ADDITION: Criterion 4K UHD (October 2022): Criterion's have released Brian De Palma's "Blow Out" on 4K UHD. The 4K UHD disc of the film is presented in Dolby Vision HDR. It enhances the colors, black levels and grain is more visible and consistent. It looks superior to the 1008P in just about every visual front. It's a pleasing, and welcome, upgrade. We've compared captures from Criterions own 2011 Blu-ray and Arrow's 2013 Blu-ray. Those two editions were compared HERE, and that Criterion Blu-ray is included in this package.

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: 36 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: Night of the Living Dead (NO HDR applied to disc), Lost Highway (software uniformly simulated HDR), Videodrome (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Last Picture Show (software uniformly simulated HDR), It Happened One Night (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Mummy (1932)(software uniformly simulated HDR), Creature From the Black Lagoon (software uniformly simulated HDR), Bride of Frankenstein (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Amityville Horror  (software uniformly simulated HDR), The War of the Worlds (1953) (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Incredible Melting Man  (software uniformly simulated HDR), Cloak & Dagger (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Event Horizon (software uniformly simulated HDR), Get Carter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Killing (software uniformly simulated HDR), Killer's Kiss (software uniformly simulated HDR), Out of Sight (software uniformly simulated HDR), Raging Bull (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shaft (1971),  (software uniformly simulated HDR), Double Indemnity (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Untouchables (software uniformly simulated HDR),  For a Few Dollars More (no HDR), Saboteur (software uniformly simulated HDR), Marnie (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shadow of a Doubt (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Fistful of Dollars (no HDR), In the Heat of the Night (no HDR), Jack Reacher (software uniformly simulated HDR), Death Wish II (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Apartment (no HDR), The Proposition (software uniformly simulated HDR), Nightmare Alley (2021) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Godfather (software uniformly simulated HDR), Le Crecle Rouge (software uniformly simulated HDR), An American Werewolf in London (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Hard Day's Night (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Piano (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Great Escape (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Red Shoes (software uniformly simulated HDR), Citizen Kane (software uniformly simulated HDR), Unbreakable (software uniformly simulated HDR), Mulholland Dr. (software uniformly simulated HDR), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Hills Have Eyes (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Servant (software uniformly simulated HDR), Anatomy of a Murder (software uniformly simulated HDR), Taxi Driver  (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wolf Man (1941) (software uniformly simulated HDR), Frankenstein (1931) (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Deep Red (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Misery (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Silence of the Lambs (software uniformly simulated HDR), John Carpenter's "The Thing" (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Cat' o'Nine Tails (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (software uniformly simulated HDR), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (software uniformly simulated HDR), Perdita Durango (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Django (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Fanny Lye Deliver'd (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, (NO HDR applied to disc),  Rollerball (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Chernobyl  (software uniformly simulated HDR), Daughters of Darkness (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vigilante (software uniformly simulated HDR), Tremors (software uniformly simulated HDR), Cinema Paradiso (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bourne Legacy (software uniformly simulated HDR), Full Metal Jacket (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Psycho (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Birds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Rear Window (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vertigo (software uniformly simulated HDR),  Spartacus (software uniformly simulated HDR), Jaws (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Invisible Man, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucio Fulci's 1979 Zombie  (software uniformly simulated HDR),, 2004's Van Helsing (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shallows (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bridge on the River Kwai (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Deer Hunter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Elephant Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Wizard of Oz, (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot  (software uniformly simulated HDR),, Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR),  The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR),  2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).

Criterion have the same audio transfer as found on their 2011 Blu-ray. This new 4K UHD disc uses the same a DTS-HD Master stereo (24-bit) track  that supports the film's effects. Depth may be more perceived than real but it sure sounded buoyant through the, supposedly less-dynamic, 2.0 channel. Effects are treated with some assurance via demonstrative bass and Pino Donaggio's (Dressed to Kill, Body Double, Don't Look Now, Carrie, Raising Cain) dramatic score which benefits from the lossless rendering. There are optional English subtitles on the Region 'A' Blu-ray and Region FREE 4K UHD disc.

There are quite a lot of extras attached starting with almost an hour long interview with director De Palma, conducted by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. This is newly recorded and sheds some light on the filmmakers process with relevant questions and discussion. It is very good. There is a new 25-minute interview with star Nancy Allen and 15-minutes with cameraman Garrett Brown on the Steadicam shots featured in the 'film within the film' at the beginning of Blow Out. We get 25 on-set photos from photographer Louis Goldman in a click thru-fashion and most notable is De Palma’s complete 1 hour 20-minute long 1967 experimental feature entitled Murder à la Mod. It is a thriller like Blow Out that takes place in the world of moviemaking. Scenes from it can be glimpsed in Blow Out, on Manny Karop's television in chapter 8. It is presented in 1080P as is all the video supplements including the original theatrical trailer. lastly there is a 36-page booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Sragow and Pauline Kael’s original New Yorker review.

Criterion's 4K UHD release of Brian De Palma's "Blow Out" is labeled as a neo-noir mystery thriller film. It was conceived to be indirectly based on Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 Blow-up, (the title similarity is intentional) while replacing evidential photography with an audio recording. Quentin Tarantino stated that Blow Out would be one of three films that he would take to a desert island. I am always intrigued by Travolta and he is excellent. He, Nancy Allen and De Palma all worked together on Carrie, five years previous. It does have elements that evoke Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation venturing into the profession of a 'soundman' wrapped-up in a murder. The Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Long Goodbye, The Deer Hunter) cinematography captures voyeuristic qualities throughout the film. I could re-watch it any time and we certainly recommend the 4K UHD as the best HD presentation and host of Blu-ray extras - notably De Palma's Murder à la Mod and the hour-long director interview.

Gary Tooze