finding a solution to her infertility issues. It turns out that Claire has a “trifurcated cervix,” a rare medical condition that means she will never be able to have children. As a consolation prize, Elliot seduces Claire and has sex with her. Afterward, he urges his “baby brother” to sleep with her, but Beverly becomes emotionally attached, upsetting the equilibrium between the twins.

After Claire leaves town to work on a film, Beverly spirals into a clinical depression, abusing drugs and suffering from paranoid delusions about “mutant women” with abnormal genitalia. He seeks out metallurgical artist Anders Wolleck (Stephen Lack, Scanners) and commissions a set of bizarre, biomechanical gynecological instruments for operating on mutant women. Based on the novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, a fictionalized account of the lives of Stewart and Cyril Marcus, Dead Ringers is an unsettling psychological (and biological) horror film with a superb dual performance by Irons and Cronenberg’s signature visceral style.

For the first time, Dead Ringers is available on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, in conjunction with Morgan Creek Productions. The two-disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray includes two versions of the film: a high-definition transfer of the theatrical release (1.78:1 aspect ratio) and a new 2K scan in Cronenberg’s preferred aspect ratio (1.66:1). The widescreen presentation is accompanied by two audio tracks, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, as well as a great selection of new and previously released special features, which you can read more about below.

With definitive releases including Return of the Living Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Carrie, The Thing, The Exorcist III, and Child’s Play, and now Cronenberg’s Rabid and Dead Ringers, 2016 has been an incredible year for Scream Factory. As Shout! Factory’s sub-division of horror and science-fiction films, Scream Factory has become the Criterion Collection for cult classics, providing second-to-none releases of some of my favorite films of all time. Dead Ringers is an absolute must-own for horror fans and the newly initiated who have acquired a taste for Cronenberg through Criterion’s releases of Videodrome, Scanners, and The Brood, desperate for more body horror.

Dead Ringers (Collector’s Edition) is now available at Amazon.

Bonus Features

DISC ONE

“” High-definition transfer of the film (1.78:1 aspect ratio)
“” NEW Audio commentary with William Beard, author of The Artist As Monster: The Cinema Of David Cronenberg
“” Audio commentary with Jeremy Irons

DISC TWO

“” NEW 2K scan at Cronenberg’s preferred aspect ratio (1.66:1)
“” NEW Carey’s Story – An Interview with Heidi Von Palleske
“” NEW Working Artist – An Interview with Stephen Lack
“” NEW Connecting Tissues – An Interview with Gordon Smith
“” NEW Double Vision – An Interview with Peter Suschitzky
“” Vintage interviews with Irons, Cronenberg, Norman Snider, and more
“” Vintage behind-the-scenes featurette
“” Original theatrical trailer

Trailer

Clip: Stay With Me

Cover Art

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