Batman: The Long Halloween 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Batman: The Long Halloween 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Worth the wait?

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 22, 2022

Arriving more than a year after the staggered Blu-ray release of Part One and Two, Warner Bros' animated production Batman: The Long Halloween makes its 4K debut this month as a double-length Deluxe Edition that seamlessly combines both halves to reach nearly three hours in length. (To the studio's credit, this release strategy was advertised before the original Blu-rays' debut.) It also includes a Blu-ray copy of the combined film, a new mid-length behind-the-scenes featurette, and a handful of recycled Blu-ray bonus features, although several unrelated extras have been left in the cold. If that wasn't confusing enough already, a separate Blu-ray Deluxe edition is also available.

Adapted from a 13-issue limited comic series by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween is a slowly-unfolding murder mystery that, in many ways, is a spiritual successor to Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's Year One (a personal favorite of yours truly which was also made into an animated movie in 2011). Taking place during Batman's early days in Gotham City, the story also features up-and-coming D.A. Harvey Dent and police Captain James Gordon, who work with Batman to figure out the identity of a serial killer that's been murdering victims once per month on major holidays. Also appearing are Catwoman and other established members of the Rogues Gallery (The Joker, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and The Riddler) and even a few lesser-known villains (Calendar Man, Solomon Grundy), creating a well-rounded and perfectly woven tale that, for many Batman fans, is at or near the level of all-time classics including The Dark Knight Returns, A Death in the Family and, of course, Year One itself.

It's difficult to summarize The Long Halloween without too many spoilers, but here goes: when Johnny Viti, the nephew of mob boss Carmine "The Roman" Falcone (Titus Welliver), is murdered on Halloween night, the resulting investigation by police Captain James Gordon (Billy Burke), D.A. Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel), and Batman (Jensen Ackles) leads to the discovery of a literal warehouse full of laundered money with the help of Catwoman (Naya Rivera, in her final film role). While our heroes struggle to balance the investigation with their personal lives -- Gordon with his young children, Dent with his unhappy wife Gilda (Julie Nathanson), and Bruce Wayne with his sorta-girlfriend Selina Kyle -- the single murder turns into a series of killings, next on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Their search eventually leads them to Arkham Asylum and one of its residents, Calendar Man (David Dastmalchian), who offers cryptic hints about the killer's identity -- who, for now, is nicknamed "Holiday" -- that help establish a long list of suspects including The Joker (Troy Baker), Carmine Falcone, rival crime boss Sal Maroni (Jim Pirri), and a few others... including Harvey Dent himself, whose behavior has become increasingly erratic after a brutal terrorist attack at his own home.

For a fuller synopsis and review of the entire film, please read my separate reviews of Part One and Two on Blu-ray. Please note that this "Deluxe Edition" simply combines both halves of the film seamlessly, with its middle bridged by a post-credits scene from Part One. No new and exclusive content has been added -- except for revised opening credits and some extra blood during several fight scenes, which seems superfluous -- and nothing of consequence has been taken away. (The "missing" four minutes in its combined running time is due to not having two sets of end credits.) Available from Warner Bros. as either this 4K/Blu-ray combo pack or a separate Blu-ray edition, both versions of The Long Halloween: Deluxe Edition include largely similar A/V presentations and identical bonus features.

Batman: The Long Halloween 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Long Halloween has a native 2K source, so this new 2160p transfer plays as an upscaled presentation of the film with HDR10 enhancement added. This may not sound like much but it actually yielded pretty impressive results on last year's 10th anniversary 4K upgrade of Batman: Year One yet, for reasons soon to be explained, some visual benefits aren't as noticeable here. First, the good: the base impression is great as it largely builds upon the 1080p transfers of WB's Part One and Two Blu-rays with deeper color saturation, stronger black levels, and even increased depth in some cases due to greater differentiation between foreground and background layers. The HDR10 enhancement also gives a clear boost to its most vivid moments such as the deep reds of Chinatown, the cool blues of Arkham, distant city lights and signage, the warm interiors of James Gordon's suburban home and, of course, a hallucinatory nightmare brought on by Scarecrow's toxin. On the surface, it's a light to moderate improvement in most major areas.

