“You can’t see everything.” These four words were a commonplace statement by me on episodes of The Cine-Men (RIP), a way to deflect and soften the fact that while the mind is willing, time and opportunity don’t often allow someone to see every single thing they want to see. Or, in the case of the larger catalogue of filmmaker Sam Raimi, the constitution to see as so much of his work, such as The Evil Dead franchise or Drag Me to Hell (2009), is wrapped up in bloody mischief. His catalog does reach past gorey horror as 1990s favorites Darkman (1990), The Quick and the Dead (1995), and For the Love of the Game (1999) are either superhero thriller, action western, or sports romance. Thus, it’s with Arrow Video’s 4K UHD remaster of Raimi’s 1998 novel adaption of Scott B. Smith’s A Simple Plan that this reviewer removes a film from his of unwatched Raimi list as this tale is more Greek tragedy, filled with the bleak horror of inevitability that comes from straying from the ethical path. In addition to a brand-new remaster, the Arrow Video edition includes two new commentary tracks, three brief featurettes, and more behind the scenes materials.
While returning from laying flowers at their father’s grave, brothers Hank and Jacob Mitchell (Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton, respectively) and Jacob’s friend Lou Chambers (Brent Briscoe) find themselves in the snowy woods of Wright County, Minnesota, when Jacob’s dog runs off to chase a fox. During the search for the dog, the three come across a snow-buried plane containing over $4 million in cash. Instead of reporting it, the three concoct a plan to stow the funds until spring in hopes that someone else will find the plane and it can be independently reported whether the money is being sought or not. Four million dollars is a lot of money for anyone, but, for these three, it offers the kind of changes that none of them can help but race toward, leading to many bloody mistakes.
It’s been 26 years since its release, so there’s a fairly good chance that if you’ve come to this review, you’ve seen the film and are more interested in the home release than my thoughts on the film. As MVD Entertainment Group provided a check disc for review, not a retail copy, this 4K UHD review will not discuss the packaging, art, booklet, or any other materials included with the physical release.
A SIMPLE PLAN packshot. Photo courtesy of Arrow Video/MVD Entertainment Group.
What can be confirmed and explored, however, is what’s on the disc, and it’s a startlingly different presentation from prior releases. (But how does he know as a first-time watch?) *Great question!* Thanks to the use of film footage in the three new interviews, one can immediately notice the difference between the footage used there and what’s presented on disc. The spliced footage is brighter, the image more visible even in dark sequences such as the scene at the Chambers Home, with the snow being somewhat unnaturally blindingly white. The remaster, with the use of Dolby Vision (compatible with HDR10), has an increased range of color, which gives the film a persistent grey, especially in the outside sequences. This also means that there’s more shadow, important for the many nighttime scenes, or, as in the Chambers sequence, imperative for the growing sense of discontent and impending chaos. Comparatively, the remaster also appears to make the film grain more prominent, something which appears almost absent in the spliced footage and omnipresent in the remaster, which some within the physical media community will likely be delighted about. With the remaster visibly different, the more natural colors and lighting affect the visual temperature of the film so that the grimness of the tragedy permeates the film from the start (only aided by the scenes in the opening edited to demonstrate nature’s bleakness with the jump between the fox on the hunt and Hank and how well taking advantage of an opportunity worked out for them both). From a technical perspective, the bitrate of the video typical runs from 70s-90s, primarily hovering in the mid-80s to low-90s, indicative of a high quality 4K UHD presentation (128 Mbps is the highest for 4K UHD; 40 Mbps the highest for HD). This is, of course, aided by the fact that the few bonus materials included on the disc are either strictly audio (two feature-length commentaries) or brief featurettes (in either modern high-quality or ’98-grade footage), leaving far more room on the disc for the 4K UHD data.
In terms of audio track options, both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray editions include the original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and optional lossless stereo (2.0) tracks. Nothing new to report here, though it’s worth mentioning that the audio presentation is clean with no audio distortions, drop-outs, or any noticeable signs of wear. Only one sequence required amplification; otherwise, this was a no-touch-remote experience once the audio was set at the start.
