Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever (2023) 4K UHD

[McCrutchy]

Capelight Pictures released Ole Bornedal's Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever (Nattevagten - Dæmoner går i arv) (2023) on 22 August 2024.

[McCrutchy]

I watched this tonight and thought it was a very nice presentation. The film looks nice in HDR, although my copy has a slight glitch at about 6:04, where the bottom of the image shifts and macroblocking is visible. I don't see anything wrong on my disc, but this could be due to a scratch or some other fault with my copy, since Capelight's Blu-ray is unaffected. Otherwise, I see the normal gains of increased resolution and brighter highlights.

The film's opening credits have been localized from Danish into German, with the film's title card in English (OLE BORNEDALS NIGHTWATCH - DEMONS ARE FOREVER) instead of the Danish OLE BORNEDALS NATTEVAGTEN (without the subtitle) on the Arrow Blu-ray. The end titles are also localized into German, but the end credits are in Danish. There are no graphics or text screens in the body of the film, though text shown, like newspaper headlines, remains in the original Danish. I didn't find this to be an issue.

For me, where the disc shines is the audio. Both Capelight discs have a Danish: Dolby Atmos track (the film has a Dolby Atmos logo on the end credits and the Danish Blu-ray apparently has Atmos, too) and while I can't play Atmos, I can play the TrueHD 7.1 core and it sounds fantastic. There are several scenes with loud music which really kicks, enough that I had to turn the volume way down to avoid annoying my neighbors. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 on the Arrow Blu-ray didn't sound quite as good, but I have to emphasize that it was very late by the time I checked that disc and I couldn't have the music scenes on for very long. Perhaps I will make some more comparisons tomorrow. A German: Dolby Atmos dubbed audio track is also provided, along with German subtitles only.

Just to be clear, there are no English subtitles on this Capelight 4K UHD release.

The Capelight discs only have a trailer (in 1080p24) but surprisingly, it's an unsubtitled Danish trailer with DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio! A nice touch, since the trailer on the Arrow Blu-ray is a Shudder trailer with English graphics and burnt-in English subtitles. Along with some trailers for additional films, that's all the extras provided, which is strange, but then, apparently, even the Danish Blu-ray has no extras. This Capelight release has only ever been available in "Mediabook" packaging, and that includes a booklet with writing in German. My booklet actually came loose and fell out tonight, which is disappointing, regardless of the language barrier.

As for the film, this was my first time watching either Nightwatch film and I found them pretty similar, making the apparent dislike for the belated sequel in Denmark and elsewhere slightly surprising to me. It's probably more that I didn't see the 1994 film as an instant classic, though it is better in some respects, for example, being shot and finished on film instead of being shot and finished digitally, for having

[Show spoiler]Sofie Gråbøl (dearly missed, as she is the best actor in the 1994 film)

and a better role for

[Show spoiler]Ulf Pilgaard

and maybe even

[Show spoiler]Kim Bodnia

, the latter of whom steals every scene in which they appear in Demons Are Forever, but could still have had a bigger part to play. The sequel doesn't misuse it's "vintage" characters quite as poorly as The Kingdom: Exodus does (and it's exceedingly difficult not to draw comparisons between the two resurrected Danish properties) but there was a bit too much focus on the new lead, which is especially unfortunate because she's played by Bornedal's daughter and he apparently has a habit of giving her plum roles. The first film is also somewhat creepier and more disturbing, while the sequel seems to put together bits and pieces we have seen before in other, similar thrillers. Still, the newer film is slickly produced and the new characters generally aren't annoying, either, which is rare for a new horror film.

So, I thought Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever was fun enough to watch once and maybe more. If you love 4K and especially if you have Atmos capability, I would consider this Capelight 4K UHD release.