The Corner Penthouse

Krull arrives on Blu-ray as part of Mill Creek Entertainment's Retro VHS Look Series, part of a growing trend of physical media releases with packaging designed to look like the VHS videocassettes of the 1980s and 1990s. I have reviewed several other titles in the series here on The Corner Penthouse.


Krull (1983) is the story of a mystical time and place that belongs to neither the past nor the present, where extraordinary creatures of myth work their incredible magic, and where a horrific, omnipotent Beast is the ruler. This is the planet of Krull! Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall) sets out on a daring mission to rescue his young bride Lyssa (Lysette Anthony), who is held captive by the Beast. Slayers and alien beings under the command of the Beast oppose him at every turn. Colwyn must first reach a faraway cavern to recover the legendary Glaive, a flying blade capable of phenomenal powers.


Variety once described the movie as "Excalibur meets Star Wars", and that's certainly as apt of a description as one could give. It has all of the sword and sorcery of Excalibur, with a little bit of the laser weapons and space opera of Star Wars. It's a mix that shouldn't work, but it does. The gorgeous location photography, creative set design of the Beast's lair (I have to wonder if production designer Stephen Grimes was inspired by rock album artwork), and beautiful score by Oscar winning composer James Horner help to make everything work, too.


As do the performances by all involved, which helps to elevate the rather simple "prince on a quest to save a princess" story. Ken Marshall imbues a sense of honest heroicness into Prince Colwyn that is reminiscent of Cary Elwes' later performance as Westley in The Princess Bride. While Lysette Anthony's Princess Lyssa is your standard damsel in distress, she does get a few moments to shine, even though her voice is dubbed by American actress Lindsay Crouse. The band of misfits that accompany Colwyn on his quest are worthy of a spin-off movie of their own. Notable are David Battley as the bumbling Ergo (comic relief that's actually funny); Alun Armstrong as the thief leader Torquil; and in early roles, Liam Neeson as Kegan (you can tell he was destined for bigger things), and Robbie Coltrane as Rhun (whose voice is dubbed by Michael Elphick).


While I felt that the film dragged in a few spots - it IS two hours long, after all - I enjoyed going on this journey with Prince Colwyn and his motley crew. My only real complaint - aside from the two (unnecessary?) dubbed voices - is that I would have liked more from the Princess Lyssa character than being a standard damsel in distress. It makes me wonder if her last name is Toadstool :-)


Krull is presented in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 2:00:51. On the audio side, there is only an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. There are no subtitles. Also, there are only five chapters for the entire movie (the last 35 minutes are in one chapter). The movie ends with the Sony Pictures Television logo, indicating that this was sourced from a print made for current premium cable showings.


As is the case with most Mill Creek Entertainment releases, there are no special features. Normally that wouldn't be too much of a problem, but Sony released Krull as a  Special Edition  DVD back in 2001, and it contained a LOT of special features. An audio commentary with the director and lead actors, the theatrical trailer, a vintage making of featurette, the reading of a Cinefantastique article as a commentary track, over 200 gallery images, and a video adaptation of the Marvel Comics Krull comic book. It's beyond sad that not a single one of these things is on this Blu-ray disc. It suspect that it's because it would have cost Mill Creek extra money for the rights to these things, and being a budget company, they want to keep costs as low as possible so they can price their products as low as possible. I get that; but it's just sad that all that stuff is missing here. Thankfully, used copies of that DVD are dirt cheap these days, so buy a copy, then take that disc, this Blu-ray disc, and put them in a two-disc Blu-ray case with the retro slipsleeve around it and you'll have yourself a nice retro combo pack.


The real "bonus feature" here is the vintage-looking VHS-inspired slipsleeve, with faux wear and tear, and fake "rental stickers" on it, while giving the appearance of a videocassette being pulled out from the right side (though the original VHS may have been in a bottom-loading box), complete with tape label side on the right spine. Here's a complete look at this special slipsleeve. Click on it to get a better look.


The front artwork is based on the original U.S. VHS box art, as seen below. Ghostbusters fans will recognize this box style as most of the 1980s RCA/Columbia Home Video VHS releases came in boxes with a thick red border around the edge, like this. The back of the slipsleeve bears a similarity to the original VHS box art, using the same photos, but in a different orientation.


The case artwork underneath is of a modern style, which means that the VHS-style slipsleeve may only be available for a limited time. In the photo below, the slipsleeve cover is on the left and the case artwork underneath is on the right.


If you're not already aware of Mill Creek Entertainment, they are a budget company, which results in their products having a lower cost than the big studios. Right now, Krull is listed on Amazon for less than $10. To have all of the special features, you'll need to also buy a copy of the old  Special Edition  DVD to go along with this Blu-ray.


The Retro VHS Look Series includes the following Blu-ray releases. Do note that there is a new 1990s-centric Retro VHS Look Series from Mill Creek. That is a separate series from this one.



Images used come from the Internet Movie Database gallery of the film. The Blu-ray has been provided by Mill Creek Entertainment for review on this site.