Best Blurays IconBest Blurays
Films
/
Body Heat (1981)
Body Heat (1981) poster
Letterboxd

Body Heat (1981)

Thriller, Crime • 1h 53m

Overview

During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

Best English-Friendly Release

Best Video Release

Best Audio Release

Original mono: Warner Bros LaserDisc
Stereo & 5.1 remixes: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info

Original mono mix was never released after VHS/LD. Warner's DVD and Blu-ray had a 3.0 remix in a 5.1 container. Criterion has new stereo and 5.1 remixes. Stereo is director's current preference.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23879243&postcount=51

Format

UHD Blu-ray

UHD Tiers

Excellent
Criterion

Featured Lists

Is this Perfect?

is mono important?

External Links

Criterion Forum

Review

Picture: 10, Audio: 8, Extras: 8

Length

113 mins

Type

Movie

Last Updated

4 months ago

Contributors

Best English-Friendly Release
Best Video Release
Best Audio Release

Original mono: Warner Bros LaserDisc
Stereo & 5.1 remixes: Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info

Original mono mix was never released after VHS/LD. Warner's DVD and Blu-ray had a 3.0 remix in a 5.1 container. Criterion has new stereo and 5.1 remixes. Stereo is director's current preference.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23879243&postcount=51

Format
UHD Blu-ray
UHD Tiers
Excellent
Criterion
Featured Lists
Is this Perfect?

is mono important?

Criterion Forum
Review

Picture: 10, Audio: 8, Extras: 8

Length
113 mins
Type
Movie
Last Updated
4 months ago
Contributors

Part of Is this Perfect?

See more →
L'Atalante poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray with much better encoding than the Gaumont Blu-ray with the same 4K restoration see caps

Criterion Blu-ray uses an older restoration

L'Atalante poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Curzon 4K Blu-ray with much better encoding than the Gaumont Blu-ray with the same 4K restoration see caps

Criterion Blu-ray uses an older restoration

Krakatit poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review

Best Audio:

Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD

Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.

Krakatit poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray see nic review

Best Audio:

Restored: Deaf Crocodile 4K Blu-ray
Unrestored: Czech PAL DVD

Preferences will vary, the restored track sounds good, but not necessarily faithful to the original elements.

Saraband for Dead Lovers poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)

Best English-Friendly:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

(Indicator 4K Blu-ray, based on review)

All the King's Men poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Winchester '73 poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Casque d'Or poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray

The Gentle Gunman poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray. Excellent 4K master and encode, except for opticals grain is very fine, grading is beautifully silvery and luminous, nice HDR re-grade by Fidelity in Motion

Best English-Friendly:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Indicator 4K Blu-ray. Excellent 4K master and encode, except for opticals grain is very fine, grading is beautifully silvery and luminous, nice HDR re-grade by Fidelity in Motion

More from Lawrence Kasdan

See more →
The Big Chill poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray 4K restoration

There's also 4K Streaming but no comparison is available

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion Blu-ray 4K restoration

There's also 4K Streaming but no comparison is available

The Accidental Tourist poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive Blu-ray

Silverado poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Silverado poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Sony 4K Blu-ray

More from Criterion

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

Kino Lorber US / Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K  / Capelight 4K

1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered

Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray/4K Blu-ray

Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible

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

Kino Lorber US / Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K  / Capelight 4K

1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered

Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray/4K Blu-ray

Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible

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

Criterion boxset but awful compression

Best Video:

Carlotta FR Blu-ray: FiM encode w/o English subtitles; Criterion boxset one has awful compression. review

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

Criterion boxset but awful compression

Best Video:

Carlotta FR Blu-ray: FiM encode w/o English subtitles; Criterion boxset one has awful compression. review

In the Heat of the Night poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?

Best Video:

Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray (LSP encode) or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray probably better?

Best English-Friendly:

Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?

Best Video:

Wicked Vision Germany 4K Blu-ray (LSP encode) or US Criterion 4K Blu-ray?

Best Audio:

Criterion Blu-ray probably better?

Little Odessa poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Little Odessa poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Rome, Open City poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy Blu-ray. BFI Blu-ray slightly better encode but gamma is off

Best Video:

Criterion Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy Blu-ray. BFI Blu-ray slightly better encode but gamma is off

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy Blu-ray. BFI Blu-ray slightly better encode but gamma is off

Best Video:

Criterion Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy Blu-ray. BFI Blu-ray slightly better encode but gamma is off

Red River poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion/Capelight. MoC uses older master

Best Audio:

Theatrical Cut: France Wild Side Blu-ray

Pre-release Cut: ?

Red River poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion/Capelight. MoC uses older master

Best Audio:

Theatrical Cut: France Wild Side Blu-ray

Pre-release Cut: ?

Red Desert poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion > BFI. France Carlotta Blu-ray is a new, flawed 4K resto, which has heavy frozen grain

Best Audio:

1999 Image Entertainment DVD

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion > BFI. France Carlotta Blu-ray is a new, flawed 4K resto, which has heavy frozen grain

Best Audio:

1999 Image Entertainment DVD

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

France Carlotta Blu-ray

Best Video:

France Carlotta better encode than Criterion

Best Audio:

2004 Prism Leisure DVD

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

France Carlotta Blu-ray

Best Video:

France Carlotta better encode than Criterion

Best Audio:

2004 Prism Leisure DVD

Real Life poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Real Life poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Raging Bull poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K announced for 2026

Best Video:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.

The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review

Best Audio:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:

I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.

Best English-Friendly:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K announced for 2026

Best Video:

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has slightly better compression than Criterion 4K Blu-ray.

The master in DV looks all but identical to the Criterion’s HDR grade. Detail-wise, FiM’s encode looks like it uncovered a tiny bit of extra high-frequency information that got filtered on the Criterion. See nicolas review

Best Audio:

1990 Criterion LaserDisc/1993 MGM LaserDisc/2002 R2 MGM DVD are the best. See blah-ray https://blah-ray.blogspot.com/2018/01/raging-bull-1980.html

Imprint Australia 4K Blu-ray has better audio than Criterion 4K Blu-ray, from nicolas:

I believe that what’s on Imprint’s 4K is one of the good mixes MGM and Criterion released during the LaserDisc days. Music is powerful and detailed, dialogues have excellent fidelity and ambient sounds have perceptible depth. I compared the "new" 2.0 with the anemic 5.1 as well as the Criterion 4K mix and could clearly hear the improvements.

Edit History

2 edits
Body Heat (1981) backdrop