Welcome to The 4K Ultra HD Bazaarvo monthly appointment to find out all about the latest 4K releases and the visual and audio experience they offer. Born of his author's passion for physical media and his desire to share with you the pleasures of cinema at home in his most accomplished form, each issue is the opportunity for the celest wolf to test and evaluate the audio/video performances of many discs released in France and internationally, guiding you through the subtleties of the HDR, the nuances of the WCG and the immersion of 3D soundtracks.
Whether you're a seasoned cinephile looking for the best editions of the market or an amateur wishing to maximize its home-cinema installation, follow the recommendations of our expert and prepare to be amazed by a quality image and sound you thought so far reserved for cinemas. Good reading and enjoy every issue to come! #WeLovePhysicalMedia 📀✨
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers that, in addition to the specified and used viewing equipment, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence notation.
Video broadcaster (QD-OLED 4K) : Sony Bravia XR-65A95L
Universal reader : Oppo UDP-203 Audiocom Reference
Multimedia player : R_volution PlayerPro 8K Signature Edition
Pregnant (7.1.4): Sennheiser AMBEO Soundbar Plus, SB-4000
Image Modes : Professional (SDR or HDR) | Dolby Dark Vision | IMAX Enhanced
Listening modes : Dolby Atmos | Dolby Surround | DTS:X | DTS Neural:X
Contents
Cold Meat
Source France | Publisher : Spectrum Films | Release date : 22 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.20
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles
French
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 7 | Video : 8 | Audio : 9
WORK – In controlled hypothermia, this thriller in camera (inside a car), where the blizzard becomes accomplice to suspense, does not warm up. Sébastien Drouin infuses a carnival tension, Allen Leech embodies a suspended man (in a white nightmare), and in the Rockies, cold is not the only threat... Served cold but raised by a twist tapi under the snow (Nina Bergman makes the ice crack?), this minimalist survival with the glacial viscera is printed in silence, under the skin.
IMAGE – The UHD DV transfer to BD100 offers a solid, precise and contrasting restitution, ideal for the polar atmosphere. In front of the Blu-ray, the gap widens: the piqué gains sharpness, the blacks deep, the whites biting. The palette, cold with red shrapnel, slices like wounds in the powdery. If noise invites, it is the limitations of capture that impose it, not encoding, here impeccable. A rough, almost organic look like the burning gel.
SON – The Atmos runway deploys an efficient spatialization, with a verticality that wraps up as soon as the storm comes. The gusts sank, the cracks fuse, and the passenger compartment becomes a body of resonance. The dialogues are clear, the dynamic strike dry, like a door slammed in the emergency, and the bass, always on the lookout, rumble like a predator ready to melt on its prey. An immersive mix (more contained in DTS-HD) and tense, which makes the blizzard a character in its own right.
Æon Flux (2005)
Source France | Publisher : Paramount Pictures | Release date : 22 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.39
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 2K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 3 of 5
Artistic : 5 | Video : 8.5 | Audio : 8.5
WORK – Adapted softly from cult cartoon, Aeon Flux deploys a visually stylized but dramatically underexploited universe. Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road) traverses this future asepticized gracefully, but the scenario remains in narrative quarantine. The dystopic ambition is there, but it dilutes in a too smooth setting, where the action seems choreographed not to disturb the established order. And despite some intriguing ideas, the film lacks flow... and soul.
IMAGE – Exits the dusty MPEG-2 Blu-ray: Æon Flux grants a real air bowl in UHD, with an enlarged frame (a light rear dezoom) that gives breath to the compositions and a HEVC encoding that lets the grain breathe 35 mm. The DV calibration breathes more natural contrasts, a better bruised light (bye the whitish excesses) and colors, iridescent reflections of the costume to the lush greens of Bregna, more alive. Denser interior atmospheres and more precise facial details.
SON – No Atmos remixes, but the VO DTS-HD MA 5.1 comes out with plume: solid dynamics, well anchored LFE, fluid spatialization and enveloping sensory effects (visions, urban flows). If the sound design remains dated by its free overload (Finesse? Unseen), this track without loss (unpublished until then) instills clarity and verve, with full music and well-centered dialogues. Too blurry, too flat, the VF Dolby Digital 5.1 efface. In the Relical, it's VO or nothing.
In the dark
Source United States | Publisher : Warner Bros. | Release date : 07 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.39
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 2K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles
English
Rated 1.5 out of 5
Artistic : 7 | Video : 4 | Audio : 4
WORK – B-series controlled terror, In the dark enlightens the genre of a tense staging and a simple yet formidable concept: a creature only manifesting itself in the absence of light. He deploys his fear device with clarity from the opening, distills a continuous tension without sinking into the mechanical burst, and leans on a solid casting that anchors horror in a troubled family cell. A shadow on the board? Its predictability. But in the dark, we close our eyes.
