Tarsem was born in Punjab and came to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, to learn how to be a filmmaker, studying alongside and acting in the student movies of Zack Snyder and Michael Bay. I first noticed his work in the video for R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” before he directed this film. He’s gone on to make The Fall, Immortals, Mirror Mirror, Self/less and Dear Jassi, some incredible commercials, and even coming back to music videos to make Lady Gaga’s “911.”

The Cell may tell a somewhat simple story: Child psychologist Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) must save comatose boy Edward Baines (Colton James) by studying the mindscape of serial killer Carl Rudolph Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio), who suffers from the same viral illness that causes an unusual form of narcoleptic schizophrenia.

Yet the direction and visual style of this film push it into unfamiliar territory. Taking cues from British artist Damien Hirst’s divided horse imagery, Norweigan figure painter Odd Nerdrum, H. R. Giger, and even shouting out Fantastic Planet, this looks unlike anything in the film—but a ton of music videos and artwork—before.

The story, all about the Cronenberg-ish named Neurological Cartography and Synaptic Transfer System, finds Catherine entering the brains of her sleeping patients to fix their dreams, an idea taken from He Who Shapes by Roger Zelazny. Watching it, I was reminded of another similar film, Dreamscape, which may have a bigger script and wilder ideas but doesn’t have the eye for imagery that Tarseem and director of photography Paul Laufer bring to this.

Catherine is guided by doctors Henry West (Dylan Baker) and Miriam Kent (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and government agents Pete Novak (Vince Vaughn) and Gordon Ramsay (Jake Weber) as she descends into the mind of the killer, whose killing technique gives the name to this movie: he drowns his victims inside a glass cell. Then he rises above it to watch their deaths from above. Like Freddy Krueger, he rules his mindscape; just like those films, what happens to Catherine in the dreamscape occurs in reality. She’s trapped but must escape to learn how to use the device and save Edward.

Amazingly, there is a direct-to-video sequel to this that no one has ever talked about. It came out in 2009 and has a new killer, The Cusp, who kills people and resuscitates them over and over until they ask him to kill them. His only surviving victim, psychic investigator Maya (Tessie Santiago), is the only one who can stop him.

Despite its success, writer Mark Protosevich has disowned the film. He claims that what Tarseem made—and the many rewrites—changed his original script so much that he hopes he can remake it someday. Speaking of remakes, he wrote the script for American Oldboy.

The new Arrow Video release gives more than just the original and director’s cuts of the movie. There’s also a director of photography cut, with a different aspect ratio and alternate color grading created by director of photography Paul Laufer. This gives you an opportunity to explore the world of The Cell from so many places.

The Arrow Video Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases of The Cell have brand new 4K restorations of both the 107-minute Theatrical Cut and the 109-minute Director’ Cut by Arrow Films, approved by director Tarsem Singh. There’s also a bonus disc containing a previously unseen version of the film with an alternate aspect ratio and alternate grading created by director of photography Paul Laufer. Plus, you get an illustrated collector’s book containing new writing on the film by critics Heather Drain, Marc Edward Heuck, Josh Hurtado and Virat Nehru and limited edition packaging with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Savieri.

Extras include four different audio commentaries:

Film scholars Josh Nelson & Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

• Screenwriter Mark Protosevich and film critic Kay Lynch
• Director Tarsem Singh
• Director of photography Paul Laufer, production designer Tom Foden, makeup supervisor Michèle Burke, costume designer April Napier, visual effects supervisor Kevin Tod Haug and composer Howard Shore

Projection of the Mind’s Eye, a new feature-length interview with director Tarsem Singh; Between Two Worlds, a new in-depth interview with director of photography Paul Laufer; Paul Laufer Illuminates, a new interview about the alternate master of The Cell; Art is Where You Find It, a new visual essay by film scholar Alexandra Heller-Nicholas; The Costuming Auteur, a new visual essay by film critic Abbey Bender; Style as Substance: Reflections on Tarsem; eight deleted/extended scenes with optional audio commentary by director Tarsem Singh; six multi-angle archive visual effects vignettes; theatrical trailers and an image gallery.

You can order the Blu-ray or 4K UHD from MVD.