TOTAL RECALL [1990 / 2020] [30th Anniversary Edition] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] They Stole His Mind, Now He Wants It Back!
Get ready for a surprise, with a mind-blowing 4K restoration of the much loved sci-fi action classic, ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ directed by Paul Verhoeven. In celebration of TOTAL RECALL’s 30th anniversary, this collection is one you won't forget. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger [Douglas Quaid] and Sharon Stone [Lori Quaid], accompanied by an iconic soundtrack by Academy Award-winner Jerry Goldsmith this is the ultimate version of the cult classic. A brand new 4K 30th anniversary restoration, and approved by Paul Verhoeven.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1991 Academy Awards®: Win: Special Achievement Award for Alex Funke, Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin and Tim McGovern for visual effects. Nominated: Best Sound for Aaron Rochin, Carlos Delarios, Nelson Stoll and Michael J. Kohut. Nominated: Best Effects, and Sound Effects Editing for Stephen Hunter Flick. 1991 BAFTA Awards: Nominated: BAFTA Film Award for ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ Best Special Visual Effects to the whole special visual effects production team. 1991 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Win: Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. Win: Saturn Award for Best Costumes for Erica Edell Phillips. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Actor for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for Rachel Ticotin, Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Director for Paul Verhoeven. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Writing for Dan O'Bannon, Gary Goldman and Ronald Shusett. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Music for Jerry Goldsmith. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Make-Up for Craig Berkeley, Jeff Dawn, Rob Bottin and Robin Weiss. Nominated: Saturn Award for Best Special Effects for Dream Quest Images, Eric Brevig, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Rob Bottin, Stetson Visual Services and Thomas L. Fisher. 1991 Awards of the Japanese Academy: Nominated: ‘TOTAL RECALL’ Best Foreign Film. 1991 BMI Film & TV Awards: Win: BMI Film Music Award for Jerry Goldsmith. 1991 Hugo Awards: Nominated: Best Dramatic Presentation for Paul Verhoeven (director), Ronald Shusett (story/screenplay), Dan O'Bannon (story/screenplay), Gary Goldman (screenplay), Jon Povill (story) and Philip K. Dick (inspired by the short story). 1991 Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA: Win: Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Dialogue for Scott Hecker (supervising dialogue editor). Win: Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing in Sound Effects for David Bartlett. 2011 20/20 Awards: Win: Felix Award for ‘TOTAL RECALL’ Best Visual Effects. Nominated: Felix Award for ‘TOTAL RECALL’ Best Sound Design.
FILM FACT No.2: The original screenplay was written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the writers of Alien, who wrote the initial script before their collaboration on Alien. They had bought the rights to Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" while Dick was still alive. Unable to find a backer for the project, it drifted into development hell, passing from studio to studio for several years, during which time approximately forty drafts of the script were written. With a budget of $50 to 60 million, ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ was one of the most expensive films made at the time of its release, although estimates of its production budget vary and whether it ever actually held the record is not certain. Much of the filming took place in 20th March, 1989 to 23rd August, 1989 on location in Mexico City and at Estudios Churubusco. The futuristic subway station and vehicles are actually part of the Mexico City Metro, with the subway cars painted grey and television monitors added. The interior of the metro stations Chabacano and Universidad and the exterior of the metro station Insurgents were shot. The film was initially given an X rating, one of the last films to be given such a rating.
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Ronny Cox, Michael Ironside, Marshall Bell, Mel Johnson Jr., Michael Champion, Roy Brocksmith, Ray Baker, Rosemary Dunsmore, David Knell, Alexia Robinson, Dean Norris, Mark Carlton, Debbie Lee Carrington, Lycia Naff, Robert Costanzo, Michael LaGuardia, Priscilla Allen, Ken Strausbaugh, Marc Alaimo, Michael Gregory, Ken Gildin, Mickey Jones, Parker Whitman, Ellen Gollas, Gloria Dorson, Erika Carlsson, Benny Corral, Bob Tzudiker, Erik Cord, Frank Kopyc, Chuck Sloan, Dave Nicolson, Paula McClure, Rebecca Ruth, Milt Tarver, Roger Cudney, Monica Steuer, Sasha Rionda, Linda Howell, Robert Picardo (Voice of Johnnycab), Kamala Lopez (Additional Voices), Morgan Lofting (Additional Voices), Patti Attar (Additional Voices), Bob Bergen (Additional Voices), Joe Unger (Additional Voices), Karlyn Michelson (Additional Voices), Andy Armstrong (uncredited), Frank Allen Forbes (uncredited), Allan Graf (uncredited), Peter Kent (uncredited), Joel Kramer (uncredited) and Bennie Moore (uncredited)
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Producers: Andrew G. Vajna, Buzz Feitshans, David Rodgers, Elliot Schick, Mario Kassar, Robert Fentress and Ronald Shusett
Screenplay: Philip K. Dick (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale") (inspiration), Dan O'Bannon (screen story/screenplay), Jon Povill (screen story), Ronald Shusett (screen story/screenplay) and Gary Goldman (screenplay)
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography: Jost Vacano, B.V.K. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby ATMOS
English: 7.1 Dolby TrueHD
English: 2.0 DTS Stereo Audio
French: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
German: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
German: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
English: 2.0 DTS Stereo Audio
Subtitles: French, German and English SDH
Running Time: 113 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 2
Studio: CAROLCO Pictures / TriStar Pictures / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘TOTAL RECALL’ [1990] In the future, Douglas Quaid [Arnold Schwarzenegger] keeps dreaming about Mars, even though he has never been there. Douglas Quaid also dreams about a mysterious woman Melina [Rachel Ticotin] he has never met, much to the concern of his wife Lori [Sharon Stone]. On a whim he visits a company that can implant the memories of a vacation, and chooses a "trip" to Mars. The process goes wrong, and perhaps unlocks something inside Douglas Quaid's brain. People begin chasing him, and he decides to travel to Mars to find out what's going on. He finds evidence of his previous identity, "Hauser," and some clues to what's really going on: It all ties into a plot to control the air supply on Mars. But how many layers does this mystery have, and how can Douglas Quaid tell what's real?
