Despite crafting some of cinema’s most suspenseful sequences, isn’t typically linked to horror. His remake of Cape Fear and his adaptation of , while well-received, were both viewed as outliers in a career dominated by crime thrillers. Yet no one captures Catholic guilt and existential dread within New York’s underworld quite like Scorsese, and the overlooked horror film Bringing Out the Dead saw him blend these personal themes with psychological terror that’s finally been restored in release from Paramount.
Nicolas Cage headlined Bringing Out the Dead as Frank Pierce, an insomniac Manhattan paramedic grappling with depression after failing to save a young patient. Though he sparks a romance with recovering addict Mary (Patricia Arquette), Pierce’s nightmares grow so visceral that his hold on reality starts to unravel. While Bringing Out the Dead‘s haunting depiction of a crumbling city is as bleak as any ’90s crime drama, its poignant examination of faith and futility could only have come from Scorsese.
How Was Bringing Out the Dead Received Upon Release?
The lukewarm reviews for Bringing Out the Dead wouldn’t have been disappointing if it hadn’t been touted as the reunion between Scorsese and Paul Schrader, whose earlier New York anti-hero films, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, were deemed unimpeachable classics. Though Roger Ebert and named it one of the year’s best, that Bringing Out the Dead “failed at the box office, and was rejected by a lot of the critics.”
Although Scorsese had watched Kundun flop a year earlier, the underwhelming reaction to Bringing Out the Dead felt personal because he’d grown up “next to the Bowery, watching the people who worked there,” and considered New York’s paramedics “saints.” Perhaps made it easier for Bringing Out the Dead to slip under the radar, and would later rank the film among the best they’d ever worked on.
Why Is Bringing Out the Dead Important to See Now?
The pressure placed on medical workers is a hot topic of conversation right now , but Scorsese’s unflinching depiction of occupational burnout was ahead of its time, as Pierce’s job is so demanding that he avoids any form of healing in order to scour the streets saving others from addiction’s perils. Given Scorsese’s thoughtful comments with narcotics use, Bringing Out the Dead would appear to be among his most personal films, treating Mary’s recovery process with utmost sensitivity. Pierce often demonstrates 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 sparked controversy when they reimagined Jesus’s story in The Last Temptation of Christ, but Bringing Out the Dead was equally thorough in exploring the suffering that comes from maintaining faith within a depraved environment. Pierce’s struggle to retain any sense of hope is nurtured by his devoutly religious partner, Marcus (Ving Rhames), whose unorthodox prayers only begin to resonate when contrasted with the vile paramedic driver Tom (Tom Sizemore), who represents how religious doctrine can be twisted for selfish purposes.
Bringing Out the Dead also represents a fascinating period in Cage’s career; while he’d won an Oscar four years earlier for his gripping turn as an alcoholic screenwriter in Leaving Las Vegas, Cage spent the latter half of the ’90s chewing 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 serves as a reminder of what a restrained, sensitive, and empathetic actor he could be.
Bringing Out the Dead stands as the final film in the uneven middle section of Scorsese’s career; he would follow it with Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed, all of which became major awards contenders that attracted broader audiences. As exciting as it’s been to watch Scorsese reimagine epic moments in world history, Bringing Out the Dead revealed 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 classic Scorsese selections from Frank Sinatra and Van Morrison, it also features more contemporary artists like Marc Anthony, who also delivers an unforgettable acting turn 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 issued in high definition before, the new transfer—supervised by Scorsese himself and remastered from the original film negative—is essential viewing. The also includes new interviews with Scorsese, Cage, Schrader, and cinematographer Robert Richardson, plus legacy on-set interviews with Arquette, Rhames, Sizemore, and Anthony.