DVD/BDExotica

Years ago, all of Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan's films got nice, special edition DVDs with commentaries and stuff. Even his rare, early films were packaged as part of The Essential Egoyan series and given a larger audience than they'd ever had before. The exception being Exotica (and I guess The Adjuster, too; but that's a post for another day), as it wound up being picked up by Miramax just as Egoyan was beginning to take off with international audiences... So it couldn't be included with the rest of his back catalog, but also wasn't a big enough hit like Sweet Hereafter and Felecia's Journey to get a special edition on its own rights. So we just had this generic, barebones release, with a photo of some lady who wasn't even in the movie on the cover, making it look like a softcore porn. And to this day, in the United States, that's still the best we've got.
Update 12/30/14 - 5/8/17: Less of an update and more of a complete article overhaul.  This was one my early posts, where I hadn't quite gotten into the swing of things.  And my Exotica article's gotta be up to snuff on DVDExotica, right?  So I'm replacing .jpg screenshots with .pngs, adding the original Miramax DVD and doing a little basic rewriting.

Update 2/24/20: Again, this being DVDExotica, I feel uniquely obligated to make this page as relevant as possible. And seeing as how there's two competing blu-rays for this title in the world, I couldn't leave this page sitting without both of them.  So here we go, the 2014 UK from Artificial Eye's Atom Egoyan Collection boxed set is now in the mix.

Update 9/26/22: Nominative determinism dictates that I update this post with Criterion's new 4k BD restoration of Exotica.  Plus, I really wanted to.
Like many of Egoyan's films, Exotica plays with the conventions of story structure, often showing scenes out of chronology, and cutting to different characters narratives without letting us know how they're going to link up. His films become mysteries, but not of the traditional whodunit murder variety. You're just pulled into slowly learning why these characters are behaving as they are and what moment they're heading to. Getting into the plot at all, then, feels pretty spoilerish, so I'll just set up the terrific cast of characters. Bruce Greenwood is an accountant who spends his days at an artsy strip club called Exotica, owned by a lovelorn Elias Koteas and Mia Kirshner, Egoyan's wife who's in every one of his films. Writer/ director Don McKellar plays a pet shop owner illegally smuggling exotic eggs into the country, and Sarah Polley comes in as a babysitter very similar to her character in Sweet Hereafter. Finally, Mia Kirshner stars as a dancer who performs as a schoolgirl in honor of a tragic secret they all share.
You don't hear much about it, but the film was finally able to be wrested away from Miramax's iron grasp for blu-rays first in Canada (Alliance Films, 2012) and then the UK (2013, then repackaged as part of Artificial Eye's The Atom Egoyan Collection in 2014). As Exotica is possibly my favorite Egoyan film (it's a tough call), the Canadian blu was a Day One pick-up for me. And to this day, there still has been barely any reviews or coverage of this disc, so that plus - you know; look at the name of the site we're on - put it on the short list to review here.  This is a combo pack, so we've got a DVD and blu to look at here, plus the original Miramax DVD from 1999.  And now, it's finally making its US HD debut thanks to Criterion, who've made a new 4k restoration, plus some new special features.
1) 1999 Miramax DVD; 2) 2012 Alliance DVD;
3) 2012 Alliance BD; 4) 2014 AE BD; 5) 2022 Criterion BD.


Woof at the Miramax DVD being non-anamorphic, but then again it is pretty ancient.  Also, look how wildly different the framing is.  I mean, yeah the Miramax is 1.85:1 (despite the case claiming 1.66:1) and the old blu-rays are 1.78:1, but the vertical shift is so far off.  Clearly, there are two film technicians in the world who strongly disagree with each other.  Alliance has Egoyan's signature of being director approved, but then so does Criterion (he's also credited as a supervisor along with DoP Paul Sarossy), and you can see that one's quite different, too. The colors on the DVD look way too purple, edge enhancement is visible and it's pretty soft and muddy even for standard def.  Compare that to foreign blus, which already look a lot better.  Grain is a little soft and the contrast is definitely on the flat side.  Oh and the brights flare out a little bit at times (look at the note over McKellar's shoulder above); but these are still huge, huge upgrades compared to the old DVD.
2014 AE BD inside; 2022 Criterion BD outside.
Criterion's transfer is back to 1.85:1, but as you can see, some shots are considerably reframed.  The above shot pulls back to reveal so much more, even though the previous shot of them in the car does not, that I kept thinking I was looking at the wrong frame.  And now, scanned in 4k from the OCN, Exotica looks so much more beautiful.  The brights no longer flare out, the encode is strong and specific, restoring its filmic look and replacing fuzziness with genuine grain.  Plus, the picture itself has been widened a bit, which does look more natural.  The image really draws you in much more than even the old blus could, and all the little detail really pops.

