The Lure (Blu-ray)

THE CRITERION COLLECTION

This genre-defying horror-musical mash-up—the bold debut of Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska—follows a pair of carnivorous mermaid sisters drawn ashore to explore life on land in an alternate 1980s Poland. Their tantalizing siren songs and otherworldly auras make them overnight sensations as nightclub singers in the half-glam, half-decrepit world of Smoczynska’s imagining. The director gives fierce teeth to her viscerally sensual, darkly feminist twist on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” in which the girls’ bond is tested and their survival threatened after one sister falls for a human. A coming-of-age fairy tale with a catchy synth-fueled soundtrack, outrageous song-and-dance numbers, and lavishly grimy sets, The Lure explores its themes of emerging female sexuality, exploitation, and the compromises of adulthood with savage energy and originality.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

• High-definition digital master, supervised by director of photography Kuba Kijowski, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New program about the making of the film, featuring interviews with director Agnieszka Smoczynska, actors Marta Mazurek and Michalina Olszanska, screenwriter Robert Bolesto, Kijowski, composers Barbara and Zuzanna Wronskie, sound designer Marcin Lenarczyk, and choreographer Kaya Kolodziejczyk
• Deleted scenes
• Aria Diva (2007) and Viva Maria! (2010), two short films by Smoczynska
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by novelist, playwright, and storyteller Angela Lovell