Sorcerer (Criterion) 05/25 Blu-ray (Rental)

A hallucinatory journey into the heart of darkness, William Friedkin’s pulse-pounding reimagining of the suspense classic The Wages of Fear was dismissed upon its release, only to be recognized decades later as one of the New Hollywood’s boldest auteur statements. In a remote Latin American village, four desperate fugitives—a New Jersey gangster (Roy Scheider), a Mexican assassin (Francisco Rabal), an unscrupulous Parisian businessman (Bruno Cremer), and an Arab terrorist (Amidou)—take on a doomed mission: transporting two trucks full of highly explosive nitroglycerin through the treacherous jungle. Aided by Tangerine Dream’s otherworldly synth score, Friedkin turns each bump in the road into a tour de force of cold-sweat tension—conjuring a hauntingly nihilistic vision of a world ruled by chance and fate. 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 4K digital restoration, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack approved by director William Friedkin, and alternate original theatrical 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features Friedkin Uncut (2018), a documentary by Francesco Zippel featuring interviews with Friedkin, screenwriter Walon Green, filmmakers Wes Anderson and Francis Ford Coppola, and others New conversation between filmmaker James Gray and film critic Sean Fennessey Conversation from 2015 between Friedkin and filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn Archival audio interviews with Green and editor Bud Smith, from the collection of Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, author of William Friedkin (2003) Behind-the-scenes footage Trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by film critic Justin Chang