Badland Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		2.0

Badland Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 26, 2026

This Badland is not Badland, let alone Badlands or Predator: Badlands, but it has one inimitable bonus that none of those other similarly titled films has: the presence of Joe Morton. Morton has a long and distinguished resume in both film and television, and his name may be most instantly recognizable to many for his Emmy Award winning performance on Scandal, but for those unfamiliar with Morton, it might be best advised that those interested in this disc simply go directly to the supplementary "music video" (it's just Joe and his guitar, to kinda sorta quote James Taylor) of Joe playing and singing his own song The Devil's Lonely Fire which is part of this film's soundtrack. It's an amazing tour de force of minimalism and expressive singing, and it is an undeniable highlight of what is an otherwise pretty devastatingly depressive film that is arguably too long and too overly melodramatic for its own good.

One of the big problems is that Morton's character, a troubled sheriff named Max Astin, doesn't show up until well into this close to three hour enterprise. Another problem is that virtually everyone in this film is troubled, not the least of which is focal former vet (take a deep breath, 49er fans) Jerry Rice (Jamie Draven), who has returned from Iraq seriously emotionally disabled, which leads to an absolutely horrifying early vignette where he snaps and murders his entire family including a pregnant wife and two young sons, though he runs out of bullets before he can dispatch his daughter Celina (Grace Caroline Currey), or indeed himself. (The film actually has two different moments where either Jerry or Max point a pistol at their heads, ready to take one final act to end their misery.) That sets Jerry and Celina off on a perilous "road trip" that is obviously headed for disaster one way or the other. The fact that it takes almost three hours to get there may simply make this an inarguably tough trip for any mere viewer to want to participate in.

Badland Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Badland is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Ruby Max Entertainment and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Though there's kind of a surprising lack of information on the packaging, this was evidently sourced from the original camera negative with what I suspect was a 2K scan. The result offers some really commendable fine detail levels (stomach churning at times, especially in the brief vignette documenting the horrifying murders), though the color timing struck me as skewed a bit toward yellows a lot of the time, something that does give a lot of the rural outdoor material a kind of "golden hour" hue, but which can tend to make flesh tones look slightly jaundiced. Grain is on the variable side, with some nice organically tight resolution for large swaths, but other moments that look pretty grimy (see the skies in screenshot 6 for one example). There's a slightly digital appearance on hand here in passing that may contribute to some of the grittier looking grain.

Badland Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Badland offers either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The surround track definitely provides a more spacious accounting of the realistic ambient environmental effects throughout the outdoor material, as well as offering more punch on the low end at some key moments. One of the undeniable strengths of this film is a really appealing if unrelentingly elegiac score by Ludek Drizhal, and some of the string drenched cues as well as some wordless vocals in particular sound really burnished and spacious as well. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Badland Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Francesco Lucente and Carlo Varini is accessible under the Audio Menu.


• Jamie Draven Interview (HD; 11:55)


• Joe Morton Interview (HD; 19:35)


• Joe Morton Music Video Devil's Lonely Fire (HD; 2:40)


• Grace Fulton Audition (HD; 2:19)


• Cast / Crew EPK 1 (HD; 14:08)


• Cast / Crew EPK 2 (HD; 3:41)


• Makeup VFX Documentary (HD; 14:49) features guys from Bleeding Art Industries.


• Music EPK (HD; 9:47) features composer Ludek Drizhal.


• Deleted Motel Scene (HD; 3:47)


• Deleted News Report Scene (HD; 2:22)


• English Trailer (HD; 2:04)


• Slideshow (HD; 1:49) kind of oddly plays to dialogue in addition to music.

A very enjoyable Soundtrack CD is also included. Unfortunately, Joe Morton's song isn't on the disc, and unsurprisingly a Springsteen tune on the actual soundtrack is also not included.

Badland Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Morton got a well deserved Tony nomination for his absolutely breathtaking work as Walter Lee Younger in the musical Raisin, based on Lorraine Hansbury's legendary play. The Original Broadway Cast album (which won the Grammy) is still widely available on physical media as well as streaming, and it is the kind of instantly moving experience that this film struggles overtime to offer. The major issue with Badland is it obviously wants to portray a harrowing example of PTSD, which it undeniably does, but it does so by arguably giving audience members PTSD of their own to contend with. Technical merits are generally solid, and the on disc supplements and soundtrack CD are enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.