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, ‘TOTAL RECALL’ is a story by sci-fi cult legend Philip K. Dick who also wrote the novels "Blade Runner” and “Minority Report,” and Paul Verhoeven starts out with some great ideas. The sci-fi film plays around with several, rather brilliant layers and themes of "reality" versus "illusion," including a fight scene in which the heroes make holograms of themselves to fool the bad guys.
‘TOTAL RECALL’ perfectly blends Arnold Schwarzenegger’s dynamic persona with Paul Verhoeven’s distinct ability to mix effective action with tongue-in-cheek science fiction. Set in the year 2048, Schwarzenegger plays a construction worker named Douglas Quaid who is having peculiar dreams about Mars. After his dreams are dismissed by his wife Lori as mere fantasies, Douglas Quaid opts to undergo a procedure at a company named “Rekall” which implants artificial memories as a substitute for a vacation.
When implanted, the memories become as genuine to the individual as possible. Douglas Quaid specifically requests memories as a secret agent on Mars. However, something goes haywire during the procedure. It’s shown that Douglas Quaid may have actually been on Mars and his dreams are actually his suppressed memories of his old life resurfacing. With the apparent discovery that his current identity is a complete fabrication, Douglas Quaid journeys to Mars on a mission to uncover the truth behind his predicament.
The strength of ‘TOTAL RECALL’ lies in its futuristic take on something like ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ or ‘The Bourne Identity.’ Paul Verhoeven and the screenwriters do an excellent job of providing some ambiguity throughout the film. It’s made to look as if his repressed memories are genuine given the appearance of Lori in one of his dreams attempting to snap him out of it.
The owner of “Rekall” even tempts Schwarzenegger to take a pill he claims would wake him up. At the same time, ‘TOTAL RECALL’ finds himself entangled with a woman named Melina who bears a near perfect resemblance to the woman in his dreams. Both female roles are rather underwritten, but their characters are never portrayed as weak or foolish.
Every great action sci-fi film always needs a great villain and the film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ boasts two but they’re broken up between the industrial business tycoon and their hired muscle. Ronny Cox brings the right amount of smug and egotism to the role of Cohaaagen and he is upstaged by the side villain. Lt. Richter [Michael Ironside] handles all the dirty deeds for Vilos Cohaagen but is provided extra incentive to take care of Douglas Quaid given he’s the man Lori’s heart truly belongs to. Vilos Cohaagen and Lt. Richter make for a great pairing of movie villains.
Although ‘TOTAL RECALL’ is an adaptation of author Philip K. Dick short story entitled “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” it’s a loose adaptation at best. It lacks the profound thematic elements of his other novel “Blade Runner,” but it’s definitely got more to it than the majority of other Arnold Schwarzenegger films and Arnold Schwarzenegger himself is not the prototypical hero Philip K. Dick’s stories. They’re frequently described as scrubby middle aged men who are feeling their aches and pains. For obvious reasons, Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t fit into that description. As a science fiction action adventure, ‘TOTAL RECALL’ delivers as exactly that. It’s filled with fantastic futuristic imagery, trademark Paul Verhoeven satire, and memorable Arnold Schwarzenegger antics and classic lounge in cheek lines.
In ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ Arnold Schwarzenegger fits the part perfectly in Paul Verhoeven’s world; the sci-fi film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ exposes Arnold Schwarzenegger much more, and makes him attractively vulnerable. Arnold Schwarzenegger became a star after he turned himself into the big muscle-mechanic in films like ‘Predator’ and ‘Commando.’
Paul Verhoeven, working from an often-rewritten screenplay distantly based on Philip K. Dick’s brilliant 1966 short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” keeps ringing these truth-or-illusion changes throughout the sci-fi film. And if the sci-fi film sometimes seems overwhelmed by its budget and its legendary third-act, it’s still wonderfully entertainingly over the top, raw and unashamedly brutal, and full of whiplash pace and juicy exaggeration to make this sci-fi film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ a totally guilty pleasure of a sci-fi film, that with repeat viewing still keeps on the edge of your seat for the whole of the 113 glorious mind blowing minutes.
