Death Becomes Her (1996) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction
Added 2025-09-02 12:00:06 +0000 UTCThe first movie reaction to be shared while I'm away is a Reactr request, courtesy of Brad. This is a movie that I'm so glad I knew nothing about it going in because holy, what a riot. 😅
This one will be edited and go out on the YouTube channel later this month. In the meantime, please enjoy the watchalong and I look forward to your comments! [Direct link here.]
✦ KL
Comments
This did in fact win an Oscar for visual effects. Zemeckis has always been interested in pushing the envelope on visual effects technology, as evidenced by the Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, stuff like integrating Tom Hanks into the authentic newsreel footage of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in Forrest Gump, and later, his entire late-period career making motion-capture CGI movies like Beowulf and The Polar Express. The movie was heavily reshot. Sadly, the deleted scenes have never been either found or shown, but an entire key character played by Tracy Ullman was deleted from the movie, along with the original ending. Ullman played Toni, a character that in the original ending helped Ernest fake his death. Ernest and Toni get married, and the ending was Madeline and Helen discovering them in Switzerland years later. A chase ensues, and the final beat is basically the same as the final cut, where they break into pieces. An image of Willis in the old age makeup from this version of the ending was pasted onto that of a hiker for the funeral photo in the existing ending. Snippets of multiple deleted scenes, including a dead guy at the bar, Bruce Willis pulling Madeline out of the freezer and dragging her up the stairs, and a glimpse of Ullman's Toni in the middle of pretending Ernest is dead, can be seen in the movie's theatrical trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHdHkq9a-PQ Also, in case it doesn't totally "scan," the title is wordplay based on old-fashioned phrasing. "Becomes" is being used for the definition that it flatters one's appearance, thus Death Becomes Her is akin to "Death looks good on her." Couldn't tell if that came across.
Tyler Foster
2025-09-03 15:40:23 +0000 UTCI mentioned on Rogue Nation that the casting of Rebecca Ferguson might've been a bit of a homage to the female lead of Casablanca. Well, here we have her actual daughter, Isabella Rossellini, as the mysterious Lisle Von Rhuman, who provides the potion.
Tyler Foster
2025-09-02 21:27:35 +0000 UTC
