Son (German 4K UHD Blu-ray Review)
After a mysterious group of individuals breaks into Laura’s home and attempts to abduct her eight-year-old son, David, the two of them flee town in search of safety. But soon after the failed kidnapping, David becomes extremely ill, suffering from increasingly sporadic psychosis and convulsions. Following her maternal instincts to save him, Laura commits unspeakable acts to keep him alive, but soon she must decide how far she is willing to go to save her son. This is a review of the Son German 4K UHD Blu-ray. *The full Blu-ray review published last year can be read HERE, as there will be some adjustments to cover the 4K disc video, extras, and summary.
Film 
* The original text in this film review was published HERE
Laura (Andi Matichak) is a cult survivor and the single mother of a young boy, David (Luke David Blumm). She suffers from PTSD and the aftereffects of being in a cult and how she was pursued by its member. Now as she takes care of David, she’s starting to have visions of cult members in her home and hovering over David. David is also suffering from unexplained illness that brings forth a police investigation led by an officer named Paul (Emile Hirsch), who is sympathetic to Laura and her needs. As David ‘s illness begins to escalate, Laura also becomes more paranoid and irrational. Sinister forces are at play and will stop at nothing to bring them back to the old.
Son is a mighty fine production. It’s got a great cast and the production is top notch. The template looks and feels familiar. During David’s scenes of being sick and possibly possessed, reminded me of the scenes in The Exorcist, during Regan’s ordeal. David has a similar ordeal and you can’t help to feel bad for Laura. She’s had her own ordeal and now it is compounded by David’s.
On a technical level, and as I mentioned before, Son looks terrific. In terms of story, however, some things did bother me a bit. Laura is a cult survivor and it is illustrated in the opening act. We do get flashes of the cult that she escaped from but those are literally explored in brief flashes of light and a few frames. I wish we would have gotten some actual back story on the cult itself. The demonic foreshadowing was pretty cool, though.
Overall, Andi Matichak is always a treat to watch onscreen. Son is elevated by some nice performances and a great production. A couple of story elements could have been tweaked here and there, but those are minor nitpicks.
Video
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 3840 × 2160
Dolby Vision: No
HDR: HDR10, HDR10+
WCG: Yes
Size: UHD-66
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Clarity/Detail: I remember ruminating about how cool this would look on 4K UHD disc and I was not disappointed in the slightest. The 4K HDR enhanced picture is of reference quality, in my opinion.
Depth: Pass me a spoon, so that I may scoop this lovely transfer up. Clearly shot on digital, Son has an amazing film-like appearance making the film look like a much more expensive endeavor.
Black Levels: The film takes place mostly at night and in darkly lit interiors. Black levels are deep, inky, and free of crush.
Color Reproduction: The color remains muted for most of the film, with exception certain interiors like the various diners and neon illuminated, but still seedy, motels these are the scenes that are accentuated by the wide color gamut spectrum. Banding was not an issue either.
Flesh Tones: Flesh tones are natural and unnatural, if you get my meaning. Some characters have a more “pasty” appearance due to the horrific trauma they are going through, which is enhanced by the copious amounts of spilled blood.
Noise/Artifacts: Absolutely spotless.
Audio
* The original text in this audio review was originally published HERE.
Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, German DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English, German
Dynamics: Son may be filled with dread, but the lossless audio track is filled with a variety of awesome sonic cues. For such a dark and brooding film, the scenes featuring violence and horror violence are presented in grand fashion. Son is a terrific listening experience.
Low Frequency Extension: The LFE-subwoofer channel is quite aggressive when it comes to handling the low-end bass rumbles. The bass is always deep and without intrusive rattle.
Surround Sound Presentation: There is a heavy presence in the rear surround channels. A few cues here and there that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
Dialogue Reproduction: Clean.
Extras
The U.S. release had deleted scenes but the German 4K UHD disc only has the same making-of featurette and a trailer for Kino releases. The previously published review can be found HERE.
- Interviews with the Cast and Crew of SON
- Kino Trailer
Summary
It’s as if the 4K UHD Blu-ray Gods heard my prayer and blessed me with one of the better horror movies of last year on the 4K UHD format. I did have to import from Germany and it was totally worth it. The 4K HDR10 video specs are stellar and elevate what was already a reference Blu-ray to reference 4K UHD Blu-ray. Everything else is the same in terms of content and special features (minus deleted scenes). What was great on Blu-ray is even better on 4K UHD and definitely worth the reasonable price to import. This 4K UHD disc is region free and can be played on all 4K UHD Blu-ray players. The Son German 4K UHD Blu-ray is highly recommended!
Son on 4K UHD Blu-ray is available
via Amazon.de (Germany) and ships to the USA!
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Gerard Iribe
Gerard Iribe is a writer/reviewer for Why So Blu?. He has also reviewed for other sites like DVD Talk, Project-Blu, and CHUD, but Why So Blu? is where the heart is. You can follow his incoherency on Twitter: @giribe
