Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Insidious 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 16, 2023

Sony has widely released a UHD SteelBook packaging variant for the hit 2010 Horror film 'Insidious.' This marks the film's UHD debut, and it currently exclusive to SteelBook packaging. The film was first released to Blu-ray in Summer 2011. See below for coverage of the new video and audio presentations and see the 'Special Features and Extras' section of the review below for more on the SteelBook's look and feel and mention of the single new extra on the UHD disc.

Josh and Renai Lambert (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) are proud parents of two young sons and a newborn daughter. They're also new homeowners, and their new abode is a spacious but spooky dwelling that they're soon going to regret moving into. When one of their sons, Dalton (Ty Simpkins), has an accident in the home's dusty cobweb-infested attic, he comes away with only a few bumps and bruises and two relieved parents. Unfortunately, Dalton doesn't wake up the next morning. He's alive, but in a comatose state. Doctors are uncertain what could be causing his problem, and after three months in this hospital, it's back home to the comforts of his own bedroom, surviving through a series of tubes and machines that his mother has learned to attend. As the family tries to resume a normal routine with Dalton laid up in his bedroom and his future uncertain, mysterious happenings begin plaguing the home. Intruders slip in and out, alarms blare in the middle of the night, and a baby monitor picks up the spooky, ghostly whispers emanating from some unknown source. It's not long until the house has succumb to a full-out haunting. Try as they may and do all they can, the family can't escape the terror. It'll take much more than they ever bargained for to save their son, their home, and their sanity.

For a full film review, please click here.

Insidious 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This new 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD release of Insidious might be a tough sell considering that the original Blu-ray still presents a fantastic picture even a dozen years since its release, but this new presentation is certainly its superior. The picture offers the usual array of improvements, including amplified clarity and clearly heightened details. These are not enormous upticks from the Blu-ray, but viewers will note the more exacting and precise detail on skin and clothes, surfaces around the home, and so on, even in the film's multitude of lower light locations. The improved clarity is the most immediately evident benefit here, and the digital photography certainly shines here, but the gains are more incremental than they are monumental. The Dolby Vision grading is very good. It deepens the palette, but not so significantly as to drastically alter the film's look. This already dark film is darker, but it's more a nuanced grading here that renders tones more naturally inclined and subtly tuned to amplify effect. Black level gains are welcome for added depth and darkness without losing any shadow detail. Skin can look slightly pasty but colors overall in the film are slightly flat to begin with in both versions. White balance is excellent here. Noise is practically nonexistent even in darker scenes, and no obvious compression issues come into play, either. While not a game changing upgrade, the incremental improvements do add up to a very satisfying watch that is clearly superior to the still-excellent Blu-ray.

Insidious 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For this UHD release of Insidious, Sony releases the film with a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. The presentation is exceptionally airy, spacious, and clear, characteristics that are evident in the film's opening minutes. The sense of absolute immersive detail to stringy instruments and airy notes and the excellent clarity in conjunction are nothing short of astounding. It's always nice for audio content to impress and satisfy in 2023 when it seems like high end tracks are commonplace, but this one in the early moments -- and throughout the entire film -- truly dazzles and delights in its perfectly tuned stage presence. The new channels add to the sense of total immersion. The overheads are not used with extreme discrete content, but they are engaged in such a way as to heighten (quite literally, at times) the overall scope and scale at the track's disposal. There are also some great discrete effects at work, including a number of very aggressive bangs and crashes as well as smaller little support ambient sounds -- the steps creaking, for example -- help to add positionally accurate immersion throughout the film. This one is absolutely defined by its spaciousness and its clarity. With excellent supportive front-center dialogue also at work, this makes a case for one of the best Atmos soundtracks of 2023.

Insidious 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This UHD release of Insidious contains the bulk of the supplemental content on the included Blu-ray disc, which is identical to the 2011 Sony issue. See below for a list of what's included, and please click here for full coverage. The UHD disc does contain one extra, a Trailer (1080p, 1:47) for the film.

• Horror 101: The Exclusive Seminar
• On Set with Insidious
• Insidious Entities
• Previews

The SteelBook packaging, to which this 4K release is currently exclusive, is glossy and smooth and will attract fingerprints in its darker areas. On the front is a dour-looking, forward-facing portrait of Dalton Lambert with a creepy stare that includes the film's title in his right eye in a reflective metallic paint, a very cool touch. The word "is" is found within his left eye. Behind him is the house and a dark sky and backdrop, both nearly colorless. The rear panel is equally dour with a red door illuminated by a single light source above, center, surrounded by near total blackness. The spine is black with the film's title in white, center, and a white Sony logo at the bottom.

Inside, the digital copy code is tucked underneath the left-hand-side tabs. The two discs, one UHD and one Blu-ray, are situated on the right in staggered-stacked formation. The inner print is a two-panel spread that features one of the more interesting SteelBook interiors: a gray sheet of paper with crayon drawings, on the left a sleeping child with the text "last night I watched myself sleep" and on the right a caped superhero flying above a house with the words "then I flew away." These drawings are seen in the film.

Insidious 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sony's new UHD release of Insidious fine-tunes the video experience and amplifies the audio experience, making this the definitive new version of the film and a clear-cut upgrade for serious fans. For more casual audiences, the legacy Blu-ray still offers a very satisfying A/V experience. No new extras are here, either, beyond at trailer, but the SteelBook packaging will delight fans as well. Overall, this is a worthwhile upgrade. Recommended.