Hellboy 4K Ultra HD

In the reborn "Hellboy," the legendary half-demon superhero (Harbour) is called to the English countryside to battle a trio of rampaging giants. There he discovers The Blood Queen, Nimue (Jovovich), a resurrected ancient sorceress thirsting to avenge a past betrayal. Suddenly caught in a clash between the supernatural and the human, Hellboy is now hell-bent on stopping Nimue without triggering the end of the world. Based on the Dark Horse Comic Book "Hellboy" created by Mike Mignola. (Gary Reber)

Special features include the three-part documentary "Tales Of The Wild Hunt: Hellboy Reborn" (HD 01:11:28)), three deleted scenes (HD 07:56), three previsualizations (HD 07:18), upfront previews and a Movies Anywhere digital code.

The 2.40:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 Ultra HD HDR10/Dolby Vision picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was photographed digitally using the Arri Alexa Mini and Arri Alexa SXT camera systems and sourced from a 4K master Digital Intermediate format. Resolution is superb with the finest detail exhibited throughout. Hair, including chest hairs, skin pores, other facial features, clothing and attire, and object textures are vividly defined. The Dolby Vision HDR contrast delivers perfectly balanced and effective contrast. Blacks are deep and solid, and shadow delineation is revealing throughout. Highlights, such as spotlighting, whether actual lights, candles or electrical shocks appear natural and never exaggerated. Color fidelity is excellent with strong primaries such as The Blood Queen's red robe and blood, appearing rich and warm. Other hues, such as dominant purples, reds, and greens are naturally rendered such as accurate fleshtones, The English countryside forestry scenes appear totally realistic. The London scenes are very natural in appearance. The black-and-white segments exhibit a well-balanced gray scale and deep blacks. Production design is intriguing and captivating throughout. Even the CGI creations appear realistic with respect to textures and overall definition. WOW! segments are from 19:00 to 21:45, 01:02:08 to 01:09:23, 01:28:42 to 01:33:46, and 01:37:16 to 01:38:32. This is a reference-quality visually stylized production with really imaginative imagery and contrasting natural settings throughout and deserves to be experienced in a dark, blackened home theatre environment. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack is excitingly dynamic with aggressive surround envelopment for a captivating holosonic® spherical surround soundfield. Dialogue is intelligible throughout with excellent spatial integration. Foley sound effects perfectly sync with the acton and sound effects are powerful such as the fight scenes with the three giants. Atmospherics are aggressively directionalized with discrete effects even during the quieter scenes. The atmospherics effectively establish the scope of the soundscapes and ambient environmental sounds fill the soundfield during several scenes. The orchestral/rock score is dynamic and occupies a wide and deep soundstage with an aggressive surround presence extending to the four surround channels, Deep bass is powerful and often extends to sub-25 Hz frequencies. The walking tree house segment is powerful in this respect.

The Immersive Sound element features an extension of the orchestral/rock score to the height layer as well an extensive palette of sound effects and ambiances, which include horse gallobing, hammer pounds, wrestliing crowd noise, low level voices, giant growls, demon voice, witches voices, crows, tree house sound effect, woman demon scream, The Blood Queen voice sounds, demon yells, machine gunfire, swing clanky light fixtures, tiger growl and other sound effect accents. Overall, an effective height layer, but there are always opportunities to more fully imagine the height layer.

This is an exciting and dynamic sounding soundtrack with excellent fidelity and reference-quality sound elements throughout. (Gary Reber)