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The Babadook (2014)
The Babadook (2014) poster
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3.3

Best Video Release

Format

UHD Blu-ray

UHD Tiers

Solid
Second Sight

Length

94 mins

Type

Movie

Last Updated

a year ago

Contributors

Best Video Release
Format
UHD Blu-ray
UHD Tiers
Solid
Second Sight
Length
94 mins
Type
Movie
Last Updated
a year ago
Contributors

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UHD Blu-ray
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Lionsgate retains more detail, but Second Sight might be better in motion. Both are very close. Caps

Best Video:

Lionsgate retains more detail, but Second Sight might be better in motion. Both are very close. Caps

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Best English-Friendly:

2024 Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2024 Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 WB LaserDisc

Best English-Friendly:

2024 Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2024 Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 WB LaserDisc

Insomnia poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray is a Criterion SDR master with a HDR grade. Caps & comparison

Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray is a Criterion SDR master with a HDR grade. Caps & comparison

Dawn of the Dead poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2020 Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Theatrical: 2017 Midnight Factory Blu-ray or 2013 Japan Happinet Blu-ray

European: 5.1 remix on 2016 Midnight Factory and 2021 ESC 4K Blu-ray much more detailed than all mono mixes

Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

2020 Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Theatrical: 2017 Midnight Factory Blu-ray or 2013 Japan Happinet Blu-ray

European: 5.1 remix on 2016 Midnight Factory and 2021 ESC 4K Blu-ray much more detailed than all mono mixes

The Brood poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2003 R1 MGM DVD

Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2003 R1 MGM DVD

State of Grace poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

UK Second Sight Blu-ray?

Best Video:

UK Second Sight Blu-ray maybe better than all the other Blu-rays?

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with DNR and poor compression

Additional Info:

US Twilight Time and Germany NSM Blu-rays have exclusive extras

Best English-Friendly:

UK Second Sight Blu-ray?

Best Video:

UK Second Sight Blu-ray maybe better than all the other Blu-rays?

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with DNR and poor compression

Additional Info:

US Twilight Time and Germany NSM Blu-rays have exclusive extras

The Endless Summer poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

OOP US Monterey Video Blu-ray or OOP UK Second Sight Blu-ray

Best Video:

OOP US Monterey Video Blu-ray or OOP UK Second Sight Blu-ray share the same restoration, but no comparison available

HD Streaming is available otherwise

Best English-Friendly:

OOP US Monterey Video Blu-ray or OOP UK Second Sight Blu-ray

Best Video:

OOP US Monterey Video Blu-ray or OOP UK Second Sight Blu-ray share the same restoration, but no comparison available

HD Streaming is available otherwise

Pusher poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray has better encoding than Magnolia Pictures

Second Sight vs Nordisk Denmark Import - caps

Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray has better encoding than Magnolia Pictures

Second Sight vs Nordisk Denmark Import - caps

Pusher II poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray has better encoding than Magnolia Pictures Comparisons

Best English-Friendly:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Second Sight 4K Blu-ray has better encoding than Magnolia Pictures Comparisons

Pusher III poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

UK Second Sight Trilogy Boxset Blu-ray

Best Video:

UK Second Sight Trilogy Boxset Blu-ray

US Magnolia Pictures uses the same source but with worse encoding

Best English-Friendly:

UK Second Sight Trilogy Boxset Blu-ray

Best Video:

UK Second Sight Trilogy Boxset Blu-ray

US Magnolia Pictures uses the same source but with worse encoding

More Drama on Blu-ray

Man of Marble poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Polish Blu-ray

Best Video:

Polish Blu-ray (with English subtitles) or France Intersections Blu-ray (without English subtitles) no comparison available

Man of Marble poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Polish Blu-ray

Best Video:

Polish Blu-ray (with English subtitles) or France Intersections Blu-ray (without English subtitles) no comparison available

Dingo poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Umbrella Blu-ray

Best Video:

Australia Umbrella Blu-ray or French Intersections Blu-ray no comparison available

Dingo poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Umbrella Blu-ray

Best Video:

Australia Umbrella Blu-ray or French Intersections Blu-ray no comparison available

Touch of Evil poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best Video:

MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar

Best Video:

MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar

The Rules of the Game poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray

The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.

Best Audio:

2011 Criterion Blu-ray has the least tampered with audio of the DVD era, but it's possible the 1993 Criterion LaserDisc or the 1998 Japan LaserDisc are preferable.

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray

The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.

Best Audio:

2011 Criterion Blu-ray has the least tampered with audio of the DVD era, but it's possible the 1993 Criterion LaserDisc or the 1998 Japan LaserDisc are preferable.

The Sound of Music poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Disney 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.

All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.

Best English-Friendly:

Disney 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.

