Neo-Noir movies available on 4K Blu-ray, ranked by transfer quality.
dir. David Cronenberg
Cronenberg and Mortensen at their best. This was the last movie ever released on VHS, which is the kind of trivia that makes a collector want to own every format it ever came on. Makes a great double feature with Eastern Promises.
dir. Sam Raimi
S-Tier Arrow Video 4K. Sam Raimi's best film according to a lot of collectors. A 90s crime thriller that flies under the radar.
Arrow Video · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Martin Scorsese
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Scorsese's underrated New York comedy finally on 4K.
Criterion Collection · Blu-ray
dir. Alan Parker
S-Tier 4K. Mickey Rourke in Alan Parker's New Orleans noir.
Lionsgate · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Bruce Timm, Eric Radomski
S-Tier Warner Bros. 4K. The animated Batman film that's better than most live-action Batman films. Getting a 4K was a big deal for animation collectors.
Warner Bros. · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Denis Villeneuve
Warner Bros. steelbook has people talking about the Dolby Vision version again. A special edition floats around the secondary market for serious money. The transfer is already S-Tier, so collectors buying this one are buying it for the steel.
Sony Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Brian De Palma
S-Tier Criterion 4K. De Palma's best film according to a lot of people. The Criterion reviews have been positive.
Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray
S-Tier Sony 4K. De Palma's erotic thriller. The transfer preserves the slow-zoom voyeuristic camerawork that makes the film work.
S-Tier Arrow Video 4K. De Palma and Pacino's follow-up to Scarface. The Zavvi exclusive box set with the steelbook inside is the collector's item.
dir. Carl Franklin
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins in Carl Franklin's LA noir. Criterion handled the transfer.
dir. Gus Van Sant
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Gus Van Sant's addiction drama. Criterion's 90s indie catalog is growing.
dir. Joel Coen
S-Tier Shout Factory 4K. The Coens' Midwest crime film. Shout Factory's transfer has been praised.
Shout! Factory · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Akira Kurosawa
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Kurosawa's procedural thriller. The split-screen compositions look great.
dir. Quentin Tarantino
S-Tier Lionsgate 4K. Tarantino's most underrated film. He personally signed off on the 4K restoration and vetoed an earlier release because it wasn't good enough, which tells you how much he cares about this one. Comparison shots show a real upgrade from the Blu-ray. Imprint also put out an Australian release at their usual eyebrow-raising price.
dir. Chad Stahelski
S-Tier Lionsgate 4K. The best-looking disc in the John Wick series. The location cinematography across New York, Wadi Rum, France, Germany, and Japan is where HDR really pays off. Multiple steelbook exclusives dropped from different retailers with different artwork, and collectors were buying all of them.
dir. Stanley Kubrick
S-Tier Kino Lorber 4K. Early Kubrick, black and white, 4:3 aspect ratio. People thought it was wild that this got a 4K release before Eyes Wide Shut. The transfer itself is clean. First-time viewers tend to approach it as a curiosity piece rather than essential Kubrick, which is fair for a 1955 B-movie noir.
Kino Lorber · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts, finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him.
dir. Richard Brooks
S-Tier Vinegar Syndrome 4K. The 1977 Diane Keaton film that was stuck in rights hell for years. VS getting this out on 4K was a major surprise. It felt more like a Cinematographe release, and some subscribers weren't thrilled about getting it in their package. The film itself has a serious reputation, and it barely had a decent home release before this.
Vinegar Syndrome · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Rose Glass
S-Tier Plaion Pictures 4K. Rose Glass' crime romance with Kristen Stewart. A24 released the 4K after the Blu-ray had already shipped, which annoyed people who bought the Blu-ray a week earlier. One of the better A24 4K releases. The Rose Glass commentary is the draw for people who liked Saint Maud.
Plaion Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. David Lynch
Lynch's death is still pulling people back to the Criterion disc. Someone picked it up at Barnes and Noble this week, and it sits on nearly every wishlist going into the Criterion flash sale. The Criterion 4K is S-Tier.