TOTAL RECALL MUSIC TRACK LIST
MUTANT DANCING (Written by Bruno Louchouarn) [Performed by Bruno Louchouarn]
RUBBLE CITY (Written by Bruno Louchouarn) [Performed by Bruno Louchouarn]
RUNNING OUT OF AIR (Written by Bruno Louchouarn) [Performed by Bruno Louchouarn]
JA, VI ELSKER DETTE LANDET (uncredited) (Written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – STUDIOCANAL presents us the film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ with an absolutely wonderful stunning brand new 4K restoration, and of course really enhanced with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This is an all new high definition transfer supervised and approved by director Paul Verhoeven and struck from the original camera negative. As evidenced by the restoration comparison included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, the results are rather dramatic. Contrast is markedly better in this presentation, as is the Technicolor timing and especially saturation. Despite the plethora of scenes bathed in red, fine object detail pop impressively out of the screen, especially with close- ups. No extreme digital tweaking appears to be in evidence, so this transfer has a beautifully filmic appearance, with a nice layer of fine grain overlaying the entire film. ‘TOTAL RECALL’ was done in the days of practical and optical effects, and those occasionally show their age, but not to any real detrimental effect. I was surprised at how fresh this film looks. The source material is in good shape and ‘TOTAL RECALL’ looks pleasingly film-like. ‘TOTAL RECALL’ main colour scheme is red for the planet Mars, which is always a challenge for image to reproduce accurately and cleanly. Yet hues are very stable here with no apparent noise, and are certainly more eye-popping than on any previous standard definition inferior DVD version. The sense of depth and clarity of fine details is just not incredibly three-dimensional. Most impressive are the everyday early scenes before Quaid/Hauser takes off to Mars, and this 2020 upgrade is totally awesome and so far it is definitely the best Blu-ray release of ‘TOTAL RECALL’ and a definite upgrade is a must. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – STUDIOCANAL brings us the film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ with several audio experiences that includes a stunning Dolby ATMOS [7.1 Dolby TrueHD] so because I have not at the moment got this facility, I had to view it in 2.0 DTS Stereo Audio and the audio track is an incredible audio experience, completely immersive and wonderfully impressive. The film zooms from set piece to set piece with an abundance of gunfire, snapping bones and other sound effects clearly directional and rendered with excellent fidelity. Dialogue and Jerry Goldsmith's nicely bombastic composed film score are well prioritized and are delivered cleanly and clearly. Dynamic range is extremely wide and is utilized very effectively in several key sequences. Surround sound use is also well done and consistently engaging. The action scenes are the main beneficiaries, with some effective uses of panning effects between all four main channels, but ambiance is noticeable, too. Again, Jerry Goldsmith's score is nicely directed to various speakers at key moments, such as the scene where the Sharon Stone character's true motivations are revealed, but at least there was a sincere attempt by the film's sound designers to create a bit of atmosphere. But all in all, the sound experience really brings out the best soundscape for the film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ and definitely gets a top 5 star rating and will definitely make your gusts experience something truly spectacular and they will think they are on Planet Mars.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
DISC ONE
Audio Commentary with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Director Paul Verhoeven: Here we are first introduced to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who informs us very tongue in cheek, that he is the horse galloping towards us, and then Paul Verhoeven introduces himself and informs us he is the director of the film and where the two of them narrate most of what you are seeing the on-screen action, and at the same time you can definitely feel the conversation is clearly one that both of them enjoy each other’s company and now and again make a few funny off the cuff remarks. This is of course the same audio commentary from previous DVD video releases and sometimes it is full of fun, but at one point it became too informative, where Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about "waking up" next to Sharon Stone with not many clothes on. But on this particular scene, where Arnold wakes up from his very vivid dream of being on the red planet of Mars, well in reality, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone and a third person had to book a room in a hotel to do some rehearsing of that particular scene, but the hotel staff gave them a very funny look when handing over the key to the room, as they imagined they were going to get up to some kinky pursuits. When you see Arnold Schwarzenegger running away from the bad guys in the subway and you see him smash the window on the underground train, well Arnold Schwarzenegger really cut his hand really badly and had to have several stitches in that hand. When Arnold Schwarzenegger eventually arrives on the red planet Mars, he says that every time he views this film, he really feels the special effects were very spectacular and was at the time state of the art and he also says that we had the best people working on it 24/7 and were also the most talented crew working to create all the visual effects and also the special effects. When Douglas Quaid aka Carl Hauser and Melina head for the Martian reactor and they come up against nasty Vilos Cohaagen’s military guards and the evil henchman Richter and luckily Douglas Quaid aka Carl Hauser has the hologram item on his wrist, and Arnold feels this is one of his favourite scene in the film, as it was a lot of fun filming it, especially with the massive killing spree shootout and working with Rachel Ticotin and felt they were a good team at that point in the film. Both Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger love to talk a great deal at what they are viewing, but the one criticism I had with Paul Verhoeven is that he keeps repeating that certain scenes were filming with “Blue Screen” and it started to get very monotonous and also stating the obvious. Both of them pretty much narrate the film as it moves along and there are also the occasional titbits about the production, special effects and general thoughts about the plot of the film. But in general, neither provide a great deal of insight though Paul Verhoeven does from time to time offers some worthwhile and interesting information, and also provide about upcoming spoilers to later events that happen in the film, which of course is wise that you first view the film first of all, but only rarely reveal some interesting anecdotes about making the picture. This is quite a good audio commentary, and is also an audio track that is decent enough for big fans of the director Paul Verhoeven and also the star Arnold Schwarzenegger. But most of the time, this is a blast to listen to these two remember working on the film together and you certainly get delivered a constant dialogue of varied details of their shared journey together on a film that had some very tricky technical problems. As we get near to the end of the film, especially with the scene where Douglas Quaid aka Carl Hauser kisses Milena, and the film fades to white, Paul Verhoeven comments that in reality that Douglas Quaid / Carl Hauser’s brain has been lobotomised in the end, especially if you follow the dream story scenario and again that is why Paul Verhoeven wanted the film to fade to white, and not as what happens in the majority of films where it fades to black. Arnold mentions that this audio commentary was recorded in 2001 and also mentions the film was released in 1991, which is technically wrong, but despite this, Arnold is so amazed they are doing this particular audio commentary after a 10 year gap, which again is not quite right, in fact it is a 9 year gap, and again he is amazed how the film still holds up today, especially with the fact that the special effects technology was very basic, compared to the CGI special effects that are created in today’s films, and also is amazed how well everyone acted in the film, and can understand why the film was such a massive box office success around the world, as well as getting great reviews. Arnold also feels this film was pivotal towards his career and was at the time the biggest action film he was involved in, which of course led to the Terminator film franchise. At this point, the end credits has finished and of course the audio commentary also finishes and for me personally it was a really great and interesting audio commentary and I loved the way the two of them bounced off each other and I found some of the information that was revealed about the ins and outs of the film fascinating and is well worth a listen and gets a top rated 5 star rating from me.
