Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Killer's Kiss 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 6, 2022

Stanley Kubrick's "Killer's Kiss" (1955) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new audio commentary by critic Imogen Sara Smith and remastered vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss (1955) initially appeared on Blu-ray as a bonus feature in Criterion's release of The Killing from 2011. Killer's Kiss is approximately 67 minutes long.

A lousy New York City boxer (Jamie Smith, The Faithful City) falls in love with a beautiful nightclub dancer (Irene Kane, All That Jazz). They plan to leave the city and settle down in Seattle, where the boxer’s uncle has a horse ranch. But the singer’s boss (Frank Silvera, Lonnie), an aging gangster, decides to keep her for himself. When she tries to get the money he owes her, all hell breaks loose.

Killer’s Kiss is not so much about the boxer and the nightclub dancer as it is about the underbelly of New York City. It is raw, notably dark and moody, at times overflowing with melancholy. The film has its fair share of flaws, but it offers an interesting look at the evolving style of a young and obviously tremendously gifted director.

Killer's Kiss 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.38:1 and encoded with HEVC / H.265, Killer's Kiss arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. Please note that this release does not have a standard Blu-ray copy of the film.

Please note that all screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and are downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual values and balance of the grayscale.

For this native 4K presentation of the 4K 16-bit restoration of the film, the folks at Kino Lorber prepared a brand new Dolby Vision/HDR grade. I viewed the entire film, which is approximately 67 minutes long with HDR, and then did a few quick tests with Dolby Vision. I also ran a few quick tests with the 1080p presentation of the film from Criterion's Blu-ray release of The Killing. (Killer's Kiss is included as a bonus feature on it).

In native 4K, Killer's Kiss looks absolutely sensational. Even though there are a few minor fluctuations during the outdoor footage, delineation, clarity, and depth are simply superb. A variety of shadows routinely produce some magnificent contrasts as well, which is somewhat odd because Killer's Kiss is a short film and the truth is that there are not that many opportunities where it can produce stunning visuals. But it does, and I think that even without Dolby Vision/HDR they still would have looked pretty magnificent (see examples in screencaptures #4 and 5). There are no traces of problematic digital corrections, so the grain field looks exceptional. It is very tight, even, and healthy. In other words, as good as you can expect it to be. The grayscale is very convincing as well. Blacks are very lush, not digitally boosted, and the grays and whites wonderfully balanced. Some of the bigger improvements that I noticed while comparing the 4K presentation to the 1080p presentation was in this area. Indeed, virtually all visuals looked significantly lusher, with a dynamic potential that isn't easy to detect on the 1080p presentation, which is also a bit strange because this is a very, very fine presentation, too. Image stability is excellent. I did not encounter any traces of age-related imperfection. Very impressive. (Note: This is a Region-Free 4K Blu-ray release).

Killer's Kiss 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

There is a very small, practically insignificant difference between the lossless track and the lossy track from the Criterion release of Killer's Kiss. I am not surprised because the native qualities of the original soundtrack are such that the audio simply can't be much better. The dialog is noticeably thin, while depth gravitates around average and slightly above average. There is some extremely light background hiss that tries to sneak in, but it isn't something that you need to worry about. My score is 4.75/5.00.

Killer's Kiss 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Killer's Kiss. In English, not subtitled. (2 min). Remastered.

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Imogen Sara Smith.

Killer's Kiss 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kudos to the folks at Kino Lorber for giving Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss a proper individual 4K Blu-ray release. It would have been extremely disappointing to see it added as a bonus feature on the upcoming 4K Blu-ray release of The Killing. This is the right way to make classic and cult films available to collectors that value and want them in their libraries. (By the way, this is one of many reasons I really enjoy Kino Lorber's Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema collection. Even much lesser-known films get proper individual releases with original vintage art). Killer's Kiss is a small film that is only about an hour long, but it offers an interesting look at the evolving style of a young and obviously tremendously gifted director. It looks sensational in native 4K, so if you enjoy film noir and especially if you are a Kubrick completist, you need to pick up the 4K Blu-ray release. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.