1981 on 4K UHD

dir. John Landis

S-Tier Arrow Video 4K. The jump from the old DVD to this 4K is huge. The practical transformation effects hold up really well at this resolution.

Arrow Video · Limited Edition

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

dir. John Carpenter

S-Tier from Shout Factory. There are multiple packaging options but the discs are identical across the standard edition, steelbook, and collector's edition. If you're new to this one and the black levels look crushed, that's normal. It was shot almost entirely at night on a low budget, and Carpenter himself has said that's just how it looks. The Eagle Pictures Italian release is a better-looking transfer for anyone willing to import. The steelbook art is a love-it-or-hate-it situation, some people think it looks more Mad Max than Snake Plissken.

Shout! Studios · Collector's Edition

dir. George Miller

S-Tier Warner Bros. 4K, but only the corrected second pressing (UPC 883929 789993). The first pressing shipped with wrong audio tracks. It's the same transfer used in the Mad Max Anthology and 5 Film Collection boxes, and the UK got an HMV Exclusive steelbook with matching artwork.

Warner Bros. · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Peter Hyams

On the sunless moon Io, Marshall William T. O’Niel goes toe-to-toe with the corrupt manager of a mining colony and his gang of roughnecks while investigating a rash of worker suicides.

Arrow Video · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Steven Spielberg

S-Tier Paramount 4K. Spielberg's adventure masterpiece. The individual steelbook with the original title and poster art is much better-looking than the box set artwork. All five Indy films are considered reference-quality discs. The steelbook art debate between the individual releases and the Best Buy set was heated.

Paramount Pictures · Steelbook (4K + Blu-ray)

dir. David Cronenberg

Second Sight's 4K trilogy box has some of the best cover art in the boutique space. Only the first film is actually in 4K, which caught some buyers off guard. The original Scanners remains a Cronenberg essential and Second Sight's limited edition treatment gives it the packaging it deserves. Videodrome in 4K from Criterion is the companion disc most collectors pair it with.

Second Sight Films · Limited Edition

dir. Tony Maylam

A caretaker at a summer camp is burned when a prank goes tragically wrong. After several years of intensive treatment at hospital, he is released back into society, albeit missing some social skills. What follows is a bloody killing spree with the caretaker making his way back to his old stomping ground to confront one of the youths that accidentally burned him.

Scream Factory · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Joe Dante

S-Tier Scream Factory Collector's Edition 4K built on StudioCanal's 2021 restoration with Dolby Vision. Rob Bottin's practical werewolf transformation is the reason you own this disc in 4K, and the set has three commentary tracks plus vintage making-ofs across both discs.

Scream Factory · Collector's Edition

dir. Ivan Passer

Radiance Films S-Tier 4K. One of the best neo-noirs of the 80s and Radiance gave it an incredible presentation. If you like slow-burn character studies with gorgeous cinematography, you already know if you want this.

Radiance Films · Limited Edition

dir. Gary Sherman

S-Tier Blue Underground 4K. An underseen 1981 horror film. Blue Underground has been giving these deep cuts proper 4K treatment.

Blue Underground · Limited Edition

dir. John Boorman

A VHS-to-4K comparison post made the rounds and the transfer quality gap is staggering. The comments turned into a meditation on how 4K is the last physical format and we lucked out that it's the best one.

Arrow Video · Limited Edition

dir. Bill Forsyth

S-Tier BFI 4K. Bill Forsyth's Scottish coming-of-age comedy. BFI treats their Scottish catalog well.

BFI · 4K + Blu-ray (United Kingdom)

dir. Gerald Potterton, John Bruno

S-Tier Sony 4K. The animated anthology. The animation styles vary wildly and the HDR helps the more colorful segments.

Sony Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Abel Ferrara

After being attacked and raped twice in one day, a timid, mute seamstress becomes a violent agent of revenge for wronged women.

Arrow Video · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Ivan Reitman

Sony S-Tier 4K. Bill Murray joins the Army. The standalone steelbook is the first 4K release outside the Columbia Classics box set, and Sony's steelbooks in this tier tend to drop to around $21 USD within six months. If you can wait, the price will come down.

Sony Pictures · Steelbook (4K + Blu-ray)

dir. Claude Miller

Radiance's first Claude Miller release on 4K, restored from original elements. Miller's interrogation thriller is tightly wound and the restoration should give the grain-heavy interiors real texture.

Radiance Films · The Inquisitor + Deadly Circuit: Limited Edition (UHD/Blu-ray)

dir. Walter Hill

A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Without live ammunition and in a strange country, their experience begins to mirror the Vietnam experience.

dir. Lucio Fulci

A young woman inherits an old hotel in Louisiana where, following a series of supernatural "accidents", she learns that the building was built over one of the entrances to Hell.

dir. Andrea Bianchi

A cursed country estate is besieged by horny houseguests, undead Etruscans, and the unusual relationship between a mother and her young son.

dir. Sam Raimi

The Lionsgate 4K is out of print individually but still available in the Groovy Collection box with Evil Dead II and Ash vs Evil Dead. The standalone steelbook runs $40 USD on eBay if you can find one with a slip. Most people are telling newcomers to grab the box while it lasts since that's the cheapest path to both films in 4K.