Every release features the stereo track, but the Alliance blu also includes a French dub (with both tracks in DTS-HD), as well as French and English subtitles.  And here's where Artificial Eye really comes up short, with no subtitles and worse yet: just the English stereo track in lossy Dolby Digital (despite promising LPCM on the case).  It's back to DTS-HD on the Criterion, and we get optional English subs again, too.
In terms of extras, the old Miramax DVD has absolutely nothing, but the two import blus each have one big, and unique, feature. The Artificial Eye disc has a 54 minute documentary entitled Formulas for Seduction: The Cinema of Atom Egoyan, which is pretty good though it's more a vague coverage of Egoyan's film career rather than being very Exotica-specific. It honestly could've been placed on any disc in the boxed set and just happens to have settled on this one. And it has been released before, on the US and Canadian DVD releases of Calendar. So there's a good chance you already own it. The Alliance disc, on the other hand, has an audio commentary with Egoyan and composer Mychael Danna. It's a good commentary but very soundtrack focused. Seriously, it's not a director's commentary with the composer occasionally chiming in about the score; they're both there to talk primarily about the music. Maybe not 100% of the time, but a great deal of it. I'd rate this commentary as excellent, but it really feels like it should be paired with a second commentary track with Egoyan talking about the rest of the film. As it is, you're left feeling like, "that's all?" Especially since it's the only feature for the work of a filmmaker we're used to having great extras for.  But nope, not even a trailer more.
There's still no trailer on the Criterion, but that's okay, because they've given us plenty of other treats.  First of all, they retain the Alliance commentary, so that's nice.  They also include a great new on-camera conversation between Egoyan and Sarah Polley (wait 'till you hear what the original conception of this film was!).  And there's an audio commentary of a film festival Q&A with Egoyan, Greenwood and a few others, which is quite good.  Often those festival press junkets just consist of insipid softball questions like, "in this film, your character dates a very handsome man.  Do you find your co-star as handsome as we do?"  But here it's all good questions and insightful answers.  Don't skip it.

And they give us several other Egoyan films: the feature-length Calendar and three short films: Peepshow, En Passant and Artaud Double Bill.  The first three are all already covered on my Atom Egoyan Collection page, which I've updated to include these new transfers.  But in brief, if you don't feel like clicking over, En Passant is a slight improvement in PQ, Calendar is a slight step backwards (and the audio is still lossy) and Peepshow is virtually indistinguishable from the previous discs.  Egoyan also gives us a new little interview about Calendar, which is nice if you don't have the more robust special features the DVD came with. 
The last short is making its home video debut here: Artaud Double Bill.  It's very brief, clocking in at three and a half minutes, originally commissioned as part of a larger anthology for the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.  It's about two friends who plan to go see Godard’s Vivre sa vie, but one of them decides to go see The Adjuster instead.  So they text each other from their respective screenings, and then the credits roll.  It's a bit shocking a film festival would endorse being on your phone in a movie theater, but you can see how mixing the forms of media (one of the girls films a bit of her movie to show the other girl what she's missing) would appeal to Egoyan all his early films.  So, you know, it's nothing amazing, but nice to help flesh out our Egoyan collections that much further.

Criterion's release also includes a fold-out insert with notes by Jason Wood of the BFI, who co-directed Formulas of Seduction.
Previously, I concluded this post by saying, "I wouldn't mind Criterion or somebody rolling up and blowing all of these options out of the water with a new, revelatory 4k scan and perhaps even more importantly at this stage, a heap of new extras."  And they pretty much have.  I do feel like they only came up with a couple new extras, and are trying to cover up that fact by throwing in Calendar, which really deserves its own separate, proper release.  I was hoping for a second, more comprehensive commentary, and interviews with more of the cast and crew.  But I can't be mad at what we've got.  This is a decidedly superior edition of Exotica, and we did get a couple nice, new bonuses.  Thanks, Criterion!

