Customer Reviews

Dead Ringers

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As of this writing, there's no artwork posted here, but if you get this DVD, at the top of the front cover, there's a black banner with white text that says "15th ANNIVERSARY EDITION FEATURING SUPPLEMENTS ORIGINALLY PRODUCED BY THE CRITERION COLLECTION." The transfer seems to be the same: non-anamorphic, 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The extras are spectacular, especially the commentary with Jeremy Irons and David Croenberg.

Another DVD released in Europe also licensed the same extras, but it's missing an essay and uses a different transfer with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. THIS DVD, which seems to be only available in Canada, uses the director's PREFERRED aspect ratio of 1.66:1, and is complete, almost an exact duplicate of the original Criterion Collection DVD in terms of content.

This is a bit more expensive than other DVD's, but a bit cheaper than the original Criterion Collection DVD, which is out-of-print and fetches 40+ U.S. dollars on ebay. Definitely worth buying if you love this picture, which is Croenberg's best work.

The two most esteemed works by Cronenberg are Videodrome (1983) and Dead Ringers (1988). Third is usually Naked Lunch (1991). All three are available on Criterion, though Dead Ringers has been out of print for a long time. But no worries. This release has all the goods from the Criterion version, and at a more reasonable price.

Cronenberg maintained his artistic integrity with this film (and has since). While most directors would water themselves down after a blockbuster (1986's The Fly), Cronenberg moved onto a movie about twin gynaecologists (which is pretty risky in itself) and their descent into insanity. It is the beginning of the more internalised works by Cronenberg, though there are still some horror elements (the Giger-esque instruments for operating on mutant women and the dream sequence).

If you enjoy Dead Ringers, be sure to check out Videodrome and his 2002 film Spider, and if you make it that far, move onto Naked Lunch and Crash.

the criterion collection is a superb presentation of david cronenbergs masterwork; dead ringers.
this film stands with crash, rabid, the brood, and spider as essential cronenberg.
his whole body of work has been impressive and one is hard pressed to come up with a more individualistic auteur in cinema today.
dead ringers contains two of the most incredibly acted performances in recent memory. irons, of course , and bujold.
much has rightly been made of irons' dual performance and he deservedly (and surprisingly)won an oscar nomination for that performance.
but as much as irons performance was celebrated, bujolds was somewhat ignored. her character is smoldering in tormented sexuality and she balances coolness, vulnerability and agressive sexuality in a truly jarring performance. bujold, with barbara hershey,remains one of the most underrated actresses of her generation and she (unlike actresses such as nicole kidman) is an actress we need have no fear of ever going 'merchant ivory'
the visuals in this film are numbing and one walks away with various shades of horrific red seared into your brain (and of course we know red equals both sex and death, an understandably favorite obsession with cronenberg).
the images of gynological instruments transformed into sculpural torture devices is one of the most horrific ever shown on celluloid and this takes that whole sex and death theme to the nth degree.predictably enough, it is one of the most squirm inducing moments of the entire film.
by the time this film is finished you are mentally drained and i remember walking out of the theatre mumbling (probably incoherently) to myslef.
there are not many films that can make me feel like ive just been run over by a freight train.

Maybe it's the combined effect of having two Jeremy Irons for the price of one, but I believe -and Irons has been quoted to the same effect- that this is the finest work this fine actor has commited to the screen. Much more deserving of the oscar than his recessive Claus Von Bulow in 'Reversal of Fortune.'
The way he plays the weak twin off the stronger one, whose influence fades when a woman comes between them, is extraordinary. If you don't mind the pervasive grimness of the story in general, than do yourself a favor (God, starting to sound like that pretentious guy from the Actors Studio on Bravo), and get 'Dead Ringers.'

'Dead Ringers' may indeed be David Cronenberg's best film. Jeremy Irons performance is truly extraordinary. Far from not being able to tell the difference between the two brothers, I could sense immediatedly which brother was which by simple body language and how each brother carried himself. Which is a testament to the subtlties of Irons' acting, that he could make you believe he was two different people at the same time on screen. This belief was largely created however by the amazing motion-control camera sequences which allowed Irons to "act with himself" in the same frame. The clean perpendicular lines of the twins' appartment was especially chosen to make it easier to cut the film together.

