So I Married an Axe Murderer 4K UHD Review

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So I Married an Axe Murderer never plays in an honest reality. Rather, it’s a weird, morbid existence where obituary writers crack terrible puns about the dead, Weekly World News is in the right, and yes, there’s an axe murderer. Oh, and Mike Meyers, caught in the middle of it all, while playing two characters.

The script is unlikely to carry many of the gags seen on screen. Rather, it’s certainly Meyers spitballing gags, in particular playing his own brash Scottish father in the movie’s funniest bits. So I Married an Axe Murderer puts a lot on Meyers, fresh from Wayne’s World. Luckily, he handles it.

Most of what’s memorable about So I Married an Axe Murderer comes during the final act

Many of the stock romantic comedy tropes fill this script, making it a derivative of a derivative… of a derivative. So I Married an Axe Murderer plays with that formula though, poking fun at many of the inanities. Meyers is fantastic, but it’s easy to miss his on-screen counterpart Nancy Travis who serves as the reaction to his signature comic style. She’s great too, and without her, the movie is hollow and empty.

There’s plenty of back-and-forth to sell the idea. Meyers’ character begins the film by doubting every relationship, shutting them down before any major commitment via absurd excuses. While steering toward ridiculous as a set-up, So I Married an Axe Murderer – to note, again – strives to just avoid realism. The is she/isn’t she conversations and paranoia play to the audience’s expectations based on the title, even if anyone experienced in such comic farces will see the twist early.

Most of what’s memorable about So I Married an Axe Murderer comes during the final act. Not to say the preceding material fails, rather the finale bottles up every expected event (stormy night, phone lines down) and uses them to aid the laughs. It’s a burst of energy in a film saving much of it for this moment, and that works.

Playing up the socially-born, headline-making fear of meeting someone without truly knowing who they are, So I Married an Axe Murderer uses those natural concerns as a basis, but then populates itself with bit parts galore. Alan Arkin (weirdly unaccredited) almost steals the entire movie as a passive police chief, and Charles Grodin in just a few scenes makes So I Married an Axe Murderer his own. It’s delightfully kooky, pure ‘90s, and still funny when needed.

Video

Sony cranks the vibrancy to maximum for this remaster. So I Married an Axe Murderer is intense. The color shines, the vividness extending to orange-heavy flesh tones. It’s a lot, even too much in some places, certainly beyond the natural ability of a film stock. Little things like various national flags around the butcher shop, club lights, or other similar elements spike in the beginning and stay there. Prepare to see the brightest red Fruit Loops box ever put on screen.

Dolby Vision effects pump up the contrast too, blasting the screen with intensity, if thankfully not clipping. The resulting contrast is quite marvelous.

The reason to upgrade though comes back to the resolution, which astounds. The level of clarity on display hits reference levels easily. Wide shots of San Francisco rate among the format’s purest and defined. Texture thrives in these conditions, even when the intense color leads to chroma noise. Grain varies, but compression (generally, key word) handles such variances. Other times, it’s sloppy and noisy. It’s the color; every issue comes back to that.

Audio

The pure ’90s soundtrack sounds superb in Dolby Atmos (with a great bass line too), although it’s mostly a 5.1-like effort. The extra surrounds and heights don’t offer much in this regard. A thunderstorm in the final act seems like a great opportunity for the heights, but again, this sounds wholly unchanged from the 5.1 track (that’s also available on the disc). There is one exception: the finale involves an axe slamming onto a roof. Each jolt comes directly overhead.

Otherwise, the mix is standard. Ambiance inside the police station and newsroom extends the soundstage. Dialog doesn’t move from the center and sounds pure and crisp, not aged even a day.

Extras

Sony issues some newly released deleted scenes for this 30th anniversary 4K debut. Otherwise, it’s just trailers.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 35 full resolution, uncompressed 4K screen shots ripped directly from the UHD: