Kaskade1309
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After watching this classic in native 2160p resolution and Dolby Atmos (played back in the core Dolby TrueHD on my system), and comparing it to my recollection of the 1080p Blu-ray "digibook" release that I own, I made some rather interesting discoveries -- notably with the audio.
First of all, the Dolby Atmos remix can be traced back to the 2000 release of "The Version You've Never Seen," which screened theatrically that year and added the infamous spider walk sequence and some other bits (basically to satisfy author Blatty, even though it ended up being called the "Extended Director's Cut" later on); I saw this version two times in theaters when it was out, eventually buying Warner's snapper case DVD when it was released some time later (early 2000s). The audio was remixed for that new version in quite the aggressive fashion, and this became the basis for the Dolby Digital Surround EX track on the DVD -- being a rabid fan of this film (it's close to my favorite, if not the number one choice), I immediately fell in love with the changed soundscape of the audio. From the opening sequence in Iraq onward, the entire aural experience is different with this mix -- you can clearly make out voices yelling from behind you as Merrin digs at the site, accompanied by shovels hitting the sand and a plethora of other sound cues, all of which culminates with an awesome jet plane flyover from the surround right speaker to the surround left as the action shifts from the Middle East and the camera zooms in on the Georgetown townhouse. From there, things only get better and more aggressive, with the bar sequence featuring Karras and Father Tom coming alive through the voices of college kids and the Allman Brothers "Rambling Man," the bellowing of Pazuzu in the right surround channel when Merrin arrives at the house towards the end and more.
When the Blu-ray arrived around 2010, this remix was re-encoded into DTS-HD Master Audio and basically sounded the same as the Dolby Surround EX track on the previous DVD (I think the Blu-ray's track was in six channels). I had assumed Warner Bros. would have simply ported over that track to create the Atmos/TrueHD mix for the UHD, but to my surprise, a bunch of elements were changed (again, I sampled the core TrueHD track on my system). From the very opening frame (of the Extended Director's Cut), something was slightly different with regard to the subtle music that accompanies the images of the townhouse and the couple walking down the street. After that, I took note of alterations to the original mix used for The Version You've Never Seen, including the removal of the creepy music when Regan is on the bed at the clinic, mumbling and attempting to get out of her restraints (in the Atmos/TrueHD mix, this music was removed and replaced with sounds of wind whipping the leaves outside the clinic around); the bellowing of "MERRRRRIIIINNNNNN!!!!!" by Pazuzu when the priest arrives moving from the surround right channel to both surrounds (5.1 in my case); some rather aggressive volume pumping during the final exorcism, to the point the banging of furniture and cracking of the ceilings/walls overpowered the other sound elements in that scene; a big volume increase during the sequence when the large chest of drawers moves towards Chris after the famous crucifix scene; a louder, more aggressive delivery of the surround information during Regan's crawl down the stairs in the added spider walk scene (it REALLY sounded as if she was crawling around above us before heading down the staircase) and more.
As I said, this really surprised me, as I was expecting the track I have been used to since The Version You've Never Seen came out, but in Dolby TrueHD flavor. Quite a few sound elements were changed for the Atmos mix, but I'm not sure how I feel about them.
Now, with regard to the video -- boy, has this title been controversial since its release in 4K, and it reminds me of the debacle that always pops up when a new version of Carpenter's Halloween comes out (amongst enthusiasts on forums and such). I can see why people have been torn and polarized by the video transfer here; from the get-go, my feeling was that this UHD version was far too saturated and hot in terms of color temperature. The HDR pass was too aggressive in many places, rendering faces too orange/red and elements like foliage far too brilliant and almost neon green (the scene towards the beginning when Chris is walking to her driver after the filming session is a good example of this). The subway scene with Karras that had everyone talking on forums indeed exhibited blooming and bleeding in the lighting above the platform, while the opening Iraq sequence was almost TOO hot -- I mean, I understand it's an arid desert, but some of the animals in that scene looked orange-esque at times, and even Von Sydow's skin tone seemed to shift from scene to scene.