StudioCanal · 4K + Blu-ray
S-Tier Arrow Video 4K. Cronenberg's Burroughs adaptation with a perfect 5.0 specs score. Arrow's 4K releases have a reputation for better encoding than Criterion's equivalents. The Turbine release also exists for European collectors. Worth knowing this is deeply weird Cronenberg before pressing play.
dir. Joe Carnahan
S-Tier Arrow Video 4K. Joe Carnahan's undercover cop film with Ray Liotta and Jason Patric, scoring a perfect 5.0 overall. The Arrow limited edition was not expected to sell out during pre-order, and it didn't. People who attended a preview screening with the cast in 2002 are now buying the 4K.
dir. Guillermo del Toro
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Del Toro's noir with Bradley Cooper. The Criterion release includes the director's extended cut completely remastered in black and white with Dolby Vision, which del Toro considers the definitive version. The B&W version is what makes this 4K special.
dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
S-Tier Criterion 4K. The Coens' best film by popular vote, and the 4K announcement generated enormous excitement. The scan comes in at 88.7 GB, which is enormous. Someone spotted a crew member hiding in the bushes during the river scene, which started a whole thing. People are waiting on There Will Be Blood and Assassination of Jesse James to complete the 2007 western trio.
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Carl Franklin's crime film, frequently paired with Lone Star as a recommendation. People describe it as brutal where Lone Star is more of a tall tale. The Criterion disc scores 4.0 overall. People who discovered it through the Criterion sale are finding it's one of the better neo-noir films of the 90s.
dir. Nicolas Roeg, Donald Cammell
S-Tier Criterion 4K. Roeg and Cammell's 1970 film with Mick Jagger. The Criterion 4K means Warner Archive films are now fair game for Criterion upgrades, which has people hoping for The Hudsucker Proxy and others.
S-Tier Deltamac 4K with a 4.5 score. Tarantino's defining film, and the 4K announcement was met with enormous excitement. Someone ordered from Best Buy and received an unsealed copy with no disc inside, which became its own little saga. The steelbook front art was disliked while the back and inside were praised. Tarantino personally approved the transfer.
Deltamac · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Darren Aronofsky
Lionsgate keeps putting out steelbooks of their 4K catalog, and this one sold well at $20 USD with a slipcase. Collectors who bought the standard 4K first were annoyed by the steelbook announcement coming days later. The transfer is S-Tier and the split-screen sequences are the selling point for anyone upgrading from Blu-ray.
dir. Mira Nair
Part of Criterion's December 2025 wave alongside Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and His Girl Friday. Mira Nair's debut about Mumbai street kids. Thin standalone discussion but the announcement thread generated massive engagement. A deeply respected film that most collectors will buy on name recognition alone.
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.
dir. Matt Reeves
S-Tier Warner Bros. 4K. The disc menus load straight to the play screen with no ads or warnings, which is something every 4K should do. Amazon returns are a known issue with this title, people opening the shrinkwrap, taking the 4K disc, and returning it resealed.
Universal S-Tier 4K. The Dude abides in reference quality. One of those discs that gets bought on impulse every time someone posts it, and the comments are always just quotes from the film.
Universal Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Jeff Nichols
After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.
dir. Francis Ford Coppola
A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
dir. Christopher Nolan
The 4K is a real upgrade over the Blu-ray, which had noticeable sharpening and DNR issues. The IMAX sequences are some of the sharpest footage you'll see on the format, and the 35mm scenes are a solid improvement too. Batman Begins is the disappointing one on 4K, but Dark Knight and Rises both look great. The trilogy steelbook set has been through multiple exclusive editions and the artwork reveals always get a lot of attention.
dir. Stephen Frears
A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.
dir. Ida Lupino
S-Tier Indicator 4K. Ida Lupino's noir thriller.
Indicator · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Steven Soderbergh
The Limey follows Wilson, a tough English ex-con who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. Upon arrival, Wilson goes to task battling Valentine and an army of L.A.'s toughest criminals, hoping to find clues and piece together what happened. After surviving a near-death beating, getting thrown from a building and being chased down a dangerous mountain road, the Englishman decides to dole out some bodily harm of his own.