IMAGE – While the danger comes from what we don't see, this UHD Dolby Vision transfer shows everything: a climax for a film that lives from its shadow zones! The blacks are washed out, the darkness betrayed, and the atmosphere evaporates in a permanent gray. Ironically, deactivating the HDR reveals a more contrasting image, more legible, and much closer to what the medium promised. On the other hand, the Blu-ray released in 2016 is more dark. Who left the light on?
SON – On the sound side, the mix DTS-HD MA 5.1 also makes its own: far from being identical to that of the HD disc, it plays in deafness. Rear activity remains present, but like fear itself hesitant to be heard, at a dramatically low volume. The bass seem to have run away, the dynamic lacks cruelly impact, and even the dialogues sometimes manage to drown in this dull version of the old soundtrack. Only the flat calm remains, including when Diana appears.
Knock Knock
Source United States | Publisher : Lionsgate Films | Release date : 14 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.39
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 2K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
Subtitles
English
Rated 3 of 5
Artistic : 6.5 | Video : 7 | Audio : 8.5
WORK – Under his torrid home invasion airs, Knock Knock Infiltrates like a vachard satire of American virtue. Eli Roth orchestrates a cruel game where temptation becomes a trap, and morals, a broken mirror. If Keanu Reeves (Matrix, John Wick) seems to be sounded by so much perversity (between overplay and apathy), the two intruders uncheck their replicas like blades. Feminist or misander? Anyway, it's a psycho-erotic thriller that rings at the door... without asking permission.
IMAGE – At the price of a more digital rendering, this UHD Dolby Vision transfer gains in stitching and details. The shadows reveal themselves more precisely, and in the light of day, a frightful radiance is promised... before the bite. That said, in light light, the definition is flickering and the noise sneaks in. Slag inherited from the previous Blu-ray, such as banding and macrobloc, even if clearly attenuated. More ambiguous on the inside, the colours tint with a malady yellow.
SON – Surprise welcome: Atmos mixing burys the DTS-HD MA 5.1 of the previous edition. The sound scene densifies, the effects around them are more maliceful, and the bass play their score without restraint. Timid but present, the verticality active on the music and the external atmospheres (cf. the violent storm). Dialogues are clear, well placed, never drowned. Realistic, intelligently spatialized and devilishly effective, immersion is there, without swindle. Toc Toc!
Jacob's Scale
Source France | Publisher : Studiocanal | Release date : 15 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.85
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English DTS-HD MA 2.0
French DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 9 | Video : 9.5 | Audio : 8
WORK – While every step of the ladder leads lower than the previous, this awakened nightmare dissects the psyche like a trembling scalpel, between fractured reality and urban purgatory. Moreover, at the crossroads of trauma and transcendence, this metaphysical thriller, which does not look at itself, but suffers, like a fever that refuses to fall, whispers that the truth could be far worse than madness. Reverse ascension, veiled redemption: truth does not appear, it accepts.
IMAGE – Restored in 4K from the 35 mm negative under the supervision of Adrian Lyne, the film regains its original geometry: finished horizontal stretching, the proportions are finally right. The clarity and details far surpass the old edition 1080p and the DV, by reinforced blacks, adds density to the darkness. Carefully dull and oppressive, the colorimetric palette explodes during psyched hallucinations (red and blue exacerbated). The granular patina is no longer smoothed.
SON – Despite a certain lack of naturalness, the VO DTS-HD MA 5.1, taking over the Blu-ray, offers a dreadfully effective spatialization: from the first seconds, the helicopters approach us, and the rumbling of the metro triggers an impressive LFE channel. The rear atmospheres are well distributed (the rain, the echoes of the street), while the effects arise without warning, trapping us in a sound paranoia. The voices pierce with accuracy. Amorphous stereo VF, without nerve or relief.
Edward in the hands of silver
Source France | Publisher : Disney | Release date : 05 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.85
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
French SDR 5.1
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 3 of 5
Artistic : 8 | Video : 6.5 | Audio : 7.5
WORK – In this gothic tale chiseled with tenderness, Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow, Dumbo) sculpts a nugget of pure emotion, embodied by Edward, creature of innocence in the hands of blades, cutting in the heart of the spectator a fairy melancholy. The snow incarnates in memory, each topiary becomes a silent poem, and strangeness turns into grace, in a ballet of solitude and beauty that leaves a imprint of frost in the soul. Heartburn and scissors.
IMAGE – Sublimated by artisans with silver hands, this 4K restoration (exploited with the 25th anniversary Blu-ray), by an efficient WCG, sees its chromatic contrasts accentuated between the acidic suburbs (to the more pimping pastels) and the Gothic mansion (more monochromatic in its lugbrity). But mistreated by encoders with lead hands (persistent chrominance noise, unstable backgrounds), she touches the magic without kissing. Light range contained.