Regarding the bonus features, it’s a mixed-bag and how it lands for you will depend on how much you appreciate the film itself. There are two feature-length audio tracks: one with critics Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme for the cultural perspective and one with A Simple Plan production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein with filmmaker Justin Beahm (Slay Bells Ring: The Story of Silent Night, Deadly Night) for behind-the-scenes and filmmaking context. The three individual featurettes center A Simple Plan cinematographer Alar Kivilo (The Broken Hearts Gallery), actor Becky Ann Baker (Spider-Man 3) who played Nancy Chambers, and actor Chelcie Ross (Major League) who played Sheriff Carl Jenkins, who share anecdotes about the making of the film. For Kivilo, it includes tidbits on how he got hired; his amusement of leaving the cold of Canada to come to the U.S. for this, his first gig; and stories of working on set. For Baker, she primarily discusses the central sequence for her character, offering insight on things like one improvised moment, as well as the execution of the stunt that concludes her arc. For Ross, he discusses what it was like working with Raimi for the first time (including a mishap on his first day of shooting that put a wrinkle in the schedule); working with his friend, the late Brent Briscoe (Spider-Man 2); and other tidbits. These three make up the only new materials from cast/crew and roughly run 25 minutes in total. The remaining materials are five archived interviews with cast and a montage of behind-the-scenes footage with no contextual information. Are they nice to have? Yes, for the filmmaking-curious. Are they available elsewhere? Research indicates that the prior physical release was a VHS and DVD from Paramount in 1999, but no North American Blu-ray since, and currently unable to confirm if any of these materials were included with the DVD edition.
Now, let’s transition to the film itself for a moment.
Despite their perception, the crow is not the albatross that it is usually represented in media to be. In some cultures, the crow is a symbol of transformation and change, a positive attribute; but, as with all things, change and transformation can be a monkey’s paw wherein the thing we want is a curse once acquired. Given that the Raimi frequently hones in on the crows populating the woods of Wright County and that A Simple Plan Arrow Video edition cover artist Matt Griffin draws inspiration from the POV shot of the crows as the three men walk through the woods looking for the dog, that sense of reversed fortune pulls into focus. That’s what A Simple Plan is, a horror show of tragedy that’s set in motion before Hank leaves early for work in the introductory moments of the film as we observe a fox stalk his way onto a farm property to kill a hen for its meal. Coming to the woods and finding the plane presents itself as an inevitability, the crows serving as the watchers on the wall, resting on the empty branches of the wood to see what these three men decide, drawn into the wood by the fox, their paths a fixed point that couldn’t be averted. Likewise, in the conclusion of the film, one realizes that so much of the bloodshed comes from not just the avoidance of doing the right thing (reporting the funds), but not adhering to the rules they themselves agree to: Hank tells his wife, Sarah (Bridget Fonda), because he believes that Lou told his wife, thereby breaking the “tell no one” rule; returning to the plane to leave some cash (Sarah’s idea) breaks the rule of never returning and, in so doing, creates opportunities for more harm to the community; and, of course, turning on one another in order to maintain some sense of control over the money. If the three had only kept their mouths shut, hadn’t let greed and desperation control them, had just kept still, there’s a small chance that things couldn’t ended differently. Or, at the very least, with less bloodshed. Then again, going back to that notion of inevitability, once Hank says to Jacob and Lou in their initial argument, “You work for the American Dream. You don’t steal it,” and then succumbs to greed, the path before them was locked.
A horror show, indeed.
Collective memory is a funny thing. Something new releases and it’s as if everything that preceded it fades into obscurity by the incurious. With the release of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022), there was talk of Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and his Evil Dead films (though it was odd that some of those folks couldn’t understand the tag of the film), but there was none of his work on Quick, Drag, or A Simple Plan — as if all of Raimi’s work was relegated to comic book adaptations and a singular long-lasting horror franchise. Granted, I, too, hadn’t seen A Simple Plan then, but it was more out fear of what it was back in the ‘90s and of a lack of time presently as a lapsed cinema chicken than ignorance. Perhaps, with the new remaster from Arrow, others like me can not only experience this critically-acclaimed film, though not generally the first project initially spoken of (which is always weird), as rumors of Raimi returning for the next Doctor Strange installment swirl. Or, if you’re already familiar, I suspect you won’t feel let down by the edition as the presentation alone is worth the upgrade.
A Simple Plan 4K UHD Special Features:
- New 4K remaster from the original negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Sam Raimi
- 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio and optional lossless stereo audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Brand new audio commentary by critics Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme
- Brand new audio commentary by production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein with filmmaker Justin Beahm
- Of Ice and Men, a newly filmed interview with cinematographer Alar Kivilo (8:18)
- Standing Her Ground, a newly filmed interview with actor Becky Ann Baker (6:23)
- Dead of Winter, a newly filmed interview with actor Chelcie Ross (10:45)
- Five (5) individual on-set interviews with Paxton, Thornton, Fonda, Raimi, and producer Jim Jacks
- Behind-the-scenes footage (6:47)
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
- Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Bilge Ebiri and an excerpt from the book The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi by John Kenneth Muir
Available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray November 19th, 2024.
For more information on the film, head to the official Paramount Pictures A Simple Plan webpage.
For more information on the 4K UHD edition, head to the official Arrow Video A Simple Plan webpage.
To purchase, head to the official MVD Entertainment Group A Simple Plan webpage.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Recommendation
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