Martin Scorsese’s Most Underrated Movie Just Got A 4K Upgrade

Although he’s directed some of the most suspenseful sequences in cinematic history, Martin Scorsese isn’t typically associated with horror. His remake of Cape Fear and his adaptation of Shutter Island, while well-received, were both considered outliers within a career dominated by crime thrillers. But no one depicts Catholic guilt and existential anxiety within the New York underworld better than Scorsese, and the underrated horror film Bringing Out the Dead saw him merge these personal themes with a form of psychological terror that’s finally been restored in a new 4K Blu-Ray release from Paramount.

Nicolas Cage starred in Bringing Out the Dead as Frank Pierce, an insomniac Manhattan paramedic who struggles with depression after losing a young patient. Although he ignites a relationship with the recovering addict Mary (Patricia Arquette), Pierce’s nightmares become so visceral that his grasp of reality begins to slip away. While Bringing Out the Dead’s haunting portrayal of a decaying city is as gloomy as any ‘90s crime film, its stirring exploration of faith and futility could have only been realized by Scorsese.

How Was Bringing Out the Dead Received Upon Release?

The modest reviews for Bringing Out the Dead wouldn’t have been considered a disappointment if it hadn’t been hyped as the reunion between Scorsese and Paul Schrader, whose previous New York anti-hero films, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, were considered unimpeachable classics. Although Roger Ebert awarded the film four stars and named it as one of the year’s best, Scorsese would later admit that Bringing Out the Dead “failed at the box office, and was rejected by a lot of the critics.”

Although Scorsese had seen Kundun flop a year prior, the underwhelming response to Bringing Out the Dead felt personal because he had grown up “next to the Bowery, watching the people who worked there,” and considered New York’s paramedics to be “saints.” Perhaps the overwhelming number of hits released in 1999 made it easier for Bringing Out the Dead to fall under the radar, but both Cage and Scorsese’s longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker would later rank the film as one of the best they’d ever worked on.

Why Is Bringing Out the Dead Important to See Now?

The pressure put on medical workers is a hot topic of conversation right now thanks to The Pitt, but Scorsese’s unflinching portrayal of occupational burnout was ahead of its time, as Pierce’s job is so demanding that he avoids any forms of healing for the sake of scouring the streets to save others from the perils of addiction. Given Scorsese’s thoughtful comments about his own struggles with narcotics use, Bringing Out the Dead would seem to be among his most personal films, as Mary’s recovery process is treated with the utmost sensitivity. Pierce often shows a willingness to throw himself into danger because his greatest fear is hopelessness, an anxiety that has guided Scorsese’s protagonists since Harvey Keitel’s Charlie Cappa in Mean Streets.

Schrader and Scorsese had courted controversy when they reimagined the story of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ, but Bringing Out the Dead was equally thorough in exploring the suffering that comes from keeping faith within a depraved environment. Pierce’s struggle to retain any sense of hope is nurtured by his adamantly religious partner, Marcus (Ving Rhames), whose unorthodox prayers only begin to resonate when compared to the vile paramedic driver Tom (Tom Sizemore), who represents how religious doctrine can be corrupted for selfish purposes.

Bringing Out the Dead is also representative of a fascinating period in Cage’s career; while he had won an Oscar four years prior for his gripping role as an alcoholic screenwriter in Leaving Las Vegas, Cage spent the second half of the ‘90s chewing the scenery in over-the-top action blockbusters like The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off. It would only be a few years before Cage’s notoriously eccentric acting choices would earn him a new reputation as a cult icon, but Bringing Out the Dead is a reminder of what a subdued, sensitive, and empathetic actor he could be.

Bringing Out the Dead stands as the last film within the uneven middle section of Scorsese’s career; he would follow it up with Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed, all of which became major awards contenders that courted broader audiences. As exciting as it’s been to see Scorsese reimagine epic moments in world history, Bringing Out the Dead showed an impressionistic side to the filmmaker’s moody, atmospheric sensibilities. The soundtrack might be the best representation of Bringing Out the Dead’s divergent tonalities; while it includes classical Scorsese selections from Frank Sinatra and Van Morrison, it also features more contemporary artists like Marc Anthony, who also has an unforgettable acting role in the film as Mary’s psychologically wounded friend, Noel.

What New Features Does the Bringing Out The Dead Blu-ray Have?

Given that Bringing Out the Dead has never been released in high definition before, the new transfer, overseen by Scorsese himself and remastered from the original film negative, is a must-see. The two-disc set also includes new interviews with Scorsese, Cage, Schrader, and cinematographer Robert Richardson, as well as legacy on-set interviews with Arquette, Rhames, Sizemore, and Anthony.