The Unholy Four Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

The Unholy Four Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf January 25, 2017

While it details strong violence at times, 1970’s “The Unholy Four” remains a jaunty spaghetti western, keeping the cowboy routine lubricated by a wonderful score from Riz Ortolani, who’s the real white hat of this production. Music helps to point the picture in the right direction, as helmer Enzo Barboni makes a stylish, short-tempered effort, but also one with bizarre pit stops, including a full minute of screen time devoted to watching four characters eat in extreme close-up. Barboni has a firm handle on the basics of the genre, but his ideas for dramatic grit are occasionally bewildering.

There’s an amnesia story at the heart of “The Unholy Four,” tracking the efforts of one man to reclaim his identity after escaping prison with three inmates. Barboni delivers the western essentials with aplomb, staging shoot-outs, chases, and steely encounters in a small town, working to connect the narrative dots while indulging all the violent escapism a fan of the genre could want. “The Unholy Four” is competently performed and lovingly executed, favoring greasy close-ups and open threats, but it’s also a stagnant feature at times, becoming too wrapped up in ornamentation while the central story of personal awareness takes a nap.

The Unholy Four Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation looks sourced from a recent scan of the feature, providing an unexpectedly fresh viewing experience with a highly textured film. There are close-ups galore in the movie, and detail is healthy, picking up on facial particulars and make-up artistry. Sets are also open for inspection, and distances are dimensional. Colors are stable and true, handling western gear with confidence, while stronger hues are found with female costuming, town signage, and greenery, delivering a feel of the open country. Skintones are natural. Delineation is adequate. Grain is preserved. While overt damage is avoided, small instances of jumpy frames are detected, along with some speckling.

The Unholy Four Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix leads with Riz Ortolani's buoyant score, which carries loudly and confidently, delivering proper but not precise instrumentation. Since the film is dubbed, dialogue exchanges are heavier, sounding artificial but intelligible. Dramatic intent remains, but highs can be crispy. Sound effects are blunt, dealing with duller gunshots and horse galloping. Hiss is detected throughout the listening event.

The Unholy Four Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material on this disc.

The Unholy Four Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"The Unholy Four" does carry itself cinematically, pushed along by terrific cinematography and the aforementioned score, which really captures the tone of the movie. It's certainly not a lazy effort, attacking questions of self and honor with a few twists and turns along the way. But priorities are a bit screwy, periodically finding "The Unholy Four" more interested in meaningless behaviors than riveting storytelling.