Bob Zemeckis pivoted into black comedy in the early nineties after his stellar run of Back to the Future sequels. With no less than Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and John McClane himself as his leads! This delicious satirical farce explores the fallacy of temptation, jealousy, and the endless pursuit of staying young.

Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) a struggling writer takes her fiancé Dr. Ernest Melville (Bruce Willis) to a horrendous musical starring the narcissistic Madeliene Ashton (Meryl Streep) to evaluate his commitment to her… He fails. Helen morphs into a cat lady depression, ballooning to behemoth-sized loser who is committed to an insane asylum. Cut to many years later and Madelyn is an aging, washed up actor, Ernest is an alcoholic mortician, and all is not well in their wreck of a marriage.

An invite to Helen Sharp’s successful book launch comes their way and they soon discover Helen is taut, trim and the talk of the town. Helen feigns forgiveness but all leave the launch knowing things are about to change. Helen has devious plans that include murder. As Ernest and Helen plot to do away with his narcissistic wife, her vanity gets the best of her, and she succumbs to a weird cultish beauty Lisa (Isabella Rosillini) by drinking a potion that restores her youthfulness and amps up her less flattering personality traits.

With Helen and Madeliene’s cold war suddenly heating up, and the hopeless Ernest stuck in the middle, both of them end up killing each other. But neither of them stays dead. Beside himself with grief and questions, the inexplicable happens, Madeleine and Helen bury the hatchet! Now dead, they release they need Ernest’s skills to maintain their living corpses, and they take him (by force) to Lisa. But Ernest doesn’t want to live forever and for all the duplicitous, narcissist actions his former loves are guilty of, he escapes and leaves them to each other. Poetic Justice is served.

This is a brutally sharp commentary on vanity and the lengths some will go to prevent change. Streep and Hawn are at the height of their skills as ‘Mad and Hel,’ Willis’s browbeaten Ernest is a hilarious twist on his usual tough guy bit and shows true range. Sydney Pollock, Isabella Rosillini, and Ian Olgivly have scene stealing supporting parts. The dialogue is raucously biting and the delivery from each actor impeccable. Zemeckis provides his usual high standard or acumen behind the camera, and his requisite special effects are hilarious appropriate to the material (and Death Becomes Her has the distinction of being the first movie to use CGI skin.) This film is just a banger from every angle.

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray Edition

Home Video Distributor: Shout Factory
Available on Blu-ray - October 22, 2024
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Video: Native 4K; Dolby Vision; HDR10
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 4K Ultra HD; Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set
Region Encoding: 4K region-free; blu-ray locked to Region A

VIDEO

This is a native restoration of the camera negatives, and it looks perfect. This is a dark movie, and all previous home releases have been marred by that challenge. But not in this scan. Rich and details blacks compliment the carefully constructed rim lighting and effects shot. HDR Dolby Vision/HDR10 boldly delivers unmatched contrast in an almost painterly scale. Quite the upgrade from previously releases.

AUDIO

Okay, there is nothing wrong with this DTS-HD surround mix. It hits all the right spots at the right time. The sounds of storms and melodramatic lightning are perfection. Alan Silvestrie’s wonderfully over the top score soars through the channels. BUT… with the quality of the visual upgrade I’m taking a point off for no ATMOS. There is also a DTS lossless stereo mix as well.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• None

Special Features:

Calling this a ‘Collector’s Edition’ is just a flat out lie. It has a couple of vintage features from previous releases. My copy had a slipcover.

• The Making of Death Becomes Her
• Vintage Behind the Scenes Featurette
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

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Composite Blu-ray Grade