The award winning legal thriller MURDER IN THE FIRST - starring Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon, and Gary Oldman - makes its UK UHD and Blu-ray debut on November 17, with a superb brand new 4K restoration.

Directed by Marc Rocco (Where the Day Takes You) and written by Dan Gordon (Rambo: Last Blood) MURDER IN THE FIRST, a combination of prison thriller and courtroom drama, stars Kevin Bacon (The Following), who won the Critics Choice Award for his portrayal of a convict on a murder charge, Gary Oldman (The Darkest Hour) as an unforgiving prison warden, and Christian Slater (True Romance) as an idealistic young attorney taking on what seems to be an unwinnable case. The film also features a fantastic supporting cast including William H.Macy (Fargo), R.Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket) and Embeth Davidtz (Matilda).

Inspired by a real case from the 1930s, this intense and powerful drama shines a light on the brutality of Alcatraz prison, with a brilliant and harrowing performance from Bacon, who joins the ranks of Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz and Burt Lancaster in The Birdman of Alcatraz, with a fascinating portrait of a man trying to survive inhumane incarceration on ‘the Rock’.

SYNOPSIS: After being imprisoned in Alcatraz for petty theft, Henri Young (Kevin Bacon) leads a failed escape attempt from the infamous prison. As punishment for the doomed getaway, prison warden Milton Glenn (Gary Oldman) places Young in solitary confinement for three years. When Young is finally released from his torturous ordeal, now a completely broken man, he kills an inmate and is charged with murder in the first degree. Although it initially appears to be an open-and-shut case, after Young’s attorney James Stamphill (Christian Slater) learns the facts of Young’s time in solitary confinement, he launches a daring defence that blames Alcatraz’s inhumane conditions for driving Young to insanity and therefore causing him to kill.

MURDER IN THE FIRST is available to buy on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from 17th November 2025 and available to pre-order.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NEW Audio commentary by cinematographer Fred Murphy
Making Of
Interview with Christian Slater (1995)
Interview with Kevin Bacon (1995)
Interview with Marc Rocco (1995)

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 125 mins approx.

For further information please contact:
Fetch Publicity | Josh Stevens | josh@fetch.fm

Images available from: Studiocanalpress.co.uk

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