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

ADDITION: Severin 4K UHD (May 2021): Severin's new 4K UHD release of "Perdita Durango" is located on a dual-layered 4K disc, with the film taking up almost all of that space. The 4K image appears a little soft and oversaturated during the opening credits sequence and the few minutes that follow. The rest of the picture shows a much finer detailed image, with pores of skin showing beads of sweat. The HDR10 showcases the many layers of blacks among the film's multiple nighttime or low-lit shots, while keeping the desert sunlight as bright as can be, within the boundaries of HDR10. HDR10+ can have a nits count of up to 4000, while HDR10 is limited to around 1000 nits. Keep in mind that the increased nits, and frame by frame color/brightness adjustment grading available to HDR10+ or Dolby Vision encoding, do not apply to HDR10. This means that there does seem to be a consistent HDR10 effect, meaning this is a one-size fits all application, with a limited brightness. All that being said, the 4K UHD is certainly leaps and bounds better than any Blu-ray image can muster. The average bitrate hovers around almost twice that of the Blu-ray. Fans should be very pleased with the image quality on this release.

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: 50 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: 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 Helsining (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).

The original 2.0 and 5.1 English tracks are included in DTS-HD Master audio. There is the option for English subtitles during the Spanish dialogue only or English SDH subtitles. There is also a full Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Dubbed track which sadly features no subtitles. The Blu-ray features the same audio options. The 5.1 English track is probably your best bet, with a decent amount of separation while keeping the dialogue mostly front and center. I'm surprised that certain scenes weren't more bass-heavy, though this isn't a big issue as I rather like not waking up my neighbors. This is a Region 'Free' 4K UHD from Severin, and the included Blu-ray is Region 'Free' as well.

Severin has included some new bonus features on the second disc Blu-ray of "Perdita Durango". First up is "On The Border", a 28-minute interview with Director Alex De La Iglesia. "Writing Perdita Durango" is a 17-minute interview with writer Barry Gifford. Gifford explains the connection to "Wild at Heart" in detail. "Dancing With The Devil" is a 13-minute piece with film scholar Dr. Rebekah McKendry. Dr. McKendry provides a nice introduction to the career of de la Iglesia, covering his other films' similarities and differences. "Narcosatanicos: Perdita Durango and the Matamoros Cult" will be a fascinating 18-minutes for those unaware of the Matamoros Cult and their one-of-a-kind murderous leader, Adolfo Constanzo. Abraham Castillo Flores and ‘Cauldron of Blood’ author Jim Schutze sit down to discuss the influence of the cult killings on "Perdita...". "Canciones de Amor Maldito: The Music of Perdita Durango" is a 21-minute interview with composer Simon Boswell. De la Iglesia was interested in Boswell thanks to his recent work on Argento's "Phenomena", Michele Soavi's "Stage Fright", Lamberto Bava's "Demons 2", and most likely Jodorowsky's "Santa Sangre" (an enviable amount of work for his first few scores). "Shooting Perdita Durango" is a 5-minute interview with director of photography, Flavio Labiano. Two of the film's trailers round out the Blu-ray disc. (The trailers are the only bonus feature on the 4K UHD disc).

Severin's new 4K UHD release of "Perdita Durango" should entice fans. To the uninitiated, a fair warning that this film goes to some rather dark comedic places. For the more adventurous minded moviegoer, "Perdita Durango" has a lot to offer, not least of which is the film's pure pastiche of various styles and tones. The mania is only matched by the subject matter being explicitly portrayed on-screen, which is sadly mostly based on true events. Recommended.

Colin Zavitz