House of 1000 Corpses appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This turned into a quality Dolby Vision presentation.
Note that Corpses came with lots of intentionally degraded visuals. I didn’t consider those for my overall rating of the image.
Sharpness looked strong. Only a smidgen of softness ever occurred during this mainly tight flick.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed appropriate and print flaws remained absent.
The movie’s palette opted for broad colors, and these worked well. They seemed vivid and full, with a boost from HDR.
Blacks looke deep and dense, while shadows seemed smooth and clear. HDR gave added punch to whites and contrast. Ultimately I suspect this UHD made Corpses look at good as possible.
Unsurprisingly, the movie’s Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tended toward a hyperactive soundscape – well, at times, as this domain varied. The film threw out lots of jolts but it didn’t maintain much else.
This meant we got big, broad elements but not a lot of general atmosphere. It felt like the sound designers focused on in-your-face impact and forgot to offer much else to give the track a natural feel.
In any case, the mix did kick to life pretty well – at least given the over the top goals of the film. While the endless series of jolts got tedious, they suited the flick’s aims.
Audio quality worked fine, with speech that appeared natural and concise. Music showed good range and force.
Effects came across as accurate and full, with positive low end. I would’ve preferred a better-integrated soundscape, but the track still worked reasonably well.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the original Blu-ray from 2007? It went with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 instead of the BD’s DTS-HD HR 7.1 but I didn’t notice much of a difference.
Visuals became a different matter, largely because the Blu-ray offered a mess with too much processing of various sorts along with a number of unintentional print concerns. The Dolby Vision image became a massive upgrade over the blah BD.
Only one extra shows up on this movie disc, where we find an audio commentary from writer/director Rob Zombie. He offers a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, editing and cut scenes, various effects, costumes, hair and makeup, music, and connected domains.
Despite a sporadic tendency to simply narrate the movie, Zombie makes this a good chat. He proves willing to criticize various elements, and his snarky remarks during the end credits amuse.
I wish he’d delved more into the issues with Universal he experienced, as he touches on those a little but not in detail. Granted, he might’ve held back to not burn bridges for future projects. In any case, Zombie delivers a satisfying chat.
Along with the same commentary, the included Blu-ray disc brings a mix of materials. A game called ZombieTron works based solely on the use of directional buttons, so it remains intensely simple – and devoid of fun. It becomes clunky and awkward.
Video pieces follow, and Making of runs four minutes, 15 seconds. It brings notes from Zombie and actors Rainn Wilson, Karen Black, Bill Moseley, Chris Hardwick, Sid Haig, Sheri Moon, Jennifer Jostyn, and Erin Daniels.
We find out what attracted various participants to the film as well as characters and performances. Don’t expect anything more than promotional fluff.
Behind the Scenes goes for two minutes, 35 seconds and simply features shots from the set. The clips seem mildly interesting at best, as the reel doesn’t last long enough to give us much.
With Tiny Fucked a Stump, we locate a three minute, eight second reel with actors Moon, Moseley and Haig in character as they tell jokes all with the same punchline. Someone might enjoy this, but not me.
Casting spans two minutes, seven seconds and shows an audition from Dennis Fimple. It offers material of minor interest.
Next comes Rehearsals, where we see three segments: “Bill Moseley and Jennifer Jostyn” (3:04), “Rainn Wilson, Chris Hardwick and Erin Daniels (2:15) and “Chris Hardwick and Eric Daniels” (0:56).
As expected, we see the actors work through their scenes. These pieces become reasonably fun to see.
Under Interviews, we get chats with “Bill Moseley” (4:30), “Sid Moon” (5:43), “Sheri Moon” (1:33) and “Wayne Toth” (3:33). The actors deliver rudiments about their roles, experiences, and thoughts about horror.
Makeup designer Toth gets into his work on the film. These become moderately engaging clips.
Disc One opens with ads for The Punisher (2004), The Condemned, The Descent and Saw III.
Via House of 1000 Corpses, Rob Zombie launched his career as a feature film director with a thud. Little more than a random mix of 70s horror throwbacks and campy oddness, the movie becomes tedious and obnoxious. The 4K UHD comes with strong visuals, decent audio and a bunch of supplements. Though the movie enjoys its fans, I can’t find much positive about it.
Note that this 4K UHD comes as part of a three-movie “Firefly Trilogy” set along with 2003’s House of 1000 Corpses and 2019’s 3 From Hell. I can’t figure out for certain if this 4K UHD came out solo anywhere but as far as I can tell, it’s exclusive to the “Trilogy” package.
Also note that “Firefly Trilogy” includes additional bonus materials related to Corpses that I don’t discuss here, as I wanted to focus solely on the movie platter. Those other extras will become the subject of an additional review that concentrates on the “Trilogy” box as a whole.