Poltergeist, from Laserdisc to 4k Ultra HD

Why, why, why? I don't know why. Why is the laserdisc still the only Poltergeist edition with extras actually about the movie? I mean, I kinda get why, despite it being one of the most famous and beloved horror films, and classic all-American blockbusters, Steven Speilberg and Tobe Hooper haven't wanted to jump on record and dish about "who really directed the movie." And why the terrible, untimely loss of Heather O'Rourke (who died during the filming of Poltergeist III) could make these films a touchy subject. But why, even when this film gets released and reissued again and again, including fancy anniversary editions and blu-ray digibooks, can't they even include the extras already created and released on the laserdisc? Sure, cast reunions and commentaries would be amazing; but if they can't be bothered to make those, what at least about the content that's already sitting right there.

Update 4/17/15 - 9/21/22: Hey! The laserdisc no longer is the only Poltergeist edition with extras actually about the movie, thanks to Warner Bros' brand new UHD release.  Plus, it's an all new 4k restoration, which is the even bigger deal.
I shouldn't have to tell very many of you that Poltergeist is one of the biggest and still one of the greatest haunted house films of all times. It's surprising how well it holds up, too. Everything still works about it, from the scares to the laughs to the performances to the score. One or two of the special effects may look a little dated now, but being such a big budget Speilberg production, most of it looks as lavish and impressive as ever. And Speilberg schmaltz doesn't even spoil the horror... Believe me, Speilberg's name can make me wince as much as any of you out there. I hate that scene in Jurassic Park where the little boy tries to climb the giant electrified fence designed to hold Tyrannosaurus Rexes out, and winds up smoking with black powder on his face and Alfa-Alfa hair sticking straight up. And this movie has a couple of little kid lead characters, but it stands up to adult scrutiny. In fact, I think the balance here is even stronger than on Gremlins. Really, if you haven't seen this movie in a few decades, go back and revisit it.
Unless you're completely blind to the value of special features, MGM's 1994 laserdisc retained its essential status throughout the SD and HD age by virtue of it being the most loaded special edition of this great movie. And it's not that loaded. The newer releases just kept falling short. MGM put out the the original 1997 DVD, which Warner Bros reissued in 2000. Both discs were flippers, with anamorphic widescreen on one side and fullscreen on the other, but also barebones apart from the trailer.  Warner Bros took another crack at it in 2007, ditching the old fullscreen transfer and replacing it with extras!  ...Just, not about the actual film (we'll come back to that).  Soon after, in 2008, it was released as a 25th Anniversary blu-ray, and that blu was subsequently reissued in more generic packaging for the 2010 blu we've got here.  But this week, we just got a another major upgrade, with a fresh 4k restoration on BD and UHD, and all the legacy extras, including the laserdisc's.
1) MGM 1994 LD; 2) Warner Bros 2000 DVD; 3) Warner Bros 2010 BD;
4) Warner Bros 2022 BD; 5) Warner Bros 2022 UHD.

Okay, the framing isn't quite 2.35:1 on any of the discs... it's more like 2.30:1 on the laser, 2.38:1 on the DVD/ 2.40:1 on first blu and 2.39:1 on the 2022 discs (yes, the 2022 BD is a new disc with the 4k restoration). So the DVD and old blu add more info to the sides compared to the slightly crimped laserdisc, and surprisingly the 2022s shave a bit off the left again.  That's not just the difference between the 2.39 and 2.40, the new image is a pinch wider, which I'll just trust Warner Bros is the most correct.  Because their new restoration is the best in all other regards.

The LD originally struck me as a little overly bright compared to the DVD.  Like I've said before, I can only capture laserdisc screenshots through an analog translation. You've got to give my laserdisc shots like a 5-10% benefit of the doubt in terms of image quality, especially gamma levels. Overall, the DVD is preferable to the laser, but it's not a real "must upgrade" situation. And that same comparison could almost be made for the first blu-ray to the DVD, though it's a bit of a longer step forward. Getting the film in HD really does crisp and clean things up a nice bit. Still, it's nice to see a laserdisc stack up alongside a more modern release, especially considering this was a pricey CAV set.

