The Visitor 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		0.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

The Visitor 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 2, 2026

When broadcast television geniuses (?) starting hyping so-called "World Premiere" movie events on American networks in the mid to late sixties and beyond, these de facto made for television efforts were typically marketed overseas as "actual" films. Perhaps for that reason, as well as to get nonpaying eyeballs on small screens on this side of the pond, many of those efforts tended to have "all star" casts, at least if it were admitted that the star power involved may have been from a former era and arguably had lost some of its erstwhile luster. While The Visitor probably has too many special effects to have ever been a typical made for tv movie, its cast is like something out of a seventies "world premiere" fever dream, offering John Huston, Shelley Winters, Glenn Ford, Mel Ferrer, and Franco Nero, along with a glut of other supporting players including everyone from Lance Henriksen to Sam Peckinpah (evidently so wasted by his alcoholism that his part was reduced and he was dubbed). With a cast like that, what could possibly go wrong? Evidently just about everything based on the results here in a film which this release's back cover calls "a bizarre collision of The Omen with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Exorcist", a somewhat hilarious "combo platter" that omits yet another possible filmic inspiration, namely Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

The Visitor had a 1080 Blu-ray release over a decade ago courtesy of Drafthouse Films, and Michael Reuben's The Visitor Blu-ray review offers plot information, a list of supplements (the three main interviews on that release have been ported over to this one) and Michael's reaction to the technical presentation. Maybe just a little hilariously, Michael's review cites a couple of other films with tethers to this one, including Rosemary's Baby and The Fury.

The Visitor 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: This release does not include a 1080 Blu-ray, so these screenshots are taken directly from the 4K UHD disc and downscaled to 1080 and SDR. Color space in particular is therefore not accurate, and I recommend those interested to look at some of the screenshots in our The Visitor Blu-ray review for a probably better representation of the palette, despite the age and evident issues with that presentation. Since this release does not include a 1080 disc, the 2K video score above has been intentionally left blank.

The Visitor is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the presentation:

The Visitor has been exclusively remastered by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with original English mono audio.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at Silver Salt. The film was restored and graded in SDR, HDR10 and Dolby Vision at Dragon DI.

The mono soundtrack was remastered by Bad Princess Productions. All materials sourced for this project were made available by Giant Pictures via Iron Mountain.

Michael was less than thrilled with the old 1080 presentation from Drafthouse Films, citing his belief that the source for that transfer may have been a print, and so this new transfer's negative basis should almost automatically indicate improvements, which are pretty obvious across the board based on some of Michael's review comments (I don't have the Drafthouse disc in my collection to do a side by side comparison, though it's kind of interesting to note in the above verbiage that this got an SDR grade despite this release not having a 1080 disc included). One thing Michael did like was a vivid palette, and that is certainly also the case with this release, and arguably even more so given the blandishments of the HDR / Dolby Vision grades. Probably expectedly some of the most noticeable "pop" comes courtesy of some of the more psychedelic visuals, as in the opening vignette, where the sunrise (or whatever it is) offers a whole panoply of richly suffused tones ranging from cobalt blues to deep orange-reds. The surplus of old school composited effects does unavoidably lead to some major spikes in grain, and in that regard there are also undeniable moments of really thick, chunky yellow grain masking some fine detail, but as someone who doesn't always like the appearance of grain at this incereased resolution and in HDR, I found the overall look here to be rather surprisingly tight a lot of the time. Even without spikes in grain, some of the special effects almost necessarily lead to some ebbs in fine detail levels, but in "normal" framings (which jokingly might be called few and far between in this enterprise) fine detail on all the practical sets and costumes as well as facial features are commendable.

Note: While it's now more than a year old, those who may not have seen it when it was first published may find some interest in my interview with Silver Salt Restoration that I did after visiting the team personally in London in late 2024.

The Visitor 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Visitor features an LPCM Mono track in the original English, though it's obvious that the film was post looped due to the often mentioned "loose sync". As Michael got into in his review, there is abundant high end on this track, and whatever restoration accomplished which is referred to in the above quoted verbiage from Arrow's insert booklet doesn't completely ameliorate some pretty omnipresent hiss which tends to be most evident in the relatively "quieter" dialogue scenes. Still, nothing struck my ears as downright painful or too brash to listen to. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, if on the boxy side (as Michael also seems to refer to in his review of the old 1080 disc from Drafthouse). Optional English subtitles are available.

The Visitor 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: More information on the interviews ported over from the prior 1080 release by Drafthouse Films is available in Michael's review, linked to above.

• Audio Commentary by BJ & Harmony Colangelo


• Interviews are archival pieces from 2014:

Lou Comici (HD; 9:10)




Ennio Guarnieri (HD; 4:26) is subtitled in English.




Lance Henriksen (HD; 9:02)

• A Biblical Battle for the Cosmos (HD; 19:15) is a new visual essay by Meagan Novarro focusing on the intersection between science fiction and religion in the film.


• A Cosmic Right to Choose (HD; 11:25) is a new visual essay by Willow Catelyn Maclay which kind of ironically given another recently reviewed release from Arrow's US distributor MVD refers to The Visitor as a perceived Knock Off.


• Re-release Trailer (HD; 1:53)


• Image Gallery (HD)

This Limited Edition's keepcase features a reversible sleeve, and encloses a collectors' booklet featuring several new essays on the film. Packaging also features a slipcover.

The Visitor 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Somewhat hilariously, The Visitor both is and isn't like anything you've seen before. As alluded to above, it's like the creative crew on this film simply dumped a bunch of previous films into a veritable blender, and this was the result. This new 4K presentation significantly improves video, and at least marginally improves audio, while also providing both archival and newly produced supplements, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.