The House with a Clock in Its Walls-4K Blu-ray Review

The House with a Clock in Its Walls – 2018

Universal Studios 2018

PG | 1hr 45mins | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

HD | 1080P | Dolby Atmos | Dolby TrueHD 7.1

Upscaled 4K | 2160P | HDR10 | Dolby Atmos | Dolby TrueHD 7.1

2.40:1 Aspect Ratio

Staring:  Cate Blanchett, Kyle MacLachlan, Jack Black, Colleen Camp, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Vanessa Williams

Directed by: Eli Roth

Ratings & Reviews

Please see here for my comments on reviewing movies.

My ratings are simple being marked out of a maximum of 5+. My reviews are biased towards the technical production aspects of the film with brief comments about the story line. Extras, sorry, that’s just not my ‘bag’.

Not having Immersive audio yet, what did the 4K version look like? Very good, and the 7.1 sound track? Engaging with some respectable bottom end.

Entertainment: 5-

Video: 5

Audio: 4+

Technical Review – 4K UHD HDR10

The House with a Clock in Its Walls was shot using Arri Alexa Mini and Arri Alexa SXT cameras using ARRIRAW 2.8K and finished as a digital intermediate at 2K. This up-converted 4K version looks excellent from start to finish showing little noise or grain except in a couple of low lit scenes. The image is very sharp, some may say too sharp, with no hint of any compression or up-conversion artifacts. From the colorful stained glass windows to the warm woods inside Jonathan’s home the image is beautifully captured. All colors are well saturated with deep blacks and excellent contrast. Flesh tones and hair features are very realistic with tremendous detail. Fine details of the wood, materials and general surfaces are excellent and on occasions almost palpable. Detail is exquisite providing a highly realistic rendition and representation of clothing and fabrics that were almost tangible with intricacy. The bright daytime external, and internal, shots of the school being almost photographic in their clarity and definition. Overall the image excels with precision detail with close ups of furniture, nicknacks, books being almost tactile in nature and all providing excellent clarity and sharpness. The CGI integration is excellent throughout, seamlessly bringing together the real world of the house and the magical world of wizardry. Often placing the effects in the background rather than making them a focal point. This movie looks excellent in the UHD format. Very surprising since the digital intermediate is only 2K, with this 4K up-conversion looking better than many native 4K movies that I have recently viewed.

Audio – Dolby TrueHD 7.1

The House with a Clock in Its Walls offers a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 track that defaults to Dolby TrueHD 7.1 in my system. The movie opens with ticking clocks encircling the listener, reminiscent for those old enough to remember track 4, Time, on Pink Floyds album The Dark Side of the Moon. The music by Nathan Bar provides excellent immersion and attention to instrumental detail. He composed thirty three of the forty music pieces, some of which included his recently restored Wurlitzer pipe organ providing quite an extended lower register. Overall bass was on occasions quite extended, but never over bearing, supporting and being complementary to the accompanying scene. Atmospheric support from the rears and surrounds was good drawing you into the film’s world. Dialogue was very clear and precise being accurately positioned across the front image.

Story Overview

The movie is based on the book of the same name, a children’s classic written by John Bellairs in 1973.

After 10 year old Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) parents are killed he is sent to his uncle Jonathan’s (Jack Black) house in Michigan. After starting to notice strange sounds and occurrences in his new home he discovers that Jonathan is a Warlock and his close friendly next door neighbor Florence (Cate Blanchett), is a witch. So enters Lewis into the world of magic and sorcery learning that this power can be used for both good and evil. All the while, the clock, a clock, is ticking! After executing an evil spell Lewis brings Issac Izard (Kyle MacLachlan) back to life, the houses previous evil owner. Issac had constructed an evil magical clock that he managed to hide somewhere within the house before he died. Now Jonathan and Lewis must find the clock that is ticking down to the end of the world.

Despite my age I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, as did my wife and daughter. For a 2K up-converted movie, it far exceeds the visual quality of several native 4K movies I have recently reviewed. This isn’t a flashy Sci-Fi movie with huge amounts of CGI nor is it pulsating with enormous bass energy. What it is, is a good story line that is well balanced between scary and funny, with some interesting special effects, reasonable acting, beautiful looking images and a music track that envelopes you with instrumental detail. It was a short book and so is the movie.

Purchase from Amazon or Best Buy.

See my other Blu-ray reviews here.