28 Days Later is one of the worstโlooking movies Iโve ever seen, and thatโs the whole point. The movie was shot on early digital cameras that barely held together an image, and the disc preserves every flaw. Aliasing is everywhere. Diagonal lines shimmer and break apart. On a big screen, it looks like a mix between VHS and early DVD. You can see the limits of the camera in every frame. Itโs definitely under 720p, and the way edges crawl makes it feel like it passed through some kind of interlaced format before landing in progressive.
Panning shots smear badly. Itโs not just low frame rate. Itโs like the shutter couldnโt grab enough information, so each frame blends into the next. Motion looks like CCTV footage. That jittery, smeary, lowโshutter look you see on security cameras. Itโs rough, but again, thatโs the intention.
Pixel crawl is brutal. Edges shimmer like ants. Dark areas break apart into noise. Black levels rise because the camera had to overexpose everything just to see anything. Color bleed is in every shot. It looks like 6โbit color. Gradients fall apart instantly. Banding is some of the worst Iโve ever seen. Posterization hits hard, collapsing color into big chunky blocks.
Compression artifacts from the original capture are baked in. Blocking, macroblocking, lowโbitโrate mush. It looks like early MPEGโ1 or MPEGโ2. None of this is from the 4K transfer. Itโs all in the source. The disc is just showing you exactly what was recorded.
So yes, this is the worst of the worst in video quality. Technically disgusting. But in the overall section, Iโll explain why I still liked it.
๐๐จ๐๐๐ข
The Dolby Atmos upgrade isnโt bad. The audio gets the same treatment the video did. No bass. Explosions sound like they were captured by a cheap security camera mic. Thereโs almost no dynamic range. But dialogue stays clear enough, and the mix keeps the mood steady.
The surprise comes at the end. Thereโs a rainstorm, and the Atmos effects are gorgeous. Surrounds open up. Overheads kick in. Itโs one of the best uses of Atmos in the whole movie.
Even more surprising, the music is incredible. Amazing music, and I loved it.
๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐
So, the movie is the worstโlooking 4K ever released, right? Yes. But I really enjoyed watching it this way. It felt original. It felt like the director took risks. Even though the movie looks like absolute trash from a technical point of view, I respected the approach. Filming it this way pulls you into the world. I donโt think 35mm would have done the same thing. If youโre like me, it might hurt to see picture quality this bad, but I urge you to watch it this way and let it draw you in.
Same for the sound. If it had big dynamic range and clean bass, it wouldnโt feel right. The roughness adds to the world.
The cinematography is shockingly good. Some shots are superb. The ladder shot with rain dripping off the steps is amazing. The moving shots out of the house are amazing. Some still shots are perfectly framed. Even though the camera was terrible, the people behind it knew exactly what they were doing.
As for the movie, I think itโs one of the best zombie films Iโve ever seen. Start to finish, it works. The bad video and rough sound make it even better because they add believability to the world.
This is one time where video scores donโt matter. Itโs bad, and my score will show that, but that was the point. The whole point was to show a world like this filmed in a completely new way, and I loved it.
Imagine me recommending a movie with intentionally bad image quality. Well, it finally happened. This is the definitive version of this movie. This is the worst it will ever look, LOL.
Highly Highly, and even more Highly Recommended.
๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ช ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ฆ
โข ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ข: 1 out of 5
โข ๐๐จ๐๐๐ข: 3.5 out of 5
โข ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ช๐๐ ๐๐ฌ: Carl Mulder
๐๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ
โข ๐๐๐๐ฌ: https://t.co/zXdR6ltcYJ
โข ๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐ช๐๐๐: https://t.co/j3etAsfNw8
โข ๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ก: https://t.co/Y8CAff8NOt
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
๐ฆ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฃ๐ต๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ. ๐๐ผ๐ปโ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฒ. ๐ข๐๐ป ๐ถ๐. ๐๐ผ๐น๐ฑ ๐ถ๐. ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ ๐ถ๐.
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Valve was founded 30 years ago today by Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington.
Congratulations to @valvesoftware -- and thank you for letting me be a part of the journey from the beginning.
(And no, this is not a gamescom ONL teaser post).