Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Sanctum 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 11, 2025

Just in case Neil Marshall's The Descent didn't convince you that spelunking was a terrible idea, along comes executive producer James Cameron and hand-picked director Alister Grierson's Sanctum to finish the job. Falling debris, drownings, hypothermia, rockslides, broken air canisters, claustrophobia, budding madness, climbing accidents, tragic deaths and good ol' fashioned murder (pronounced "muuuurder," with a pointed eyebrow) are just a few of the dangers brimming beneath the surface of Cameron and Grierson's underground, underwater and, yes, underwhelming quote-unquote thrill ride. The biggest shock lying in wait for the uninitiated is that the film isn't very good at all. Stale performances, stocky storytelling, water-logged dialogue, predictable twist after predictable turn, mediocre visual effects and some of the worst green screen work in recent memory... if it weren't for the film's more able-bodied second half, I'd be harsher.

Loosely based on co-writer/producer Andrew Wight's real-life, near-death experience with a deadly cave-in and his subsequent 1989 documentary Nullarbor Dreaming, Sanctum tells the fictional story of a team of cavers and adventure seekers who suddenly find themselves trapped underground when a fierce storm cuts off their escape. Even before the storm rolls in, though, tragedy strikes. 17-year-old Josh McGuire (Rhys Wakefield) watches helplessly as the no-nonsense professional leading the expedition, his father Frank (Richard Roxburgh), is forced to let a woman drown when an accident disables her breathing apparatus. Josh blames dear old dad -- struggling with the realization that his father isn't a god -- and slowly begins to question Frank's motives and pragmatic assessment of the situation. It doesn't help that Frank is something of an insensitive brute who blames the dead woman for making poor choices, just before tossing a sliver of guilt in Josh's lap. Not that jet-setting couple Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd) and his girlfriend Victoria (Alice Parkinson) seem to care. With a dangerous storm approaching, radio interference cutting off communications and team synergy floundering, Victoria chirps "there's nothing can be done for the dead at altitude" and Carl goes diving. The rest is clockwork. Storms rage, waters surge and Josh, Frank, Carl, Victoria and two others -- Frank's good friend George (Daniel Wyllie) and a Papua New Guinea native by the name of Luko (Cramer Cain) -- have to rely on each other to find a way out of their would-be tomb.

Click here to read the rest of my 2011 review of Sanctum's original 3D Blu-ray release.

Sanctum 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I've never been a fan of Sanctum's visuals. Even in ye olde 2011, I was disappointed with the film's Blu-ray presentation. Nearly fifteen years later, I'm still nonplussed. My impression of the standard BD has sunk further, while the newly minted 4K UHD 2160p transfer you're here for has merely filled the three-star spot the Blu-ray once held. The problem isn't necessarily the 4K encode but rather the source, which has far more issues than modern cinephiles might expect. Crush is rampant, black levels rarely dip below a deep, near-midnight gray, delineation is middling, compression artifacts appear from time to time, detail is inconsistent... need I go on? What has improved is color richness (thanks to good ol' Dolby Vision enhancements) and the quality of the film's on-again, off-again grain field, which is more refined this time around. Textures are a tad more precisely resolved too, a natural benefit of the bump to 2160p, even though the presentation's other problems don't allow moments of notable detail to wow for very long. By and large, this may as well be an upscaled presentation. Oh wait, it is! Anyone surprised? Everything here is presumably an on-point representation of the original film elements. But whether the problems trace back to the 3D cameras, the difficulty of the shooting environments, or early 2010s tampering with the source, the results just don't hold up. I was hoping for something revelatory. Instead, it's redundant.

Sanctum 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The new Shout Factory release appears to recycle the same DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track from Universal's release in 2011 (or one that's extremely similar) and it's one that faces some challenges. Sanctum's sound design isn't bad by any means, but it isn't very nuanced either. The rear speakers are teeming with bright, clean, engaging effects, but they rarely connect with other elements in the mix, leaving a slightly empty chasm in the middle of the soundfield around which all else swirls. Gushing water doesn't fill every inch of the room, it roars near the front, pours in from the rear and leaves the carpet between weirdly dry. Individual echoes don't rebound from every angle, they can be traced -- quite easily -- to the exact speaker handling each one. While it isn't distracting per se and most certainly is a product of the sound design rather than an issue with the 4K disc, audiophiles will take notice. Otherwise, there aren't really any issues of note. Dialogue is intelligible and neatly prioritized in the soundscape, LFE output infuses the film with welcome weight and intensity, and David Hirschfelder's score mimics its surroundings and surges to the forefront whenever called upon. Storms rage, waters churn, chunks of earth smash into the ground and screams pierce the air. Yes, it's all rather loud and a little turbulent. Big, dumb fun, really. But it's also assertive, eager to please and, frankly, suits the tone of the film just fine.

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

• NEW Audio Commentary - Film critics Emily Higgins and Billy Dunham.

• Audio Commentary - Director Alister Grierson, co-writer/producer Andrew Wight and actor Rhys Wakefield.

• Sanctum: The Real Story (HD, 47 minutes) - A documentary divided into three sections: "How It Began," "Making the Movie" and "In the Aftermath," each of which provide a sincere, no-frills look at Sanctum, from the true story that inspired the film to its challenging shoot and final cut.

• Nullarbor Dreaming (SD, 45 minutes): This twenty-two-year-old documentary from producer Andrew Wight focuses on a team of cave divers whose lives are threatened when a cave-in interrupts their exploration of the Pannikin Plain Cave, an underwater network in Australia.

• Deleted Scenes (HD, 9 minutes): Seven deleted scenes, most of which were rightfully trimmed from the feature film.

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

Nothing about Sanctum has grown on me over the last fourteen years, nor has its bump to 4K made its AV presentation something to finally write home about. Video quality is average at best, although the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track remains solid and its supplemental package rather beefy. I'd skip this one and head for fresher waters, but if you've ever wondered what Cliffhanger might be like if it were moved underground and underwater (with a lesser cast and more disappointing action sequences), maybe this one is for you.