SON – If it raises the dynamics (the arrival of Peg Boggs and the virevoltant cuts) of the original DTS-HD MA 4.0 track (usually absent from this 4K disk), the Atmos VO remains very wise, concentrated on the frontal channels, with almost silent verticality (except during burglary). The surround atmosphere, discreet, is limited to some environmental effects and the beautiful resonance of Danny Elfman's score, the emotional core of the film. VF without fixed relief in front façade.
Death on a rainy Sunday
Source France | Publisher : The Smoker Cat | Release date : 1 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.35
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
French DTS-HD MA 5.1
French DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
French
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 7 | Video : 8.5 | Audio : 8
WORK – Adapted from Joan Aiken's icy novel, this venous domestic suspense, at the casting of the 80s, seems to conceal a threat under each drop of rain. A skillful play of psychological lock-up, as everyday life becomes a trap, it installs a creeping tension where anxiety infiltrates like moisture in the walls: insidious, persistent, impossible to hunt. In this felt drama where horror arises from the familiar, the ordinary cracks, leaving room for fear.
IMAGE – For its world premiere on Blu-ray support, this work to (re)discover has benefited from a meticulous restoration (out of the original negative 35 mm) signed FPA France. In front of the old DVD, the qualitative leap of the 4K disc is striking: a purged copy of its impurities, sharp details, restored stability, rebalanced contrasts, and controlled silver texture. And while the colours (ternal but expressive) breathe again, the photo stops flowing into blur.
SON – Drawn from the original Dolby Stereo magnetic, the two tracks DTS-HD MA (5.1 and 2.0) deliver a clear sound restitution, faithful to the minimalist atmosphere of the film. Stereo preserves the privacy of the (quasi) in camera, while mix 5.1 subtly expands space without betraying the sobriety of the era sound dressing. Clear dialogues, heavy silences, and ubiquitous rain: not simple background noise, but threatening breath. The music, discreet but incisive, arises with anxious touches.
The End of Time
Source United States | Publisher : Shout Factory | Release date : 07 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.35
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
English
Rated 3 of 5
Artistic : 4.5 | Video : 9.5 | Audio : 8.5
WORK – Despite a diabolically promising pitch (Schwarzy versus Satan), this apocalyptic blockbuster collapses under its own weight. The biblical ambition turns to the hollow sermon, the scenario pacts with laziness, and the tape-to-eye effects are dated. The Revelation promised by Peter Hyams (Timecop) never happens: remains a confused purgatory of action, where even the Devil seems blasphemed. Without breath... or salvation, The End of Time Misses his exorcism of the genre.
IMAGE – Born of a 4K scan of the original negative, validated by the Peter Hyams chief operator, this prophetic UHD transfer, sublimated by an incandescent Dolby Vision calibration, ignites flames, blacks (more abyssal) and light sources with almost infernal intensity. The Super 35 grain gains in subtlety, and surgical precision reveals every detail in a new light. Without burning the carnation (in contrast to Blu-ray), saturation, powerful, acquires heat.
SON – Although slightly low, the mix DTS-HD MA 5.1 deploys powerful bass, an infernal score signed John Debney and above all, broad and immersive atmospheres, where New York's life rushes even out of action: street chatter, horns, helicopter, and rear effects (the ricochet of bullets, urban agitation, the back and forth of vehicles) sculpt space accurately. Despite a modest average flow rate (only 2950 kbps), which limits the overall dynamics, the magnitude is there.
Martyrs
Source United Kingdom | Publisher : Eureka Entertainment | Release date : 27 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.85
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
French DTS-HD MA 5.1
French DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
English
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 9 | Video : 9 | Audio : 8.5
WORK – Forbidden by sensitive souls, this filmed crucifixion is a closed camera where pain becomes doctrine. Pascal Laugier pushes the boundaries of the genre with a perverse faith, sculpting suffering like other light. Morjana Alaoui and Mylène Jampanoi engage in an offering of flesh and cry, until total abandonment. It comes out emptied, skinned, almost converted to a mystic of torture. Martyrdom becomes ritual, and horror, sacrament. A passion... without a resurrection.
IMAGE – Resulting from a surgical restoration of the original negative 16 mm, this UHD DV transfer enhances the malaise: denser and organic grain, details with unsuspected finesse and visceral textures. The voluntarily cold palette (except blood) and discrete HDR calibration (with few wall appliques nearby) respect the tortured aesthetic of the work, including in blacks and contrasts, whose fluctuations, once hesitant, are assumed here. The encoding tracks his scar without blush.