Special Feature: Open your Mind: Scoring ‘TOTAL RECALL’ [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1] [20:24] Here we get to view an in-depth exploration of the details of Jerry Goldsmith's composed film score that's essential listening for soundtrack enthusiasts out there and is packed with very interesting trivia, like the fact that the film apparently breaks records by having 30 minutes of continuous score at one point. When Paul Verhoven finished the film ‘Flesh + Blood’[1985] he was very keen to work with Jerry Goldsmith on his next project ‘TOTAL RECALL’ and to do the composed film score, because he knew Jerry Goldsmith would create a world beating film score, because in the 1980’s Jerry Goldsmith was a world beater when it came to film score compositions, and on top of all that Jerry Goldsmith was known as the No.1 Rock Star in composed film scores, because of films like ‘Star Trek – The Motion Picture,’ ‘ALIEN’ and ‘Rambo’ and of course every film that Jerry Goldsmith had composed a film score, people wanted to flock to see the films that Jerry Goldsmith had composed the film score for a particular film, because it really enhanced what the public viewed. Again, the contributors really give great praise about the ultimate film composer Jerry Goldsmith because they all feel he is the Gold Standard of composed film scores. On top of all that, they feel Jerry Goldsmith always wants to experiment with his composed film scores, and that is why he was always in demand from different directors, because they feel it will really enhance their films. Which is really apt when ‘TOTAL RECALL’ starts with the awesome titles and of course the dramatic and totally unique composed film score by Jerry Goldsmith, that really sets up the film from start to finish, and is also totally bold and relentless, and of course whenever you hear a film score by Jerry Goldsmith, you know you are in for the ride of your life, that really again makes you want to see a film a film by composer Jerry Goldsmith and of course subconsciously you do not know why by the end of the film Jerry Goldsmith has put his stamp of approval on that particular film and makes you want to view that film again to take in all that he has composed for that particular film. We are informed that when jerry Goldsmith used an orchestra in Los Angeles to record the soundtrack for ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ the musicians were unable to perform the complicated composed film score, so because jerry Goldsmith was so frustrated, went back to London, because he knew the British musicians were much more professional in performing the complicated composed film score for the film ‘TOTAL RECALL.’ Throughout this special feature, we get a plethora of clips from the film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ that really enhances what the contributors was talking about, especially about the brilliant film composer Jerry Goldsmith and some of the clips we see you get to hear the original film score that was not used for the finished film. Finally, just at the point, this special feature comes to an end, and it was so nice to hear such great praise towards the late great genius Jerry Goldsmith from the contributors, who is now a great loss to us all in someone who did totally brilliant and unique composed film scores, and here’s to the future in the hope of someone of Jerry Goldsmith’s calibre who can produce the same top quality composed film scores. Contributors include: Daniel Schweiger [Film Music Journalist], Jeff Bond [Author / Film Music Historian], Lukas Kendall [Founder of Film Score Monthly] and Robert Townson [Film Music Producer].
Special Feature: Dreamers Within the Dream: Developing ‘TOTAL RECALL’ [Audio only] [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1] [8:26] Here we have a very entertaining and informative featurette with Concept Artist Ron Miller, who talks about that originally David Cronenberg had a specific vision to on wanting to direct the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ and for a short while was initially involved with director Paul Verhoeven when he was asked to come on board to direct the film, and there was at one point of a talk of making David Cronenberg’s version as a sequel, but was quietly forgotten about. Concept Artist Ron Miller was eventually sent the script for the film, and was asked to produce some concept illustrations on how he felt the film should look, especially as it was a sci-fi adventure film set on Planet Mars, and was really excited with the project and of course we get to see some of Ron Miller’s concept illustrations of all aspect of Planet Mars and its terrain and of course the specific structures on Mars where people lived, as well as concept illustrations of space craft’s orbiting around Planet Mars. There was talk of actor Richard Dreyfus being signed up to play the character of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but in the end they felt Arnold Schwarzenegger would give the film a much bigger boost for box office success. With the audio commentary with Ron Miller, we again get a plethora of clips from the film TOTAL RECALL.’ Also Ron Miller comments that he wanted to reflect his design illustrations on how he envisaged what the city on Mars would look like, and again we get to view his actual designed illustrations, and also the designed illustrations of the futuristic vehicles, as well as designed illustrations of the hotels people would stay in. We also get to see the designed illustrations of the Pyramid Mine which was originally going to be an Egyptian Sphinx like structure that the Martians had built, and we get to see the designed illustrations of what would be found inside the Pyramid Mine. As mentioned earlier, we again hear that initially director David Cronenberg was initially contacted to direct the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ but due to circumstances it never happened, but they did feel that maybe they could do it as a sequel, but again as things progressed, this idea was finally never pursued, but maybe way into the future director David Cronenberg’s concept of ‘TOTAL RECALL’ might happen, so watch out for any news in the future. At that point this special feature ends, and I am slightly curious why they did not video this interview of Ron Miller, but as we hear the audio commentary, we again get a plethora of clips from the film ‘TOTAL RECALL.’
