Pulp Fiction (30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition 4K UHD Blu-Ray Review)
Pulp Fiction is one of the finest examples of pure cinema to come out of the US in the 90’s. The film was a cultural phenomenon, capturing the minds of younger generations, bewildering older ones and garnering universal acclaim for what has turned out to be a timeless crime caper. Told in many layers, the film never fails to be entertaining no matter how many watches you’ve given it. Now, the film comes home in the form of the Pulp Fiction: 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition! Read more on my appreciation of Pulp Fiction, along with links to the original 4K review we published in 2022!
Film 
I’ll never forget my first encounter with Pulp Fiction. My grandmother has a few men she loved. John Denver, Elvis Presley, Tom Selleck, Cary Grant and John Travolta were her tip-top guys. She would watch and re-watch Saturday Night Fever while she sewed clothes and home décor, or she would listen to the soundtrack while she painted her famous ceramics for flea markets and friends. When Pulp Fiction debuted in 1994, she went to the theater to see it because as she said “John dances in this one…” Her reaction after seeing the whole film was “It wasn’t very good, but the dancing was a nice part.” Her not-so-glowing review kept my family members from seeing the film.
My own first experience with Pulp Fiction was a viewing with a high school friend after a very hazy backroads drive, smoking pot and listening to music. I sat down on my couch, loaded up the DVD he brought with him, and I was fully sucked in by what I saw. Blame it on the weed if you must, but the film transported me. I was watching this film as if it were really going on around me. Dialogue was elevated yet down to earth. The situations in each chapter seemingly grounded and yet so far from my sheltered suburban upbringing. I could not get over hearing Quentin Tarantino saying the N-word. Was I offended or was it just so strange to hear the word so nonchalant in its delivery. Even Jules let it go. I still find myself blown away by the film after seeing it over a dozen times.
The magic is in the style. Tarantino as we know is a superfan of cinema. There is no doubt his influence on newer filmmakers, but he takes his love of films from the highest arthouse films to the pulpy drive-in/discount theater days of his youth. Things can get dingy and grimy in Tarantino-land, and we love the look and the feel. We can get grimy with the stars of the film, and we are able to live a strange seedy life for the 2 or more hours we spend there. Music, dim lighting, cigarette smoke and of course gunfire are a part of the proceedings, and we are so into it all we don’t even flinch.
Performances are another benchmark. Whether it’s Travolta’s heroin-addled assassin taking cokehead Uma Thurman to a diner out of a fever dream, or it’s Bruce Willis destroying a motel room over a missing watch, there is just something so special about the acting here. Small parts being played by big actors, or comedy coming from the deadpan of one Mr. Wolf, and yet you believe every single portrayal on the screen. The beauty is in the participation. Marcellus Wallace isn’t just a quiet menace, he’s also so cool! The essence of cool is ever-present even in some of the characters worst moments.
Each vignette is a special one, but I have to say that The Bonnie Situation will always be my favorite. The one chapter of the film that my own mother actually enjoyed, the scene plays like an episode of I Love Lucy, except we have Jules and Vincent stepping in for Lucy and Ethel, and a dead body standing in for a wheel of smuggled cheese. I remember telling, practically begging my mother to watch the film, which she wasn’t enthused about. She hated Jackie Brown for as she said, “wasting her time.” Coincidentally, that is my favorite Tarantino film of all time, but I digress.
Showing my mom Pulp Fiction, she was irritated until we got to the point where Jules, Vincent and Marvin are speeding away from the apartment building. The gun going off was an audible “Oh, shit!” from my mother, followed by a hollering, howling laugh as the blood and brains mixture hits the window. She laughed until she cried, asked me to rewind it and howled again. Then we get to Jimmy’s house over in Toluca Lake, where they argue about bloody towels, maybe using Lava instead of whatever soap Jimmy has and enjoying some serious gourmet shit, AKA coffee, had my mom in stitches. I love hearing my mother laugh, and knowing at the very least she enjoyed my favorite moment in Pulp Fiction is something I’ll always love.
As for the other chapters of the film, there are no weak moments. I think the film continues to go on and on, filled with comedy, violence, shocking story twists, and a whole bunch of heart. I have yet to find myself no interested in watching this film repeatedly, and 30 years since the film was released, there is absolutely no age or dated material in the film in my opinion. I only hope the film gets the same love it always has as time marches on. One hopes the new morals police won’t come down too hard on the films unflinching views of violence, drug use, casual racism or foul language. The film plays as a time capsule and should be looked at as such. A time capsule of how cinema could be fantastic if the filmmaker is able to create something original, wild and so different. We miss films like this in modern cinema. Pulp Fiction: 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition gives the fans another way to collect their favorite film, and for newcomers to have some fun with the film before and after they’ve watched it!
Read Brandon Peters’ Review of the 4K UHD Blu-ray HERE
Video
Read about the video quality HERE
Audio
Read about the audio quality HERE
Extras
Read about the extras HERE
Exclusive to this 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition 4K UHD Blu-ray is a black slipcase which houses the 2022 4K UHD Blu-ray with a new slipcover. The slipcover has a flap that once lifted becomes a pop-up of the famous dance sequence at Jack Rabbit Slim’s (I still wish this place were real, don’t you?). Other extras are some stickers, a photography contact sheet, and lobby cards
Summary
Pulp Fiction arrived on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray in 2022 with a pretty perfect release. The only new item then was the video transfer which is top notch and quite a joy to take in. There’s no Atmos audio here, but the 5.1 is au natural and I’m sure the way Tarantino would like it kept. And over the years we’ve been given just a wealth of extras that keep intact here. This is an immediate upgrade and the definitive release of one of the finest films there ever has been. The new swag added to Pulp Fiction: 30th Anniversary edition are fun, but not necessarily for the casual fan. As it stands, now you have another option for collecting and it’s of course right on time for the holidays!
Get your copy of Pulp Fiction: 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition HERE
Adam Toroni-Byrne
Adam is a lifelong physical media collector. His love of collecting began with a My First Sony radio and his parent's cassette collection. Since the age of 3, Adam has collected music on vinyl, tape and CD and films on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray. Adam likes to think of himself as the queer voice of Whysoblu. Outside of his work as a writer at Whysoblu, Adam teaches preschool and trains to be a boxer although admittedly, he's not very good.
