Don’t breathe! Don’t look back! Just run for your life when a destructive force of nature comes howling straight toward you, destroying everything in its path – when you’re running from a Twister. Academy Award winner Helen Hunt stars as Dr. Jo Thornton-Harding, who as a small girl watched her father sucked to his death from her family’s storm cellar by a massive tornado. Now a storm chaser, a scientist who risks her life to study the dark side of nature by taking her data-transmitting instruments directly into the path of a deadly storm, Jo chases the largest tornado ever to strike Oklahoma as her marriage implodes and rival scientists will stop at nothing to steal her breakthrough.

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Video Quality

The 4K UHD Blu-Ray of Twister offers an unbelievable technical presentation in almost every respect, but this release does not contain an accompanying Blu-Ray to make direct comparisons. The new 4K remastering process was overseen by director Jan de Bont, who mentions in the supplements that he finessed some of the special effects and made the sky more green when storms are brewing. While some may not appreciate the tinkering, these changes seem relatively benign and simply represent what he couldn’t achieve with the special effects and budget of the time. The depth of field is terrific as specific aspects of the background present with greater clarity than you can imagine. Skin tones and facial hair are really well defined throughout the film. The film grain remains intact and does not appear to be managed. Other digital anomalies such as compression artifacts or crush are not apparent.

This disc puts the HDR10 to good use with a constant battle with contrast. Black levels are especially strong in this presentation, revealing excellent detail even when storms are darkening the sky. The highlights are balanced with no instances of blooming to be found. The 4K UHD allows for great depth, clarity, and stability to the image. This disc allows for a vividness that has been lacking previously. The splashes of color are often extremely impressive, especially the bright red truck used throughout the film. This is an excellent transfer with impeccable detail and crispness that serves as the ideal way to watch the film at home.

Audio Quality

The 4K UHD Blu-Ray disc comes with a knockout Dolby Atmos presentation that handles the thrills incredibly well. The track offers expert-level immersion into the environment so that even the most minor elements are represented. The Atmos presentation takes full advantage of the expanded channel allotment. During any storm sequence, the channel separation is readily apparent with height channels coming alive and raining down upon you.

All of the sounds are balanced well during the numerous scenes of destruction. The scary and hard-hitting moments provide a fantastic amount of activity in the low end. Directionality of sound is never an issue with this track, and dialogue is reproduced with the utmost clarity. Speakers remain remarkably engaged throughout the film, even during the quieter moments. The film establishes an impressive room tone that makes you feel like you are right there beside the characters. The audio presentation is demo material from start to finish. Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are provided.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Director Jan de Bont and visual effects supervisor Stefen Fangmeier deliver an informative commentary track in which they discuss the production of the film, compromises they made with the studio, inspirations for certain moments, the visual effects utilized to bring the film to life, the chemistry between the performers, the creation of the score, and more.

The Legacy of Twister – Taken By The Wind: A new 16-minute conversation with Jan de Bont in which he discusses the enhancements in this new 4K UHD presentation, his excitement with making the film, the hesitation on the part of the studio, the possibilities of CGI, the location shooting, the film’s legacy, and more.

Chasing The Storm – Twister Revisited: A 29-minute featurette that takes a look back on the film including the special effects, the importance of the ensemble, the physical difficulties of the shoot, the creation of some of the most intense scenes, the debris used, the atmosphere on set, and more.

HBO First Look – The Making of Twister: A 14-minute featurette that gives yet another look at the production of the film from a preview point of view rather than a retrospective.

Anatomy of a Twister: A nine-minute featurette that takes a look at the care into portraying what these tornadoes would look like in real life.

Van Halen “Human Beings” Music Video: The nearly four-minute music video is provided.

Final Thoughts

Twister is one of the best disaster movies of all time. It hooks you with a harrowing scene from the beginning and doesn’t let you go until the pulse-pounding conclusion. Between these two points, you meet an array of lovable characters who square off against truly insane situations. Tornadoes feel as alive as any predator in an animal attack film, only the stakes feel even more overwhelming. Some of the character development is a bit flat, but this movie is so entertaining that you forgive some of the shortcomings. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has graced this one with a stellar new 4K UHD Blu-Ray with an upgraded A/V presentation and some decent special features. If you are a fan of the film, you are going to be blown away by this new presentation. Highly Recommended

Twister is currently available to purchase on 4K UHD Blu-Ray and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the 4K UHD Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment 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.