Dog Soldiers, bidasses v werewolves

IMAGE – Full moon night

Published successively in 2009 First Look) and then 2015 (at Shout Factory) on Blu-ray support, Dog Soldiers Unfortunately, never had the right to an edition worthy of this name, the first suffering from an abuse of DNR and enhanced edge where the second delivered excessively contrasted images (black archi-bouches) with too bright brightness and strangely warm colors. Is this 4K Ultra HD from Germany finally the right one? In any case, it is the best edition proposed to date (pending the HDR version, approved by director Neil Marshall and Ops leader Sam McCurdy, to be released next June via Shout Factory for the United States and via Second Sight for the UK) even if the image delivered is far from perfect.

Drawn from a 4K scan made from the original 16 mm negative (excluding composite plans of the SFX from the previous 35 mm copy – the plans that indicate in sum –), this UHD non-HDR transfer (the differences with the new Blu-ray present in the mediabook being therefore minimal if this is a more refined texture) benefits from a much better sharpness than before, from an increased resolution, much more precise details, from a ubiquitous grain that goes well (the photograph of the film being deliberately craspec), and from cold colors and tristos found.

Unfortunately, there are still a few instabilities, a lot of dirt in the image (despite a cleaning that seems obvious) and worse, the contrasts are now completely weak with systematically milky blacks (cf. the manip below to remedy them). But despite these flaws, never, ever could we have hoped for such a result for this horrific reel cult.

⚠️ As it appears that the colorimetric space used is 0-255 (spectrum for computing) and not the usual 16-235 (attributed to video), it is sufficient to adjust the entire video channel accordingly (RGB extended instead of the YCbCr model) to avoid finding itself with unwashed blacks. Once this change is done, they prove to be deep without excess. However, this error had to be sanctioned in the final assessment.

SON – Who let the dogs out? ♪♫

While voices, effects and score are well prioritized, this soundtrack (in VO) is far from reaching the sound detail and explosive dynamics of today's horrific mixes.

Small production forces, the action is played preferably at the front and without too much aggressiveness even though the front opening may surprise (the take-off of the helicopter) and some effects are placed from time to time at the rear (such as the shooting and grunting of the werewolves).

CONCLUSION – The hunt is open...

In a state of siege, this 4K Ultra HD will have to awaken its senses, even if sometimes limited, if it does not want to serve as a resistance dish to a pack of hungry werewolves!