The entire picture was definitely brighter than the Blu-ray, but the color scheme was just "off" to me -- it was almost as if the Blu-ray was cooler and less intense, which feels more accurate for this film IMO. As far as detail levels, the 4K disc looked slightly sharper, which is amazing in itself, because I didn't think they'd ever get this film to look more detailed after the 1080p version. The opening Iraq scene exhibited jaw-dropping amounts of detail on Von Sydow's face and hands, as well as on the intricacies of the statues, but this already looked incredible on the Blu-ray; I'm not sure these elements needed to be even sharper to be appreciated, if that makes sense.
Two things I wanted to add before I get to the exorcism scene: I had always said that Warner needed to do something of a top-to-bottom restoration of this film in order to clean up what I perceived as unacceptable film element issues -- the horribly grainy zoom-in on the Georgetown house in the beginning, the swarming noise as Karras is about to leave his mother's apartment in New York, the noise/grain swirling during the scene when the priest is bringing the flowers to the church, et al -- and it seems at least one of these moments WERE cleaned up, specifically when Karras leaves the apartment. On this 4K disc, the noise swarming the blackness of the moment when Karras raises the volume on the radio before leaving was gone. Scrubbed clean. I couldn't believe it, but there it was (some reviewers claim this came at the expense of some nasty artifacts in that scene, but I didn't see it). However, the other troublesome spots remained, and in the case of the zoom-in during the Georgetown establishing shot, that noise seemed to be even thicker and nastier. Still, overall and shockingly, there appeared to be LESS grain and edginess in the 4K transfer compared to the Blu, and I expected the opposite. Now, this may have been down to some post-tampering done by Friedkin (confirmed), specifically in the area of DNR, which brings me to the centerpiece issue.
In getting to the heart of most of the online arguments concerning this title, the final exorcism sequence....well....whew, where do I begin? I DEFINITELY saw what everyone has been talking about with regard to the noise reduction. You can clearly see that this scene has been smoothed out to the point that it almost looks "rubbery" in certain places; compared to other prints I've seen of this film in the cinema, on VHS, on DVD and on Blu-ray, the final scene seems devoid of much detail. However, I always thought this sequence looked a bit rough and noisy in other formats, and part of me appreciated the DNR used -- it didn't, in my opinion and as other reviewers have said, smooth it out to the point it looked like a smeary VHS tape or anything...it just looked CLEANER. As far as color temperature arguments, I didn't notice the severe bleeding from HDR that others have reported, notably in the bibles the priests are reading from in that end scene, nor did I see anything horribly out of place; the color push itself seemed to jump between neutral and blue/purple to my eyes, and on the Blu-ray, from what I recall, this scene wasn't quite as "cold blue" as everyone said it was. I think this has a lot to do with how one's display is calibrated and what color temperature selection is being made (I'm running "Warm 2" in a Movie picture mode on my Samsung, so the coolness is reigned in a bit).
Additionally: I noted that a quick shot of the Pazuzu statue head icon that appears on Regan's door before Chris walks in (before Kinderman arrives) was re-inserted in this transfer -- this was one of those additions to The Version You've Never Seen, along with other (unnecessary I guess) little flashes of the demon's face that were put in for the longer cut, but, oddly, some were removed when the Blu-ray came out (such as the flash of the face on the door and the eventual appearance of the Pazuzu statue next to the door when Chris walks around asking about the crucifix left under Regan's pillow). On this 4K disc, the quick shot of the statue head on the door was put back in, yet the statue beginning to slowly appear next to the door was removed; I don't get the thought process here.
I'm sure I'll think of more to add about my experience with The Exorcist in 4K, but that's at the top of my mind right now; I still think someone (if not Warner Bros.) should release a be-all end-all UHD version of this title without the five discs of extras (like the other regions outside the U.S. got) and with a focus on a complete top-to-bottom restoration to at least even everything out (as it stands, the picture seemed to be uneven from scene to scene). I for one would be willing to spend $50 or up for something like that, rather than spend that money on redundant lobby cards, bible packaging, picture stills, coasters, etc. often bundled in these super deluxe editions.
