Highlander: The Special Features

"From the dawn of time we came, moving silently down through the centuries.  Living many secret lives, struggling to reach the time of the Gathering, when the few who remain will battle to the last.  No one has ever known we were among you... until now."  And so movie history was made twenty-five years ago when Sir Sean Connery read this prologue at the beginning of 1986's Highlander.  Has it really been twenty-five years already?  In honour Highlander's 25th Anniversary in March, let's take a look at the special features from all the releases that grace the collection here at Cinema Raiders...

Highlander: 10th Anniversary Director's Cut

Deluxe Wide-Screen Collector's Edition Laserdisc

• Audio commentary with director Russell Mulcahy and producers Peter Davis and William Panzer.

• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos, production and publicity stills

• Photos from scenes left on the editing room floor

• Still frame slide show highlighting the evolution of the film from scripting to casting and on through production notes and letters, script revisions, reviews and publicity articles.

• Virtual 3D photograph of the katana sword.
 

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Highlander: 10th Anniversary Director's Cut

Deluxe Collector's Edition DVD

The DVD was released shortly after the laserdisc and retained some of the special features.  Missing were the still images from the deleted scenes and the virtual 3D katana.  The commentary used on the DVD was the same from the laserdisc edition.

• Audio commentary with director Russell Mulcahy and producers Peter Davis and William Panzer

• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos, production and publicity stills

• Still frame slide show highlighting the evolution of the film from scripting to casting and on through production notes and letters, script revisions, reviews and publicity articles.

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Highlander: The Immortal Edition DVD

In 2002, Anchor Bay released this two disc special edition that came in a nice metal slipcase; although disc two is only a CD which features "Princes of the Universe", "One Year of Love" and "Friends Will Be Friends" performed by Queen.  As far as I know, this is the edition with the most special features to be released in the United States.  The audio commentary on the Immortal Edition has been recycled from the laserdisc once again.

• Audio commentary with director Russell Mulcahy and producers Peter Davis and William Panzer
• 2 Theatrical Trailers
• Who Wants To Live Forever - Queen Music Video (4 minutes)
• A Kind of Magic - Queen Music Video (4 minutes)
• Princes of the Universe - Queen Music Video (4 minutes)
• Poster and Still Gallery
• Queen Still Gallery

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Highlander: The Immortal Edition DVD (UK)

Four years later in 2006, Optimum Home Entertainment released a two disc steelbook of Highlander for the European market.  This Immortal Edition is far superior to the US release.  Not only do we have a brand new audio commentary, but also a three part making of documentary; something that is sorely lacking on all US releases.

Disc One

• New audio commentary with director Russell Mulcahy.

Disc Two

• The Making of Highlander Documentary

     Part 1: A Legend is Born (29:13) with Gregory Widen (scriptwriter)

     and Peter Bellwood (co-scriptwriter)

     Part 2: The Visual Style (40:03) with Gerry Fisher (director of

     photography) and Allan Cameron (set decorator)

     Part 3: A Strong Woman (15:55) with Roxanne Hart

• Christopher Lambert Interview (8:32)

• Original Theatrical Trailer

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Highlander Blu-ray

Lionsgate released their Highlander blu-ray late in 2010 and it's sorely lacking in the special features department.  In true Highlander Home Video tradition, this release recycles the 2006 commentary from the UK Immortal Edition steelbook.

• Audio commentary with director Russell Mulcahy

• Deleted Scenes

The Deleted Scenes are going to catch the interest of Highlander fans. It should be noted that calling them "Deleted Scenes" is rather misleading. When viewing them, you will be shown this message: "Whilst creating the HD Master, it was noticed that there were five scenes that were either longer or edited differently to the scenes in the final HIGHLANDER version. As we didn't have the audio for these scenes, we could not include them in the film. We therefore laid music under these scenes and made them available as Deleted Scenes on the Blu-ray."

These are not the deleted scenes that all Highlander fans have read about and were shown still images of on 10th Anniversary Laserdisc.  What you actually get are four scenes with a total running time of 6:14. You get an alternate cut of the wrestling match at the beginning of the film, an extended scene of Connor and Rachael talking just prior/after the WWII flashback, an extended section of the rooftop fight between Connor and Kurgan and finally an extended version of Connor and Brenda talking on the hilltop at the end of the film. As mentioned above, music is laid under these scenes, but it's not from Highlander. The music used here, and on the menu, is actually from John Debney's score for Cutthroat Island.

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As a special feature for this special features comparison, let's take a look at another recent blu-ray release set in the countryside of Scotland (not sure if it's the highlands or not). 

Rob Roy Blu-ray

The good folks over at MGM/UA and 20th Century Fox have released the excellent Rob Roy starring Liam Neeson, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth and John Hurt to blu-ray, but they forgot the special features.  The DVD from 1997 at least had the theatrical trailer - it was even included on the laserdisc.  To add insult to injury, they slapped the disc into one of those damned hippie cases (eco-case).  Come to think of it, Lionsgate put the Highlander blu-ray in one too.  Look for more hatred of the hippie case in an upcoming article in our Raging Rant series.