1991’s Cape Fear brings us a Martin Scorsese-directed remake of the 1962 original film. The question becomes whether it delivers a successful adaptation of that classic.

Max Cady (Robert De Niro) serves 14 years for rape and emerges from prison. First item on Cady’s agenda? Track down Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte), the lawyer he holds responsible for his incarceration.

Cady slowly insinuates himself into Sam’s world, with an emphasis on wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) and teen daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis). The ex-con determines to make the attorney’s life miserable as revenge for his imprisonment.

When I saw Scorsese’s Fear in 1991, I did so with virtually no foreknowledge of its 1962 predecessor. I knew the 1991 film got good reviews, though, and given that it came with a stellar cast and crew, I figured I’d enjoy it.

Nope. I found the 1991 Fear to seem too campy and over the top to turn into an effective thriller.

Nearly 33 years later, does the 1991 Fear work better for me at 57 than it did at 24? Not really, as the same issues I discerned in 1991 persist in 2024.

Scorsese creates a complete triumph of style over substance. The film delivers one self-consciously showy, strange visual choice after another, like the shots of Lange in negative during sex.

Honestly, Fear feels like a parody of melodrama. Much of the movie seems like a caricature, as it seems oddly lurid without purpose and it becomes laughable in its excessiveness.

Fearcontinues a lot of the showier techniques from GoodFellas but in an obnoxious way. In the earlier film, those created a thrilling sense of vibrancy to communicate the characters’ highs.

Here, however, we end up with hyperactive moves and symbolism so obvious that it becomes eye-rolling. Scorsese allows for no subtlety, as he just pounds home his themes and melodrama.

33 years down the road, I still don’t know if Scorsese thought his Fear delivered a bracing update on the original or if he intended to create something so over the top. The 1991 movie comes awfully close to parody as it explores its characters and story.

Again, perhaps Scorsese wanted that. Maybe he preferred a thriller that semi-mocked the genre to one that played it straight.

Whatever the case, it doesn’t work, especially compared with the highly effective 1962 version. Robert Mitchum’s Cady offered a dark and insidious force, whereas De Niro’s just seems like a cartoon.

And a ridiculously powerful one at that. The 1991 Cady offers a superhuman force who bears no connection to reality.

With a Hee Haw accent and a pumped-up body, De Niro fits this goofy motif. He overacts a storm and adds to the silliness.

The 1991 Fear brings back 1962 actors Mitchum, Gregory Peck and Martin Balsam for small parts. In a fun twist, Peck and Mitchum play against type.

They deliver some of the film’s only enjoyable moments. Too much of the 1991 Fear just seems ridiculous and too melodramatic for its own good.

Cape Fear appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though largely appealing, the image suffered from sporadic issues.

Sharpness turned into one of these domains, as delineation could vary. While the majority of the movie displayed appropriate clarity, the movie could also feel a bit tentative at times.

Some of that stemmed from occasional instances of edge haloes. Those didn’t come across as heavy but they created a few distractions and left the movie with an “overcranked” look when they occurred.

Neither jagged edges nor shimmering occurred. I saw no print flaws, and a decent layer of grain appeared, though I wondered if a bit of grain reduction popped up during interiors.

Colors seemed adequate, as the film’s fairly natural palette showed fairly positive reproduction. While the tones didn’t come across as memorable, they usually showed appropriate impact.

Blacks felt reasonably deep – albeit a little inky at times – and shadows offered mostly positive clarity. Though more than watchable, the image’s inconsistency meant if became a “B-“ presentation.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it worked fine for its vintage. Though the mix didn’t always sizzle, it packed a decent punch when necessary.

Music showed good stereo presence, and the various channels contributed solid engagement to the side and rear. Much of the material remained atmospheric, but the movie’s wilder scenes – like those on the water or with thunder – managed to open up the side and rear speakers in a dynamic manner.

Audio quality also seemed fine. Speech was reasonably natural and concise, while music showed acceptable pep and clarity.

Effects brought us accurate enough material, though some mild distortion cropped up at times. The soundtrack held up well over the last 33 years.

The Blu-ray comes with a mix of extras, and these launch with >B>The Making of Cape Fear. In this one-hour, 20-minute, one-second documentary, we hear from director Martin Scorsese, screenwriter Wesley Strick, producer Barbara De Fina, production designer Henry Bumstead, editor Thelma Schoomaker, optical photograpy David S. Williams Jr., special optical effects Bill Taylor, composer Elmer Bernstein, and actors Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, and Gregory Peck.

The program looks at what attracted Scorsese to the project and its development, story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, photography and aspect ratio, editing, stunts and effects, music, the opening credits, and the movie’s release.

With 80 minutes at its disposal and most of the production’s primary participants, this becomes a terrific look at the film’s creation. It gets into the nuts and bolts and becomes a compelling take on the topics.

Next comes Behind the Scenes of the Fourth of July Parade. It runs two minutes, 12 seconds and shows behind the scenes footage for that scene. We get a few interesting elements but this doesn’t add up to much.

On the Set of the Houseboat goes for one minute, 44 seconds and offers material along the same lines of “Parade”. It fares about the same.

10 Deleted Scenes fill a total of nine minutes, 15 seconds. These focus on added character beats and exposition, most of which relate to the Bowden family, though the last few involve Cady as well.

None of them seem especially useful or memorable. Though some feel like they should flesh out matters, they just tend to come across as redundant or without real narrative value.

Under Photograph Montages, we split into three subdomains: “The Physical Transformation of Robert De Niro’s Max Cady” (two minutes, 58 seconds), “The Cast of Cape Fear” (3:52) and “Martin Scorsese Directs Cape Fear” (2:11).

“Cady” mainly just shows images of De Niro from the film, so it seems forgettable. The same goes for “Cast”, which offers little of interest beyond a few promo pictures.

“Directs” focuses on behind the scenes shots and seems more compelling. All three lose points because the elements never got an upgrade from DVD quality and they look mushy.

During the 11-minute, 42-second Opening Credits, we get a montage that lets us see samples of the work of Saul Bass. Because I figured this would give us details about the creation of the Cape Fear credits, it becomes a disappointment.

In addition to the film’s trailer, the disc finishes with Matte Paintings. It presents a 54-second reel that shows those works on their own and then as integrated into the film. Expect a moderately interesting reel.

Martin Scorsese provides a campy thriller via 1991’s Cape Fear. More laughable than scary, the movie’s absurd melodrama robs it of impact. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive but somewhat inconsistent picture and audio along with a good array of bonus materials. I didn’t think much of Scorsese’s Fear in 1991 and it hasn’t grown on me with age.