Poltergeist 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Poltergeist 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 18, 2025

Film Vault is back with its so-called "third wave" of releases, both culled from the Warner Brothers catalog, and both being offered in special edition formats with all of the swag associated with Film Vault's first wave in particular, as well as in standalone SteelBook editions, mirroring some of the label's later packaging regimens.

Poltergeist bears a Number 10 branding in Film Vault's special edition releases, and offers basically the same previously released 4K UHD and 1080 combo package Warner Brothers themselves released a few years ago "officially" in Region A. It's once again therefore probably some of the packaging swag that may appeal to collectors the most, and I detail that side of things below in the supplements section.

As mentioned above, Poltergeist had a 4K / 1080 combo release by Warner Brothers back in 2022 and Randy Miller III's Poltergeist 4K Blu-ray review provides a good jumping off point for those who may not have had any of the prior releases of the film.

Poltergeist 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc in this package. While this is ostensibly a Region B release, the 1080 disc played fine in my Region A players, for Region A consumers who may be considering picking up this version.

Poltergeist is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of The Film Vault with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.78:1. I'll defer to Randy's Poltergeist 4K Blu-ray review for the bulk of my response, though in the seemingly inescapable "different reviewers means different opinions", my scores for the 4K and 1080 disc are reversed from those Randy's gave, which is not to suggest I'm seriously at odds with those scores. As tends to be the case with me, and as I've repeatedly mentioned in many reviews of combo 4K / 1080 releases, I'm just not always fond of the way grain resolves at the greater resolution and increased dynamic range the 4K format offers, and that's once again the case here, perhaps even more so given that the film has so many old school composited effects (which by necessity probably weren't sourced from the negative as the bulk of the presentation reportedly was). Still, the bottom line is fans of the film are generally very well served by both formats offered in this release.

Poltergeist 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Randy was quite enthused about both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options on the disc, and I share his appreciation for the well rendered surround track in particular. The glut of sound effects is really well handled throughout the story, and some of the spooky panning "spirit" effects in particular are quite striking. As Randy mentions, the 2.0 track can show just very slight breakup at higher amplitudes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional subtitles in several languages are available.

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

The 4K UHD disc has no supplemental content. The following special features are found on the 1080 disc included in this package (a bit more information on these is available in Randy's review, linked to above):

• They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists, Part 1 - Science of the Spirits (HD; 15:31)


• They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists, Part 2 - Communing With the Dead (HD; 15:33)


• The Making of Poltergeist (HD; 7:18)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD: 2:26)

The Film Vault continues their tradition of obviously gearing these releases toward serious collectors, in terms of offering a unified appearance and the same sort of non disc supplements included in each package. The outer box is approximately 9" high by 7 1/8" wide by 1 5/8" deep. The box has an acetate O-ring slipcover branded with both the film title and The Film Vault's logo as well as numbering. This rigid clamshell box is emblazoned with newly commissioned key art and itself features a kind of cool magnetic clasp that opens to disclose a limited host of goodies that is quite similar to the packaging extras offered with the other release in this "wave", The Shining 4K. First up (as in at the top of the stack) is a cardstock envelope containing what The Film Vault is calling "paper premiums", i.e., quasi-mini lobby card reproductions, four branded as character cards with quotes and four branded as "iconic scares" cards with quotes. Also enclosed in the envelope are two posters. Underneath the envelope is a SteelBook containing the 4K and 1080 discs. The front panel is (again, rather like The Shining's SteelBook) bathed in blue and teal tones and features the television emitting spirits around Carol Anne. The back panel offers a spooky image of a toy clown on a chair. The interior panels offer a black and white photograph of Carol Anne and the clown. I've uploaded several hi res photos to accompany the Poltergeist 4K Blu-ray review of Film Vault's standalone SteelBook edition of this film.

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

If you already picked up Warner Brothers' own 4K / 1080 combo release from a few years ago, you'll have to weigh whether admittedly handsome packaging and "paper premiums" are worth the price of admission. That said, technical merits are solid and the packaging is very handsome. For Film Vault collectors at least, Recommended.