All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.

The Hidden Fortress poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray has excellent master and grade, no DNR and tasteful HDR

Best Audio:

Restored original mono mix: Toho Japan 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored original mono: 2014 BFI Blu-ray

BFI 4K Blu-ray has OG Perspecta (in 5.1 container) and a stereo downmix of it; no original mono.

Additional Info:

The unrestored track on BFI's earlier release appears to be an almost entirely unmanipulated transfer of the original mix. It suffers from a distracting low-frequency hum. The 4K restoration comes with a restored track, which appears to be the same transfer, but which appears to be cleaned up with a moderate amount of noise reduction and some EQ, nicely opening up the high-end, and which is likely to be preferable to most listeners. All earlier releases sound poor.

Perspecta isn't a discrete surround format, instead only relying on manipulating volume and panning of the mono track across L/C/R channels, based on embedded control tones. As such, even the Perspecta track is technically just the mono mix, though the omission of the proper mono on BFI's 4K is still unfortunate.

Best English-Friendly:

BFI 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

BFI 4K Blu-ray has excellent master and grade, no DNR and tasteful HDR

Best Audio:

Restored original mono mix: Toho Japan 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored original mono: 2014 BFI Blu-ray

BFI 4K Blu-ray has OG Perspecta (in 5.1 container) and a stereo downmix of it; no original mono.

Additional Info:

The unrestored track on BFI's earlier release appears to be an almost entirely unmanipulated transfer of the original mix. It suffers from a distracting low-frequency hum. The 4K restoration comes with a restored track, which appears to be the same transfer, but which appears to be cleaned up with a moderate amount of noise reduction and some EQ, nicely opening up the high-end, and which is likely to be preferable to most listeners. All earlier releases sound poor.

Perspecta isn't a discrete surround format, instead only relying on manipulating volume and panning of the mono track across L/C/R channels, based on embedded control tones. As such, even the Perspecta track is technically just the mono mix, though the omission of the proper mono on BFI's 4K is still unfortunate.

What Dreams May Come poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

US end credits song: US Universal Blu-ray

International end credits song: International Universal Blu-ray

Additional Info:

The US uses the end credits score “Beside You” from composer Michael Kamen, while in other markets it is Simply Red “Besides You”.

Best English-Friendly:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

US end credits song: US Universal Blu-ray

International end credits song: International Universal Blu-ray

Additional Info:

The US uses the end credits score “Beside You” from composer Michael Kamen, while in other markets it is Simply Red “Besides You”.

12 Angry Men poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio

12 Angry Men poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray > US Paramount 4K Blu-ray for the US Cut.

International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, is significantly better than the US Paramount 4K Blu-ray (even with FEL Baked in and Dolby Vision), with more grain retention and detail
SDR Comparisons: International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray vs US Paramount 4K Blu-ray: https://slow.pics/c/TEPHtKjl
HDR Comparisons: International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray vs US Paramount 4K Blu-ray: https://slow.pics/c/hIFe11Hx
Comparisons in SDR using L8 Trim from CM v4.0 (both UHDs can use CM v4.0): Remux vs USA UHD: https://slow.pics/c/mkrhVtpl

The International Cut, which contains alternate, more violent shots in the final act, hasn't been released on home video to date.

Additional Info:

International Cut contains alternate, more violent shots in the final act.

Best English-Friendly:

International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray > US Paramount 4K Blu-ray for the US Cut.

International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray, is significantly better than the US Paramount 4K Blu-ray (even with FEL Baked in and Dolby Vision), with more grain retention and detail
SDR Comparisons: International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray vs US Paramount 4K Blu-ray: https://slow.pics/c/TEPHtKjl
HDR Comparisons: International Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray vs US Paramount 4K Blu-ray: https://slow.pics/c/hIFe11Hx
Comparisons in SDR using L8 Trim from CM v4.0 (both UHDs can use CM v4.0): Remux vs USA UHD: https://slow.pics/c/mkrhVtpl

The International Cut, which contains alternate, more violent shots in the final act, hasn't been released on home video to date.

Additional Info:

International Cut contains alternate, more violent shots in the final act.

How Green Was My Valley poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Fox Blu-ray

Best Video:

Fox Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Fox Blu-ray mono mix

As noted at Blah-Ray, the mono mix on the Fox Blu-ray, although not perfect, sounds better than the 5.1 remix and at least as good as earlier LaserDiscs, which suffer from being murky.

Best English-Friendly:

Fox Blu-ray

Best Video:

Fox Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Fox Blu-ray mono mix

As noted at Blah-Ray, the mono mix on the Fox Blu-ray, although not perfect, sounds better than the 5.1 remix and at least as good as earlier LaserDiscs, which suffer from being murky.

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