Badlands - Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)

Badlands - Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)Badlands announced the arrival of a major talent: Terrence Malick. His impressionistic take on the notorious Charles Starkweather killing spree of the late 1950s uses a serial killer narrative as a springboard for an oblique teenage romance, lovingly and idiosyncratically enacted by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. The film introduced many of the elements that would earn Malick his passionate following: the enigmatic approach to narrative and character,

Badlands announced the arrival of a major talent: Terrence Malick. His impressionistic take on the notorious Charles Starkweather killing spree of the late 1950s uses a serial-killer narrative as a springboard for an oblique teenage romance, lovingly and idiosyncratically enacted by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek.

The film introduced many of the elements that would earn Malick his passionate following: the enigmatic approach to narrative and character, the unusual use of voice-over, the juxtaposition of human violence with natural beauty, the poetic investigation of American dreams and nightmares. This debut has spawned countless imitations, but none have equaled its strange sublimity.

Region B Blu-ray: Australian compatible

Director approved special features

• Restored 4K digital transfer, approved by director Terrence Malick, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Making “Badlands,” a 2012 documentary featuring actors Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek and art director Jack Fisk
• Interviews from 2012 with associate editor Billy Weber and executive producer Edward Pressman
• “Charles Starkweather,” a 1993 episode of the television program American Justice, about the real-life story on which the film was loosely based
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda