Product description

Blood Simple [DVD] [1984] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Price: £5.25
Average customer rating: 4.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 0883904112853
Label : MGM
Manufacturer : MGM
Publisher : MGM
Release date : 2008-09-16
Title : Blood Simple [DVD] [1984] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actor : Array
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1984-01-01
Region code : 1
Running time : 96
Studio : MGM
Theatrical releaseDate : 1984
MPN : MGMDM111285D

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer Ethan Coen, 1983's IBlood Simple/I is grisly comic Inoir/I that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. (Imagine the novels of Jim Thompson somehow fused with the comic tabloid IWeird Tales/I and you get the idea.) The story concerns a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires a seedy private detective (M Emmett Walsh) to follow his cheating wife (Frances McDormand in her first film appearance) and then kill her and her lover (John Getz). The gumshoe turns the tables on his client, and suddenly a bad situation gets much, much worse, with some violent goings-on that are as elemental as they are shocking. (A scene in which a character who has been buried alive suddenly emerges from his own grave instantly becomes an archetypal nightmare.) Shot by Barry Sonnenfeld before he became an A-list director in Hollywood, IBlood Simple/I established the hyperreal look and feel of the Coens' productions (undoubtedly inspired a bit by filmmaker Sam Raimi, whose IThe Evil Dead/I had just been coedited by Joel). Sections of the film have proved to be an endurance test for art-house movie fans, particularly an extended climax that involves one shock after another but ends with a laugh at the absurdity of criminal ambition. This is definitely one of the triumphs of the 1980s and the American independent film scene in general. I--Tom Keogh/I

Amazon.co.uk Review
The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer Ethan Coen, 1983's iBlood Simple/i is grisly comic inoir/i that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. (Imagine the novels of Jim Thompson somehow fused with the comic tabloid iWeird Tales/i and you get the idea.) The story concerns a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires a seedy private detective (M Emmett Walsh) to follow his cheating wife (Frances McDormand in her first film appearance) and then kill her and her lover (John Getz). The gumshoe turns the tables on his client and suddenly a bad situation gets much, much worse, with some violent goings-on that are as elemental as they are shocking. (A scene in which a character who has been buried alive suddenly emerges from his own grave instantly becomes an archetypal nightmare.) Shot by Barry Sonnenfeld before he became an A-list director in Hollywood, iBlood Simple/i established the hyperreal look and feel of the Coens' productions (undoubtedly inspired a bit by filmmaker Sam Raimi, whose iThe Evil Dead/i had just been coedited by Joel). Sections of the film have proved to be an endurance test for art-house movie fans, particularly an extended climax that involves one shock after another but ends with a laugh at the absurdity of criminal ambition. This is definitely one of the triumphs of the 1980s and the American independent film scene in general. --ITom Keogh, Amazon.com/I

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-03-26 rating:

a glimpse of the future
I saw this film first time round in 1984 and have only just seen it a second time. There are many echoes of Fargo and No Country For Old Men and gripping tension throughout as the plot tightens more and more around an adulterous couple who, by a combination of miscommunication and misjudgement, get embroiled in covering up a murder they did not commit. Two scenes are remarkable for the tension they create as the main characters struggle to subdue those threatening them. br / br /Although some of the scenes and some of the acting are a bit creaky at times, I would still recommend you to watch this start of two great careers in films.

review by: date: 2006-07-26 rating:

a real masterpiece... even better than "Fargo"
I watched this movie three times and really liked it. Coen Brother's cinematic debut is a wonderful example of how to let the pictures tell most of the story. In essence, the story is real simple: A greasy and sleazy bar owner hires an even sleazier private eye to kill his wife and her paramour. But things do not turn out quite as planned. There are enough twists and turns to keep a viewer guessing even after the movie is over. Especially, second part of the movie is a first-grade thriller with violent, bloody, suspenseful, and endless twists. The last word: an absolutely fantastic film - one of the best I have ever seen. Dark entertainment at its best!

review by: thebigmeowski date: 2006-05-13 rating:

Watch this film!!!
Probably the darkest Coen Brothers film, and in my opinion, the best next to Fargo. The preformances are spot on but the best thing here is the fantastic dialoge. This is a really original film noir full of twists and black, black humour which has clearly had an influence on the likes of Tarantino and David Fincher and will stick in your mind for ages.

review by: fiftyfirstfloorfilms date: 2006-05-08 rating:

Did do better
The Coen Brothers first film has few of the surreal characters and inspired comedy which characterized their later works, and although it has some deeply black humour its definitely their most serious story. They really seem to hold back on what most of us love them for. I look at it as a Fargo test run.

review by: date: 2006-01-07 rating:

Macabre, even for Texas
Even though there may be one or two instances where the squeamish will want to avert their gaze, they'll still be mesmerized by BLOOD SIMPLE until the last drip of gore. Even my wife hung tough to the end, though remarking at one point, "No one dies quickly in this movie."pJulian Marty (Dan Hedaya) is a creepy Texas bar owner whose wife Abby (Frances McDormand) is spending quality time in the sheets with one of her husband's employees, Dan (John Getz). After an initial confrontation during which his finger gets broken and his groin kicked, Marty hires a slimeball private eye (Loren Visser) to kill Abby and Dan while he (Marty) goes fishing. What should be a straightforward bloodletting becomes grotesquely complicated by a series of mistaken identities. pDon't expect a plausible plot. Don't be surprised that law enforcement makes no appearance whatsoever. Indeed, enough clues are left in the commission of assorted crimes for a trainee to make an arrest after only one day in the police academy watching COLUMBO reruns. No matter, however, because justice is served all around.pThe fascination of this production derives from the camera perspectives, sound and video editing, set lighting, and the vision of the directing and producing Coen brothers. The sight and sound of a rolled-up newspaper smacking a screen door, the slow drip of blood from the end of a finger, the sudden appearance of a streetlamp-lit VW Beetle on a darkened street, the approaching headlights of a far-off truck, the slow decay of fish on an office desk, the labored stab of a knife through living bone and gristle, the anticipation of a sniper's bullet through a window. All are these, and more, send thrills of delight and/or dread up the viewer's spine. The fact that all acting performances are flawless is almost a bonus. pThis is imaginative entertainment, capable of inspiring both an appreciative "Oh, wow!" or shocked "Eeeewww!", best seen on a dark and lonely night clutching a bowl of popcorn and your favorite teddy bear.

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