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Hierro (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Optimum Releasing Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (1st November 2013). |
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The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Marine biologist Maria (Elena Anaya, Mesrine: Killer Instinct, Van Helsing) is heading to the isolated island of El Hierro for a holiday with her five year-old son Diego (Kaiet Rodríguez), but whilst on the ferry the boy vanishes. The search for the boy by the local police is unsuccesful and the obvious assumption is that the child has been swept overboard. Six months later, grief-stricken Maria is called back to the island. A child's body has been discovered and it matches the description of Diego. Maria doesn't recognise the boy but the police decide to conduct a blood test. The authorities have to keep her on the remote island for three more days until a judge can come to approve the sampling of dna from the corpse. But when her sister is called home, maria is left alone on the island. Comvinced that the boy ay still be alive, she conducts her own invstigation... The atmospheric and intriguing Hierro immediately and firmly establishes director Gabe Ibàñez as one of the striking new visual talents toshake the ever-popular horror-thriller genre.
Video
Optimum Releasing released Hierro onto Blu-ray format in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The transfer is 1080p and uses an AVC MPEG-4 codec. To be honest, the transfer is overall, a little underwhelming. Although shadow details are very good throughout, and detail in general is quite strong, black levels do let the transfer down a little. Sometimes the blacks are a little soft, and then when they are as dark as they should be, they have a tendency to crush quite noticeably. Having been filmed using a Red One camera, I was a little surprised just how noisy some of the darker scenes are, sometimes to a level of distraction. Skin tones look good, but the skin itself does look slightly waxy, leading me to believe there was a little bit of digital noise reduction used here. Colours are muted and never really pop, with clarity and sharpness at lower levels than hoped. It's not a bad transfer by any stretch of the imagination, and is certainly leaps and bounds over the Optimum DVD, but I imagine improvements could certainly be made. The disc is region B locked, and the feature runs 88:42.
Audio
There are two audio options available here: - Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 - Spanish LPCM 2.0 Stereo I opted for the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and it was a pretty good effort. The film is very much one that plays on the atmosphere, and the ambient and subtle effects in the rears adds to this brilliantly. Dialogue is maintained exclusively to the front speakers, the score making full use of the surrounds to stir up tension and suspense. Although the track does come across as rather low-key at times, it suits the tone of the film down to a tee. I noticed no damage in the track at all. There were no scratches, no dropouts, and no sign of background hiss. English subtitles have been included, and they are optional.
Extras
Start-up Trailers: - "The Orphanage" (1:55) - "Time Crimes" (2:58) Theatrical Trailer (1:23, 1080p)
Overall
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