The Skeleton Key (2005)
Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller • 1h 44m
Overview
A hospice nurse working at a spooky New Orleans plantation home finds herself entangled in a mystery involving the house's dark past.
Director: Iain Softley
Cast: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Joy Bryant, Marion Zinser, Maxine Barnett, Fahnlohnee R. Harris, Deneen Tyler, Ann Dalrymple, Trula M. Marcus, Jen Apgar, Thomas Uskali, Jamie Lee Redmon, Forrest Landis, Tonya Staten, Isaach de Bankolé, Christa Thorne, Ronald McCall, Jeryl Prescott, Lakrishi Kindred, Sabah, Joe Chrest, David J. Curtis, Tiffany Helland, Brian Ruppert
Director: Iain Softley
Capelight Germany 4K Blu-ray. Both 88 Films and Germany Capelight are superior to the Shout! Factory in HDR10 but their FEL layer may even things out. Objectively, the Capelight looks best as they avoided the chroma blocking that’s visible in 88’s disc but they in turn include an Atmos mix. I have the Shout! Factory, love how it looks and the 4K transfer is spectacular. https://slow.pics/c/vPmFQSAH
Director: Iain Softley
Capelight Germany 4K Blu-ray. Both 88 Films and Germany Capelight are superior to the Shout! Factory in HDR10 but their FEL layer may even things out. Objectively, the Capelight looks best as they avoided the chroma blocking that’s visible in 88’s disc but they in turn include an Atmos mix. I have the Shout! Factory, love how it looks and the 4K transfer is spectacular. https://slow.pics/c/vPmFQSAH
Director: Iain Softley
Director: Iain Softley
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in October
Australia Imprint Blu-ray?
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in October
Australia Imprint Blu-ray?
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
Director: Steven Shainberg
Director: Steven Shainberg
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Director: Elliott Nugent
Kino Lorber Blu-ray is a newer 4K restoration than Imprint Blu-ray and significantly better see caps
No information on French Elephant Films Blu-ray
Director: Elliott Nugent
Kino Lorber Blu-ray is a newer 4K restoration than Imprint Blu-ray and significantly better see caps
No information on French Elephant Films Blu-ray
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
UK ICON 4K Blu-ray (caps)
UK 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better encode than US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray and Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
5.1 mix is flawed on Shout! Factory/ICON, a phasey upmix instead of the proper discrete surround. The UHD 2.0 tracks are downmixes of that track.
2008 Fox Blu-ray sounds great, very close to the original 70mm mix, only with split surround.
2001 DVD has the original mix as 4.1 and matrixed 2.0.
Imprint 4K has a 4.0 track. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has a different 5.1, unclear if it's the same as Fox BD.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
UK ICON 4K Blu-ray (caps)
UK 4K Blu-ray has a slightly better encode than US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray and Germany StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray
5.1 mix is flawed on Shout! Factory/ICON, a phasey upmix instead of the proper discrete surround. The UHD 2.0 tracks are downmixes of that track.
2008 Fox Blu-ray sounds great, very close to the original 70mm mix, only with split surround.
2001 DVD has the original mix as 4.1 and matrixed 2.0.
Imprint 4K has a 4.0 track. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has a different 5.1, unclear if it's the same as Fox BD.
Director: Shinji Aoyama
Director: Shinji Aoyama
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?
US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?
Fox 2002 NTSC DVD includes the original mix as discrete LCRS 4.0, later reelases only include a matrixed version an an inferior 5.1 upmix.
The matrixed stereo version on Shout! Factory's 4K Blu-ray sounds good.
Director: Jonathan Kaplan
US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?
US Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray?
Fox 2002 NTSC DVD includes the original mix as discrete LCRS 4.0, later reelases only include a matrixed version an an inferior 5.1 upmix.
The matrixed stereo version on Shout! Factory's 4K Blu-ray sounds good.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Canada Blu-ray or Netherlands Blu-ray? better than Constantin Germany 4K Blu-ray
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Canada Blu-ray or Netherlands Blu-ray? better than Constantin Germany 4K Blu-ray
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Director: Kevin Costner
4K restoration of the extended cut to be screened in Locarno Film Festival
PQ looks the same for all BDs, but only Shout! Factory/Australia Via Vision Blu-ray/Germany Kinowelt Anniversary Blu-ray has both theatrical and extended cut
Director: Kevin Costner
4K restoration of the extended cut to be screened in Locarno Film Festival
PQ looks the same for all BDs, but only Shout! Factory/Australia Via Vision Blu-ray/Germany Kinowelt Anniversary Blu-ray has both theatrical and extended cut
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Shane Meadows
2026 Second Sight Blu-ray
2026 Second Sight Blu-ray
Director: Shane Meadows
2026 Second Sight Blu-ray
2026 Second Sight Blu-ray
Director: Adrian Lyne
Italy Paramount/Plaion 4K Blu-ray, better compression than other 4K Blu-rays
Director: Adrian Lyne
Italy Paramount/Plaion 4K Blu-ray, better compression than other 4K Blu-rays
Director: Orson Welles
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal: Although Criterion is low-pass filtered, StudioCanal exhibits very clear and distracting macroblocking.
