“I’ll probably get blamed for that.”

You ever have one of those super stressful dreams where no matter how hard you try, you have absolutely no control over the surreal and vivid events you’re experiencing? A dream where in the midst of your overwhelming anxiousness and confusion all you can really think is: this can’t be happening or what the actual fuck is going on? And you’re only source of relief comes from the buzzing of your alarm clock, only to feel like you didn’t even sleep at all. Well, if that experience was made into a movie, then Martin Scorsese’s After Hours is absolutely the cinematic manifestation of our dreaded anxiety dreams.

Being an ordinary word-processer that works in a beige-clad office full of dead-end nine-to-five’s, excitement seems to be few and far between for the average Joe, Paul (Griffin Dunne). But that all changes when he meets the cute and a little quirky Marcy (Rosanna Arquette) at a small New York City coffee shop. After exchanging their casual adoration for a book Paul’s reading, Marcy gives Paul her number and later an invitation to join her in her apartment that night. One terrifying (and hilarious) cab-ride later, Paul is transplanted into the desolate streets of nighttime 1980s SoHo where he’s forced to endure the eccentricities and unpredictable danger of the neighborhood’s inhabitants, all while struggling to obtain one simple goal: he just wants to go home.

Penned by Joseph Minion, the writing in After Hours is so smart in exploiting its simple plot by creating a snowball effect of Paul’s bad luck and poor decisions. SoHo, to Paul, isn’t just another New York neighborhood – it might as well be another world. People here seem nice, welcoming, and helpful in trying to help him get home, but eventually, all become to be perceived the same in Paul’s eyes: absolutely crazy. Going from person to person for to aid in his desperation, Paul’s misguided trust gets him into increasingly hilarious and borderline surreal situations that range from helping a cool yet sensual artist with her sculpture to almost getting his head shaved in an underground punk club to even being the prey of a Catherine O’Hara-led angry mob hunting him down for a crime that he didn’t commit. And no matter how hard he tries to stay polite or get lucky in finding someone who can actually help him, Paul cannot ever seem to catch a break.

Though this isn’t the film that the masses associate Martin Scorsese with, After Hours (now a certified cult-classic) is a very exciting and important film in the legend’s filmography. After The King of Comedy flopping at the box office big time and The Last Temptation of Christ (at the time) falling through, After Hours was just the short of low-budget, hectic film that Scorsese needed to essentially restart his career. And from the first very first shot, Scorsese brilliantly translates to the audience the kind of unpredictable and disorienting movie this will be. With jarring camera moves and placement, you feel Paul’s anxiety and disorientation. Scorsese, like the people Paul runs into in Soho, constantly misleads you to believe in certain things and people, to put your trust into these things, only to be burned time and time again. He is able to perfectly capture the tone of this crazy dark comedy with the unpredictable and dangerous atmosphere. And you can tell through the screen that, despite experiencing a very unsure moment in his career, that this legendary director had so much fun with this film.

Also starring Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, and John Heard, After Hours, with all its eccentric characters and comically unnerving atmosphere, is a stressful, hysterical, ridiculous, and unforgettable taxi cab ride of a film. A time-capsule of 1980s SoHo, this film is otherworldly but also undeniably personal to Scorsese in a time where he was experiencing much anxiety-ridden uncertainty. It’s a unique selection out of the masterful director’s catalogue, but it is not doubt one of his most rightfully beloved, exciting, and perhaps one of his best works ever. And thanks to the fine folks at the Criterion Collection, After Hours is yet another one of Scorsese’s beautiful works that is now available on 4K.

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Edition

Home Video Distributor: Criterion
Available on Blu-ray - July 11, 2023
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: LPCM Mono
Discs: 4K Ultra HD;  Blu-ray DiscTwo-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A

Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman (Rosanna Arquette). So begins the wildest night of his life, as bizarre occurrences—involving underground-art punks, a distressed waitress, a crazed Mister Softee truck driver, and a bagel-and-cream-cheese paperweight—pile up with anxiety-inducing relentlessness and thwart his attempts to get home. With this Kafkaesque cult classic, Martin Scorsese—abetted by Michael Ballhaus’s kinetic cinematography and scene-stealing supporting turns by Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, Catherine O’Hara, and John Heard—directed a darkly comic tale of mistaken identity, turning the desolate night world of 1980s SoHo into a bohemian wonderland of surreal menace.

VIDEO

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the new 4K digital restoration, approved by editor Thelma Schoonmaker and presented in Dolby Vision HDR, created from the 35 mm original camera negative is fantastic. Especially considering the amount of darkness and shadows in this predominantly night-time film, the exposure, color, and range is excellent. The depth, detail, and clarity are all impressive and healthy, and the grain exposure is very pleasing. Ther are no visible signs of any imperfections to be seen. A top-notch restoration.

AUDIO

The new uncompressed monaural soundtrack is wonderful. All dialogue, ambient noises, and music come in clear as can be. And the track is even able to greatly show off dynamic range in moments of intense audio or music. Nothing but good stuff here

Supplements:

Commentary, new interview, documentary, and much, much more. Film fans can absolutely get their fill with the plethora of After Hours extras included on this release. More than enough to enjoy for everyone.

Commentary:

• Audio commentary featuring Scorsese, Schoonmaker, director of photography Michael Ballhaus, actor and producer Griffin Dunne, and producer Amy Robinson

Special Features:

• New conversation between director Martin Scorsese and writer Fran Lebowitz
• Documentary about the making of the film featuring Dunne, Robinson, Schoonmaker, and Scorsese
• New program on the look of the film featuring costume designer Rita Ryack and production designer Jeffrey Townsend
• Deleted scenes
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Sheila O’Malley

	Movie
	Video
	Audio
	Extras
Composite Blu-ray Grade

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 97 mins
Director: Martin Scorcese
Writer: Joseph Minion
Cast: Griffin Dunne; Rosanna Arquette; Verna Bloom
Genre: Comedy | Crime
Tagline: What is the very worst night you ever had...?
Memorable Movie Quote: "What do you want from me? What have I done? I'm just a word processor, for Christ sake!"
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Bros.
Official Site: https://www.criterion.com/films/29632-after-hours
Release Date: October 11, 1985
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: July 11, 2023
Synopsis: esperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman (Rosanna Arquette). So begins the wildest night of his life, as bizarre occurrences—involving underground-art punks, a distressed waitress, a crazed Mister Softee truck driver, and a bagel-and-cream-cheese paperweight—pile up with anxiety-inducing relentlessness and thwart his attempts to get home.