Oh, what's the difference between a CAV and CLV laserdisc? Well, CAV is a higher quality transfer where each frame is defined. You could use a frame skip on your remote and step through the entire film frame by frame, whereas on a cheaper CLV disc, they were more blended together like a VHS tape. The downside of CAV though - why it was more expensive and why every release wasn't CAV - is that it filled up more space on the physical disc. So, in the case of Poltergeist here, the film is spread out over five sides of three discs. Most CLV movies crammed the whole thing on two sides of a single disc. Sometimes a special edition would have a the bulk of the movie as CLV but the final side of the last disc in CAV, just because they had the room to spare. It's just a little edge the laserdisc format could have over video, but watching the movie play normally on your TV, you wouldn't really notice the difference.
Oh, and I said that this DVD edition is a flipper, right? Yeah, so here's a look at that full-frame transfer. It's not open matte, it's totally cropped and really not a version worth preserving. Curiosity value only.

But the new UHD really is impressive.  The old editions weren't problematic, so there aren't any huge fixes, but seeing this fine film grain perfectly rendered to the last speck is the sort of thing we needed this new format before.  And the new colors really are impressive.  In these screenshots, you'll notice a more naturalistic (and warmer) look, that really makes early scenes come alive.  And then when the supernatural ILM stuff breaks out, it's a really beautiful light show.  In fact, this release is covered with warnings for photosensitive viewers, including that big yellow sticker you can see on the slipcover above, and a dedicated insert inside.

All of these release feature Dolby surround audio, even the laserdisc.  The DVD gives us a 5.1 mix, plus French and Spanish dubs with English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The early blu-rays expanded that to a whole range of options, including lossy stereo and 5.1 mixes, a lossless TrueHD 5.1, and a whole host of foreign dubs and the full range of 17 subtitles, yes including English.  And the 2022 just tightens that up a little, giving us the 2.0 and 5.1 in lossless DTS-HD now, plus many foreign dubs and the same pile of subtitles.  So it is the best option now, finally giving us the lossless stereo track in addition to the 5.1.
And then of course there's the extras.  The laserdisc had the trailer and a stills gallery, which already puts it in first place compared to all the DVDs and BDs before 2022. But crucially, it's also got a nice little featurette called The Making of Poltergeist. Now I don't want to oversell it; it's not an amazing, in-depth documentary. It's only about 8 minutes long, but it does have some nice behind the scenes footage and interviews with Speilberg, producer Frank Marshall and star Craig T. Nelson. We do get a look at some of the really ambitious effects and huge pieces of construction behind them. And the doc's of more value simply by virtue of it being the only behind-the-scenes look at this film we've ever gotten, which is tragic.

Starting with the 2007 DVD, though, there was that unrelated extra I mentioned.  It's a corn ball, roughly half hour featurette about "real life" poltergeists.  I've watched it, and it's got nothing whatsoever to do with the movie Poltergeist, and it's pretty dopey.  And no, the 2022 release hasn't come up with any new features, but it has finally brought back The Making of Poltergeist, so we can finally stop dragging our old lasers around.  They've also included the trailer and that cornball featurette on real ghosts, making it the definitive extras package.  That's still not all that much, but it's progress.  It also comes in a shiny slipcover.
So yes, Poltergeist. Great movie, major piece of American cinema, and it's finally got a worthy edition.  Not really a special edition, but as Shudder would say, it is "cursed," so I think we've really gotten all we could ask for here: a high quality one that I have for once have no complaints about.  Warner Bros has done it justice.