Viewers should be warned beforehand that 'Dead Ringers' is not a horror movie, it's more of a psychological character study. The twin brothers have a pseudo-homosexual relationship. Elliot as the suave, unfeeling male who's "no good with the serious ones" and Beverly (with the girl's name) as the sensitive, caring female. By the end of the film they recognize that they are one entity, forever seperated as two physical beings.

In talking about the film, Cronenberg has said that men have been much more squeamish over this film than women, as lying on the gynocological chair is an experience that many women have gone through, yet many men have no idea what it's like. Cronenberg was fascinated by these male doctors who knew more about their patients most private parts than their husbands did.

The only drawback abou this whole project is that the marvellous soundtrack is not available anywhere!

'Dead Ringers' may indeed be David Cronenberg's best film. Jeremy Irons performance is truly extraordinary. As for not being able to tell the difference between the two brothers, I could sense immediately which brother was which by simple body language and how each brother carried himself. Which is a testiment to the subtlties of Iron's acting, that he could make you believe he was two different people at the same time on screen. This belief was also helped by the amazing motion control camera sequences which allowed Irons to "act with himself" in the same frame. The clean perpendicular lines of the twins' appartment was especially chosen to make it easier to cut the film together.

Viewers should be warned beforehand that 'Dead Ringers' is not a horror movie, it's more of a psychological character study. The twin brothers have an unusual gendered relationship. Elliot as the suave unfeeling male who's "no good with the serious ones" and Beverly, with the girl's name, as the the sensitive, caring female. Soon they come to realize that they are one physical entity, forever separated as two physical beings.

In talking about the film Cronenberg has said that men have proven to be much more squeamish about this film than women as lying on the gynecological chair is an experience that many women have gone through. Yet many men have no idea what it's like. Cronenberg was fascinated by these doctors who knew more abaout their patients than their husbands did.

The only drawback about this whole project is that the marvellous soundtrack is not available anywhere!

This review id for the Criterion Collection edition of the film.

This film based on the book "Twins" by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, which is based loosely on a true story.

The plot is simple 2 identical twin brothers who are gynocologists and share the same office, home, and patients.
They have a new patient with a very unusual gynocological anomaly. They fall in love with her and later begin to develop a major problem.

What is most impressive is the fact that Jeremy Irons played both brothers. The scenes where they are together was filmed with breathtaking split screen imagery and motion control cameras. The action is completly seamless very impressive for its time. The criterion DVD has special "making of" clips and show how difficult it was to film this action. While not mentioned in the features, I would assume that the continuity supervisor probably had a very important role on the set.

The film also stars French-Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold who was originally slated to play Captain Janeway on Star Trek Voyager, but left after a day and a half of filming.

The DVD has additional special features with excellent audio commentary by selected cast and crew.

While some scenes in this film may be disturbing to some viewers, the "twinning" special effects are not to be missed!

I've seen this movie twice, one at 12 years and another when I was 17 ...God, this movie is as depressive as the seconal.

Depicts like a X-Ray the psycho-emotional decadence of both twins ... it meakes you feel as one or both twins through each one of the down steps of their downward spiral.
You can see the twins trapped finally on their little world of "the wonderful and medically revolutionary methods" and being pressed by their own fame and self convincing of their revolutionary ideas.

Technically, acting ,scripting ...everything in this production is focused to make this movie is really the most effective psychological movie I've seen.

This movie deserves no stars (ok, maybe one because it wasn't produced on super 8). I saw it the week it was originally released in the theaters. If it had even somewhat lived up to the hype in the trailer, it would have been a good watch. As another reviewer said, it truly is boring and forgettable. Unless I've been smoking something funny, the movie has not been re-shot and re-edited in the last decade and a half. Don't waste your loot on this one - it's not entertaining from any perspective.

Disturbing? Not one bit. Haunting? Yeah right. Slow? Absolutely. Cronenberg usually impresses me, but with Dead Ringers, he bored the hell outta me. Even Irons' great performance(s) can't save it. The only memorable things about this movie would be those bizarre instruments and the "Still Of the Night" scene. The score was quite vivid too.

Dead Ringers... so much potential, such a heaving let-down.