Rating: 
Summary: HUGELY DISSAPPOINTING
Review: People who love Fargo (I'm not one of them) don't seem to enjoy this. But this is where the Coens film contibution began and where they marked their premature zenith. The Coens have less and less originality and importance with every new trivial movie they release. Back when this was made they had no budget and amazing ideas, and that is the pleasure of watching this movie. Now they have big budgets and bland ideas. Were you concerned once in "O brother" that George Clooney might not get Holly Hunter back? If you were, are you under the age of nine? If "O Brother" was half an hour longer or shorter it would have no impact on the finished film. I've seen K-mart commercials with more tension than "Fargo" and "O Brother." For every challenging moment in "Blood Simple" there are engaging and satisfying results.So here it is finally... You've waited forever for this DVD and there are NO extra features and it's more expensive than movies packed with features. This DVD compounds the violations the Coens began with their re-edited re-scored and re-duced re-release of the movie. Anything resembling a pause has been edited out along with some amusing details. This is like taking Lars von Triers Zentropa (Another badly needed DVD that's missing in action) and releasing it in pan and scan and cutting thirty minutes out of it. The Coens think this isn't their best work, which makes you wonder which of their lesser efforts they consider to be their opus. As the quote goes, "a critics job is to take the art away from the creator before they ruin it." It's too late for this film. Purchasing it feels exactly like being .... You can get more extras on a ... DVD thriller like Die Hard 3. Adding insult to injury, the Coen's can't resist sticking their finger in your eye on the audio commentary, by providing a bogus pundit making up phony-facts and stating the obvious as the movie progresses. It's a 4-star movie, but the DVD is just worthless. It was a milestone in film, now it's just entertainment.
Get over yourselves Coens! Do you realize what schmuchs you've become?
Rating: 
Summary: One Shock After Another
Review: Blood Simple, by the Coen Bros. (Fargo, Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou?), is there best film and a must have film for thriller fans. I don't want to spoil the plot, because it really is one shock after another, but here is the basic plot. A bartender who's wife is cheating on him hires a seedy private investagator to kill her and her boyfriend. And things just go down from there. It probally as about 5 turning points to it, you never know what is going to happen next. But, there are a few parts that are kinda useless and the ending is kinda strange, but this is probally the best neo-noir ever. Frances McDormand gives a great performance in this is film. I again recommend this to everyone that enjoys Alfred Hitchcock films or thrillers.
Rating:
Summary: DVD? No,DZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZD
Review: Why oh why re-release this movie and put out a lame duck DVD? Wow, subtitles! What a bonus! Thanks Universal! Y'know the fact that it boasts sound should be considered an extra too. Or even better, there is actually a Movie on the disc! Oh the choices! Fans should be paid to put this cheap afterthought of a product in our collections. Everyone wants to know why I only have Horror or Sci Fi in my collection? Boring, tepid, rip off DVDs of classic flicks like this are the answer! When "BS" was re-released I was psyched because I thought a well-packed DVD was on its way. Boy was I wrong. I know it may seem beneath the Coen Bros. to do a commentary track or an interview but they have to wake up and, at least, insist on a more insightful release. Shame, on them, for letting this just shuffle out like all their other movies. Funny, "Blood Simple" gets a dud DVD and "Mummy Returns" gets the royal treatment. Why??
Rating: 
Summary: The Coens 1st movie
Review: The Coen Brothers first movie fills like a good, really good, USA film. It has great direction and acting from everyone. A few high tension parts, a few what the hell parts, and a few parts that make you squrim are lavished though out this movie. Don't miss for lover of mistery/sespence/thriller movies and a must have for Coen fans.
Rating:
Summary: Minor cuts that leave minor scars
Review: As a big fan of the film since it was released in 1985, I was looking forward to seeing Blood Simple transferred to DVD. A cleaned-up widescreen transfer, and maybe a little cleaner audio, were all good things that I wanted to see happen; and with the Director's Cut, it did happen. However, I think the edits that were made in this version of the film may displease fans of the original -- I know they displease this fan. I won't go into a laundry-list of the cuts. They are, for the most part, the removal or trimming of some funny bits and gags that don't really contribute to telling the story; but they do, in my opinion, contribute to the quirky charm of the film without consuming a great deal of time on screen. Also trimmed are some uncomfortable silences that develop between people in certain scenes; making them not so uncomfortable, I guess, but I don't see this as an improvement. Most disconcerting to me are some of the music changes. One that particularly disappointed me is when Ray first confronts Marty on the back steps of the bar. In the original version, a slow-tempo instrumental country-western tune is playing inside the bar, and after transitioning to the outside, the same song is heard muffled in the background with the bass still booming. As anyone who has ever stood outside a nightclub can tell you, this is exactly what you hear -- the lower frequencies propagate better than the higher frequencies. The editors have seen fit to change this to a vocal piece of music that is reduced in volume as the view changes to the outside, but without the realistic frequency balance. I don't understand why this change was made. Perhaps some didn't like that the music here wasn't really so much music as it was background sound, or perhaps it was thought to interfere with hearing the conversation; but I think it was a wonderful element in the atmosphere of the scene that I surely miss. Regarding the new intro with the pompously lecturing gentleman, suffice it to say that it can be fast-forwarded through. This Director's Cut version delivers basically the same psychological and visceral thrills as the original version, with improved video and audio; but long-time fans, such as myself, may find the changes have done some minor cosmetic harm, rather than good.
