A Quiet Place 4K Blu-ray Review

Summary: A race of creatures has quickly taken over most of the earth. While they can’t see, they have hyper-sensitive hearing and attack anything that makes a sound. The Abbott family has managed to survive and communicate only in sign language while moving around barefoot. Now they must continue trying to survive while attempting to not make a sound.

Movie Review: It took me multiple attempts to get through A Quiet Place. I don’t typically watch films that are meant to scare me, and the suspense of A Quiet Place it a challenge for me. Despite that, the film is very well done. The plot of having to remain silent makes it even more stressful to watch than usual, and the acting is well done. While no one is able to really talk, you still get a good feeling for all the characters. It isn’t something I’ll watch again but only because it’s not something I enjoy putting myself through. For those that like this style of film, it’s fantastically done and completely worth watching.

Technical Review: A Quiet Place was shot on 35mm and given a 2K DI. The UltraHD release is upscaled from that and features Dolby Vision as well. The resulting image is very clear but doesn’t have the finest detail that 35mm transfers given a 4K DI can. HDR is used on occasion for flashlights and other effects, but not to excess. This avoids the film noise issue that you can see in other 35mm films with more aggressive HDR like Wonder Woman. Wide Color Gamut looks to be used some but much of the film takes place in darker interior settings that don’t benefit as much. Overall the film looks good and probably as good as it will unless they redo it with a 4K scan, but isn’t flashy at all.

The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is superbly done. As you’d expect, much of the film is very quiet as everyone tries to avoid alerting the monsters. This gives the soundtrack lots of space to do ambient effects and ratchet up the suspense. When the soundtrack needs to shift it does so with the subwoofer coming to life. While there is very little speaking in the film, it is still a fantastic soundtrack that makes watching even more suspenseful.

Special Features:

• Creating the Quiet – Behind the Scenes of A QUIET PLACE
• The Sound of Darkness – Editing Sound for A QUIET PLACE
• A Reason for Silence – The Visual Effects of A QUIET PLACE

Review System: Sony Z9D LCD, Sony UBP-X700 UltraHD Blu-ray Player, Oppo UDP-203 UltraHD Blu-ray Player, KEF Ci5160RL-THX Fronts, Ci3160RL-THX Center, 2x Ci200RR-THX Surrounds, 4x CI200RR-THX Atmos Speakers, Anthem MRX 1120 Receiver, SVS SB-4000 Subwoofer.