Old Ways, The

In "The Old Ways," when Cristina Lopez, a Mexican-American reporter, returns to her ancestral homeland of Veracruz chasing a story on witchcraft and faith healers, it's not long before she's kidnapped by locals. They claim she's possessed by a demon, which they must exercise before they can set her free. As she desperately struggles to escape, she slowly comes to believe that they may be telling the truth. Along with her captors and estranged cousin Mirando, her fight for survival tuns into a fight for her soul. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary with Director Christopher Alender and Writer Marcos Gabriel, the documentary "The Old Ways: A Look Beyond" (HD 82:45), four deleted scenes (HD 22:01), storyboards, the theatrical trailer and upfront previews.

The 2.39:1 1080p AVC picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, upconverted to 2160p with greater resolution and luminance, was photographed digitally using the Arri Alexa camera system and sourced from a 2K master Digital Intermediate format. Picture quality is excellent. The color palette is nicely saturated throughout with rich and warm hues that exhibit naturalness throughout, Earthy hues dominate in visions of caves, forest, and in the room Cristina is held captive. Contrast is excellent as well, with natural black levels, revealing shadow delineation and realistic white level highlights. Resolution is superb with fine detail in facial features, especially during closeups, with skin pores, wrinkles, hair, beard and exorcist makeup exhibiting nuances. Clothing and object textures exhibit fine detail as well. This is a terrifically haunting and beautifully captured picture that will completely satisfy fans of the horror genre. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is eerie throughout with great atmospherics that are spread throughout the soundfield with aggressive surround envelopment and directionality. Foley sound effects sound realistic and well synced. Sound effects are effective and heighten the intense segments in Cristina's confinement, supported with deep bass enhancements. The music score is a strong sound element and sounds dynamic with terrific low-end extension. The music spans the wide and deep soundstage with aggressive extension to the surrounds, for a hauntingly eerie effect. Dialogue is intelligible and generally well integrated spatially. While the soundtrack is in English, when Spanish is spoken the English subtitles are perfectly clear and positioned at the bottom of the screen. This is a scary holosonic® soundtrack with great music envelopment, atmospherics, and sound effects. (Gary Reber)