” I think their whole family’s like some weird medical experiment. I think they’re, like, circus people.”
Be honest, who hears the theme music when anyone even mentions The Addams Family? I know I do, and then I have to resist the urge to do the finger snaps. Just in time for 31 Nights of Terror as well as the release of the animated version comes the of The Addams Family: Family Values on UHD (4K), featuring Raul Julia and Angelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia Gomez, and let’s not forget Christopher Lloyd and Christina Ricci as Fester and Wednesday Gomez respectively. Based on the wildly popular cartoons that appeared in the New Yorker that went on to find success as television series, the The Addamses are a satirical inversion of the ideal 20th-century American family: an odd, wealthy, aristocratic clan who delight in the macabre and are seemingly unaware, or do not care, that other people find them bizarre or frightening. For me, these movies were my introduction to this family, as the TV series was bit before my time, but a gothic family unaware of their difference from other people.
The first film finds the family thriving, but without an essential member. Fester, who after a falling out with his brother Gomez leaves for the Bermuda Triangle, not to be heard from for 25 years. Looking to capitalize on Gomez’s guilt over the situation is the family lawyer Tully, who is in deep to loan shark and con woman Abigail Craven. When Craven and her son Gordon, who is the splitting image of Fester, come to collect, Tully hatches a scheme to have Gordon pose as Fester to find the hidden vault where the Addams’ family fortune is kept.
Christina Ricci made a name for herself in this film, and she’s also on the Wednesday series, just no longer as the young girl. Her performance in the first film was unquestionably the reason for Wednesday’s more prominent role in Family Values. In the sequel, Wednesday and Pugsley find themselves subject to, dare-I-say, summer camp. Meanwhile, black widow killer Debbie sets her sights on Uncle Fester as her next target. What she doesn’t count on is the indestructibleness of an Addams. This film also features a new addition to the family as Gomez and Morticia welcome another son, Pubert.
Like its predecessor, Family Values features the same cast, a rarity in Hollywood these days, especially given the two-year gap between films. As I mentioned earlier, the expansion of the Wednesday story line was the most interesting plot of the film. I can’t say enough about Ricci’s performance; she made being morbid and dark cool, so much so that I found myself very nearly having the same reaction as the mean girl when Ricci smiled for the first time. This of course turned out to be a feint that revealed a more sinister plan to ruin the Thanksgiving Day play, but that just further showed the character’s guile. To be that talented as a kid, it is no wonder that she was so sought after, though this level of typecasting did cause her complications with finding good roles as an adult.
Both are now out in 4K, so be sure to make this double feature part of your 31 Nights of Terror. Though it is unlikely to scare, it will provide a good balance that will ensure that you do not become desensitized before the 31 nights are over. With the animated film due out next week, the release of this double feature provides the best opportunity to refamiliarize yourself with everyone’s favorite gothic family, though I suspect that was by design.
Sadly Raul Julia died at the young age of 54 shortly after he filmed this one, and that ended any future franchise films using the same cast. He was quite good in the role.
Video
The Addams Family is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The ultra-high-definition image presentation is arrived at with an HEVC codec at an average of 70 mbps. The film was shot on 35mm, so maintains a native 4K source, and that makes a huge difference here. This transfer is miles ahead of the 2-disc/2-film version most recently released. This is actually a pretty rich film with lots of atmosphere. The bump in black levels is going to really bring out that deep black dress that Morticia is wearing throughout. More important is the nice texture to it all. I’m a fan of films shot on film, and that organic nature truly shines often in textures, and it certainly does here. You won’t find any print artifacts here. Colors are muted, but that’s exactly the way it was shot. They go from looking somewhat washed out to actually being atmospheric as they were intended.
Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track isn’t as much of an upgrade. The audio serves the dialog quite well, and that iconic harpsichord theme is as stunning as it ever was. There’s not a lot of bottom to the audio presentation, and that gives it a pretty thin sound overall. That doesn’t mean it isn’t loud. You absolutely get a loud and aggressive mix, but I don’t find any depth or subtlety here.
Special Features
There is only a vintage bonus feature on the single-disc release. It’s really more of a rehash of the film’s plot.
Final Thoughts:
An odd, wealthy, aristocratic clan who delight in the macabre and are seemingly unaware, or do not care, that other people find them bizarre or frightening. For me, these movies were my introduction to this family, as the TV series was bit before my time, but a gothic family unaware of their difference from other people — “What’s not to love?”