A tale of murder, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris' infidelity and a mysterious opportunity presents him with a chance to change it.
dir. Jonathan Demme
Arrow Video S-Tier 4K. The Arrow UK release is the definitive edition and the French steelbook went up for preorder around the same time. Hopkins' Lecter scenes get even more unsettling with the higher resolution.
dir. Tom McCarthy
A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
dir. Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.
dir. Werner Herzog
A-Tier Kino Lorber 4K. Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage in New Orleans. Kino's been giving Herzog's catalog the 4K treatment.
dir. Paul Verhoeven
A-Tier Lionsgate 4K. Over 200 4K releases watched and this one's transfer stood out. Verhoeven's erotic thriller looks better than expected for early 90s.
A-Tier Criterion Collection 4K. David Lynch's small-town nightmare. One person's 4K disc was mislabeled as Trainspotting, which is either a quality control issue or the most Lynchian thing that's ever happened to a physical disc.
dir. Jean-Luc Godard
A-Tier Criterion 4K. Godard's debut. StudioCanal also has a release, and the two may use different masters. Check which one you're buying.
dir. Rian Johnson
Kino Lorber's A-Tier 4K of Rian Johnson's debut. Too small for streaming to care about, but the disc-buying audience loves it.
dir. Roman Polanski
A-Tier Paramount 4K. The limited edition announcement felt like an April Fools joke to some people because it had been rumored for so long. Polanski's 70s noir with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. A proper 4K was overdue.
Paramount Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Michael Mann
Cab driver Max picks up a man who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.
dir. Stuart Rosenberg
A-Tier Warner Bros. 4K. Paul Newman in Stuart Rosenberg's prison film.
Mann's downtown LA shootout still sounds like no other scene in the format. A-Tier Warner disc that gets cited in every debate about the best 90s action transfers.
Warner Bros.
dir. Martin McDonagh
A-Tier Kino Lorber 4K. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson hiding out in Belgium after a botched hit. The Kino release has good extras and a clean transfer, and Second Sight also has a version if you prefer their packaging. A lot of people own both.
dir. Mike Figgis
Keen young Raymold Avila joins the Internal Affairs Department of the Los Angeles police. He and partner Amy Wallace are soon looking closely at the activities of cop Dennis Peck whose financial holdings start to suggest something shady. Indeed Peck is involved in any number of dubious or downright criminal activities. He is also devious, a womaniser, and a clever manipulator, and he starts to turn his attention on Avila.
A-Tier Lionsgate 4K. Rian Johnson's murder mystery with Daniel Craig's southern accent. The steelbook had a famous Easter egg slipcover that reveals plot details when flipped backwards, and it caused near-panic when it first released. The steelbook's distressed design means scratches and dents blend right in. Reprints are available through Lionsgate for around $71 USD plus shipping.
dir. Luc Besson
A-Tier Sony 4K. Luc Besson's hitman film with Jean Reno and a young Natalie Portman. Sony's steelbook artwork got some criticism. The disc scores well at 4.5 overall. Not a lot of dedicated collector energy around this specific release.
dir. Michael Curtiz
A-Tier Criterion 4K. Joan Crawford's noir from Michael Curtiz. Thin collector discussion. The UK Criterion sale had a limited 4K selection compared to the B&N sale in the US.
dir. Dan Gilroy
A-Tier Shout Factory 4K. Dan Gilroy's LA crime thriller with Jake Gyllenhaal. The steelbook cover art was universally hated, which is frustrating for a film this good. It's a 2K digital intermediate upscale, but the Drive 4K upscale turned out well so there's hope.
dir. Mario Martone
A-Tier Kino Lorber 4K. Mario Martone's 2022 Italian drama. The collector signal here is very thin.
dir. Stefano Sollima
Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.
dir. James Merendino
Sony replaced one of the songs at a party scene due to licensing issues, swapping the Suicide Machines track for something generic. Collectors noticed because the song is meant to sound like it's actually playing at the party, so changing it changes the entire feel of the scene. Sony didn't announce the swap, which is typical for major studios. Still locked into the Sony Classics box set for standalone seekers, with eBay copies running around $35 USD.
dir. Phil Alden Robinson
Kino Lorber's 4K comes from a new scan of the original camera negative with Dolby Vision. People waited years for this one and the transfer doesn't disappoint. The ensemble cast (Redford, Poitier, Aykroyd, Phoenix) makes it one of those films that's better than it has any right to be.
dir. John Mackenzie
In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.
dir. Shane Black
A private eye investigates the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.
dir. Bryan Singer
Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.
dir. William Friedkin
When his longtime partner on the force is killed, reckless U.S. Secret Service agent Richard Chance vows revenge, setting out to nab dangerous counterfeit artist Eric Masters.