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DISC TWO
Special Feature: Total Excess: How CAROLCO Changed Hollywood [2020] [1080p] [2.35:1] [59:22] Here we get to view an amazing insightful hour-long documentary that is narrated by Larry Blamire that really trawls through CAROLCO Pictures history and their massive output of films and their eventual fall from grace in the most spectacular way. It does have some segments on the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ that has the briefest of snippets from director Paul Verhoeven. But the main special feature is that it talks about how CAROLCO changed Hollywood forever, in constantly releasing massive blockbuster films that changed the landscape of the Hollywood movie making business, and was also a massive money making company and at the same time they were about to pay their box office actors $15,000,000 and kept on delivering blockbuster after blockbuster and directors really loved this film company and on top of all that Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna and founder of CAROLCO Pictures [1976 to 1995] never interfered in the making of their films as they had a lot of confidence in the ability of the director to make then a blockbuster movie, and when you see the CAROLCO logo appear on the screen you know you are going to view something truly special, and most of their early films grossed around $520,884, 847. Also directors could not believe how much excessive money they would lavish on a film, but as always the dream never lasts and the two partners Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, decided they wanted to go their own way and Andrew G. Vajna left to form Cinergi Pictures and at the same time sold all of his shares in CAROLCO Pictures and from then on the company would sink like the TITANIC because of the many films that were released at the time were making staggering amount of financial loses, plus there were internal conflicts, financial miss-management of a massive high priced pirate adventure film ‘Cutthroat Island’ [1995] and it was a box office bomb, having one of the highest losses when adjusted for inflation in film history at $147,000,000 and out of all that, the total budget for that film alone was $98,000,000. The two head honchos Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna started out with low budget foreign films, and at the same time Andrew G. Vajna had a high class wig making company in Hong Kong and sold out to his partner and started to buy low budget films and his first success was ‘Deadly China Doll’ [1973] that was directed by Wong Fung for just $100,000 and after that Mario Kassar joined the company in 1975 and became the perfect partnership. They were also linked with Sir Lew Grade at the ITC Company in London. But Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna decided to set up their company in Los Angeles and also got involved with the Canadian Tax Increment Financing where bonds are repaid using business tax revenues generated by the new or improved infrastructure. But over time Mario Kassar got bored with these low budget films and felt they could do much better film on their own. Then by chance came across a screenplay for the film ‘First Blood’ [1983] that of course starred Sylvester Stallone and before that the screenplay had gone through five other studios because they rejected it because they felt it was not a good film, but once the camera started rolling, Sylvester Stallone felt he had a hit on his hands, and because of the success of that film, the next project was the film ‘Rambo: First Blood Part II’ [1985] was released and again everyone felt they had a goldmine on their hands, because the distributors was so impressed with the success of the film ‘First Blood’ and so they threw money like confetti at the CAROLCO Pictures to create a franchise and of course subsequently went onto release ‘Rambo III’ [1988], ‘Rambo’ [2008] and ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ [2019] and of course CAROLCO Pictures went onto make excessive profits out of this franchise, but with the film ‘Rambo: First Blood Part II’ it grossed $300,400,4432 which still stands today as the most money making film in history. But of course Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna thought they were invincible and an unstoppable money making film company and they thought they had the formula for making big box office successful films, and also thought they were the two most powerful men in Hollywood at the time and could do no wrong. After the RAMBO franchise they turned their attention to the 1978 horror novel “Fallen Angel” by author William Hjortsberg which of course eventually was made into the film ‘Angel Heart’ [1987] which was a American neo-noir psychological horror film and was written and directed by Alan Parker, and starred Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet and Charlotte Rampling and Alan Parker asked for just $18,000,000 to make the film and Alan Parker secured the finances without any problems, but sadly it was not a box office success story, but eventually when it was released onto the VHS tape format and with the full uncut version, it was a massive runaway success. Their next project was the film ‘Extreme Prejudice’ [1987] that was in the style of a Sam Peckinpah film and it had a lot of gratuitous killings, but was also about two characters who had a conflict over sharing the love of one woman, and was directed by Walter Hill and had a budget of $20,000,000 and composer Jerry Goldsmith was asked to do the composed film score, but sadly it was a box office disaster and did not even get half the profit back on the film. With the film ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ [2019] was another film that was dogged with serious problems and there was a very serious headaches, delayed shooting schedules and went far too over budget, and decided to pull the plug on this particular franchise. The next film project was ‘Red Heat’ [1998] and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, as Moscow Militia Captain Ivan Danko, and Jim Belushi, as Chicago detective Art Ridzik and again was directed by Walter Hill and they wanted Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in it as they knew that actor would draw in the punters to see this film and its initial release did very well, but soon lost its momentum, but again with the release on the Home Video market it became a runaway success. Their next project was the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ and with the combination of having director Paul Verhoven on board, CAROLCO Pictures and felt this film would have a potential for a massive box office success and it took up nine sound stages and with massive sets and CAROLCO Pictures poured excessive amount of money into this project and the budget was $60,000,000 and of course they were proved right as it was a massive box office smash hit and earned a staggering $250,000,000, especially with a massive world-wide hit and their gamble paid off. But unfortunately Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna had a massive big negative falling out and Mario Kassar wanted to his own way and sold his stock for $106,000,000. That of course left Andrew G. Vajna to run the company CAROLCO Pictures and his next film project was ‘Air America’ [1990] and again it did not do very well at the box office, despite having Mel Gibson as the main actor in the film. The next project was the film ‘Narrow Margin’ [1990] that starred Gene Hackman and