Fifteen Years Later: Escape from L.A.

 

This month saw the passing of the fifteen-year anniversary of the release of John Carpenter’s oft-derided Escape from L.A., and though it is not unsurprising that such an auspicious occasion would go largely unheralded both in the press and in the blogosphere, I still feel the need to stick up for this seemingly lost little gem.  Given the absurd, satirical nature of the piece, I would have expected it to garner some level of cult status, even if it were among the annoying so-bad-its-good sect.  From what I can tell, it hasn’t, and though it was given a blu-ray release last year, it is telling that Universal never bothered to update the original DVD with an anamorphic transfer, a clear sign of a studio having no faith in a product whatsoever if there ever was one.