Insomnia 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Insomnia 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Turn off the bright lights.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 22, 2026

Famously remade by Christopher Nolan in 2002, Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjærg's Insomnia is a hypnotic thriller long championed by The Criterion Collection, who released a DVD edition all the way back in July 1999 (their very first anamoprhic disc!) as well as an impressive Blu- ray edition in 2014. Never one to back down from a challenge, the UK boutique label Second Sight Films upped the ante earlier this year with a full-fledged 4K UHD upgrade available in a brick-sized Limited Edition combo pack with their usual deluxe packaging as well as separate standard editions in both formats. All options feature very strong A/V merits and a host of bonus features, many of them new.

As for the film itself, Insomnia remains a perfectly-constructed thriller that earned high marks in Dr. Svet Atanasov's review of the Criterion Blu-ray linked above. I've been a fan of this film since the DVD days and, although my recent viewing of Second Sight's 4K disc was my first in over a decade, that just made me appreciate its visual upgrade and new extras even more. Even so, Criterion's Blu-ray package still holds its own more than a decade later.

Insomnia 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the included remastered Blu-ray, which is also available separately.

It's only half ironic to jump from my recent 4K review of Interview With the Vampire (which was shot almost totally at night) to the daylight-dominant Insomnia, a film whose guilt-ridden main character is similarly tormented by the sun. Yet here were are, and both look outstanding despite sitting at near-opposite ends of the visual spectrum.

For the record, Second Sight's UHD presentation of Insomnia is advertised as a new 4K restoration with an HDR grade approved by director Erik Skjoldbjærg since the film's cinematographer, Erling Thurmann-Andersen, unexpectedly died in 2002. With these merits and disc mastering / QC by the renowned authoring house Fidelity in Motion (a favorite of Second Sight and many other boutique labels), expectations were no doubt very high and, after viewing both the UHD and similarly impressive Blu-ray discs, it's almost impossible to award Insomnia anything lower than perfect marks*. Although it's clear that a brand-new scan of the original camera negative was not performed (at least based on quick comparisons with the 4K-sourced Criterion Blu-ray in terms of color and detail), seeing Insomnia in its native 4K with the benefits of HDR take it to another level. Once you get past the ultra-grimy Super 8-shot opening sequence (which was actually filmed last in an attempt to open the picture more boldly), a renewed sense of clarity can be seen in the film's chilly color palette and cold, sterile building interiors, which contrast nicely with its substantially dingier locales. Highlights and rare ventures into darkness, such as Jonas Engström's repeated attempts to darken his hotel room, are likewise rendered with precision. As expected, the disc encoding is extremely tight and allows Insomnia's grain-heavy textures to shine through with no signs of compression trouble. It's a solid effort for sure.

* - As good as this 4K disc looks, there's still at least a little room for improvement given the lack of a fresh 4K scan (which makes Second Sight's "new 4K remaster" claim a bit dubious), so I've abstained from a perfect rating.

As for the included Region B Blu-ray, it's again sourced from the 4K master but downscaled to 1080p/SDR and looks very close to what's seen in these direct-from-disc screenshots on a properly calibrated display. It's a similarly clean and appropriately bright image whose contrast and shadow detail are likewise handled extremely well, although it of course doesn't benefit from the added precision of the director-approved HDR grade. Although I'd imagine that most purchasers of this Limited Edition will be running the UHD disc only, those limited to 1080p/SDR will still be getting an extremely strong presentation of the film that, much like its 4K counterpart, features disc mastering and QC by Fidelity in Motion that likely outpaces the old Criterion Blu-ray by a small margin. Even so, I'd imagine that those with no plans for a 4K setup should save their money and just pick up the standard Region B Blu-ray for the extras.

Insomnia 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although a 5.1 or even Atmos remix would've been interesting to have as an alternate presentation, Second Sight has chosen to only include Insomnia's original DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix (presented in the film's native Norwegian with touches of Danish and Swedish), a strong and capable stereo track that shares overwhelming similarities with the same track included on Criterion's 2014 Blu-ray. There may be subtle variants in dynamic range or even base volume levels between these presentations, but both are overwhelmingly crisp and clean tracks that perfectly represent the film's native mix and they achieve perfection without necessarily calling attention to themselves.

Optional English subtitles are included during the film and extras for translation purposes.

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

This two-disc set is housed in Second Sight's usual brick-sized Limited Edition packaging, a gorgeous matte-finished tome with an eye-catching new cover design and other key art elements by Peter Strain that continue on the interior. Speaking of which, also tucked within the rigid slipbox is an 120-page softcover book with new essays by Jenn Adams, Mitchell Beaupre, Barry Forshaw, Francesco Massaccesi, Priscilla Page, and Travis Woods along with more new artwork, stills, cast/crew credits, and acknowledgements. The discs are housed in a dual-hubbed Digipack case, and also inside are six bound art cards repeating key designs seen elsewhere in this package. Excellent work as always.

As for the bonus features, several are exclusive to this release and are identical on both discs.

• NEW! Audio Commentary - This new and presumably exclusive commentary features director Erik Skjoldbjærg and co-writer Nikolaj Frobenius, who both speak in English. It's a little bit slow to start but ends up being a fairly dense and engaging track -- perhaps the first recorded for the film, even -- and contains a lot of valuable insight. Topics of interested include the violent 8mm opening sequence (which was actually shot last after a decision was made to open Insomnia with much more of a "jolt"), casting and location scouting, the story origins and script development, Stellan Skarsgård's performance, filming techniques, and much more.

• NEW! Running On Instinct (29:19) - Director Erik Skjoldbjærg sits down for this retrospective interview about his work on the film, which unsurprisingly covers some of the same material as the above commentary while adding a few new personal insights and memories from the shoot.

• NEW! Falling Into It (9:52) - This like-minded but considerably shorter retrospective interview features producer Petter J. Borgli, who covers a broader amount of topics including his early years in the industry and eventual involvement with several Norwegian films including Insomnia.

• NEW! Private Prisons (12:16) - A short but interesting new visual essay about Insomnia by noted Australian film critic and historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.

• Erik Skjoldbjærg's Short Films - Two of these three short films (Close to Home and Near Winter) were directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg during his time at the National Film and Television School in London and have long been available on Criterion's 2014 Blu-ray. We also get a third short, Spor, that's "new" to this release.

• NEW! Spor (1996, 16:52) - Two years after film school and one year before Insomnia's 1997 debut, Skjoldbjærg collaborated with co-writer Jonny Berg and producer Petter J. Borgli on this short film, known internationally as Traces. Plot-wise it's very loose but many of its stylistic flourishes would be revisited on Insomnia, and unless I'm mistaken a few supporting characters look familiar as well.
• Close to Home (1994, 30:35)
• Near Winter (1993, 34:06)

While this is clearly a larger collection of extras than those on Criterion's 2014 Blu-ray, a few items are missing such as a 2014 interview with Erik Skjoldbjærg and Stellan Skarsgård as well as the film's theatrical trailer.

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

Those who have yet to see Erik Skjoldbjærg's 1997 thriller Insomnia -- whether or not they are already familiar with Christopher Nolan's 2002 remake starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams -- are in for a treat, as this classic import still packs a punch nearly three full decades later. And while it's a year away from its 30th anniversary, the well-regarded UK boutique label Second Sight Films celebrates early with another one of their nicely-appointed Limited Editions that mark the film's long-awaited UHD debut. This substantial release includes deluxe packaging as well as the film on both region-free 4K and Region B Blu-ray, with each disc boasting terrific A/V merits and several new retrospective extras. Each format also is available as a separate standard edition, but all three options are Highly Recommended.