Director: Orson Welles
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal: Although Criterion is low-pass filtered, StudioCanal exhibits very clear and distracting macroblocking.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Criterion 4K Blu-ray/2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray (preference)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The HDR grading has messed up highlights, so some may prefer the 2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray
Criterion's subtitles seem to be better than StudioCanal's which omits too much IMO.
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Criterion 4K Blu-ray/2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray (preference)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray > StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The HDR grading has messed up highlights, so some may prefer the 2020 remastered StudioCanal Blu-ray
Criterion's subtitles seem to be better than StudioCanal's which omits too much IMO.
Director: Antoine Fuqua
US Lionsgate or International Universal 4K Blu-ray
US Lionsgate or International Universal 4K Blu-ray (similar encoding) - caps
Director: Antoine Fuqua
US Lionsgate or International Universal 4K Blu-ray
US Lionsgate or International Universal 4K Blu-ray (similar encoding) - caps
Japan "4K Remastered" Disney Blu-ray has the original 6.1 mix
Japan Disney 4K Blu-ray for the DTS:X remix
Funimation US Blu-ray for the Bandai dub
Manga Entertainment UK Blu-ray for the Manga Entertainment dub
Italy Dynit Blu-ray has the best picture quality but has no English subtitles or original theatrical 6.1 mix.
All "4K Remastered" and 4K Blu-ray releases (including from Disney) are taken from a 35mm filmout rather than the original digital source, and then heavily DNR'd, destroying original detail and making lines smearier than before. The Japan Disney 4K Blu-ray is the least bad presentation of the 4K remaster, being encoded with a very healthy bitrate and HDR10+ metadata, with the original 6.1 mix included on the pack-in "4K Remastered" Blu-ray.
The film has multiple English subtitle translations, and the Disney subtitles done by Linda Hoaglund and Judith Aley with Aura are often seen as the best translation, with these subtitles present on the Japan Disney 4K Blu-ray.
Japan "4K Remastered" Disney Blu-ray has the original 6.1 mix
Japan Disney 4K Blu-ray for the DTS:X remix
Funimation US Blu-ray for the Bandai dub
Manga Entertainment UK Blu-ray for the Manga Entertainment dub
Italy Dynit Blu-ray has the best picture quality but has no English subtitles or original theatrical 6.1 mix.
All "4K Remastered" and 4K Blu-ray releases (including from Disney) are taken from a 35mm filmout rather than the original digital source, and then heavily DNR'd, destroying original detail and making lines smearier than before. The Japan Disney 4K Blu-ray is the least bad presentation of the 4K remaster, being encoded with a very healthy bitrate and HDR10+ metadata, with the original 6.1 mix included on the pack-in "4K Remastered" Blu-ray.
The film has multiple English subtitle translations, and the Disney subtitles done by Linda Hoaglund and Judith Aley with Aura are often seen as the best translation, with these subtitles present on the Japan Disney 4K Blu-ray.
Director: Kenji Iwaisawa
Japan Pony Canyon Blu-ray for original 7.1 mix
Director: Kenji Iwaisawa
Japan Pony Canyon Blu-ray for original 7.1 mix
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Atmos on the Sony 4K Blu-ray maybe better?
Regarding the "original theatrical audio" 5.1 mixes:
The Sony UHD and the BD DTS-HD 5.1 mixes are the same but the UHD has been pushed slightly harder and has a lot of clipping. The UHD is 16 bit vs the BD's 24 bits.
The Second Sight UHD DTS-HD 5.1 is a downmix of its respective Atmos track. Definitely different from the Sony UHD/BD mix plus a little less dynamic. Whether or not that's representative of the theatrical Dolby Digital mix is anyone's guess.
So, if you want the best version of the original 5.1, the 2012 BD is the winner.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Atmos on the Sony 4K Blu-ray maybe better?
Regarding the "original theatrical audio" 5.1 mixes:
The Sony UHD and the BD DTS-HD 5.1 mixes are the same but the UHD has been pushed slightly harder and has a lot of clipping. The UHD is 16 bit vs the BD's 24 bits.
The Second Sight UHD DTS-HD 5.1 is a downmix of its respective Atmos track. Definitely different from the Sony UHD/BD mix plus a little less dynamic. Whether or not that's representative of the theatrical Dolby Digital mix is anyone's guess.
So, if you want the best version of the original 5.1, the 2012 BD is the winner.
Director: James Foley
Director: James Foley
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