First of all, the Dolby Atmos remix can be traced back to the 2000 release of "The Version You've Never Seen," which screened theatrically that year and added the infamous spider walk sequence and some other bits (basically to satisfy author Blatty, even though it ended up being called the "Extended Director's Cut" later on); I saw this version two times in theaters when it was out, eventually buying Warner's snapper case DVD when it was released some time later (early 2000s). The audio was remixed for that new version in quite the aggressive fashion, and this became the basis for the Dolby Digital Surround EX track on the DVD -- being a rabid fan of this film (it's close to my favorite, if not the number one choice), I immediately fell in love with the changed soundscape of the audio. From the opening sequence in Iraq onward, the entire aural experience is different with this mix -- you can clearly make out voices yelling from behind you as Merrin digs at the site, accompanied by shovels hitting the sand and a plethora of other sound cues, all of which culminates with an awesome jet plane flyover from the surround right speaker to the surround left as the action shifts from the Middle East and the camera zooms in on the Georgetown townhouse. From there, things only get better and more aggressive, with the bar sequence featuring Karras and Father Tom coming alive through the voices of college kids and the Allman Brothers "Rambling Man," the bellowing of Pazuzu in the right surround channel when Merrin arrives at the house towards the end and more.
When the Blu-ray arrived around 2010, this remix was re-encoded into DTS-HD Master Audio and basically sounded the same as the Dolby Surround EX track on the previous DVD (I think the Blu-ray's track was in six channels). I had assumed Warner Bros. would have simply ported over that track to create the Atmos/TrueHD mix for the UHD, but to my surprise, a bunch of elements were changed (again, I sampled the core TrueHD track on my system). From the very opening frame (of the Extended Director's Cut), something was slightly different with regard to the subtle music that accompanies the images of the townhouse and the couple walking down the street. After that, I took note of alterations to the original mix used for The Version You've Never Seen, including the removal of the creepy music when Regan is on the bed at the clinic, mumbling and attempting to get out of her restraints (in the Atmos/TrueHD mix, this music was removed and replaced with sounds of wind whipping the leaves outside the clinic around); the bellowing of "MERRRRRIIIINNNNNN!!!!!" by Pazuzu when the priest arrives moving from the surround right channel to both surrounds (5.1 in my case); some rather aggressive volume pumping during the final exorcism, to the point the banging of furniture and cracking of the ceilings/walls overpowered the other sound elements in that scene; a big volume increase during the sequence when the large chest of drawers moves towards Chris after the famous crucifix scene; a louder, more aggressive delivery of the surround information during Regan's crawl down the stairs in the added spider walk scene (it REALLY sounded as if she was crawling around above us before heading down the staircase) and more.
As I said, this really surprised me, as I was expecting the track I have been used to since The Version You've Never Seen came out, but in Dolby TrueHD flavor. Quite a few sound elements were changed for the Atmos mix, but I'm not sure how I feel about them.
Now, with regard to the video -- boy, has this title been controversial since its release in 4K, and it reminds me of the debacle that always pops up when a new version of Carpenter's Halloween comes out (amongst enthusiasts on forums and such). I can see why people have been torn and polarized by the video transfer here; from the get-go, my feeling was that this UHD version was far too saturated and hot in terms of color temperature. The HDR pass was too aggressive in many places, rendering faces too orange/red and elements like foliage far too brilliant and almost neon green (the scene towards the beginning when Chris is walking to her driver after the filming session is a good example of this). The subway scene with Karras that had everyone talking on forums indeed exhibited blooming and bleeding in the lighting above the platform, while the opening Iraq sequence was almost TOO hot -- I mean, I understand it's an arid desert, but some of the animals in that scene looked orange-esque at times, and even Von Sydow's skin tone seemed to shift from scene to scene.