Germany Capelight · 4K + Blu-ray
dir. Antoine Fuqua
On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.
dir. Danny Boyle
Heroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane, along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can't escape the life he left behind as Begbie and Sick Boy come knocking.
dir. Tony Scott
Arrow Video A-Tier 4K. Tarantino-written and Tony Scott-directed, with an Arrow disc that does both of them justice. Hans Zimmer's 'You're So Cool' theme still hits.
dir. Drew Goddard
B-Tier 4K. The cast is stacked and the production design pops in HDR, but the transfer doesn't fully deliver on what the cinematography promises. Fun film, decent disc.
C-Tier Criterion Collection 4K. The Coens' debut. If you're looking for gritty crime on 4K, this fits the bill. The C-Tier is likely a source material limitation from the low-budget 16mm blow-up.
Criterion Collection
dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
C-Tier Kino Lorber 4K. The 1989 underwater monster movie, not the Zvyagintsev drama. Basically an underwater remake of The Thing with a Jerry Goldsmith score. Kino's 4K looks decent, especially the non-underwater scenes where the color has room to breathe.
Kino Lorber
dir. Craig Brewer
D-Tier Paramount 4K. Terrence Howard's Memphis hustle film from 2005. Paramount gave it a basic catalog release without much fanfare.
Paramount Pictures · Blu-ray
dir. James Dearden
Infatuated with the idea of becoming rich, college student Jonathan Corliss secretly dates Dorothy Carlsson to gain the approval of her wealthy father. When Dorothy tells Jonathan that she is pregnant and that her father will deny her inheritance if he finds out, Jonathan murders her, but he stages her death as a suicide. As Jonathan works his way onto Mr. Carlsson's payroll, Dorothy's twin sister, Ellen, investigates the apparent suicide.
dir. Lawrence Kasdan
During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.
Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray Special Edition
Shout Factory 4K of the Coens' love letter to old Hollywood. Deakins cinematography is the reason to own this, and the HDR pass brings out the Technicolor-homage color work in the dance numbers. The B2G1 at Target is how most people picked this up.
Shout! Factory · 4K Ultra HD
Second Sight 4K of the 1997 Norwegian original, not the Nolan remake. The thread noticed immediately and several people pointed out this is the superior film. 'Second Sight be killing my import budget.'
dir. Neil Jordan
George is a small-time crook just out of prison who discovers his tough-guy image is out of date. Reduced to working as a minder/driver for high class call girl Simone, he has to agree when she asks him to find a young colleague from her King's Cross days. That's when George's troubles just start.
Arrow Video · Limited Edition
dir. Patty Jenkins
In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.
dir. John Dahl
Rounders has been on collector wishlists for years, and the 4K ask never goes away. The Rewatchables did a live episode, steelbook people have wanted one since at least 2021, and it comes up in pretty much every "what still needs a proper release" conversation. Shot on film with dark interiors and neon-lit poker rooms, the photography would really benefit from an HDR grade. 88 Films has a limited edition Blu-ray coming in May, which is the best way to own it right now.
88 Films · Limited Edition (Blu-ray)
dir. Corneliu Porumboiu
A Romanian police officer, determined to free from prison a crooked businessman who knows where a mobster's money is hidden, must learn the difficult ancestral whistling language (Silbo Gomero) used on the island of Gomera.
Black Bear · Limited Edition
A 4K theatrical screening was announced this week and the r/criterion thread lit up. Even people who rank it lower in Lynch's filmography are in, and several are hoping this leads to a Criterion release. The Straight Story is the other Lynch title people want on disc, and Dune remains disowned.