Here's To the Future Cult of Come True

It's pretty rare when a modern horror film exceeds "fine but nothing special" or "interesting failure" status for me, let alone the "god awful dreck" that currently floods most of our streaming services.  So when something noteworthy comes along, you've gotta stop and give them their due, right?  Well, that's what I'm doing with 2020's Come True, a sci-fi/ horror indie from Canada.
It's the story of a troubled young woman plagued by nightmares of creepy shadowy figures in a dark, surreal world.  She signs up for a sleep study where the researchers can monitor their subjects' dreams.  And it turns out everybody is somehow seeing these same beings.I wasn't expecting too much, since writer/ director Anthony Scott Burns' first film sucked (but he didn't write that one), and the only other thing you may've seen is that he contributed a middle-of-the-road sequence to the very mixed bag anthology Holidays (he did Father's Day).  Come True, now, is broken into four Jungian chapters, which are a key to understanding this world of the collective unconscious.  It might be giving this film too much credit to call it Lynchian, but Come True is ambitious, dreamlike (I mean beyond the subject matter), beautifully shot and creatively art directed.  The music, also by the Burns, sounds funky and futuristic in the way Tangerine Dream soundtracks used to.  There's a throw-back, low tech theme, where the scientists are viewing the dreams on 80s CRT monitors and watching Night Of the Living Dead at the local cinematheque.  One gets the sense that they've decided to own their shortcomings and incorporate their limitations into intentional design choices, but hey, it works.
It's pretty great, but it's certainly not flawless.  All the dream sequences follow a direct railroaded path, like they were created in a program that they didn't pay to unlock the non-freeware features, which would've let them swing the camera around.  More crucially, it has a ending I'd call divisive, except the majority of viewers seem united in hating it.  Look at the (high) critical rating verses (low) audience score on Rotten Tomatoes for an idea.  I'm not going to spoil anything, but I would just recommend going in with zero expectations for satisfying explanations or clear resolutions, so you can just enjoy the ride without any disappointments.  I personally don't hate the ending - though I don't love it either - but this is a movie like Lost Highway or Mulholland Dr. in the sense that we're left to puzzle out what just happened, but with an extra middle finger of a final denouement, where it really feels like the filmmakers are taking delight in antagonizing conventional audiences.  If nothing else, the screenwriter is a little too online.  But if you can handle that, you're in for a real treat.
Scream Factory released essentially barebones discs of Come True on DVD and Blu-ray back in November as part of their IFC Midnight line.  But by that time it had already been out for some months in Canada, from its production company's distributor line Raven Banner, as a slightly fancier 2-disc special edition.  It's not exactly fully-loaded with extras, but for devotees, especially those on the hunt for additional clues, it's pretty essential.  And since I already had the RB blu, I just picked up the SF DVD for a cheap comparison, because the transfer's not really the issues.  It's a new film shot on digital, it's going to look basically the same everywhere.  But, still, let's take a look.
2021 Scream Factory DVD top; 2021 Raven Banner BD bottom.
So, okay, maybe there is one pertinent (albeit very minor) distinction between the two releases.  Obviously, Raven Banner's (I keep wanting to write "Raven's Banner") blu-ray is in HD and therefor noticeably sharper with cleaner edges and more legible detail.  But presumably, the Scream Factory BD would be the same.  The comparison reveals exactly what you'd expect; one isn't even a shade brighter than the other or anything.  BUT.  The aspect ratio is off.  Scream's DVD is 2.33:1 and Raven Banner's BD is the correct 2.39:1.  Nothing's cropped out; the Scream Factory DVD is just stretched a smidgen tall.  That begs the question: is the Scream Factory blu stretched, too?  So I visited blu-ray.com's review, cropped and measured one of their screenshots and nope, SF's blu is also 2.39.  It's just the DVD that's 2.33.  As we'll see, there are reasons to choose RB's blu over SF's, but the transfer isn't one of them.
The audio isn't really either, unless you're visually impaired.  All three discs feature the original 5.1 track - in lossless DTS-HD on both blus - with optional English and Spanish subtitles.  Scream Factory adds an extra stereo mix (also in DTS-HD on the blu), and RB adds an extra lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital. I don't know what the point of any of those second audio tracks is, but they're there.  But Scream has also added a third audio descriptive track, which again, visually impaired fans might actually find useful.  And even if you're 20/20, it's kind of interesting to watch the dream sequences with that track on:

"Darkness fades.  A rocky tunnel is revealed.  A passageway looms at the end of the tunnel.  Finger-like rocks surround the passage.  Through the passageway, in an upside-down university hallway, a human silhouette stands.  The figure morphs into a blob.  Another upside-down figure stands behind it.  Past the figure is a hole.  Through the hole, a school desk and chair sit in the center of a dark space.  Past the desk, an orifice gapes on the wall.  A human silhouette stands through the orifice.  Fade to black."
But here's where the the paths really split.  Scream Factory's disc is basically barebones.  It has the trailer, a couple bonus trailers, and comes in a slipcover.  That's it.