SON – Clean, large, well mixed... but too wise, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track favours grade to impact. Clear dialogues, expressive dynamics, airy music: everything breathes, except horror that never dares sensory terror. Because the rear scene, promising on the surface (the storm), blows into the basement, where it should have swallowed us. Not a technical flaw, no, just a missed opportunity to stumble with Anna. A mix more witness than executioner.
Missing
Source France | Publisher : Warner Bros. | Release date : 10 December 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.39
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 8 | Video : 8.5 | Audio : 9
WORK – While the choral narrative unfolds like a fog where each voice fades gradually, ordinary fear contaminates homes and fragile institutions. Prejudices become invisible weapons, paralyzing social and police mechanics, while staging transforms absence into an obsessive presence. This game of shadows, tense and hypnotic, strikes with its collective vertigo and deafening silence, giving the thriller an intensity that haunts long after the projection.
IMAGE – Apart from a gamma with a capricious strand and rare twinkles, this UHD DV transfer enhances the fear in pure clarity: dark corners reveal details swallowed on the Blu-ray, diurnal environments gain in nuances (Gladys carmine wig, forest greens), night scenes enrich with more atmospheric light sources thanks to increased amber hues, while urban textures display significantly more finesse.
SON – The VO Dolby Atmos wraps the listening room in a striking immersion: clear dialogues, deep organic and bass effects that shake when necessary. The high surrounds and channels, exploited with precision, reinforce the anxiety atmosphere. The score finds its place without suffocating the action, and the third act, saturated with lawsuits, is made into an authentic auditory feast. More modest, the VF lossy orchestrates the thrill with less magnitude and precision.
The Descent
Source United States | Publisher : Lionsgate Films | Release date : 11 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.35
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 7.1
Subtitles
English
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 9 | Video : 9.5 | Audio : 10
WORK – Oppressant and visceral, The Descent lead us into an underground survival with extraordinary intensity, where every tunnel becomes a trap and every shadow a nightmare. The implacable staging exploits our primary fears (black, claustrophobia, crushing, unknown) to ice the blood and crush the nerves. Far from Hollywood artifices, this infernal lock-up is a top of the genre. A veritable gulf of terror... with no hope of returning to the surface.
IMAGE – Supervised by Pathé and Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers), the 5K restoration of the 35 mm negative offers a striking sharp image, where details finally breathe. The grain, dense but refined, marries the walls of the caves with organic precision. The soft palette gains in naturalness and accuracy, for an unprecedented balance. As for DV, it releases abyssal blacks and rarer flashes of light, transforming each lamp or rocket into dramatic beacons. Here, horror becomes beauty.
SON – More spacious than both tracks 5.1 of the UK disc 20th Century Fox, mixing DTS-HD MA 7.1 is required. The surrounding landslides, as well as the screams and furtive progressions of the Crawlers, flow smoothly into the acoustic space and create a total immersion. Surround effects are exploited with intelligence, placing noises and echoes at the back to accentuate the anxiety of containment. Deep bass and dreadful dynamic amplify the threat. DSP 3D indicated.
Cluedo (1985)
Source France | Publisher : Paramount Pictures | Release date : 22 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.85
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 3.5 out of 5
Artistic : 8 | Video : 8 | Audio : 7
WORK – A mansion, guests, a murder: this whodunit stuffer orchestrates his mystery with a jubilatory irony. Dialogues are like gunshots, and each character becomes a play on the scale of crime. The staging, voluntarily theatrical, turns the plot into a track game where black humour dominates. The suspense, devilishly playful, remains intact until the last blow of a candlestick. A clever entertainment, where the spectator plays... and suspects.
IMAGE – This new 4K scan of 2023, from the original 35 mm negative, shows a clearer and organic image, with a natural grain sometimes thick but still cinematic. Thanks to WCG and DV, the palette of reds, greens and golds is getting brighter, without betraying the retro charm. The details of the costumes and the mansion are revealed with increased depth, even if an inherent softness persists. Compressive traces slip here and there, without ever beginning general stability.
SON – Despite limited dynamics and a few stridents, the monophonic VO delivers clear dialogues and a beautiful presentation of John Morris' jazzy score. Sound effects (ton, shots, glass breakage) are not distorted, even if ADR is sometimes too obvious. Much more artificial in its dubbing (uniform) and flattened in its sound distribution, the VF 2.0 mono gum shade and character specific to the original performers.
The Mask
Source United Kingdom | Publisher : Arrow Films | Release date : 10 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.85
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English LPCM 2.0
Subtitles
English
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 7.5 | Video : 9.5 | Audio : 9
WORK – Green Fluo and Smile XXL, Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura, Sonic) in Looney Toon of flesh and latex, debunks on screen like a cartoon under amphetamines. The staging, doped with special effects, unfolds each gag like a fireworks. The scenario, simple but burlesque, releases its most extravagant impulses. And behind the exuberance, a grinning satire of ego and unbridled power emerges. Delusional, flamboyant and impossible to ignore: a cult comedy.
