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Escape from L.A. (1996)
Escape from L.A. (1996) poster

Escape from L.A. (1996)

Action, Adventure, Science Fiction, Thriller • 1h 41m

Director: John Carpenter

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago

UHD tiers

Solid
Paramount

Overview

Into the 9.6-quaked Los Angeles of 2013 comes Snake Plissken. His job: wade through L.A.'s ruined landmarks to retrieve a doomsday device.

Release details

Length
101 mins
Type
Movie
Alternative Titles
John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.

More from John Carpenter

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Director: John Carpenter

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

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

Video Notes:

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

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.

More from Paramount

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Director: Terrence Malick

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.

Best Audio:

1999 Paramount DVD

Director: Peter Faiman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD

International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray

Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding

Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut

Best Audio:

Australia Cut: Laserdisc

Additional Info:

The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

2D version: Paramount Blu-ray

3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026

Director: Billy Wilder

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray or Blu-ray

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

Video Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice

Best Audio:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono

Audio Notes:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.

Additional Info:

The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.

Director: Robert Altman

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release

Director: Richard Linklater

4K · Solid

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

Additional Info:

Germany Blu-ray has English audio 

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

Director: Michael Bay

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Original AR: Paramount 4K Blu-ray

IMAX AR: Paramount 3D Blu-ray

Director: Stanley Donen

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Paramount Blu-ray

Director: Trey Parker

Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Paramount Blu-ray

Directors: Arturo Perez Jr. & Samantha Jayne

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

Paramount 4K Blu-ray

Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)

More Action on Blu-ray

Director: Rose Glass

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

A24 4K Blu-ray

Best Video & Audio:

Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray 

Video Notes:

Markedly better encoding on Plaion than A24 and without any low-pass filtering

Director: Michael B. Jordan

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Caveat: No IMAX expanded aspect ratio

Director: James Gunn

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

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Commentary is only on Streaming

Director: Steven Caple Jr.

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Director: Anthony Mann

Video format: 1080p Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Olive Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Barebones Olive BD of a Paramount HD master. Visually it's solid overall with some moments of great clarity, primarily in the big outdoor and aviation sequences. Otherwise it shows its age. 

Director: John Woo

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

US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> Disk Kino/WCL China import

review: Disk Kino

better encoding, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono

Director: Michael Mann

Best English-Friendly:

88 Films UK Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray  in December

Best Video:

88 Films UK Blu-ray for both cuts 

Best Audio:

88 Films Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

88 Films Blu-ray is missing Michael Mann commentary for the DC found on other BDs

Director: Soi Cheang

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Well Go or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray?

Video Notes:

UK 4K is SDR only Japan is HDR10 only

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB US Blu-ray or UK Entertainment in Video Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

WB 4K Blu-ray teased by Guillermo Del Toro

Video Notes:

CA Alliance Blu-ray or dutch Blu-ray are the same masters but have additional sharpening.

Additional Info:

The original DVD has an isolated score and a exclusive easter egg

Director: Miguel Sapochnik

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

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Researched and maintained by

vanshady

· last reviewed 1 year ago

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