Anne Archer. Then they went on to make ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ [1990] that starred Tim Robbins and even though it did well at the cinema in America, unfortunately lost its momentum, and slowly faded away. Their next project was the film ‘The Doors’ [1991] which was an biographical film about the 1960–1970s rock band of the same name, which emphasizes the life of its lead singer, Jim Morrison and Oliver Stone was keen to direct this film after hearing the group The Doors on the radio in Vietnam and struck by the dark lyrics of that particular song and Oliver Stone was keen to have Val Kilmer play the part of Jim Morrison as the director felt Val Kilmer look so much like Jim Morrison and also Val Kilmer actually sang 40% of the songs himself and the film took 13 weeks to shoot at a budget of $50,000,000 and the press and the world was totally fascinated with the shooting of the film, and director Oliver Stone found the whole process very difficult and had never spent so much money to make a film before and sadly it only made $34,000,000. Next they talk about ‘Terminator II: Judgement Day’ [1991] and we are informed it was the most expensive film ever made, but in comparison they talk about the silliest film ever made and that was ‘Piranha II: The Spawning’ [1981] and very embarrassing it was directed by James Cameron, which of course was very ironic because of who the director was and was very easily forgotten about, compared to the film ‘Terminator II: Judgement Day’ and when CAROLCO Pictures was shown the script, they gave I the green light and they bid on the film rights, especially there was legal problems relating to the first ‘Terminator’ film that was owned by Hemdale Film Corporation and paid $17,000,000 for the rights and were able to proceed the make the Terminator sequel, and sources to CAROLCO Pictures, estimated the production costs was upwards of $75,000,000 which included a $14,000,000 Gulfstream Aerospace jet that was bought for the star Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of his salary. But when the film was finally released it was reported that CAROLCO Pictures production costs climbed to $90,000,000 or even $100,000,000 and at that time they were experiencing very bad cash flow problems with the most expensive film ever, and the film and only grossed $35,000,000 in the USA alone, but for the World Wide profit, it had grossed more than $200,000,000 and the stunts alone in the film cost $1,000,000 and again, the film was the largest amount ever spent on stunts. Pre-sales of the film was $91,000,000 and after previews, it then went onto be released in the cinemas and it made a staggering $1.5 billion profit World Wide. Next we take a look at the film ‘Basic Instincts’ [1992] that was there next project, and CAROLCO Pictures paid $3,000,000 for the screenplay and offered the part to Michael Douglas as the troubles detective for a salary of $10,000,000 and of course they hired the legendary director Paul Verhoven and we are informed they had total freedom in making the film, and of course they hired the actress Sharon Stone that really made her an overnight success around the world, and the film went onto make $350,000,000, but while that happened, in the meantime they were looking at another project to film and that was ‘Gale Force’ and was going to be directed by Renny Harlen and was to star Sylvester Stallone, but again with financial problems brewing, because CAROLCO Pictures had been borrowing excessive amounts of money, and eventually had to drop the project. There next film project was ‘Universal Soldier’ [1992] that they hoped would give the a World Wide box office success and was pure CAROLCO Pictures and of course starred Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren and was directed by Roland Emmerich, despite all this, sadly it only had a short success and of course faded away and was only resurrected with the release on the Home Video Market that was partially a success. CAROLCO Pictures then turned to their next film project with the film ‘Chaplin’ [1992] a biographical comedy-drama film about the life of British comedian Charlie Chaplin that had been floated about for many years, and produced and directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Hopkins as the ghost writer, but sadly with some many luminaries involved with the film, it was another film that failed miserably at the box office and only brought in $16,000,000, which was half of what it was made for which was $32,000,000, but again had a slight success with the Home Video Market. There next film project they were hoping for success was ‘Cliffhanger’ [1993] which was an American action-adventure film directed by Renny Harlin and starring Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker and Janine Turner, and the screenplay was by Michael France and Sylvester Stallone which was bought by CAROLCO Pictures for $50,000 and with lots of production problems, it was hemagering very badly with massive debt problems, because of mounting cost problems, but despite this the film ‘Cliffhanger’ is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the costliest aerial stunt ever performed. Stuntman Simon Crane was paid $1,000,000 to perform the aerial transfer scene, where he crossed between two planes at an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) and it had a budget of $70,000,000, but the box office return was $255,000,000 which went mainly towards all the incredible stunt work they looked amazing, as well as all the incredible amazing miniature models that made it look really realistic, so I suppose that was money well spent on that part of the film, but because of the deal that had to do to get the film made, little of the profit never made it back to CAROLCO Pictures, which was very badly needed to be able to make future films. Their next film project was ‘Wagon East’ [1994] which was a very scaled back production, especially with less staff and not very well known actors, because CAROLCO Pictures had lost $88,000,000 in 1993 and was down by $265,000,000 in the red in 1991, which didn’t help because they were involved with the home video retailer LIVE Entertainment Inc., which was also in very serious financial troubles, but they thought there next film project ‘Stargate’ [1994] would rescue them, and they hired Roland Emmerich [Director/Co-Writer] and of course starred Kurt Russell and made $197,000,000. Then unfortunately their next film project turned out to be the most gigantic turkey ever made, and that was of course ‘Showgirls’ [1995], and even with the director Paul Verhoven could not save the film, and was given the budget of $45,000,000 and because they wanted it to be without a film rating, it still could not save the over the top sleazy pretentious film, and word spread like wildfire with so many rumours, because it crossed all the lines with its excessive nudity, and also lots of other dangerous sexual proclivity, and on top of all that, they would not do any previews of the film, and director Paul Verhoven was so arrogant in his attitude towards the editor Mark Helfrinch who suggested that some scenes should be deleted, on top of all that, excessive money was being thrown at the film like it was going out of fashion, even though CAROLCO Pictures was going into very serious and dangerous debt, and when ‘Showgirls’ was finally released, it got the most serious negative reviews ever, as well as getting 7 Razzie Awards, and got comments like “A Rich Sleazy Kitsch-Fest!” and lost $100,000,000 