Blood Simple (#834)

Joel and Ethan Coens career-long darkly comic road trip through misfit America began with this razor-sharp, hard-boiled neonoir set somewhere in Texas, where a sleazy bar owner releases a torrent of violence with one murderous thought. Actor M. Emmet Walsh looms over the proceedings as a slippery private eye with a yellow suit, a cowboy hat, and no moral compass, and Frances McDormands cunning debut performance set her on the road to stardom. The tight scripting and inventive style that have marked the Coens work for decades are all here in their first film, in which cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld abandons black-and-white chiaroscuro for neon signs and jukebox colors that combine with Carter Burwells haunting score to lurid and thrilling effect. Blending elements from pulp fiction and low-budget horror flicks, Blood Simple reinvented the film noir for a new generation, marking the arrival of a filmmaking ensemble that would transform the American independent cinema scene.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New, restored 4K digital transfer, approved by cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray

New conversation between Sonnenfeld and the Coens about the films look, featuring Telestrator video illustrations

New conversation between author Dave Eggers and the Coens about the films production, from inception to release

New interviews with composer Carter Burwell, sound mixer Skip Lievsay, and actors Frances McDormand and M. Emmet Walsh

Trailers

English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

PLUS: An essay by novelist and critic Nathaniel Rich