Overview: Almost a decade after Lucky McKee burst upon the indie horror scene and became a ‘Master of Horror’ in the making thanks to his directorial debut May, he teamed up with legendary cult author Jack Ketchum for his most shocking and brutal film to date: The Woman, an instant cause célèbre on its Sundance premiere.

The Woman (Pollyanna McIntosh, The Walking Dead) is the last surviving member of a deadly clan of feral cannibals that has roamed the American wilderness for decades. When successful country lawyer Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers, Room) stumbles upon her whilst hunting in the woods, he decides to capture and “civilize” her with the help of his seemingly perfect all-American family, including his wife Belle (Angela Bettis, May) and daughter Peggy (Lauren Ashley Carter, Darling). The Cleeks will soon learn, however, that hell hath no fury like The Woman scorned!

Experience McKee and Ketchum’s uncompromisingly twisted vision of the dark side of the American family in a definitive edition, including a 4K remaster, a slew of bonus features, and a bonus disc featuring a restoration of its gut-churning 2009 predecessor Offspring, also starring McIntosh.

4K UHD Blu-ray Verdict: This is a very strong movie, centralized around the concept of the strength of the human nature - not the weak and/or mind crippled end product of the 21st century, but the pure core of it. This is where the difference between this and the other movies starts.

Usually, the victim of the killer-freak breaks instantly, getting into panic, horror and so on. Here, The Woman just can’t be broken - she sees all of this just as another battle for survival, the thing she does all her life. She doesn’t have a feeling for good/evil, just for what is right and wrong.

All of the actors play especially strong, showing (as I see it) all possible types of reactions to the madness of their world (coming from the pretty messed up father, think of it as Dexter, but at the same time exactly the opposite of Dexter). The mother, who wants to protect his children, but is too afraid to stand up against her husband.

The son, who got messed up just like his father. The big daughter which is in constant shock and horror, and the little daughter who is trying to block by not acknowledging the evil (she is too old not to be able to understand all of this, and she never cried or got afraid, even in the brutal scenes).

At the end of the movie, The Woman prevails in the situation too quick (I was expecting a longer battle), but, I think that is the right way to do it - she is just too good compared to the father and the son - they are just the typical mad people, they don’t have what she has.

I find the contrast between her and the human-dog thing a very nice final touch to the movie. Without it, it would seem that the movie makes a comparison between the father, an educated human-beast and her, an uneducated beast. But she clearly shows that she has more humanity than the father, and more humanity than the dog-freak.

Also I liked how she took care of the father - at the beginning, with the ring, she gave him that special look of determination while she ate part of him, and at the end she looked at him the same way, as if saying Told you it will end that way.

Also, for the record, the sound effects are superb, and the standard visual horror special effects are used carefully, so they are pretty darn good also. Sure the movie could use some more suspense in the last 20 minutes of it, and a better first scene, but aside from those little moans, I implore you to watch this film tonight and see how it affects you soon thereafter (as most assuredly will). [M.O.M.]

4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
4K restorations of The Woman and Offspring, supervised and approved by Lucky McKee and Andrew van den Houten
Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork for both films by Vanessa McKee
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing by Michael Blyth, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Kevin Kovelant

DISC ONE - THE WOMAN (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
4K restoration supervised and approved by Lucky McKee
4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with director Lucky McKee, editor Zach Passero, sound designer Andrew Smetek and composer Sean Spillane
Audio commentary with star Pollyanna McIntosh
Audio commentary with critic Scott Weinberg
Archive commentary with director Lucky McKee
Dad on the Wall, a 75-minute fly-on-the-wall behind-the-scenes documentary filmed by the director’s father Mike McKee
Being Peggy Cleek, an interview with star Lauren Ashley Carter
Malam Domesticam, an archive making-of featurette
Meet the Makers, a short featurette on the making of the film
Deleted scenes
¡Mi Burro!, a short film by editor Zach Passero
“Distracted” music video by Sean Spillane
Frightfest Total Film Panel Discussion, a 2011 onstage chat about the future of American indie horror at the popular horror film festival, featuring Lucky McKee, Andrew van den Houten, Larry Fessenden, Adam Green, Joe Lynch and Ti West
Theatrical trailers
Image galleries

DISC TWO - OFFSPRING (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
4K restoration supervised and approved by Andrew van den Houten
4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with director/producer Andrew van den Houten and digital colorist Matt McClain
Archive commentary with writer Jack Ketchum, director/producer Andrew van den Houten and producer/cinematographer William M. Miller
Interview with Pollyanna McIntosh and Andrew van den Houten
Fly on the Wall, a behind-the-scenes documentary
Extended interview with Jack Ketchum
Restoration comparison
Audition comparison
Progeny: The Birth of Offspring, an archive behind-the-scenes featurette including interviews with cast and crew
First Stolen’s Bailout, an archive behind-the-scenes featurette
Webisodes, short featurettes used to promote the film online
Archive Easter Eggs
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery

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