INSIDEOUS (2010)
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital
Limited Edition Steelbook Edition
Label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG-13
Duration: 103 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible), English 5.1 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (2.35:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell and Barbara Hershey
In James Wan's demonic haunter Insidious (2010) couple Josh (Patrick Wilson, The Watchmen) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne, Sunshine) are new homeowners, parents of two sons, a newborn and their adolescents son Dalton (Ty Simpkins, The Whale). The home is spacious and seems ideal, but when Dalton encounters a presence in the attic he slips into a coma. There's no medical explanation for the coma and while caring for him at home the parents encounter some spooky and seemingly supernatural shenanigans, including a shadowy spirit dancing tot he tune of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim - truly frightening, hahaha, and a specter peering into the baby's crib, leading to the parents abandoning the home and moving into new digs for a fresh start. It turns out to be not-so-fresh though, the supernatural encounters continue and are more intense in nature, and when Josh's mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey, The Entity) arrives at the new house she see's a hideous red-faced demon, which leads to her revealing that when her son Josh was a boy he also was haunted, by a mysterious woman in black. The family calls in psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye, Detroit Rock City), a paranormal investigator who arrives with her nerdy oddball spirit-hunting team consisting of Specs (played screenwriter Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson, TV's Nightflyers) to get to the bottom of it.
A fun spook show for sure, if not all that original, bringing together elements of The Exorcist, The Omen, Poltergeist, Ghostbusters and loads of others, but it's distilled quite nicely into this slick production that's pretty deftly scripted, directed and executed by all involved a modern fright flick that's firing on all cylinders. I even love the uneven tone, as it goes from deep-seated haunter to ghost busting hijinks and back fairly smoothly in my opinion. More of an erie chiller than nail-biting frightener, but I've always had a good time re-visiting this one.
Audio/Video: Insidious (2010) arrives on UHD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in 2160p Ultra HD framed in the original 2.35:1 widescreen with the added benefit of Dolby Vision WCG color-grading. The digitally shot image has wonderful depth and clarity, there's pleasing texture to the images, and close-ups offer excellent fine detail. Aside from the increased 4K resolution offering more wonderful biggest benefactor here is the UHD color-grading, offering a deeper shade of primaries, though I thought the Dolby Vision was restrained and not over applied, and the blacks are deeper and contrast is superior. There's a tad of the teal with this new color-grading, and depending on your sensitivity to such things, I didn;t think it was egregious, but it's there. Audio comes by way of English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible)or DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles, and I think the Atmos upgrade is every but as impressive as the 4K/Dolby Vision, it opens up the soundstage and enhances the creepy sound design and score with a solid low-end and an immersive audio experience that enhances the eerie hallmarks of this fright flick.
No new extras offered for the film's UHD debut, these are Blu-ray, which is a recycle of the surprising still fairly strong 2011 Blu-ray carries the archival extras.
The 2-disc release arrives in a glossy Steelbook Edition with the same creepy-kid artwork from the original one-sheet movie posters, on the backside is an image of the "red door", and inside there are images of the kid's crayon-drawn artwork seen in the film, tucked away inside is the digital code for a UHD digital copy of the film, though the extras are not ported over for the digital platforms on either Vudu or Movie Anywhere. Notably, right now this Limited Edition Steelbook edition is the only way to own this on 4K UHD disc, but I am sure there's a standard release version on the horizon, there usually is with these Sony 4K releases.
Special Features:
- Horror 101: The Exclusive Seminar (10:27) HD
- On Set with Insidious (8:15)
- Insidious Entities (6:32)
- Trailer
