Margaret (Rebecca Hall) leads a successful and orderly life, perfectly balancing the demands of her busy career and single parenthood to her fiercely independent daughter Abbie. Everything is under control. But that careful balance is upended when an unwelcome shadow from her past, David (Tim Roth) returns, carrying with him the horrors of Margaret’s past. Battling her rising fear, Margaret must confront the monster she’s evaded for two decades who has come to conclude their unfinished business.
For in-depth thoughts on Resurrection, please see my colleague Michael Cook’s review from its Sundance debut here.
Video Quality
Resurrection debuts on Blu-Ray with a 1080p presentation in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio that represents this film perfectly. The movie itself has a natural palette teetering on cool that renders very nicely on screen. The movie often uses shadows and darkness to elevate the tension which is complemented by deep black levels that hold together firmly. As a viewer you are allowed to become more immersed in the narrative without having the illusion of the experience broken. Objects hold up great in the shadows and retain their depth with banding only showing up in extremely brief instances. The transfer provides a significant amount of detail and clarity even in the darkest moments. There is slight loss of fine detail during more active moments in the shadows, but these moments are supposed to feel a bit disorienting. No damage or digital noise was detected that ruins the transfer. RLJE has done a nice job here.
Audio Quality
The film comes to Blu-Ray with a dynamite DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that brings the complex sound design to life with precision. Dialogue and sound effects are balanced delicately with the score where nothing lacks in clarity. The movie implements creeping environmental sounds to add to the sense of disorientation to the proceedings with a very immersive atmosphere. Surround channels conjure a very precise sense of spatial awareness with sounds emanating from all of their distinct points. The low end is not consistently engaged, but it adds some notable heft to certain moments. This audio track is a standout aspect of this release. There are English SDH subtitles provided.
Special Features
There are no special features provided on this disc.
Final Thoughts
Resurrection is one of the more visceral experiences to come out of the horror genre in the past year. The film has a surprising way of conveying a sense of dread and anxiety which feels almost oppressive in its execution. Some of the narrative choices are a bit clumsy, but the career-best performance from Rebecca Hall smooths over some of the rough patches. Hall is a force of nature, and in a just world she would be winning all of the awards for her fearless turn here. RLJE Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray featuring a mighty fine A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. This one has flown more under the radar, but it is well worth a look for horror fans. Recommended
Resurrection is currently available to purchase on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: RLJE Films has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