Raven Banner, though, has real special features.  First of all, yes, it also has the trailer, bonus trailers and comes in a slipcover.  So no ground is lost.  But then this version also includes a behind-the-scenes 'making of' featurette, which is short, but provides a little welcome insight into the production.  I wish it was longer.  And more importantly, there's a solid fifteen minutes of deleted scenes with backstory and more wild horror moments, which answer a lot of questions viewers will have had, while raising just as many new ones.  When I first watched this film, I dug pretty deep into the online discussions and debates over this film (which says a lot about the strengths of Come True, because that's something I'll rarely do), and the things found here disprove some popular theories, support others and suggest very interesting alternate possibilities.  I think you'll come away with a better understanding of the film, but still be left with a lot to ponder.  Oh, and if you need even more value for your import dollar, Raven Banner also includes the soundtrack CD with their release.
So Come True is not for everybody.  I mean, a quick scan of letterboxd, IMDB or Google reviews shows a lot of people are super mad at it.  But if that sounds like more of an invitation than a warning to you, than I think you're going to dig this.  Again, putting this on par with David Lynch would be getting carried away, but Lost Highway is a good barometer.  Whether you loved or hated the enigma of that film should directly sync up with how you take the one here.  And I bet, a few decades down the road, this will wind up getting championed as a cult film.  So why not get ahead of the curve?  And even if you do wind up hating it, at least it'll be an interesting failure.

A Second Look At the VVitch

So here's a re-release that's come around the bend pretty fast: 2015's The VVitchThe VVitch is a very stylish, somewhat mainstream horror film that came out on DVD and blu-ray in 2016.  4k Ultra HD discs were the brand new thing at the time, and we all said this should've come out on UHD.  It was a new release from a major studio (Lions Gate) with a heavy emphasis on its look and atmosphere - perfect for UHD.  But no, just the DVD and BD.  But I guess enough of us kvetched about it that LG has brought it back to stores as one of their attractively-priced horror UHDs, in line with Halloween, American Psycho and Evil Dead 1 & 2.  This definitely would've been the sweet way to go in 2016, but since we were all forced to grumble and buy the BD then, is it worth double-dipping already now?

Update 5/15/19 - 9/17/22: Updating a UHD?  Well, when the filmmakers want to take another crack at the HDR grade, and the publisher is prepared to put together a suite of compelling new special features, it doesn't sound unreasonable.  So today we'll look at their limited edition, BD/ UHD combo-pack, with a single disc release scheduled for release this October.
The VVitch (double v's to tip us off to the film's old English trappings) is an immediately impressive horror film: an atmospheric slow burn.  Subtitled on-screen as A New England Folk-Tale, the film follows a family of early American settlers who separate from their puritan community and attempt to make their way on their own.  And almost immediately they are set upon by a seemingly endless succession of signs and effects of witchcraft.  It's a real potpourri of classic early American folklore and earnest reports of witches out of New England history.  This gives us a wonderful combination of authenticity - helped immensely by the cast and production design's ability to capture the period - and an entertaining kind of hellzapoppin' madness where anything can happen next and you never know what's around the next corner.  And despite centering around a nuclear family, The VVitch isn't precious about keeping the unit whole or elevating children and animals out of harm's way.  It's a rare horror film where you genuinely don't know who, if anyone, will be alive by the end of the film.  And yet the characters are flush enough that it winds up satisfying on a dramatic level as well.
1) 2016 LG DVD; 2) 2016 LG BD; 3) 2019 LG UHD.
The VVitch is a dark film, where you'll be struggling to make out imagery in the low contrast, candlelit footage from start to finish.  And the naturally subtle, darker tones of HDR actually increases that.  But when you do lean forward and really peer into the darkness, you can see there actually is more detail to be deciphered in those patches.  But we're really talking about subtle shades of gray here, and I'm not saying that just because this film is by its nature hugely under-saturated.  The colors generally are a little richer when you can make them out, like the mother's green shirt in the second set of shots.  The 4k resolution is easier to demarcate.  The blu looks distinctly grainier than the UHD; but remember, this film was shot on digital, so we're not talking about capturing grain the way we usually are with catalog titles.  On the UHD, that's peeled back giving an almost softer look; but when you get in close, it's obvious that the UHD is smooth and photo realistic well into the point where the blu-ray is breaking down into jagged, pixelated edges (for example, look at the boy's eyes).  Also, curiously, the 1.66:1 aspect ratio of the DVD and blu shifts ever so slightly to 1.67:1 on the UHD.

