Clarkworld - DVD Review

By Cyril Pearl -- Video Business, 10/19/2009

PASSION RIVER
Street: Nov. 3
Prebook: now
> Warm, posthumous tribute to the director of A Christmas Story.

Clarkworld looks at the career of the late filmmaker Bob Clark, who was tragically killed by a drunk driver in 2007. Clark was responsible for such varied fare as Porky’s and its first sequel (Porky’s II: The Next Day), Black Christmas, Rhinestone, Murder by Decree and the 1983 holiday perennial A Christmas Story. Featuring lots of interview clips of the filmmaker taken from a live onstage interview a few years back, as well as testimonials from a teary-eyed Kim Cattrall, Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen and A Christmas Story’s Peter Billingsley, as well as other actors who appeared in Clark’s films, Clarkworld is a loose, affectionate tribute to a filmmaker who made movies for four decades, created an undisputed classic and whose premature death left a void in the hearts of many friends, collaborators and family members.

Shelf Talk: Along with It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story remains the country’s most popular holiday film, and Passion River has plans to cross-promote the release of Clarkworld with online sites and mailing lists that contain more than 10,000 Christmas Story fans. And there are definitely some ’70s horror fans who are interested in learning more about the director behind such cult favorites as Black Christmas, Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things and Dead of Night.

Documentary, color, NR (some language), 72 min., DVD $24.95, UPC: 68907644220
Extras: additional interview footage
Director: Deren Abram
First Run: DVD premiere