IMAGE – Cartoonesquely quaint and technicolored as desired, this 4K restoration (resulting from the 35 mm negative and approved by Chuck Russell) put on its most beautiful yellow suit. Densified blacks (the mist bridge) with amplified lighting (the light of the Coco Bongo), the widening of contrasts is noticed... as the use of WCG, which electrifies the most fanciful hues. The details and the grain, of a finesse to grab the jaw, are to fall. SSSSSPLENDIDE !!!
SON – The Dolby Atmos mix is a dynamic acoustic mask with an expressive delight. From the first notes of Randy Edelman, the scene opens and unfolds well beyond 5.1, offering a whirlwind of vertical and lateral effects that enhance transformations and crowd sequences. Dialogues remain clear, while music is spreading vigorously behind. Spatialization is necessary and dynamics, even if far from current standards, retain its essence.
Dr. Caligari
Source France | Publisher : Carlotta Films | Release date : 16 September 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.33 or 1.85
CSD | BT2 BT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2 NT2
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
French
Rated 3 of 5
Artistic : 6 | Video : 9 | Audio : 7.5
WORK – In an obscene and jubilatory gesture, this Dr. Caligari defiles the family icons sanctified by Reagan America, revealing rot under the moral varnish. The learned art, diverted and contaminated by an assumed bad taste, becomes satirical weapon. Mass media and popular culture are ridiculed, reduced to grotesque cartoons. Far from the expressionist nightmare of 1920, he imposed an incandescent pamphlet where provocation reigned in truth. Psychological!
IMAGE – The 4K restoration of The Grainery, under the supervision of Stephen Sayadian, exploits the negative 35 mm to restore a natural, stable and exemplary silvery image. The colours, precisely saturated, maintain a perfect balance, supported by calibrated contrasts and brightness that reveal deep blacks and energetic shine, under control. The absence of HDR is never felt, as the chromatic palette and shadows impress.
SON – The soundtrack, despite a limited budget, remains clear and intelligible, without any notable coding defect. The dialogues are clear, but the mix lacks much relief: the DTS-HD MA 2.0 surround track is quite flat, with a rapidly limited dynamic, and the back end is mostly a musical diffusion, without real spatialization. However, there is nothing resounding, since this modest, functional and coherent audio dressing remains sufficient for this hallucinating cabinet.
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Source France | Publisher : Wild Side Video | Release date : 14 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.85
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English DTS-HD MA 2.0
French DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
French
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 10 | Video : 8 | Audio : 8
WORK – When innocence comes against darkness, Charles Laughton signs a masterpiece. The staging, between storytelling and expressionism, weaves symbolic images that surround the viewer. The false preacher, figure "LOVE/HATE" become legend, distills his threat plan after plan. The river, a wretched funeral, prolongs childish fears and guides the story towards a universal parable. Thus arises a visual poem, an unforgettable chimera film that permanently haunts memory.
IMAGE – Resulting from the original negative, the 4K restoration of theUCLA Film & Television Archive restores a rendition of beautiful finesse despite softened melts. Silver seed fully recovered, rare scratches and instability never disturbing, enhanced pique, more coherent grey scale, better adjusted contrasts (longer blacks, more nuanced whites): this UHD DV transfer, in its ratio 1.85 of origin*, is a singular beauty. Compression (a little) weakened by a bonus overload.
* Between 1.66 (the format retained on disk until then) and 1.85, The NuiT of the hunter The work is at the heart of a historical transition: produced on negative 1.37 by Stanley Cortez, the work was designed for expanded screen exploitation. At the time, the rooms oscillated between the two ratios, but it was finally the 1.85 that moved here, as attested by the Box Office Weekly of July 1955.
SON – English 2.0 (dual mono) remains the sure value: clear voices, atmospheres of great purity, dynamic Walter Schumann score. The remix 5.1 of 2023 tries to enlarge the scene but remains focused, bringing only a slight surround effect on music. The monophonic VF retains the vintage charm of dubbing (Roger Trevill's voice for Robert Mitchum), except that its mixing lacks homogeneity. Regardless of the version, listening is free of pests.
Jurassic World: Renaissance
Source France | Publisher : Universal Pictures | Release date : 12 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.39
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
English Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 7.5 | Video : 9.5 | Audio : 9.5
WORK – After The World Afterlost in the Cretaceous of nullity, this new Jurassic World finally regains its prehistoric sap. The staging combines shivering and elegance, reconnecting with spielbergian DNA. The dinosaurs are no longer simple attractions, but dramatic forces carrying a real tension. And if he doesn't invent anything, going so far as to replay the known saga codes, Renaissance recycles its fossils with roaring efficiency. A return to saving sources.