Lionsgate · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Tobe Hooper

Rebellious teen Amy defies her parents by going to a trashy carnival that has pulled into town. In tow are her boyfriend, Buzz, and their friends Liz and Richie. Thinking it would be fun to spend the night in the campy "Funhouse" horror ride, the teens witness a murder by a deformed worker wearing a mask. Locked in, Amy and her friends must evade the murderous carnival workers and escape before it leaves town the next day.

Scream Factory · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Lucio Fulci

After a doctor kills his mistress and himself while researching the mysterious previous owner of his Boston home, his colleague, Dr. Norman Boyle, takes over his studies and moves his family into the Boston mansion. Soon after, Boyle's young son Bob becomes plagued by visions of a young girl, who warns him of the danger within the house.

Blue Underground · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Michael Mann

Arrow's UK Limited Edition is the one to get. Both Arrow and Criterion hit 4K in 2025, but Arrow's FiM encode has better highlight detail and the LE includes the theatrical cut Blu-ray. Criterion is the easier US pickup if importing isn't worth it.

Arrow Video · 4K + Blu-ray (Limited Edition)

dir. Joe D'Amato

A priest-doctor chasing a man with supernatural regenerative abilities, who has recently escaped from a medical lab, reaches a small town where the mutant goes on a killing spree.

dir. William Asher

Rejected by her lover, the only man left in Cheryl's life is the orphaned nephew she has raised as her own son. She'll stop at nothing to keep Billy with her. When her plans misfire, she is swept up into an insane frenzy that means death to anyone who comes between her and her obsession. But the investigating detective is convinced that Billy is the real killer - and determined to prove it. Madness and fanaticism work together to drag all concerned into a terrifying vortex of blood-letting that adds a nightmarish twist to the classic Oedipus story.

dir. Matthew Robbins

A-Tier Paramount 4K. The dragon effects are still effective and the matte paintings have a tactile quality that CGI has never matched. A practical effects showcase.

Paramount Pictures · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Joe Giannone

A-Tier Vinegar Syndrome 4K. The 1981 slasher, not to be confused with Madman Films the Australian distributor. Vinegar Syndrome gave it a proper release. Most of the signal around "Madman" in collector subs actually refers to the Madman Films Kurosawa box set, not this horror film.

Vinegar Syndrome · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Andrzej Żuławski

A-Tier Second Sight Films 4K. Zulawski's 1981 horror with Isabelle Adjani. The Second Sight limited edition sold out at OrbitDVD within hours. There are questions about the quality of different 4K transfers, since the French version had poor gamma and an extreme blue push. Second Sight's version and the Umbrella release are the ones collectors are weighing.

Second Sight Films · Limited Edition

dir. Terry Gilliam

Young history buff Kevin can scarcely believe it when six dwarfs emerge from his closet one night. Former employees of the Supreme Being, they've purloined a map charting all of the holes in the fabric of time and are using it to steal treasures from different historical eras. Taking Kevin with them, they variously drop in on Napoleon, Robin Hood and King Agamemnon before the Supreme Being catches up with them.

Arrow Video · Limited Edition

dir. Byron Quisenberry

Dark Force #1, the label's first 4K release in June 2023. Byron Quisenberry's 1981 SCREAM, also released as The Outing, predates the Wes Craven film by 15 years. 4K UHD only with no Blu-ray included, restored from the original 16mm camera negative. Sold out.

Dark Force Entertainment · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Piers Haggard

International terrorists attempt to kidnap a wealthy couple's child. Their plan comes unstuck, however, when a deadly Black Mamba, sent by mistake instead of a harmless snake, escapes and terrorizes both them and their hostages.

dir. Jimmy Huston

Dark Force shipped Final Exam in March 2023 with a glossy bloody slipcover. Jimmy Huston's 1981 college slasher set during exam week, more interested in dragging out the pre-kill silences than the gore most slashers chased. The 4K UHD plus standard Blu-ray combo is the only HD release of any quality.

Dark Force Entertainment · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix

C-Tier StudioCanal 4K. Jean-Jacques Beineix's French thriller. A cult film with a devoted following.

StudioCanal · 4K + Blu-ray (United Kingdom)

dir. Rick Rosenthal

C-Tier Shout Factory 4K. The hospital sequel. Same transfer debate as the first Halloween.

Shout! Studios · Collector's Edition

dir. Romano Scavolini

A drug-treated schizophrenic plagued by horrible nightmares is released from the hospital and goes on a killing spree.

dir. James L. Conway

Otherworldly creatures inhabit the bootlegging tunnels underneath a small town mining community, and they kill any of the townsfolk who invade their home.