and was also unanimously commented by everyone as one of the most offensive film ever made. Another embarrassing blockbuster film that CAROLCO Pictures embarked on was ‘Cutthroat Island’ [1995] and naively thought it was going to be a winner, even having stars like Genna Davis and Michael Douglas could not save the film, and of course CAROLCO Pictures was getting more and more dangerously deeper in debt and on top of all that, even director Renny Harlin could not save the so over the top pretentious pirate film, and even more bad news, Michael Douglas cut and ran, as he could see the film sinking to the bottom of the sea, and again the budget was spiralling out of control and already it had passed the $58,000,000 mark, whereas the original budget was for $17,000,000, and despite all of these serious problems, they started to look at another potential film project entitled ‘Crusade’ and was going to star Arnold Schwarzenegger and was going to be filmed in England, Spain and Morocco, and they had already built massive sets at Pinewood Studios in England, as well as making costumes in Rome and also making chain male in Hong Kong, and in the end they had to completely shut down the whole project and again they had already spent vast amounts of money on this project. So with the disastrous film ‘Cutthroat Island,’ it was the end of the road for CAROLCO Pictures, despite the film making $10,000,000, which of course was so surprising, as people who went to see the film when released, you would only find a maximum of five people watching the film, and so it was the final straw that broke the camel’s back, and CAROLCO Pictures went out with a massive bang and in a total mess with massive financial debts that they had no way of paying back. After CINERGI closed its doors, Andrew G. Vajna re-teamed again with Mario Kassar to produce the film ‘Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machine’ [2003]. Andrew G. Vajna returned to his native Budapest and became deeply involved in Television, as well as Theatrical Films and Documentaries, but sadly Andrew G. Vajna died in Hungary in 2019 at the age of 74. Mario Kassar relaunched CAROLCO Pictures in 2015, and served as Executive Producer for successful TV series, like “Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles.” Mario Kassar is currently making low budget films of all kinds of genre in Asia and around the world. And as they say, “That’s All Folks!” and I found this very special feature really totally fascinating documentary and something you could not make up, and showed you how the mighty fall. This was a Ballyhoo Motion Pictures production. Unfortunately, with this special feature there are no insightful recorded interviews with Arnold Schwarzenegger for his involvement with the release of the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ which is such a shame, because their 30-year perspective would have been interesting, plus it might have been fun to hear what they thought of the instantly forgotten and ghastly ‘TOTAL RECALL’ remake? Contributors include: Larry Blamire [Narrator], Paul Verhoeven [Director], Michael Douglas [Actor/Producer], David J. Moore [Author / Film Historian], Oliver Stone [Director/Producer], Mark Goldblatt [Editor], George P. Cosmatos [Director] (Archive Interview), Mark Helfrinch [Editor], Alan Parker [Director/Producer] (Archive Interview), Walter Hill [Director] (Archive Interview), Oliver Stone [Director] and Robert Latham Brown [Unit Production Manager].
Special Feature: MODELS & SKELETONS: The Special Effects of ‘TOTAL RECALL’ [2010] [1080p / 480i] [1.78:1 / 1.37:1] [23:15] Here we get to view an in-depth really interesting look at the then state of the art of special effects for the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ as it was all very new territory. Mark Stetson informs us that it was their first largest project for his company Stetson Visual Services Inc. in 1989, and Mark Stetson began his film career in 1978 as a model maker on ‘Star Trek – The Motion Picture.’ Mark Stetson was fortunate to spend his first decade working for visual effects luminaries Robert Abel, Douglas Trumbull and Richard Edlund, learning the arts and techniques of visual effects as the industry transitioned from triumphs of clever mechanical gizmos and photochemical alchemy into the liberation of the digital age. Despite being 45 miles from the film studio, they had to travel to Dream Quest Images, who was the primary vendor and they hired Stetson Visual Services and headed by Mark Stetson, to create the miniatures for the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ and Stetson Visual Services rented out a massive warehouse of 20,000 square feet in Los Angeles to expand their production for the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ because they wanted to really produce something very professional in not letting people when viewing the film that they were viewing a Martian landscape that was a model, they also built the miniature railway carriages, as well as the interior of the Martian Reactor, as well as the special effects for when the Martian Reactor creates an atmosphere for the Planet Mars. So when they had assembles some of the special models in Los Angeles, they then had to deliver them to be assembled where Dream Quest Images was and when Mark Stetson arrived with the pieces, they assembled the miniature model sets on the stages at Dream Quest Images. Then MetroLight handled the X-ray sequences in the film. When you see Arnold Schwarzenegger on the train on Mars, what they did was film him and then they did a rear projection onto a tiny screen om the window, to make you think Arnold Schwarzenegger was actually on a real train carriage. We again get lots of rare behind-the-scene filming, especially Paul Verhoeven being very animated directing the scenes. Stetson Visual Services used a lot of front projection technique for a lot of the special effects, and because of the Mars landscape is red dust, Stetson Visual Services was very worried about the colour saturation when viewed via a VHS Tape Cassette, because the colour red would be very severe and you would experience what you call “colour noise” of the red colour and they spoke to Paul Verhoeven about their worry, but turned to them and commented arrogantly that he could not care less about the Home Video market, all he cared about was that he wanted a very strong red colour for the Planet Mars when people viewed the film. When filming had finally finished, they took all the Mars landscape models outside and had a massive party smashing everything up. Tim McGovern talks about the big problems with the skeleton special effects scenes with Arnold Schwarzenegger, which we see some rough behind-the-scene video, and of course says that today the CGI would all be done on the computer, because they had some serious technical problems and also was annoyed that when the film was released and they watched a preview and when the end credits appeared they were annoyed that their personal names were not mentioned for the special effects, but when they did a brand new film release their names were eventually resolved and their names were added with the end credits. By the way, Tim McGovern was one of four men on the special effects team who went home with Oscars for their work on the ‘TOTAL RECALL’ film. All in all this is a very interesting and fascinating special feature. Contributors include: Mark Stetson [Miniature Effects Co-supervisor] and Tim McGovern [CGI Special Visual Effects Director].