The entire picture was definitely brighter than the Blu-ray, but the color scheme was just "off" to me -- it was almost as if the Blu-ray was cooler and less intense, which feels more accurate for this film IMO. As far as detail levels, the 4K disc looked slightly sharper, which is amazing in itself, because I didn't think they'd ever get this film to look more detailed after the 1080p version. The opening Iraq scene exhibited jaw-dropping amounts of detail on Von Sydow's face and hands, as well as on the intricacies of the statues, but this already looked incredible on the Blu-ray; I'm not sure these elements needed to be even sharper to be appreciated, if that makes sense.
Two things I wanted to add before I get to the exorcism scene: I had always said that Warner needed to do something of a top-to-bottom restoration of this film in order to clean up what I perceived as unacceptable film element issues -- the horribly grainy zoom-in on the Georgetown house in the beginning, the swarming noise as Karras is about to leave his mother's apartment in New York, the noise/grain swirling during the scene when the priest is bringing the flowers to the church, et al -- and it seems at least one of these moments WERE cleaned up, specifically when Karras leaves the apartment. On this 4K disc, the noise swarming the blackness of the moment when Karras raises the volume on the radio before leaving was gone. Scrubbed clean. I couldn't believe it, but there it was (some reviewers claim this came at the expense of some nasty artifacts in that scene, but I didn't see it). However, the other troublesome spots remained, and in the case of the zoom-in during the Georgetown establishing shot, that noise seemed to be even thicker and nastier. Still, overall and shockingly, there appeared to be LESS grain and edginess in the 4K transfer compared to the Blu, and I expected the opposite. Now, this may have been down to some post-tampering done by Friedkin (confirmed), specifically in the area of DNR, which brings me to the centerpiece issue.
In getting to the heart of most of the online arguments concerning this title, the final exorcism sequence....well....whew, where do I begin? I DEFINITELY saw what everyone has been talking about with regard to the noise reduction. You can clearly see that this scene has been smoothed out to the point that it almost looks "rubbery" in certain places; compared to other prints I've seen of this film in the cinema, on VHS, on DVD and on Blu-ray, the final scene seems devoid of much detail. However, I always thought this sequence looked a bit rough and noisy in other formats, and part of me appreciated the DNR used -- it didn't, in my opinion and as other reviewers have said, smooth it out to the point it looked like a smeary VHS tape or anything...it just looked CLEANER. As far as color temperature arguments, I didn't notice the severe bleeding from HDR that others have reported, notably in the bibles the priests are reading from in that end scene, nor did I see anything horribly out of place; the color push itself seemed to jump between neutral and blue/purple to my eyes, and on the Blu-ray, from what I recall, this scene wasn't quite as "cold blue" as everyone said it was. I think this has a lot to do with how one's display is calibrated and what color temperature selection is being made (I'm running "Warm 2" in a Movie picture mode on my Samsung, so the coolness is reigned in a bit).
Additionally: I noted that a quick shot of the Pazuzu statue head icon that appears on Regan's door before Chris walks in (before Kinderman arrives) was re-inserted in this transfer -- this was one of those additions to The Version You've Never Seen, along with other (unnecessary I guess) little flashes of the demon's face that were put in for the longer cut, but, oddly, some were removed when the Blu-ray came out (such as the flash of the face on the door and the eventual appearance of the Pazuzu statue next to the door when Chris walks around asking about the crucifix left under Regan's pillow). On this 4K disc, the quick shot of the statue head on the door was put back in, yet the statue beginning to slowly appear next to the door was removed; I don't get the thought process here.
I'm sure I'll think of more to add about my experience with The Exorcist in 4K, but that's at the top of my mind right now; I still think someone (if not Warner Bros.) should release a be-all end-all UHD version of this title without the five discs of extras (like the other regions outside the U.S. got) and with a focus on a complete top-to-bottom restoration to at least even everything out (as it stands, the picture seemed to be uneven from scene to scene). I for one would be willing to spend $50 or up for something like that, rather than spend that money on redundant lobby cards, bible packaging, picture stills, coasters, etc. often bundled in these super deluxe editions.
