The Craft 4K UHD Screenshots (Patreon)

Video

Shout/Scream Factory credits Sony for this master and it's a genuinely gorgeous, sharp 4K master, preserving the grain, and avoiding any processing. The print itself looks fantastic, devoid of damage. Resolution looks outstanding, dazzling in its precision and clarity. The Craft's thicker-than-usual grain swarms the imagery, and generally appears well resolved.

However, the encoding is messy, even when the bitrate is high. An odd chroma artifact appears often, sometimes with fast motion, other times not; there's no consistency. A few times though, the compression falls completely apart. It's not often - a few moments throughout - where the otherwise pristine material is hampered by chunky artifacting. Oddly, these come during scene dissolves where the softened material invites further chunkiness. Thankfully, these moments remain brief.

Thankfully, the Dolby Vision pass is a great one. Intense brightness casts potent highlights, giving candles and sunlight kick. Often draped in deep shadows, those too perform admirably, the depth spectacular and breathing life into this mid-'90s production. Color saturation benefits too, bold and vivid, but never inaccurate.Spot-on flesh tones pair well to the environments, whether forest greenery or the city's many sights (including neons). It all sizzles.

Audio

A decent enough 5.1 track captures ambient effects like wind and city noises well. Accurate imaging presents a wide soundstage, and even during minor dialog scenes, there's sound traveling around the school's halls or a storm splashing thunder through the stereos and rears.

Lightning bolts during spells will engage the subwoofer, a so-so rumble that's noticeable but light. The beefiest moment comes from an explosion inside the witch's shop. However, it's on the muddier side, lacking tightness.