When Shout Factory, well technically Scream Factory made their “new title announcement” of a Blu-ray release of The Lawnmower Man, there was a minor uproar from fans thinking Shout had made a deal with Warner Brothers, being that the film was with New Line Cinema. This was not the case, as Warner had lost the rights to The Lawnmower Man and Shout made an independent deal for the film. So, while there aren’t any current deals between Shout and Warner, fans can still rejoice that the rights to The Lawnmower Man became accessible and is now part of the Scream Factory library!

The Film (3.5/5)

While far from Pierce Brosnan’s (Mars Attacks, Goldeneye, Dante’s Peak) best work and quite possibly Jeff Fahey’s (Psycho III) best work, The Lawnmower Man is a very entertaining story about virtual reality. A mentally disabled, child-like adult, Jobe Smith (Fahey, with blonde hair) becomes the first human experiment for Dr. Lawrence Angel (Brosnan). With the use of drugs and his virtual reality universe that he created while working for Virtual Space Industries, Dr. Angel attempts to make Smith, ‘intelligent’, which works! Smith becomes much smarter but there are horrible side effects, which we all know happens with human experiments in cinema. Smith, in addition to increased intelligence, gains telekinetic powers but also (surprise, surprise!) goes mad becoming aggressive and having hallucinations; soon thereafter, he evolves into pure energy through a computer mainframe and turns into a virtual being. It’s up to Dr. Angelo to stop Smith’s cyber madness once and for all.

The Lawnmower Man is a fun, entertaining, predictable, maybe a film that shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

I really feel this was Jeff Fahey’s strongest performance doing a character morph from the childlike innocent man that was Jobe Smith into a virtual reality maniac. Pierce Bronson hands in a decent performance, maybe a little flat or uninspired, but his best days were still ahead of him, leading to him playing 007 in no less than four James Bond films. The other cast members including Jenny Wright (I,Madman, Twister), Mark Bringelson(Dollman) Austin O’Brien(Last Action Hero) all play their parts well enough, but the central focus is on virtual reality effects and Jeff Fahey’s over the top performance.

The theatrical cut runs 1:48, which felt like it was long enough. That being said, with the Director’s Cut eclipsing over two hours, it really felt overlong. However, this cut is what the fans wanted and Scream Factory, being the fan friendly label that they are, gave it to them.

The Lawnmower Man does have a strong following and, despite the negative criticisms and mixed reviews that the film received, it was successful enough to warrant a sequel. Director Leonard stayed in the virtual reality world for not just the sequel; he also went on to direct Virtuosity with Denzel Washington.

The Lawnmower Man was also called Stephen King’s Lawnmower Man; the title was named after King’s short story. King, stating the film did not resemble his story, sued to have his named removed from the film’s title, which was granted. New Line Cinema kept his name in the title anyway, at least for the initial release on home video.

Audio/Video (4.5/5)

The first thing that I will mention that this is a two disc set. Disc one has the theatrical cut, with disc two having that highly requested Director’s Cut. Both of them have been given a new 4K scan from the interpositive , with the director’s cut footage coming from the original negative. The results are just amazing!  Outdoor scenes look fantastic, with strong, vivid colors, while the dark, night scenes look fine as well with acceptable black levels, where the film grain is much more visible. Skin tones look natural. Details and textures are improved over the DVD release. The virtual reality colors look stunning.  Overall the higher contrast has brought out the best in this film. The Director’s Cut also looks quite vivid, with the same beautiful daylight scenes deep black levels and grain is present. I did notice a few jump cuts with the Director’s Cut footage but I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. 

There are two audio options (not including the commentary track) is English DTS-HD master audio 5.1 and 2.0. I preferred the 2.0 for this release as while there is nothing wrong with either option, I noticed a somewhat stronger /deeper audio when I went with 2.0. However, the so this could be a matter of taste.

Extras (5/5)

As with most Shout Factory Collector’s Edition releases, The Lawnmower man gets the royal treatment in the supplemental department. We even get all the extras from the Warner Brothers DVD release, on top of all the new bonus features. The extras have been split into the two discs.

Disc one, with the theatrical cut, has several extras starting with a brand new featurette , entitled,  Cybergod: Creating The Lawnmower Man – Featuring Interviews With Co-Writer/Director Brett Leonard, Actor Jeff Fahey, Editor Alan Baumgarten, Make-up Effects Artist Michael Deak And Special Effects Coordinator Frank Ceglia. Other extras on this disc include an audio commentary with writer/director Brett Leonard and writer/producer Gimel Everett, deleted scenes, an original electronic press kit with cast interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, edited animated sequences, a theatrical trailer and a TV Spot.

Extras for the second disc with the Director’s Cut are an audio commentary with Writer/Director Brett Leonard and Writer/Producer Gimel Everett, conceptual art and design sketches, behind-the-scenes and production stills and a storyboard comparison

Overall (4/5)

I love this release. I really enjoyed The Lawnmower Man and Shout Factory’s presentation of it is a top notch release with fantastic picture and audio quality, as well as a boatload of extras. Highly recommended!