Blood Simple
starring: Van Brooks, William Creamer, Raquel Gavia, John Getz, Nancy Ginger
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Product Description:
A man hires a sleazy private eye to have his wife & her lover killed byt the killer decides that murdering the husband would be the perfect crime instead.Studio: Tcfhe/mgmRelease Date: 09/16/2008Starring: M Emmett Walsh Dan HedayaRun time: 96 minutesRating: R
Amazon.com essential video:
The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer EthanCoen, 1983's Blood Simple is grisly comic noir that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. (Imagine the novels of Jim Thompson somehow fused with the comic tabloid Weird Tales, and you get the idea.) The story concerns a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires a seedy private detective (M. Emmett Walsh) to follow his cheating wife (Frances McDormand in her first film appearance), and then kill her and her lover (John Getz). The gumshoe turns the tables on his client, and suddenly a bad situation gets much, much worse, with some violent goings-on that are as elemental as they are shocking. (A scene in which a character who has been buried alive suddenly emerges from his own grave instantly becomes an archetypal nightmare.) Shot by Barry Sonnenfeld before he became an A-list director in Hollywood, Blood Simple established the hyperreal look and feel of the Coens' productions (undoubtedly inspired a bit by filmmaker Sam Raimi, whose The Evil Dead had just been coedited by Joel). Sections of the film have proved to be an endurance test for art-house movie fans, particularly an extended climax that involves one shock after another but ends with a laugh at the absurdity of criminal ambition. This is definitely one of the triumphs of the 1980s and the American independent film scene in general. --Tom Keogh
A man hires a sleazy private eye to have his wife & her lover killed byt the killer decides that murdering the husband would be the perfect crime instead.Studio: Tcfhe/mgmRelease Date: 09/16/2008Starring: M Emmett Walsh Dan HedayaRun time: 96 minutesRating: R
Amazon.com essential video:
The debut film of director Joel Coen and his brother-producer EthanCoen, 1983's Blood Simple is grisly comic noir that marries the feverish toughness of pulp thrillers with the ghoulishness of even pulpier horror. (Imagine the novels of Jim Thompson somehow fused with the comic tabloid Weird Tales, and you get the idea.) The story concerns a Texas bar owner (Dan Hedaya) who hires a seedy private detective (M. Emmett Walsh) to follow his cheating wife (Frances McDormand in her first film appearance), and then kill her and her lover (John Getz). The gumshoe turns the tables on his client, and suddenly a bad situation gets much, much worse, with some violent goings-on that are as elemental as they are shocking. (A scene in which a character who has been buried alive suddenly emerges from his own grave instantly becomes an archetypal nightmare.) Shot by Barry Sonnenfeld before he became an A-list director in Hollywood, Blood Simple established the hyperreal look and feel of the Coens' productions (undoubtedly inspired a bit by filmmaker Sam Raimi, whose The Evil Dead had just been coedited by Joel). Sections of the film have proved to be an endurance test for art-house movie fans, particularly an extended climax that involves one shock after another but ends with a laugh at the absurdity of criminal ambition. This is definitely one of the triumphs of the 1980s and the American independent film scene in general. --Tom Keogh
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- So entangled and so funnily excessive
Jealousy, affairs and counter affairs, private eyes and sleuth, fishing and phishing in the private life of other people, the Coen Brothers are at it again. It was obvious the cuckold was not supposed to hire the private eye to eliminate his spouse and her lover. It was obvious too the lover was not supposed to get back to the bar of the cuckold, find the dead body - but was he dead really - and then get rid of it in some field, a live burial mind you. It was obvious the private eye should not have ... Read More
Rating: - The Art of Communication
This DVD version seems to have tampered with the original movie quite a lot, as far as I can tell from the discussions about it. Since I never watched the film before, surprisingly, that is not an issue for me. So my positive opinion of the film is not a statement on the quality of this special DVD edition.
The film is, pure and simple, basic and essential Coen brothers. There is a straight line to Fargo and the latest, as per this moment, Burn after Reading. Criminals are bunglers. Situations ... Read More
Rating: - Great Movie with Hilarious commentary
The "director's cut" is pretty much identical to the regular version, but there is a deliberately pompous intro sequence, and an even funnier optional voice over commentary from a pretentious "film critic" with some real issues. The commentary was obviously written by the Coen brothers themselves as a parody of their academic critics, some of whom become obsessed with trivial details. The account of how the opening sequence was supposedly filmed had me literally rolling on the floor!
As ... Read More
Rating: 
- disapointed
simplistic for Coen Brothers movie.I wish I had the time back that I spend watching this movie.
Rating: - Blood Simple is a Terrifying Film
I first saw this movie working overnight in a group home.All alone with the lights off, I was terrified.Something about burying people alive terrifies me.The movie shows two very young and inexperienced directors making a horror movie with few special effects andinstead paying some great actors.It is scary and wonderful.I saw it in the theaters once and that was great too.A terrific little scary movie with the right combination of suspense, blood and eeriness to make it a classic.
- So entangled and so funnily excessiveJealousy, affairs and counter affairs, private eyes and sleuth, fishing and phishing in the private life of other people, the Coen Brothers are at it again. It was obvious the cuckold was not supposed to hire the private eye to eliminate his spouse and her lover. It was obvious too the lover was not supposed to get back to the bar of the cuckold, find the dead body - but was he dead really - and then get rid of it in some field, a live burial mind you. It was obvious the private eye should not have ... Read More
- The Art of CommunicationThis DVD version seems to have tampered with the original movie quite a lot, as far as I can tell from the discussions about it. Since I never watched the film before, surprisingly, that is not an issue for me. So my positive opinion of the film is not a statement on the quality of this special DVD edition.
The film is, pure and simple, basic and essential Coen brothers. There is a straight line to Fargo and the latest, as per this moment, Burn after Reading. Criminals are bunglers. Situations ... Read More
- Great Movie with Hilarious commentaryThe "director's cut" is pretty much identical to the regular version, but there is a deliberately pompous intro sequence, and an even funnier optional voice over commentary from a pretentious "film critic" with some real issues. The commentary was obviously written by the Coen brothers themselves as a parody of their academic critics, some of whom become obsessed with trivial details. The account of how the opening sequence was supposedly filmed had me literally rolling on the floor!
As ... Read More
- disapointedsimplistic for Coen Brothers movie.I wish I had the time back that I spend watching this movie.
- Blood Simple is a Terrifying FilmI first saw this movie working overnight in a group home.All alone with the lights off, I was terrified.Something about burying people alive terrifies me.The movie shows two very young and inexperienced directors making a horror movie with few special effects andinstead paying some great actors.It is scary and wonderful.I saw it in the theaters once and that was great too.A terrific little scary movie with the right combination of suspense, blood and eeriness to make it a classic.