Rating: 
Summary: Ghoulish film noir
Review: The story deals with a seedy bar-owner who suspects that his wife is cheating on him. He employs a private detective to track her movements, then kill her, but the gumshoe thinks better of it, and decides to betray his employer. The scripting and directorial debut of the brothers Ethan and Joel Coen (script by Ethan and Joel, direction by Joel) remains an intriguing art-house thriller, reprising such nutcrackers as "The Postman Always Rings Twice", and full of the signature touches that went on to make the Coen brothers famous. A chilling sense of amorality, plenty of irreverent humour and cleverly orchestrated and truly macabre encounters make this a memorable and absorbing picture. The story partakes more of the sinister, the unpredictable the truly ghoulish, and it could easily cross the frontiers of the thriller and pass itself off as horror. A very good film indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Why I don't want the Blood Simple Director's Cut
Review: This is a great movie either way, but the first time I'd ever seen "Blood Simple" was on a videotape rental. Loved it. Loved it... I mean, the blood, the sweaty Texans (notably M. Emmett Walsh), the sleazy bars... all of it was just magnificent. I watched it repeatedly, then purchased a VHS copy. Needless to say, I've seen it on the video a few times and am used to that version. Anyway, I go to the theater in Chicago to see the sucker when it came out in the new "director's cut." I was happy to see it (even though I was a little late and missed the director's cut introduction that everybody seems to be talking about). I was surprised, yet delighted, and even a little confused to find that, for some reason, the VHS copy included the Neil Diamond version of the song "I'm a Believer" in place of the theatrical "It's the Same Old Song," if in fact that is the title. The movie was just as intense and great as before. That is, until it came to the introduction of the character played by Samm-Art Williams. In the original version (which is what I am assuming was on the tape -- besides the song) Samm-Art, who is first seen at white Converse All Star shoe level, jumps atop the bar, lands his feet on the other side and approaches the jukebox. A regular hick-looking Joe is at the music machine, flipping a quarter. Sam catches it, and here ensues a very good, funny exchange. "Hold it, hold it... What night is tonight?" Sam asks. "What?" The yokel replies. "What night is it?" "Friday?" "Right. Friday night is what night?" "...Friday?" "Friday night is Yankee night. Now where you from?" "Lubbock." "Lubbock, right. Well, see, I'm from Detroit. See, that's a big city up north, with big tall buildings..." Here, Samm-Art shakes his head in incredulity then puts his quarter in, playing the aforementioned, mysteriously changed-for-the-VHS-copy song (the same song-switch happened in the "Catch-22" VHS version, but was rectified on DVD). Then Samm-Art walks back to the bar, shuffles his feet, and continues his conversation with the woman on the barstool. However, on the "director's cut," we follow Samm-Art to the jukebox, the clueless Texan no longer exists, nor the entertaining dialogue, and Samm-Art simply shoves in a quarter. Then it cuts to him walking back to the bar to continue his conversation. What gives, Mr. Coens? I really liked that scene. And if I were Samm or that guy with the beard, I'd be angry. Also, besides a very minor shuffling in a later scene between Samm-Art and Frances McDormand (if I'm not mistaken), the ONLY OTHER cut I saw (and there are no additions) is when John Getz puts the cigarette in the stuffed boar's mouth in Marty's (the convincingly slimy Dan Hedaya) house. It's about three seconds of film that is cut... for NO REASON! The entire rest of the scene is in the film EXCEPT THE CIGARETTE GAG!! I was waiting for him to stick it in there... but no. It was pulled out from under me, like so many tablecloths from under so many stagnant dishes. Except this time the dishes, which were my heart, fell and shattered. The magicians' touch was clumsy. So why do this? These guys, who are my favorite movie makers, must have really not liked that Samm-Art dialogue or that part where John Getz stuffs the cigarette into the mouth of the taxidermy. I just wish the movie would have been released as it was, with the original theatrical music, of course, because all that's changed are a few brief moments that I really liked.
Rating:
Summary: The Coens Brothers First & Foremost
Review: I could go on reviewing this DVD and praising the the debut efforts of Joel & Ethan Coen. And I could go on about the great performances from a young Francis McDormand, John Getz, Don Hedaya and that wonderful veteran M. Emmett Walsh. I could go on about the story, photography, plot, etc., etc. etc. But the proof in the pudding here, is that the film is as good as any thriller or wannabe-whimsical movie that's released these days. And the thing is 16 years old. Seeing this last year at a revival theatre really established what a very special & risky film this was for 1985. It's a singular effort not only of it's time but also ahead of its time, considering the fact that there were so many trend films during the 80's. The Coen Brothers also have to be commended for using both unknown faces and great veterans. The chemistry is brilliant. But it's for the viewer to experience first hand how much "Blood Simple" plays upon fresh impressions. This is still a genuinely scary & original film and few new films these days fail to come close to what the Coem Brothers know how to do so well, whether it's comedy, drama or whimsicality. A class act and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An auspicious start
Review: Ok, the movie is great. The Coen Brothers are polarizing -- people love them or hate them. I happen to be in the former category. Those that don't care for them complain that they are cold, mannered and contemptuous. Well, yeah, so? The brothers's style consists of a meticulous, extremely self-aware craftmenship coupled with merry, snotty ironic narrative distancing. It is unique, literate, and droll. In Blood Simple, their debut, their style is already in place, and mature. Of particular mention is the DVD commentary -- it is by a dull, pompous, ill-informed--and entirely ficticious--film historian, who discusses myriad film tricks and techniques, while remaining blissfully clueless as to the plot or themes of the movie. If you are a fan of DVD commentaries, check this one out--it is savage, on target, and hilarious.
Rating:
Summary: Buy it. Watch it. Enjoy. Repeat as necessary. Begin NOW.
Review: The praise that's been heaped on this auspicious debut film from Joel and Ethan Coen is deserved. Intricate, tight plotting and exceptional performances contribute to a completely engrossing, thrilling movie. The self-conscious visual flourishes (homages to Hitchcock and Welles abound) only add to the fun. Great to see this movie finally get a respectful DVD treatment.
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