Cast
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Randy Jurgensen

Randy Jurgensen

7 films on Best Blurays5 in 4K2 in HD

Supporting role · Director: William Friedkin

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Additional Info:

Plaion have also released a BD sourced from Arrow's recent 4K remaster, holds up strongly in comparison https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=19341&d2=19005&c=5415

Small role · Director: William Friedkin

Best English-Friendly:

2012 Fox remastered Blu-ray

Best Video:

Fox remastered Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Fox remastered Blu-ray mono track

Additional Info:

This disc defaults to a lossless 5.1 remix, however in the setup menu, the original mono mix is included as a lossy alternative for the first time since the dawn of home video. The film was given a stereo remix very early on and remained stuck that way for decades.

Small role · Director: William Friedkin

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

See Chris's review

Small role · Director: William Lustig

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Blue Underground 4K Blu-ray

Small role · Director: Larry Cohen

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Blue Underground 4K Blu-ray

Small role · Director: Francis Ford Coppola

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount 2008 Blu-ray Coppola Restoration

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:

2008 Blu-ray lossy mono

Audio Notes:

(Britain release only has 5.1)

Additional Info:

The Paramount 4K "restoration" is a desecration. It has completely revisionist color timing, harsh HDR, treatment of stock footage, bad encoding, selective DNR and grain management so bad that the entire screen frequently freezes up with only characters moving around in grain soup. It is so bad that the film's restorer Robert Harris publicly washed his hands of it saying essentially the 2007 restoration (with Willis and Coppola supervising) is how the film was intended and made. This is Paramount's modern version done their way. The new 1080p SDR Blu-rays in print are the crap 4K desecration master with the same problems still there just harder to spot and with crap encodes.
The mono option is an unnecessarily processed version of the lossy mono from the 2008 Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray of the 2007 Coppola Restoration while an imperfect outdated disc is LIGHT YEARS better than this 4K desecration. The only truly major issue is that it is very slightly redder than the 2007 finished master as seen on DCPs. The lossy mono on the 2008 Blu-ray is the best version of the original mix known to exist as it is better than the late 80's mastering for VHS and LaserDisc.
DFIC review of the hideous crap 4K Blu-rays: https://youtu.be/0uw6-Kcy_UA?si=ob1nDg0wTCvemjH0

Small role · Director: Richard Donner

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray (2025 re-release)
Expanded and TV cuts: 2017 Warner Bros Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Theatrical: WB 4K Blu-ray (2025 re-release fixed a glitch in the previous discs)
Expanded and TV cuts: 2017 Warner Bros Blu-ray

Best Audio:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

(2025 re-release includes lossless 5.1 and better 2.0 compared to previous editions)

Additional Info:

The 70mm mix in 5.1 was lossy on the 4K 2018 pressing, missing from the 2023 pressing for some reason, and then put back on the 2025 pressing in lossless.

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