Unfortunately, The Long Halloween still can't seem to shake those persistent banding and compression issues that plagued the Blu-ray editions -- both the separate "Part One and Two" releases, as well as the included Deluxe Edition Blu-ray. While not unbearably rampant, it's persistent enough to be fitfully distracting and, due to the color boosting of its HDR10 enhancement, is actually more noticeable in some instances. I daresay the root cause of this problem might be Warner Bros.' short-sighted decision to squeeze this film onto a meager dual-layered (66GB) disc: the 4K film and extras amount to nearly 3.5 hours of 1.78:1 content and the bit rate barely hovers above Blu-ray numbers. Compare that again with Year One, a 64-minute film that got a similar 66GB disc all to itself and displayed far fewer instances of banding and compression artifacts -- I even re-watched it last night just to be sure. While as a whole these issues may not be a deal-breaker, they certainly don't make this 2160p transfer definitive from a visual perspective.

For my thoughts on the Blu-ray's similarly imperfect 1080p transfer, see my separate review of that title. Please note that all the screenshots used for both reviews have been sourced from the newer Deluxe Edition Blu-ray disc.

Batman: The Long Halloween 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This Deluxe Edition contains the same core DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix as heard on the Part One and Two Blu-rays. Although a new Atmos mix would have been interesting, this is still a serviceable track that gets the job done.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the main feature and extras.

Batman: The Long Halloween 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in a keepcase with new cover artwork, a matching slipcover, and a Digital Copy redemption code. On-disc extras include one new featurette and material ported over from the Part One and Two Blu-rays.

4K DISC

• The Long Halloween: Evolution of Evil (24:56) - This new mid-length featurette offers a good if not slightly surface-level overview of The Long Halloween's source comics and their adaptation into animated form, as well as a brief look into the mostly WWII-era film noir that inspired them. Several key participants are on hand to share their thoughts including original comic writer Jeph Loeb, the film's writer Tim Sheridan, producers Jim Krieg and Butch Lukic, and more. It's worth a watch, but doesn't justify an upgrade on its own.

BLU-RAY DISC

• The Long Halloween: Evolution of Evil (24:56)

• From the Vault - Four excellent vintage episodes of Batman: The Animated Series featuring key characters prominently featured during The Long Halloween. All look and sound more or less identical to the versions seen on WB's comprehensive Batman: The Complete Animated Series Blu-ray collection.

• Christmas With The Joker (22:22)
• It's Never Too Late (22:24)
• "Two-Face - Part One" (22:27)
• "Two-Face - Part Two" (22:30)

• A Preview of "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Part One" (12:36)

• A Preview of "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Part Two" (6:53)

• A Preview of "Batman: Gotham by Gaslight" (8:30)

• A Preview of "Batman: Hush" (9:17)

Missing from the previous Blu-rays is a sneak peek of The Long Halloween: Part Two, as well as a few unrelated DCAU shorts ("The Blue Beetle" and "The Losers") that are also available on Constantine: The House of Mystery.

Batman: The Long Halloween 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's no getting around it: if this combined Deluxe Edition of Batman: The Long Halloween debuted on 4K last year (rather than the staggered Blu-ray only releases of Part One and Two), it'd be easier to get excited about. While the film itself is one of the DCAU's better productions in recent memory (and, of course, plays more strongly as a unified whole), that may not be a big enough reason for fans to justify its rather steep price. This 4K disc's upscaled, HDR10-enhanced presentation also has a few nagging flaws and we only get one new featurette, which makes this release less of a true "Deluxe Edition" than most fans may be hoping for. Still, if you're absolutely over the moon for Batman: The Long Halloween, this 4K combo pack is at least more recommended than the stand-alone Blu-ray.