Special Feature: The Making of ‘TOTAL RECALL’ [1990] [480i] [1.37:1] [8:03] Here we get to view a vintage promotional documentary about the making of the Arnold Schwarzenegger spectacular special effects science-fiction hit ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ which includes clips from the film playing out in between cast and crew interviews. This made-for-TV documentary treats us science fiction fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of ‘TOTAL RECALL’ where Paul Verhoeven's film is about an ordinary man who suddenly discovers he has memories of being part of an interplanetary resistance movement, who share their experiences from working on the project, as well as discussing the special efforts that went into bringing it to completion. We get to see the Make-Up Artists at work, as well as seeing again the intricate storyboard illustrations. Contributors include: Paul Verhoeven [Director], Ronald Shusett [Co-Screenwriter], Eric Brevig [Visual Effects Supervisor], Rob Bottin [Special Make-Up & Effects Department], Michael Ironside [Lt Richter], Ronny Cox [Vilos Cohaagen], Arnold Schwarzenegger [Douglas Quaid], Sharon Stone [Lori], Vic Armstrong [Second Unit director], William Sandell [Production Designer] and Rachel Ticotin [Melina].
Special Feature: Imagining ‘TOTAL RECALL’ [2001] [1080i] [1.37:1] [30:12] With this featurette by ARTISAN Home Entertainment, it presents us with a vintage documentary featuring interviews with the cast and crew all describing their years of work to bring the story to the film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ to the screen, and take the audience on a journey into the unknown. They talk about how the film came to fruition when they came across the short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by American pulp fiction writer Philip K. Dick, that was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in April 1966 and it features a melding of reality, false memory, and real memory. We hear that seven directors were approached to make the film and most of them thought it was an impossible film to make, but when director Paul Verhoeven read the script he was well up for the challenge to film it. A few years before filming started, Arnold Schwarzenegger had read the script and was very enthusiastic and was keen to get it off the ground, despite the fact he was not very well known in the film industry, but pulling a few strings and backing it 100%, got the go ahead with the project and of course the deal was that Arnold Schwarzenegger had to play the main character in the film. We again get lots of behind-the-scene filming. Jerry Goldsmith really loved working with the director Paul Verhoeven as he understood what the composer wanted to achieve with the composed film music score for the film ‘TOTAL RECALL’ and really enjoyed the experience, especially not wanting the music to sound pedestrian. When the film was released, a certain minority complained about the violence in the film, but of course in reality it is just a fantasy film, not reality, and of course with any film that stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, you of course will get violence in 90% of his films, but of course those people who complained were proved wrong, as the film was again a massive box office hit around the world. Contributors include: Ronald Shusett [Co-Screenwriter], Gary Goldman [Co-Screenwriter], Paul Verhoeven [Director], Arnold Schwarzenegger [Douglas Quaid], William Sandell [Production Designer], Frank J. Urioste [Editor], Eric Brevig [Visual Effects Supervisor], Rachel Ticotin [Melina], Sharon Stone [Lori], Rachel Ticotin [Melina], Tim McGovern [CGI Special Visual Effects Director], Rob Bottin [Special Make-Up & Effects Department] and Jerry Goldsmith [Composer].
Theatrical Trailer [1990] [1080p] [1.85:1] [1:30] This is the 2020 STUDIOCANAL Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘TOTAL RECALL,’ and it is a truly amazing and spectacular with the 4K re-mastered image presentation.
Finally, ‘TOTAL RECALL’ is rip-roaring slice of sci-fi excess and remains Arnold Schwarzenegger's most satisfying film since his breakthrough hit, ‘The Terminator.’ Director Paul Verhoeven, armed with a smart script from Ronald Shusett, Gary Goldman and Dan O'Bannon and again it is loosely based on a short story by cult novelist Philip K Dick, and cuts loose with a gloriously over-the-top mix of black humour, ultra-violence and spectacular over the top special effects and the result was a massive worldwide hit. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the dull construction worker on a futuristic Earth, who is drawn into a conspiracy on the Planet Mars when a virtual reality holiday awakens long-dormant memories. Ronny Cox, fresh from his bad-guy role in Paul Verhoeven's ‘RoboCop,’ and delivers another villainous performance, and is ably assisted by the equally menacing Michael Ironside. However, the real find turned out to be Sharon Stone; who had been on the fringes of Hollywood for quite a long time, but it was Sharon Stone’s performance that led to her star-making role in Paul Verhoeven's next film ‘Basic Instinct.’ ‘TOTAL RECALL’ can be viewed as an Arnold Schwarzenegger film, and ‘TOTAL RECALL’ is a massive step forward and is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best vehicle since the film ‘The Terminator.’ Viewed as a Paul Verhoeven movie, it’s a step back from “RoboCop.” It has the same velocity and ferocity, but not the same control, impudence or incandescence. Split all the way through, ‘TOTAL RECALL’ that is rated R for the nudity, sex scenes, language and extreme violence, soars when it sends up its conventions in the best way possible, and that is why ‘TOTAL RECALL’ is one of the ultimate sci-fi film ever, that gets better with each viewing and it has been one of my all-time favourite sci-fi film for a very long time. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