IMAGE – Magnificently captured in 35 mm KODAK film and sublimated in UHD Dolby Vision, John Mathieson's photograph unfolds a striking visual richness: textures of dreadful precision (from the scales of reptiles to the lines of faces), lush warm colors (the jungle with emerald greens), tangible silver varnish, deep blacks with beautiful legibility (the shadow remains detailed). A feast of dinos, despite a nostalgic patina that reduces the advantage against Blu-ray.
SON – Immersive but triggered only when the action requires it, the VO Atmos plays the card of explosive restraint. The effects (helicopters, waves, roaring) are powerful and perfectly spatialized, while the voices are clearly positioned forward. The dynamic is impressive, alternating felt tension and sound breaking, with an LFE channel striking in the highlights. At the expense of the score, dinosaurs occupy the front of the stage. The VF 7.1 manages even though it's so braided.
The Infiltrators
Source France | Publisher : Seven7 and the image workshop | Release date : 14 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.39
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 2K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles
French
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 9 | Video : 9.5 | Audio : 9
WORK – Under its classic polar airs, this remake of the HK reference Infernal Affairs deploys a chess game where each pawn trembles. Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) transposes Hong Kong paranoia into a Boston saturated with fakes. DiCaprio (Shutter Island) and Damon (Elysium) lose in a mirror, prisoners of always trapped loyalty. Every look becomes a threat, every silence a weapon. And at the end of the game, the undercover drops the masks.
IMAGE – Completed Motion Picture Imaging with the Oscarized Mounter Thelma Schoonmaker, this 4K remaster retains the original visual frame while revealing a wealth of details and textures that have long been braided. An upgrade without betrayal, sublimated by a Dolby Vision calibration (the US disk is confined to the HDR10) that expands the colorimetric palette, reinforces the threatening shadows and releases the high luminances. Authentic, the silver patina is palpable.
SON – The two tracks DTS-HD MA 5.1 shoot real bullets: chiseled dialogues, deep basses, tense front and directional precision... double game guaranteed up to the effects and/or atmospheres (gunshots, urban agitation, tire squeaking), with incisive attack and controlled decay. Exemplary dynamics on music, parsimonic rear scene but relevant. Served by a distribution of choice, the French dubbing retains all the dramatic impact of the VO.
Arcane – Season 2
Source France | Publisher : All the Anime | Release date : 05 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.35
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 2K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 9 | Video : 10 | Audio : 10
WORK – S2Arcane confirms the alchemy between visual virtuosity and intimate tragedy. Each episode is a fresco in which Piltover's politics and Zaun's rage slash with operatic intensity. The characters, fractured between loyalty and survival, embody dramaturgy worthy of the theatrical epics. The staging, bursts of light mixed with industrial shadows, imposes a masterful aesthetic. An animated masterpiece, true emotional Hextech.
IMAGE – This upscale UHD DV impresses with its precision and fluidity. The high city shines in its Art Deco lines, while the lowlands plunge into a chaos of Art Nouveau. The panoramas gain in sharpness, the textures in relief, and the silver patina like Jinx's ‘scratch's are displayed with increased finesse. HDR and WCG reinforce colours, contrasts and lights, from neons to flames. A masterful restitution, supported by a strong HEVC compression.
SON – At the rhythm of a rich playlist, the VO Dolby Atmos deploys spectacular energy, saturating the space of detail and pyrotechnic effects. Serious and infra-graves respond with authority, while VF lossy remains combative and assured. The dubbing, impeccable on both sides, reinforces the stage presence of the protagonists. Net dialogues, immersive spatialization: an incandescent rendering, enchanting hearing where power and finesse combine with brilliance.
Santa is a piece of shit
Source France | Publisher : Studiocanal | Release date : 12 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.66
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
French DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
French
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 8 | Video : 8.5 | Audio : 7.5
WORK – While it dynamizes conventions with jubilatory cruelty, this corrosive classic where farce is made vitriol, turns misery into a burst of laughter, garbage into gold. Each replica is a slap, each character a cartoon pushed to the extreme, each situation a comic time bomb. Between grotesque and social satire, a verbal fireworks with timeless black humour, served by a minimalist staging. A poisoned gift... and irresistible.
IMAGE – Santa's a scumbag Reunites with an insolent 4K Ultra HD youth: Parisian exteriors glitter as never before, the colorimetric palette shines and the pique reveals unsuspecting details. Excludes the tingling and sub-exposures, the grain refines and the high luminances increase in radiance. Balasko's mimics or Félix/Josette's criard costumes are displayed with rejoicing precision. Even the infamous striped couch becomes a star despite him...
