Dead & Buried (1981) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review: The Basics
SCREENSHOTS FROM THE TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u90aQ_v3Vk
DISCLAIMER
Dead & Buried (1981) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray was sent to us by Blue Underground. The opinions in this review are my own.
Dead & Buried 4K Blu-ray
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + CD
Blue Underground | 1981 | 94 min | Not rated | Jul 20, 2021
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
English: Dolby Atmos
Subtitles
English
Discs
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (1x 4KUHD, 1x BD, 1x CD)
4K Ultra HD (UHD)
UPC 827058803199
Story: The Basics
Something very strange is happening in the quiet coastal village of Potters Bluff, where tourists and transients are warmly welcomed… then brutally murdered. But even more shocking is when these slain strangers suddenly reappear as normal, friendly citizens around town. Now the local sheriff and an eccentric mortician must uncover the horrific secret of a community where some terrifying traditions are alive and well… and no one is ever really dead & buried.
Director: Gary Sherman
Writers: Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon
Starring: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Nancy Locke, Lisa Blount
Dead & Buried (1981) Official Trailer
Video: The Basics
Blue Underground has certainly proved that they can produce great transfers on 4K. Does that trend continue with Dead & Buried 4K? Let's see.
I think the best thing to do is to point out the elephant in the room first, and that being the quality of the source material. These are low-budget cameras. The amount of light that they can capture is honestly poor. I'm not exactly sure of the nit count, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was only 150 nits. Now, before everyone goes crazy, and says, well it says 1000 nits in Dolby Vision. True, but I believe that is just an HDR container used for this movie. The movie obviously never gets close to 1000 nits, because the light output is so low.
The resolution is also poor, again, the source material is poor compared to what I'm used to watching on 4K. This is nothing against the movie, it is what it is. But, I want to make people aware that the original material is of low quality.
With that said, what do I like about this transfer? Number 1, there's zero edge enhancement used. Even with the cameras being low resolution, Blue Underground didn't use any edge or any noticeable added sharpness. I respect that, and I'm happy about this.
Edge then leads to ringing. Both can intertwine with each other in negative ways. If one is bad it can interfere with the other. Well, because there's no edge, ringing is also kept at bay. Don't get me wrong, there is ringing, but it's not obnoxious like some other 4K movies I've seen. I think Blue has gotten these 2 things spot on, so great job.
The colors are bland to be honest. Dark, dingy, and seedy. What else was I expecting right? I saw some issues, source material related though. A car was driving in the fog, and the light coming from the car looked to have color depth issues. Again, limitations of the cameras used.
One thing that I really didn't like is that the cameras seem to struggle with outdoor shots. There are crossing lines in the film that is only visible in outdoor scenes, this didn't look good. I've seen this look before. It was on Boys in the Hood 4K, and it looked really bad on that movie. I really don't like this, however, when there's nothing to be done, what else can I really say?
The transfer itself is good. This is a movie shot on film and never does it look digital. The bit-rate is at a nice high level. I'm seeing around 84 Mbps average bit-rate. It peaks higher into the 100's too, which is a nice benefit of using a 100GB disc. It's not as high as Django on 4K, so they maybe could have pinched even more bit-rate out of this thing. But, generally speaking, this is a high bit-rate, it never breaks into digital noise. I can't really ask for much more than that.
Overall? I respect that Blue Underground gave this movie a 4K scan and got it released on 4K UHD. The original material is obviously under the spec for 4K, but they gave it a shot. Blue gave it a high enough bit-rate to never look digital which is great. With all that said. I review picture quality and transfer quality in tandem, and it's a little on the rough side for me. I was toying with the idea of giving it a 4.5 out of 5 or a 4 out of 5. I think a 4.5 is slightly overselling it given the state of the material, so I think 4 out of 5 is fair and accurate.
I think if you love this movie then it's never looked better, and it looks as good as it possibly can. Recommended for fans.
VIDEO SCORE: 4 OUT OF 5
THE BASICS: GOOD TRANSFER / POOR SOURCE MATERIAL
Audio: The Basics
The audio for Dead & Buried 4K comes with Dolby Atmos. Overkill? Probably, but it' since to see even so.
Dialogue is mixed well and is at a nice volume. The audio quality isn't the cleanest, but I still found this fine.
I didn't find much use of Atmos or height effects in the movie.
Overall, I didn't find this movie, particularly good sounding, nothing special for me.
AUDIO SCORE: 3.5 OUT OF 5
THE BASICS: NOTHING SPECIAL HERE
HOW I REVIEW THE BASICS
REVIEW SCORES
2 - POOR
3 - AVERAGE
4 - GOOD
5 - EXCELLENT
5 - REFERENCE
EQUIPMENT I USE TO REVIEW
- POWER CONDITIONER - FURMAN ELITE-15 PF I
- DENON - X6500H (DOLBY ATMOS, DTSX, AND AURO 3D)
- ELAC - UNI-FI FLOORSTANDERS UF51
- ELAC - UNI-FI BOOKSHELF UB51 (INCLUDING DOLBY ATMOS)
- ELAC - UNI-FI CENTER SPEAKER UC51
- ELAC - TWO SUB3030 SUBWOOFERS
- PANASONIC - UB9000 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY PLAYER
- LG - C9 77 INCH - (ISF CALIBRATED - DOLBY VISION)
THANK YOU FOR READING OUR CONTENT
0 Comments: