The Corner Penthouse

Gorillas in the Mist arrives on Blu-ray as part of Mill Creek Entertainment's Retro VHS Style series, with packaging designed to look like the VHS videocassettes of the 1980s and 1990s. Several other titles in the series have already been reviewed on The Corner Penthouse, and I'm always excited when Mill Creek announces more. It's fun to see if it's a title I used to own on VHS, or one whose trailer I remember seeing at the start of some other VHS tape, or even some obscure movie I've never heard of before.


Gorillas in the Mist (1988) is the true story of young anthropologist Dian Fossey (Sigourney Weaver), who travels to the African mountains to study the rare gorillas. In this incredible paradise, which she describes as being "as close to God as you can get," her interest in the gorillas turns to passion and finally obsession. Not even her lover, photographer Bob Campbell (Bryan Brown), can tear her away -- or stop her from risking her life to protect the gorillas from poachers and animal traders. Desperate to save her "family" from extinction, Fossey searches for justice, but in the end, settles for revenge.


There's a weird situation going on with the title of this film... or the subtitle, I should say. The movie's on-screen title is Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey, as you can see in the framegrab above. However, the original theatrical movie poster, as well as the artwork and packaging for every home video release by MCA/Universal (such as VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray) has titled the film Gorillas in the Mist: The Adventure of Dian Fossey; replacing the word "story" with "adventure". I have no idea why this error has persisted, but it has, and now Mill Creek is keeping the erroneous subtitle alive. Thankfully, it's only on the slipsleeve (which replicates the VHS box art that had the error), case artwork, disc face, and menu. The movie itself carries the proper subtitle. For the sake of accuracy and brevity, I will only refer to the movie as Gorillas in the Mist.


This is another one of the Retro VHS Blu-ray titles that my family owned on VHS back in the early 1990s, though I'm pretty sure that I've never watched it in its entirety until now. I would have been a tween/early teen by the time we had the VHS, and this is definitely not a movie that would be of interest to someone that age. There are elements in the story that are certainly not appropriate for that age group (even though the film is rated PG-13), and definitely those who are younger. So, I watched it now for the first time. While I have no clue as to how historically accurate it is, taken on it's own merits, it's a thoroughly engaging drama. The only fault I had with the film, aside from it being a tad on the long side (it's a bit over two hours long), is that there are no time indicators throughout. There are only two: a caption at the start informing the audience that the movie starts in 1966, and then midway through we get a "five years later" marker. The real Dian Fossey died on December 26, 1985, which means that she spent almost 20 years on that mountain, but you won't know that just from watching the film. One could easily think that the events in the movie take place over the course of just 10 years.


The film stars Sigourney Weaver - yes, Dana Barrett from Ghostbusters - in the lead role, for which she won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award. Her performance as Dian Fossey is a true highlight of the film. She is joined by Bryan Brown, best known for his roles in the 1980s films Cocktail (opposite Tom Cruise) and F/X (opposite Brian Dennehy in the sequel, too), as Dian's brief lover, National Geographic photographer Bob Campbell. The only other cast member you'll likely have heard of is Julie Harris, the lead in The Haunting (1963), as Dian's friend Roz Carr. While those three are the notable actors, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention John Omirah Miluwi, who, in his only movie or television role, steals scene after scene as Dian's tracker - and eventual companion - Sembagare.


If Gorillas in the Mist were made today, there is no doubt that the gorillas would be portrayed by Andy Serkis in a CGI motion-capture suit. It may be hard to believe, but the adult gorillas that interacted with humans were actually performed by actors in highly-realistic costumes created by renowned makeup effects artist Rick Baker. The baby gorillas were chimpanzees in blackface makeup and peaked fur wigs, which is obvious in a few shots (see image above); and all that didn't come into contact with humans were real gorillas. The fact that you really can't tell the difference in most of the shots speaks volumes to how incredible Baker's work is. He's come a long way since his hokey ape costume in John Landis' Schlock (1973).


Gorillas in the Mist is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio - though the first 3 minutes (the opening titles) is windowboxed (blackness on all sides) at 1.75:1 - with a runtime of 2:09:12. On the audio side, there is only an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track (not 2.0 like the case says). Subtitles are available in English only. As is the case with most Mill Creek Entertainment releases, there are no special features. Normally, I would put a positive spin on that by commenting that the original videocassette lacked special features, as well. However, in this case, I can not do that. You see, unlike most of the titles in the Retro VHS line, this movie was previously released on Blu-ray in 2014 by Universal with special features! In the past, when Mill Creek would release a Universal title, they would include most, if not all, of the previous DVD and/or Blu-ray special features. For some reason, they did not do it with this release. Below is a list of everything that's missing.

• MISSING: Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (9:15)
• MISSING: Theatrical Trailer (2:20)

The real "bonus feature" here is the vintage-looking VHS-inspired slipsleeve, with faux wear and tear, and fake "rental stickers" on it, while giving the appearance of a videocassette being pulled out from the right side (though the original VHS may have been in a bottom-loading box), complete with tape label side on the right spine. The VHS sleeves for all four March 2021 releases (The Babe, Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, Gorillas in the Mist, and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot) are glossy, while all past sleeves were matte finish. I don't know if they will all be glossy in the future, or if this is a one-time occurrence.

Here's a complete look at this special slipsleeve. Click on it to get a better look.


The front artwork is based on the original U.S. VHS box art, as seen below, though I wish they kept Sigourney Weaver's name inside the green bar at the top instead of putting it right below it. The back of the slipsleeve bears a similarity to the original VHS box art, but uses different photos (only one is the same), although placed in a similar orientation.


The case artwork underneath is of a modern style (based on one of the original theatrical posters), which means that the VHS-style slipsleeve may only be available for a limited time. In the photo below, the slipsleeve cover is on the left and the case artwork underneath is on the right.


Since Mill Creek Entertainment is a budget company, you can grab Gorillas in the Mist on Amazon for a great low price right now. If you favor special features over the Retro VHS slipsleeve, Universal's 2014 Blu-ray is still available. The choice is yours.


The "Retro VHS Style" series includes the following Blu-ray releases, which are being listed in chronological movie order, and not the order they are being released onto Blu-ray. Some titles below may not have been released yet.



Images used were framegrabbed from the Blu-ray by me (Paul Rudoff) and the larger versions have since been uploaded to the Internet Movie Database gallery of the film. The Blu-ray has been provided by Mill Creek Entertainment for review on this site.