The Missing Rediscovered on Blu-ray

One of the best westerns of the past 20 years, The Missing, will resurface for the first time on Blu-ray next month.

The NZ and Australian release appears to be a world first, as the Ron Howard-directed variation on The Searchers doesn’t seem to have been offered on Blu-ray in any other market.

The bad news is the Shock Blu-ray will be missing all of the DVD extras.

Not that there was much to cheer on the NZ DVD, with the US “deluxe” edition boasting twice as many deleted scenes, twice as many featurettes, a third alternative ending and an analysis of the different endings by screenwriter Kenneth Kaufman.

Still, it will be fantastic to see this under-rated western in 1080p, even if it is a non-restored budget release ($15) that doesn’t even have subtitles.

The Missing goes on sale on June 20, the same day as the Blu-ray debut of the 2002 Australian award-winner, The Tracker, a period adventure about an Aboriginal manhunt that has remastered video and audio plus extras (hence the $35 RRP).

Also due on June 20 is the 1998 odd-couple road movie classic, Midnight Run. It was released on Blu-ray two years ago in the US with a suite of extras and a fresh 2K scan of the film’s interpositive element.

While the $15 NZ release won’t have extras, it’s not clear if the transfer is being sourced from Shout in the US or the UK, where Second Sight used an inferior outdated master for its 2015 Blu-ray.

According to a Shock spokesperson: “All our masters come directly from the studio as HD pro-res files. One would assume that’s what Shout and similar companies also use but I couldn’t be sure.”