4K Ultra HD – Edition FR – The Smoker Cat – 124 min – 15 January 2021
Video format
• Intermediate Master: 4K
• Standard HDR: CSD
• Ratio: 1.66
Soundtrack
• English DTS-HD MA 2.0
• English DTS-HD MA 1.0
• French DTS-HD MA 2.0
• English DTS-HD MA 1.0
Subtitles
• French
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers as well as the viewing equipment specified and used by each tester of the MaG team, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence the rating.
WORK – No, but say, is it good or not?
As Mark returned from a long journey, he found his wife Anna and son Bob in Berlin. But he quickly realized that his wife's behaviour had changed. Taking violent seizures, she leaves home. A friend of the couple reveals to Mark the name of the lover of Anna, Heinrich. When she disappears, Mark hires a detective who discovers that Anna has taken refuge in a dilapidated apartment where a strange creature is hiding...
Destabilizing and demanding, this hysterical descent into the madness carried by the hallucinating performances of its actors observes the depths of the human soul through a painful separation.
IMAGE – Everyone's beautiful, are you sure?
Drawn from a new scan (4K) of the original negatives, this restoration transcribes more than ever the glaucous atmosphere of the work.
Cleanly colder and legible than in the past, the silvery images in devil (the 35 mm grain is reproduced with a lot of finesse) reflect a very appreciable thoroughness (cf. the increased acuity of the definition) even if, unlike the dusts of the film (fullly removed), a vertical line appears during a short sequence.
As for the absence of HDR, although it is far from harmful, its use could nevertheless have added details in the high lights (especially through the windows).
SON – He who has ears to hear, hear!
Proposed in mono or stereo, the soundtrack plunges us into visceral horror thanks to a very good dynamic range (the unforgettable sequence of the metro). Without distortion or parasitic breath, it is of great stability.
And if the voices are a little cavernous on the VF, they are on the contrary of high purity in VO (to be preferred for the out-of-standard interpretation).
CONCLUSION – Every good thing has an end...
Thanks to the combined efforts of TF1 Audiovisual Rights and The Smoker Cat, that it is sweet to let yourself be possessed in 4K Ultra HD (edition is masterful)!
Artistic note
9
Video quality
8.5
Audio quality
8.5
0
[...] date – The Wild Region (2016) – had made great noise. A brilliant rereading of the Possession of Andrzej