SON – The soundtrack remains true to the spirit of the film: a mono frank mix, without fioritures, but carried by a constant clarity of voices and the mischievous score of Vladimir Costa. Restored in DTS-HD MA 2.0, this simple but robust flow, perfectly connects with the vapid humour of the troupe, makes the double bass breathe and burst the dialogues between two bursts of laughter. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. How's Thérèse?
Grandpa makes resistance
Source France | Publisher : Studiocanal | Release date : 12 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.35
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
French DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles
French
Rated 4 out of 5
Artistic : 7 | Video : 9 | Audio : 8
WORK – A burlesque delirium where the Resistance is played cabaret, between whoproquos and cult replicas. The troop of the Splendid Turns Occupancy into an absurd playing field, without ever losing pace. It is filmed theatre, but doped with devastating humor and jubilatory cartoons. A permanent ‘stalag gag', where each scene turns history away to better blast it. As a result, an explosive farce, always resistant to time, where the GIR triumphs... by bursts of laughter.
IMAGE – Grandpa makes resistance The grain is noble, blacks are becoming more dense, the colorimetric palette is stronger and light sources are enhanced. The contribution in definition reveals new details, from uniforms to decors, which regain vigor. No longer have any weaknesses; the cult scenes regain a visual intensity worthy of a real resistance to time. The war is over: the image has won!
SON – Smooth, nervous and amazing vigour, the DTS-HD MA 2.0 track proves that only two tracks (in dual mono) can give breath and presence. The dialogues slam with a rejoicing clarity, the music of Jean Musy detachs without ever crushing the voices, and the ensemble keeps a dynamic that ridiculs many modern mixes. A soundtrack that walks at the pace... to make punchlines sound like a bunch of shots.
F1® The Film
Source Spain | Publisher : Warner Bros. | Release date : 15 October 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.39
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
French (Parisian) Dolby Atmos
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 8 | Video : 10 | Audio : 10
WORK – Green light, roaring engine: this car is filmed at the 90s lines (Days of thunder) carbide with pure spectacle. The staging of Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) vrombit with power, offering spectacular racing sequences. The casting holds the course, even if the emotional turn lacks grip and the plot is relegated to the service path. In short, a great prize doped with adrenaline and sparkling chrome... but the podium remains contested (Rush, Le Mans 66).
IMAGE – A real pole visual position: surgical pique, sharp textures and rendered WCG/DV that sublime incandescent brakes, sparkling bodies (red Ferrari) and specular reflections. The mythical circuits (Silverstone) reveal a profusion of details, while the interiors, from the clinical garage to the VIP suites, display exemplary sharpness. A constant technical rigor, backed by a robust encoding that swallows speed without shaking. Ratio 1.90 reserved for SVOD*.
SON – The Atmos soundtrack puts the gas from the start: screaming blocks, screaming tires, crowds of delirium and sports comments that hover over the mound make up a sound paddock of total immersion. The rear follows each turn with precision, the effects act as overtaking in a straight line, the music pushes into the veins and the serious give weight to the contacts. And because in F1 nothing is played solo, VO and VF drive side by side. Trajectory held!
* The absence of physical publishing in France is linked to a voluntary strategy. In some territories considered less profitable, Warner and Apple have chosen to reserve digital exclusivity to streaming platforms, to strengthen the attractiveness of their subscriptions. As a result, only foreign imports can get a physical copy. Head for Spain and Benelux for VFF.
The 4 Fantastics: First Steps
Source France | Publisher : Disney | Release date 26 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.39
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
English Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 7.5 | Video : 10 | Audio : 10
WORK – They are four, they are fantastic, and Matt Shakman reinvents them in a retrofuturistic fresco where the intimate and the great show team up. Formal elegance has settled on Earth-828, the quartet gives flesh and density to archetypes too often fixed (cf. the childish adaptations of the 2000s), and a renewed inspiration blows on the MCU... without revolutionizing the formula. Heroic, this return lights the flame and stretches the imagination. This is clobberin!
IMAGE – A UHD Dolby Vision transfer that fully exploits its native master: textures captured in 6.5K refined (costumes, lithic epidermis, decorations, metal surfaces), subtly reanimated chromatic palette (from the dominant blues to the flamboyant oranges) and sublimated contrasts (blacks dive into the depths when whites rise to bright heights). The Silver Surfer twinkles, the eyes of Galactus pierce the screen and the universe sembrase.
SON – The Dolby Atmos runway literally propels us to sound peaks, exploiting verticality to magnify thefts, take-offs and cosmic clashes. Mixing, rich in detail and dynamics, benefits from extensive spatialization. The bass hit with authority, Michael Giacchino's score envelopes and dialogues remain clear, even at the heart of the action. The VF lossy, despite its power and balance, remains far from the precision and richness of the VO.