Kino Lorber · 4K + Blu-ray

dir. Lawrence Kasdan

Criterion's May 19 2026 4K is a new Carol Littleton-supervised restoration approved by Kasdan, with Dolby Vision, a new Kasdan interview, and the archival Hurt and Turner features. Amazon has the pre-order at $34.99 USD, thirty percent off the $49.95 USD list.

Criterion Collection · 4K + Blu-ray Special Edition

dir. Uli Edel

This movie portrays the drug scene in Berlin in the 70s, following tape recordings of Christiane F. 14 years old Christiane lives with her mother and little sister in a typical multi-storey apartment building in Berlin. She's fascinated by the 'Sound', a new disco with most modern equipment. Although she's legally too young, she asks a friend to take her. There she meets Detlef, who's in a clique where everybody's on drugs. Step by step she gets drawn deeper into the scene.

dir. Kuei Chih-Hung

A necrophiliac killer is murdering the prostitutes at Madame Lan's brothel.

dir. Frank De Felitta

Bubba, an intellectually disabled man, is falsely accused of attacking a young girl. Disguised as a scarecrow, he hides in a cornfield, only to be hunted down and shot by four vigilante men. After they are acquitted due to lack of evidence, the men find themselves being stalked one by one.

dir. Wes Craven

Kino Lorber 4K of the 1981 Wes Craven with a young Sharon Stone. Some collectors spent more time correcting marketing copy that buried Maren Jensen and Ernest Borgnine in favor of Stone's name than discussing the disc itself, but the buy intent is real.

Kino Lorber · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Menahem Golan

A newly trained ninja warrior journeys to the Philippines, where he must defend his former war comrade's property against a determined adversary.

dir. Steve Miner

Five years after the horrible bloodbath at Camp Crystal Lake, new counselors roam the area, not sensing the ominous lurking presence that proves that the grisly legend is real.

dir. Bruce D. Clark

As a lone spaceship proceeds on its long voyage across space, the crew are surprised to encounter a strange pyramid form. Surprise turns to horror as one by one, they discover that their darkest nightmares are all starting to become real. The pyramid has to be behind it all somehow, but how can they save themselves from its influence?

Scream Factory · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Boaz Davidson

When Susan was a little girl, she rejected the Valentine of a lovestruck classmate. Decades later, she’s come to the hospital for a routine medical examination, and finds herself trapped in a bizarre nightmare, made all the worse as her vengeful childhood valentine, disguised among the hospital staff, begins murdering everyone in his path as a means of proving his undying ‘romantic’ obsession…

dir. Jeff Lieberman

In the Oregon mountains, a pair of hunters encounter a machete-wielding killer in an abandoned church. Meanwhile, five campers arrive to examine some property one of them has inherited but are warned by the forest ranger not to venture forth. Soon after they set up camp, they begin hearing strange noises, encounter a mysterious singing girl and start disappearing one by one.

Synapse Films · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Moustapha Akkad

Resistance leader Omar Mukhtar opposes Italian colonization before World War II. The brutal guerrilla war against Italian General Rodolfo Graziani and the Fascist forces of Benito Mussolini highlights the struggle for Libyan independence and the harsh tactics utilised by the colonisers.

dir. Paul Grau

A man seeks revenge after a biker gang murders his loved ones.

dir. Richard Franklin

A truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer in a van who lures young female hitchhiker victims on a desolate Australian highway.

Kino Lorber · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Michael Laughlin

When the teenagers in a small Illinois town start getting murdered, the police chief makes a connection to the mysterious scientific experiments being done at the local university and must stop them before his own son is dragged into the deadly scheme.

dir. Mickey Rose, Michael Ritchie

This zany send-up of teen slasher flicks features a maniacal psycho known as the Breather, who stalks –and murders– promiscuous students at a suburban high school. The fanatical killer's unusual weapons include paper clips, blackboard erasers and eggplants.

Terrorvision · Limited Edition

dir. Go Yeong-nam

A wife starts to suspect her husband's infidelity after the arrival of their new, young housekeeper, who carries a mysterious wooden doll with herself.

dir. Jean Rollin

On the run from an asylum for the insane, two girls embark on a surreal journey with a group of traveling erotic dancers.

Powerhouse Films · 4K Ultra HD

dir. Armand Weston

A New York writer of gothic fiction finds her mansion full of ghosts from a brothel massacre.

dir. David Hemmings

When a 747 crashes shortly after take-off, the sole survivor is the pilot. Virtually unhurt, he and the investigators look for the answers to the disaster. Meanwhile mysterious deaths occur in the community and only a psychic, in touch with the supernatural, can help the pilot unravel the mystery surrounding the doomed plane.

dir. Gérard Kikoïne, Radley Metzger

The call girl Betty sends her housewife client Tiffany to Florence Nightingale, a radio show host who lets listeners of all genders make suggestions and then live out their dreams on stage right in front of her live audience. Tiffany later peeps on her husband's own cheating.