Tales of the Black Freighter

Having seen and having loved The Watchmen, Christa and I though we would rent Tales of the Black Freighter. This short movie combines the comic within a comic that was left out of the Watchmen movie. It chronicles a marine whose ship was destroyed by a pirate ship, who slowly turns mad in his attempt to get back home and warn his family about the coming pirate ship. It is bizarre, but well-written. What surprised me was how short it was (20 minutes). The Netflix DVD jacket said it was one hour, 40 minutes.

It was the combined features of the DVD that totaled to the run time. Forty minutes of it was a documentary set in 1985 in which the host looks back on his 1975 interview with Hollis Mason. This documentary is incredible, doing a good job of weaving in the chapter intros that weren't used much during the theatrical movie. They also use commercials from the comic as well as commercials relevant to the era. If anything, I would rent this DVD to see the documentary. That alone was worth it.