Outland... far from Earth
Source United Kingdom | Publisher : Arrow Films | Release date : 03 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 2.35
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English LPCM 2.0
Subtitles
English
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 8 | Video : 9.5 | Audio : 9
WORK – When Peter Hyams transposes the western into the heart of space, The train will whistle three times Replays in a pressurized combination. Sean Connery, a lone sheriff facing orbital corruption, is unwavering. The staging, cold and sharp, exploits the lunar setting as a closed-air prison. Social thriller as much as SF, Outland denounces industrial greed with brutal efficiency. A dry, implacable cosmic polar that turns zero gravity into dramatic gravity.
IMAGE – This 4K restoration propels the 35 mm negative to a new orbit: ratio corrected in 2.35, black densified by the DV and WCG palette that revives the colors, from stellar oranges to blues of uniforms. The granularity, sometimes dense, is much better resolved, bringing texture and authenticity to mining environments. Close-ups are gaining a lot in relief, while the brightness of space lighting is piercing through the screen... laser. Space has never been so tangible.
SON – The audio section is distinguished by a 5.1-track cosmic immersion: wide diffusion of the atmospheres at the back, explosions that shake the LFE channel, and always clear dialogues on the front stage. Pumped rifles slam with intact vigour, landing a ship shakes the piece, and the oppressing score of Jerry Goldsmith, in line with dAlienis perfectly restored. The addition of the original stereo track completes an edition that combines fidelity and power.
Eyes Wide Shut
Source United States | Publisher : Criterion | Release date : 25 November 2025
Video format
2160p24 | Ratio 1.85
HDR10 | Dolby Vision | BT.2020
HEVC encoding | DI 4K
Soundtrack
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles
English
Rated 5 out of 5
Artistic : 10 | Video : 10 | Audio : 9
WORK – Under his masks and silences, Eyes Wide Shut deploys a riddle where every look becomes trap. Stanley Kubrick (Shining) orchestrate a night waltz, between desire and vertigo, where the truth hides behind the veil. The images hypnotize, the sounds envelop, and the shadow of rituals feeds anxiety. Nothing is ever shown, everything is suggested: the simulac continues in the viewer's mind. A masterpiece where the open eye remains... blind. The dream will of a master.
IMAGE – Presented in 1.85 format and supervised by Larry Smith, this master 4K restores the international assembly from the original negative 35 mm, with an adjusted colorimetry thanks to a reference copy provided by Warner. The texture immediately strikes: the dense organic grain returns, accompanied by a resolutely surgical bite. The feverish reds and the iced blues* , carried by a reinforced contrast that magnifies the lights (cf. Christmas garlands).
* Where the 2007 Blu-ray betrayed the work with its magenta drifts typical of the 2000s, the present edition UHD restores authenticity. The second comparison is unequivocal: the 35 mm copy, whose new 4K restoration reproduces the image with much more fidelity, reveals the colorimetric alteration of the previous HD disc. Indeed, this awakened dream finally regains its hypnotic brilliance.
SON – Released from the acoustic veil that tarnished the old LPCM 5.1 mix, this DTS-HD MA track deploys a wider and nuanced spatialization. Dialogues gain in sharpness, while piano attacks are otherwise more incisive. The Valse No 2 of Shostakovich enjoys a more balanced dynamic, and the city night atmospheres, subtly enveloping, blend with more elegance in the sound environment. The masquerade is naked!
The Top / Flop of the Month
Cold Meat | Like a fierce beast, the blizzard roars in every corner of the Dolby Atmos mix
The Descent |
The Mask | 🇬🇧 : Pencillante et technicolorée, a 4K restoration to the most beautiful yellow suit
The 4 Fantastic (2025) | Exit « Dolby Atmouse », the VO devours space such Galactus
In the dark | When the Dolby Vision illuminates the darkness, it extinguishes fear in its clarity
Edward in the hands of silver | At glossy 4K lift, rusty encoding... the cut is missed
Cluedo 1985 | In VF, all the charm of the original voices was murdered in the living room
The Night of the Hunter (1955) | Between the left hand and the right hand, compression waves
Editorial waste
Arcane – Season 2 | If Singed had been able to manipulate this 4K edition, he would have traded his vials for a home-cinema.
The claw
In the dark | The darkness is on, the soundtrack is off... Diana has more shade where to tapir, more screams to haunt the darkness. This is where the image overexposed and the underperformance mix: fear, recalibrated in Dolby indifference, killed itself. But what happened?
Tops of support:
- The best 4K Blu-ray in support v.1, v.2
- The best 4K Blu-ray to test 3D sound v.1, v.2
- The best 4K Blu-ray 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
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