Menace II Society

Directors Albert and Allen Hughes and screenwriter Tyger Williams were barely into their twenties when they sent shock waves through American cinema and hip-hop culture with this fatalistic, unflinching vision of life and death on the streets of Watts, Los Angeles, in the 1990s. There, in the shadow of the riots of 1965 and 1992, young Caine (Tyrin Turner) is growing up under the influence of his ruthless, drug-dealing father (Samuel L. Jackson, in a chilling cameo) and his loose-cannon best friend, O-Dog (Larenz Tate), leading him into a spiral of violent crime from which he is not sure he wants to escape, despite the best efforts of his grandparents and the steadfast Ronnie (Jada Pinkett). Fusing grim realism with a propulsively stylish aesthetic honed through the Hughes brothers’ work on rap videos, Menace II Society is a searing cautionary tale about the devastating human toll of hopelessness.

United States
1993
97 minutes
Color
1.85:1
English
Spine #1105

Special Features

Director-Approved 4K/UHD + Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

New 4K digital restoration of the directors’ cut of the film, supervised by director of photography Lisa Rinzler and codirector Albert Hughes, with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Original 2.0 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
Two audio commentaries from 1993 featuring directors Albert and Allen Hughes
New selected-scene commentary featuring Rinzler
Gangsta Vision, a 2009 featurette on the making of the film
New conversation among Albert Hughes, screenwriter Tyger Williams, and film critic Elvis Mitchel
New conversation among Allen Hughes, actor and filmmaker Bill Duke, and Mitchell
Interview from 1993 with the directors
Music video from 1991 for 2Pac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” directed by the Hughes brothers
Deleted scenes
Film-to-storyboard comparison
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by film critic Craig D. Lindsey

New cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde

4K+Blu-ray 2 Discs $39.96 SRP: $49.95

Blu‑ray 1 Disc $31.96 SRP: $39.95

Director-Approved 4K/UHD + Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

New 4K digital restoration of the directors’ cut of the film, supervised by director of photography Lisa Rinzler and codirector Albert Hughes, with 7.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Original 2.0 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
Two audio commentaries from 1993 featuring directors Albert and Allen Hughes
New selected-scene commentary featuring Rinzler
Gangsta Vision, a 2009 featurette on the making of the film
New conversation among Albert Hughes, screenwriter Tyger Williams, and film critic Elvis Mitchel
New conversation among Allen Hughes, actor and filmmaker Bill Duke, and Mitchell
Interview from 1993 with the directors
Music video from 1991 for 2Pac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” directed by the Hughes brothers
Deleted scenes
Film-to-storyboard comparison
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by film critic Craig D. Lindsey

New cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde

Cast & Credits