Nine Questions I Have about the Blu-ray of The Room

If there’s one thing Rob and I do have in common, its our shared love of misshapen, muscular mutants, as evinced by our fandom of both Masters of the Universe and Tommy Wiseau. So the idea of my favorite cinematic disasterpiece, The Room, coming out on Blu-ray, is culturally significant. But like everything else about Tommy, it’s shrouded in a swirling mist of mystery, awkward PR and an apparent lack of competence that may in fact be genius. So here are my questions, based on what’s out there right now.

9. What’s up with that new cover picture? The original poster for The Room was strange enough, with a lazy-eyed Wiseau tinted green and looking like a Frankenstein monster. This seemingly official Blu-ray cover, revealed by actor Greg Sestero on his Facebook fan page, captures a facial expression that’s baffling in both intent – what would induce even the weird Wiseau to make such a face? – and execution – he never makes that face in the movie that I recall (and I’ve seen it like 20 times), so he had to actually take a new photo of himself making that expression. Like every directorial choice he made, this is a confusing call.

8. Is it actually for sale on Amazon? There’s a listing for it, but no picture, and it’s supposed to be available starting nine days from now. Considering there’s a whole bunch of new crap to buy at The Room’s official site, including footballs, basketballs, a green gym bag and a plush dog wearing a tuxedo, you’d think one press image of the alleged Blu-ray might be available.

7. What’s up with the price? If the Amazon thing is for real, then so is the price tag of $35.99. Considering that the DVD is only $35.99, and the “additional special features – behind the scenes footage, scene selection, trailers, deleted scenes, photo gallery and interviews – sound exactly the same, that’s a rip-off, particularly for a movie that’s best experienced live anyway. Now, if it had commentaries, especially any involving Tommy, no price would be too high to pay. Oh hai price!

6. Did Tommy himself write the product description? “It is the first Blu-ray format in the world.” So, yes, I’d say it’s highly likely he constructed that sentence.

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