NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Paramount 4K UHD (February 2020): Paramount have transferred John Krasinski's inventive 2018 apocalyptic horror A Quiet Place to 4K UHD Steelbook. The 3840 X 2160 resolution looks as gorgeous as you might imagine for a modern film. Colors are rich and vibrant while maintaining realistic hues. Autumn colors are hypnotic and beautiful with detail in close-ups appearing very impressive. It's in the 2.4:1 aspect ratio with a very high bitrate (almost double that of a max'ed out BD.) the 4K UHD presentation is top notch. Magnificent.  

NOTE: 50 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160 in lossless PNG Format) 4K UHD captures for Patrons are available HERE.

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.

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: 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).

If you are fortunate enough to have a setup that allows for Dolby Atmos or Dolby TrueHD 7.1, Paramount's 4K UHD track has select moments with much of the film being very quiet (not surprisingly.) The robustness of the audio transfer can be intense with 'creature' sounds being the most impactful. The score is by Marco Beltrami (2019's Twilight Zone TV series, The Hurt Locker, 3:10 to Yuma, Snowpiercer, In the Electric Mist). There is a delicate balance with the audio, maintaining the suspenseful peace and seething beneath the surface to embolden tension. There are multiple optional DUBs (plus Descriptive English audio) and subtitles including English and English (SDH) and as with all 4K UHD discs, this is Region 'Free' playable worldwide. 

NOTE: For Atmos many non-compliant systems will recognizes it as TrueHD 7.1, but from Wikipedia: "Because of limited bandwidth and lack of processing power, Atmos in home theaters is not a real-time mix rendered the same way as in cinemas. The substream is added to Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. This substream only represents a losslessly encoded fully object-based mix. This substream does not include all 128 objects separated. This is not a matrix-encoded channel, but a spatially-encoded digital channel. Atmos in home theaters can support 24.1.10 channel, but it is not an object-based real-time rendering. Filmmakers need to remix and render the TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks with Dolby Media Producer."

The Paramount 4K UHD disc itself has nothing but the feature film but the package includes their previous Blu-ray (May 2018 VoB files) which has the three featurettes, Creating the Quiet - Behind the Scenes of A Quiet Place running 1/4 hour with producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller giving input on the unique intent of the film - making a movie with only a few minutes of dialogue. Also includes is The Sound of Darkness - Editing Sound for A Quiet Place running a dozen minutes with writer/producer/star John Krasinski giving his take on production and key decisions that were made and lastly is, A Reason For Silence - The Visuals Effects of A Quiet Place focusing on the creature(s) and how to give them a less-standard appearance. There is a leaflet with a digital download code.

I appreciated A Quiet Place the first time I saw it over a year ago - the slight-of-hand creature visualizations promote an 'anti-exploitation' effect like an homage to my favorite genre of 50s' and 60's sci-fi, creature-feature films. I get tired of excessive gore and extravagant over-produced effects trying to carry a film experience. John Krasinski's A Quiet Place is an intelligent, inventive take on the horror and apocalypse genres. I consider it a perfect film for the 4K UHD format. This Steelbook is a definite keeper for me.

Gary Tooze