Carrie (1976) 4K UHD Screenshots (Patreon)

Video

Newly remastered for this release, there is one misgiving: Color. The push toward blue, readily apparent in the principal's office after the opening credits, looks wholly digital. That coolness is aggressive, robbing the contrast and altering primaries. Alternatively, an amber push causes flesh tones to bottle up at their deepest tones, lacking nuance and muddying gradients. Carrie suffers from lessened vibrancy than what's likely possible due to this altered palette.

Everything else looks sublime. Grain preservation doesn't challenge the encode, the disc able to keep up. Steamier cinematography means sharpness doesn't pop out like other masters, but it's there behind the mist. Fidelity, detail, and texture shines where possible within this 4K scan.

Dolby Vision does what it can, but as stated above, color grading sapping brighter elements of their zest. Not everything lacks vibrancy, say candlelights in the home. Prom brings sparkling dresses, star decorations, and a disco ball. Black levels drop low, if not to pure black. There's enough firmness to create dimensionality though, even if the contrast falters.

Audio

It's a threesome, including dual mono, stereo, and 5.1 tracks, all in DTS-HD. Of those three, the dual mono is the personal preference, with an analog-like warmth, natural balance, and only slight aging in the fidelity. But, things being what they are, the surround track will earn the attention.

That's a decent upmixing, but comparatively, dialog sounds overly bright, even forced through the center. Sparingly used rear channels hardly make the mix worthwhile over the others. Rain comes from the rears, and music will stretch outward, but that's it.