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Christine (1983)
Christine (1983) poster

Christine (1983)

Horror • 1h 50m

Director: John Carpenter

Sony 4K Blu-ray or Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode)

Best English-friendly & video release · updated today

Video notes:

Sony 4K Blu-ray and France Carlotta 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode) are similar

UHD tiers

Excellent
Sony/Carlotta:

Carlotta has FiM encode

Overview

Nerdy high schooler Arnie Cunningham falls for Christine, a rusty 1958 Plymouth Fury, and becomes obsessed with restoring the classic automobile to her former glory. As the car changes, so does Arnie, whose newfound confidence turns to arrogance behind the wheel of his exotic beauty. Arnie's girlfriend Leigh and best friend Dennis reach out to him, only to be met by a Fury like no other.

Release details

Length
110 mins
Type
Movie
Alternative Titles
John Carpenter's Christine

Part of Stephen King Adaptations

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Director: Brian De Palma

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1993 Criterion LaserDisc

TV series

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Kubrick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray

International Cut: Old 2007 Europe Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion Box Set

Best Audio:

1999 WB DVD

Additional Info:

No Blu-ray or DVD release has presented the movie in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 for the US cut or 1.66:1 for the International cut.

The packaging on the back of the 4K Blu-ray incorrectly states it as 1.85:1 when the movie is actually 1.78:1 as is the original Blu-ray. 

Director: George A. Romero

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory Blu-ray for the original Dolby stereo, 4K Blu-ray is a downmix

Director: Lewis Teague

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Best Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray disappointing

Best Audio:

R1 DVD

Audio Notes:

R1 DVD sounds best and has the original mono and a Dolby Stereo remix

Director: Rob Reiner

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

US Sony 2023 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

US Sony 2023 Steelbook Edition 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Sony 2019 Standard Edition 4K Blu-ray

US Sony 2023 Steelbook 4K Blu-ray added Dolby Vision and more extras

Best Audio:

Original Mono mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray Sony Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

DVD and Blu-ray both have lossy Mono

Additional Info:

The DVD has an isolated score track 
In addition to the new Atmos track, both 4K Blu-ray releases have ported over the previous lossless 5.1 remix from the older 1080p Blu-ray in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and also include the original theatrical mono mix in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono

Only the US Steelbook has Dolby Vision

Director: Paul Michael Glaser

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount US 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

> Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray (caps)

Best Audio:

70mm 6-Track: Paramount US 4K Blu-ray

35mm matrixed Dolby Stereo: 1995 Live Home Video US LaserDisc

Audio Notes:

Although the provenance of Paramount's 5.1 track is not confirmed, the fidelity is outstanding and speaks for itself.
The 7.1 track on the Capelight/old Lionsgate release is just an upmix with nothing gained over the 5.1.
The original stereo mix is only present on older DVDs and LaserDiscs; all Blu-ray 2.0 tracks are downmixes.

Additional Info:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray has no extras, Capelight 4K Blu-ray has most of the extras, Olive Films Blu-ray has a exclusive commentary

Director: Michael Gornick

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Director: Mary Lambert

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Scares Vol. 1 Set 4K Blu-ray

Director: Rob Reiner

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · instagram.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> US Kino Lorber/Germany Capelight - caps and audio comparison on this page. Discussion is still ongoing about the 2.0 but as none of the three 4Ks seem to have the true original mix, I think it's fair to leave them all in the blue tier for now and only note that Kino Lorber has the worst PQ.

Best Audio:

Nelson Entertainment USA LaserDisc

Additional Info:

The initial release of the Capelight 4K mediabook had some playback issues with Dolby Vision on Panasonic devices due to an encoding error, the HDR10 apparently works fine, see Capelight’s official response here.

More from John Carpenter

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Director: John Carpenter

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Audio:
Audio Notes:
  • the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray possibly teased?

Video Notes:

> Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1994 Criterion LaserDisc

Director: John Carpenter

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Fabulous Films 4K Blu-ray, some caps

Additional Info:

disc info

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Columbia Classics Vol 4 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Sony Columbia Classics Vol 4 4K Blu-ray (review)

Director: John Carpenter

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Italy Koch Media Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Italy Koch Media Blu-ray is not stretched compared to US Shout! Factory and UK Arrow Blu-rays

As for the color grade, unsure whether the Italy or US/UK Blu-ray is more accurate to the theatrical colors.

Best Audio:

Arrow Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Arrow Blu-ray has lossless original stereo

Additional Info:

Shout! Factory Blu-ray has the most extras with a lossless isolated score

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

> Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray (Shout! Factory has Dolby Vision while Eagle Pictures doesn't)

Best Audio:

2.0: Shout! Factory

Audio Notes:

> StudioCanal. Italy Eagle Pictures doesn't have it.

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory Blu-ray has slightly less rolloff of the higher frequencies

Director: John Carpenter

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray is a strong upgrade in PQ compared to a poor old Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray sound was improved compared to the old mixes.

Director: John Carpenter

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Scream Factory 4K Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Caps by cinemaniac, which look great but the old Sony master doesn’t look too bad and Indicator has a Fidelity encode

More from Sony

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Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Best English-Friendly:

Taiwan Sony Blu-ray

Best Video:

Carlotta Blu-ray, HD transfer, also available in a set

Best Audio:

2006 Japan Kinokuniya DVD

Director: Michael Arias

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

Sony Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

GKIDS 4K Blu-ray is a sharpened upscale. Caps

Best Audio:

GKIDS 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

GKIDS 4K Blu-ray has a true lossless English dub and correct volume levels for the Japanese audio

Additional Info:

GKIDS has correct English subtitles that change a few lines from the director-approved dubtitles, to match with the Japanese dialogue better while still remaining true to director Michael Arias' intent. The corrected GKIDS subtitles are director-approved.

Director: David Fincher

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

4K Blu-ray has exclusive “unrated” audio with a small change to one line under the request of David Fincher (removed the poor dub over of frickin’ in the line “Screw it, let’s gut the f**kin’ nerd.”).

Director: Martin Scorsese

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

Sources: blah-ray.blogspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

2024 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook fixes duplicate shot seen on the previous Columbia Classics release and has better encoding

Best Audio:

Original mono mix: 1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1991 Columbia LaserDisc
The 4K Blu-ray mono is only minimally worse (see blah-ray).

5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Michael Apted

Video format: HD Streaming

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Starz is Streaming in HD with OAR

Or Sony Special Edition DVD

Director: David Greene

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Blu-ray

Director: Richard Linklater

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Criterion Blu-ray uses the same transfer as Sony but the encoding is slightly worse than Sony and barely noticeable see caps 

Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray in viewing looks very similar to both the Criterion and Sony caps, but no side by side comparison available

Additional Info:

Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray is part of a 3-film box set like the Criterion 

Director: Damien Chazelle

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Director: Jim Henson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Shout! Factory replacement 4K Blu-ray

Sources: lddb.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Shout! Factory doesn't have the low-pass filter that's on the Sony US 4K Blu-ray from 2021 with Dolby Vision (or the worse HDR10 only release from 2016). Shout! Factory retains more high-frequency grain and detail.

Director: Luc Besson

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray

Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.

  • StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.

  • 2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.

  • 2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps

Best Audio:

2025 Sony US 4K Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

2025 Sony US 4K Blu-ray has the original 5.1.

The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.

Additional Info:

Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.

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· last reviewed today

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