‘Final Cut’ (2023) Blu-Ray Review – French Remake Lacks The Bite Of The Original

The opening night selection of last year’s Cannes Film Festival was this wacky horror comedy, a remake of Shin’ichirô Ueda’s cult hit One Cut of the Dead. It follows a director (Romain Duris, L’Auberge Espagnole) making a live, single-take, low-budget zombie flick in which the cast and crew, one by one, actually turn into zombies. Oscar® winner Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) milks the film’s hilarious and meta-to-the-max premise for all it’s worth, while also crafting a sly love letter to the art of filmmaking. What’s on screen unfolds in typical cheesy B-movie fashion, while the off-screen hijinks offer a celebration of the unpredictable and collaborative nature of film sets. Featuring a hysterically unhinged turn by Oscar® nominee Berenice Bejo (The Artist) and serving up blood-soaked high farce par excellence, Final Cut revels in its affectionate embrace of goofy genre fun.

For in-depth thoughts on Final Cut, please see my colleague Mike Vaughn’s review from its original theatrical release here. 

Video Quality

Final Cut comes to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation that is really quite excellent. This is a visually dynamic film with different styles at play including the film-within-a-film and the film we are watching, both of which are realized quite favorably. There are striking shots of the production and various makeup effects throughout where you can see a notable amount of detail. The film is saturated with vivid hues despite the grungy shooting locations and sparse location work. The interiors are typically a more reserved and dark environment, but the presentation brings the most out of each spot. The highlights are handled beautifully, along with the pleasantly deep blacks that do not appear to suffer from any compression artifacts. Skin tones look very detailed and natural all around with goopy blood and other fluids giving disgusting texture. This presentation is a real winner from Kino Lorber. 

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray disc comes with a great DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original French that works incredibly well to showcase this unique soundscape. Dialogue comes through clearly when it is supposed to, and it is intentionally muffled when there are sound issues on the set of the in-movie production. Important information never gets overshadowed when it is not supposed to. The sound design is carefully constructed with all of the sounds placed just right in the mix. 

The environmental effects create a more three-dimensional space on set which allows it to feel alive. Throughout this adventure, you are provided with a track that completely immerses you in the madness of the undertaking. Activity in the low end is not engaged in the traditional manner, but it makes itself known when the situation calls for it. There are a handful of needle drops which accentuate the film, and they come through with peerless fidelity. Kino Lorber has done a really nice job with the sound for this one. There are optional English subtitles provided. 

Special Features

• Making-Of Featurette: A 20-minute featurette in which the cast and creative team discuss how they came to the original material, what they wanted to accomplish by remaking the film, settling on a narrative structure, the direction of Michel Hazanavicius, working with the performers and more.

• Trailer: The minute-and-a-half trailer for the film is provided here.

Final Thoughts

Final Cut can be chalked up to a decently entertaining viewing experience if you have never seen the original film that inspired it, but if you have seen One Cut Of The Day you quickly begin to see how much was lost in translation. There is so much more charm and genuine humor that does not get replicated in the French update. There are a few clever jokes that poke fun at the nature of remakes, but when the film you end up making ends up being so underwhelming, the commentary does not feel earned. The performers do what they can, but the film feels pretty lifeless and bloated. This simply did not need to be made. Kino Lorber has provided a Blu-Ray featuring a terrific A/V presentation and a couple of cool special features. You are better off going to watch the original (again). 

Final Cut will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital on September 12, 2023.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Lorber has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.