30 Days of Night 5/5 AQ and 4.5/5 PQ

[Blu Titan]

Apparently the movie looks and sounds amazing. I love that creepy feeling associated with a mix of snow, darkness, and vampires. It is silly, but I am so looking foward to this movie.

"The Video: Sizing Up the Picture


Sony presents '30 Days of Night' in a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode framed at the film's 2.40:1 theatrical aspect ratio. Overtly stylized, '30 Days of Night' nicely interprets the original look of the graphic novel, combining stark, desaturated visuals with vibrant splashes of red. The result is chilling, and quite effective.

Right from the get-go, this transfer exhibits a sense of detail up there with the best high-def. Fine textures are clearly visible, even in the wide shots, with an excellent sense of three-dimensionality. Though low-lit shots contain some excessive grain, the source is otherwise smooth and clean, with no obvious defects. The film's color palette is appropriately winter-like, with desaturated grays, blues, and pale browns rendered cleanly and consistently. Of course, the dominant accent is deep, dark crimson, and the contrast is splendid. Fleshtones, while not "realistic," are in keeping with the intended visual style, and look as natural as could be expected.

Unfortunately, knocking down the video rating a hair is some slight edge enhancement, which can result in thin halos on sharply contrasted areas of the picture (particularly some of the long shots of figures silhouetted against snow). Also, there is some noise evident on darker-lit shots, which can also dull out shadow delineation. Otherwise, '30 Days of Night' looks pretty terrific.


The Audio: Rating the Sound


'30 Days of Night' features very fine English and French Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround tracks (48kHz/24-bit) which are startling effective. (Also included are Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround dubs in Spanish, Portuguese and Thai, along with subtitles in all of the languages mentioned.)

Starting from the first frame of the film, you know this is not going to be a subtle mix. The ominous, chugging low bass tones of Brian Reitzell's electronic score immediately hit the subwoofer, and the rears fill up with all sorts of engaging effects and bleed. Such sonic inventiveness doesn't let up for the rest of the flick, and '30 Days of Night' is quite an aggressive treat. There is rarely a dull moment throughout the film's 113-minutes, with a highly-engaging merging of effects and score so seamlessly integrated that you can't tell which is which. Combine that with sudden bursts of "shock" effects that underpin the action without overwhelming it, and you have A-level sound design.

Tech specs are excellent as well. Dynamic range is quite expansive, with a clarity and realism that's palpable. Dialogue is perfectly balanced and strong in the mix. Low bass is again incredibly impressive, with the subwoofer almost constantly engaged, but always supporting, rather than overwhelming the track. The mix easily handles the sometimes extreme peaks and valleys of the sound design with aplomb, with the track always seeming as if its on the verge of exploding in loudness but never falling apart. Boasting one of the best mixes I've heard recently on Blu-ray, '30 Days of Night' is a five-star audio presentation."

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1262/30daysofnight.html