NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the discs.

ADDITION: Studio Canal 4K UHD (April 2020): Studio Canal (UK) have transferred Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter to 4K UHD. According to the press release, "For the restoration of The Deer Hunter, STUDIOCANAL went back to the original 35mm negative, which was scanned at 4K resolution in 16bit. The restoration was completed at Silver Salt in London, who created a restored 4K DCP and UHD version for the home entertainment release."

This Studiocanal 4K UHD release of "The Deer Hunter" certainly has some interesting aspects to the presentation. First off, if your setup is capable of showing the film in Dolby Vision, stop what you are doing this instant and order this release. If, however, you are only capable of watching the film in HDR10 or just plain 4K with no added color gamut, buyer beware. There are essentially 4 different presentations of the film on this release, and they are all quite different. In our captures below we have done our best to recreate the look of the Dolby Vision presentation, which shows some gorgeous range in color and black levels. There is minor teal-leaning (van and Streep's sweater - below). The overall image shows more information in the frame (on all 4 sides) than the Universal Blu-ray. The HDR version seems rather dark at times, almost comically so, as tested on my personal HDR-capable TV at home (vs. the OLED Dolby Vision in the office). The included Blu-ray is yet another new transfer of the film, looking better than previous Blu-rays to my eyes, showing warmer skin-tones, deeper colors and more consistent and rich texture. But let's get to the 4K discussion, the 100GB disc features the film taking up over 86 GB, with a bitrate of around 46000 (even more impressive when the film's length is taken into account). The included Blu-ray has a modest bitrate around the 20000 mark, due to the 3-hour length of the film, yet somehow looks quite reasonable in motion. To those that own a 4K TV without the HDR or Dolby bells and whistles, you will basically be getting a washed out raw image bathed in darkness. Very strange. This is a fine release, though one with caveats.

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