Now, two years after the initial version of this post was written, there was a bit of a controversy about the HDR of Lions Gate's UHD.  Writer/ director Robert Eggers and his DP Jarin Blaschke appeared on the Team Deakins podcast, saying:

Eggers: We had to do an HDR version of the film, which for such a low contrast movie, like, it really did not work at all.
Blaschke: Yeah, don't watch that.

So Second Sight delayed their release in order to work with Eggers in creating a new HDR grade.  And this summer, it started shipping.
4) 2022 SS BD; 5) 2022 SS UHD.
So, you might be surprised how subtle the differences between the new HDR grades are.  Actually, the two 1080p blus might appear more different - Second Sight's blu is brighter than the Lions Gate's (and is 1.67:1, like the two UHDs).  But yes, their UHDs are different, too; and I do see it as an improvement (disappointingly, the book included with this release doesn't get into the transfer at all).  But most viewers probably wouldn't notice any difference at all without conducting a direct comparison like this one.  It's a shot-by-shot alteration where the colors have been tweaked, and in general the image contrast seems slightly higher, which does make detail and shadowy images slightly (key word) easier to discern on their televisions.  I feel comfortable saying that Second Sight's UHD is now the best, definitive edition,; but fans who replaced their old discs expecting revelations will probably be disappointed.

All five discs give you just the one, official 5.1 mix, lossy on the DVD but in DTS-HD on the blus and UHDs (yes, it's the same DTS-HD track on all four).  And they all include optional English, with additional Spanish ones on the US discs.
Extras are also good but the same across all US editions, except for the one minor advantage that the UHD doesn't have an over ten minute stretch of on-startup bonus trailers you have to skip like the DVD and blu.  But they've all got a fairly engaging, if not super enlightening, audio commentary by the director, a roughly half hour Q&A with the director, star & two authors on Salem witches who dominate a little too much of the conversation, a nice but brief featurette that finally lets us hear from the rest of the cast, and a neat little stills gallery of design sketches.  All three US editions also come in slick slipcovers.  Oh and yes, the BD in the UHD combo-pack is the exact same BD that was sold in 2016, including the outer label.
Extras are not the same, however, in the UK.  Key US supplements have been retained, including the commentary and on-set featurette.  And a whole bunch of new goodies have been created.  First up is a second audio commentary, this time by Anna Bogutskaya, one of the critics from the Kermode and Mayo radio show.  And... it's alright.  She doesn't provide much if any info that can't be found in the other extras, and there are periods of dead air and a strangely repeated anecdote, verbatim, near the beginning and end of the track.  But when she gets into analysis, she gets more interesting.  I'll take it.

Better still, though, are all the on-camera interviews.  Eggers' new interview offers plenty that wasn't already covered in the commentary or other features, and is probably his best piece across all discs.  And they interview all four leads, who all have good memories and insight to share.  Anya Taylor-Joy is an impressive get now that she's become an in-vogue movie star, and Kate Dickie has an amazing story about working with the raven.  There's also a roughly 10-minute Q&A with several of the cast and crew, and the "proof of concept" short film Eggers made called Brothers when he was trying to get The VVitch funded.  Plus, as you can see above, the swag is truly impressive.  There is a hefty, 150-page full-color hardcover book full of essays, six art cards, a digipack for the two discs, and a nice and sturdy outer box.

We did lose a two things, though.  The Salem Q&A is gone, though that was pretty much the weakest feature on the original discs.  And the stills gallery is also gone, however the book is replete with images, which definitely trumps the on-disc gallery.  It would've been nice to hang onto those, and dig up the trailer, but SS has the overall superior set of features for sure.
So, is it worth triple-dipping?  It depends how hardcore of a fan you are.  Second Sight's new UHD is the best presentation of the film, the extras are more rewarding, and the packaging is quite impressive.  Lions Gate already gave us a solid 4k UHD that honors the uptick in format, and even then, we weren't getting a massively improved transfer (due to the dark, low contrast nature of the film) or any new special features.  So most horror fans will probably still be perfectly satisfied with the original 2016 discs.  But 2019 and 2022 were both genuine steps forward, and if you want the best edition of this film, Second Sight has indeed taken the lead.