Him 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

Him arrives on 4K UHD with a HEVC / H.265 2160p presentation graded in Dolby Vision HDR, sourced from footage captured on an Arri Alexa 35, a Red Komodo, and a Teledyne FLIR T1020. The feature is presented in a variable aspect ratio, with the opening material framed in a taller 1.78:1/1.85:1 composition before settling into 2.39:1 for the main body of the film. Added grain in the final grade yields a pleasingly filmic, organic texture while preserving exceptional clarity. Fine detail is a constant strength: sweat, grime, scar tissue, and the increasingly battered state of Cam are sharply rendered, as are the textures of concrete, turf, fabrics, and drifting desert dust. Depth is robust in both wide desert vistas and tight interior corridors, with helmet reflections, campfires, and ritual lighting all benefiting from the boosted contrast.

The Dolby Vision grade supports a slightly desaturated overall palette that still appears natural, especially in early-life scenes with Cam, while allowing select elements—particularly reds—to stand out with greater saturation. Warm, sun-baked exteriors look rich without tipping into oversaturation, and cooler interiors maintain controlled, slick hues; red-and-black ritual imagery, blood, and insignias gain striking intensity from the expanded dynamic range. Black levels are luxuriously deep yet avoid crushing, with notably improved shadow definition over the 1080p presentation and stable, well-delineated detail in deliberately dark environments. Whites can be piercing when allowed, further expanding contrast. X‑ray imagery offers razor-crisp delineation of bone structure and movement, while thermal sequences from the Teledyne FLIR T1020 lend an eerie, almost demonic cast that heightens the story’s more religious and occult shadings. Compression is exemplary on the 66GB disc: the image is clean and stable, with no evident macroblocking, banding, or artificial sharpening, and the fine, consistent grain structure never interfereswith

The 4K UHD’s primary English Dolby Atmos track is an immersive, aggressively cinematic mix that opens with immediate spectacle and rarely lets up. Jets arc overhead with convincing travel as they streak across the stadium, the triumphant event theme swelling into a bold blend of brass and percussion that wraps around the listener. The mix smartly contracts for more intimate scenes, becoming more front‑focused and modest in domestic spaces before surging back to full-stage orchestral and choral intensity as emotions escalate. Dynamics are wide and controlled, navigating from hushed psychological tension to explosive impacts—helmet collisions, slamming doors, gunfire, and ritual sound cues—without distortion. Low-frequency activity is deep and sustained, giving real weight to the hip‑hop‑inflected score, training drills, tackles, and nightmarish ritual moments; the subwoofer channel receives a vigorous but well‑defined workout.

Atmos height channels are used frequently and with purpose rather than constant showiness. Overhead elements such as passing aircraft, desert winds, echoing whistles, medical machinery hums, and eerie stingers contribute to a layered, anxiety-driven soundscape that enhances the film’s psychological edge. Surrounds are active and precisely steered, generating a convincing 360‑degree field with echoing shouts, footsteps moving behind Cam, environmental textures of the compound, and swirling whispers and chanting during ritual sequences. Directional effects are spot‑on, and immersion stays near-constant without sacrificing clarity. Dialogue is consistently clean and well-prioritized through the center, from Marlon Wayans’s tonal shifts to Cam’s quieter, breathier exchanges, which remain intelligible even when score and effects peak. Additional audio options include Spanish and French Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 tracks, with subtitles provided in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

The extras package for the 4K UHD of Him is compact but thoughtfully curated, combining narrative “what if” material with process-focused featurettes and a substantial commentary. Alternate and deleted scenes—especially “Zay’s Nightmare,” “Food or Freedom,” and the five-scene block—deepen character dynamics and sharpen the film’s social satire. Production pieces cover performance prep, staging football-as-horror, and the score’s role in sustaining dread, while Justin Tipping’s feature commentary gives detailed insight into themes, design, and shooting decisions. The set is issued as a 4K, Blu-ray, and Digital combo pack, with a Steelbook option available.

Extras included in this disc:

• Alternate Ending: Zay's Nightmare: Dark, surreal alternate climax (2:13).
• Deleted End Credits Scene: Food or Freedom: Brief, unsettling epilogue (1:07).
• Deleted Scenes: Five scenes (Cheers, Don’t Be a Mascot, The Publicist, Fantasy Football, Cam’s Discovery) totaling 13:19.
• Becoming Them: Cast’s physical and mental prep (9:07).
• The Sport of Filmmaking: Production craft and on-field staging (10:10).
• Anatomy of a Scene – Rebirth: Breakdown of transformative sequence (4:25).
• Anatomy of a Scene – A Diabolical Game of Catch: Analysis of ritual-like drill scene (4:53).
• Hymns of a G.O.A.T.: Composer Bobby Krlic on building tension and terror (4:36).
• Feature Commentary: Justin Tipping’s detailed track on inspirations, production, costuming, sets, and performances.

Him, directed by Justin Tipping, fuses sports drama and supernatural horror around Cameron “Cam” Cade (Tyriq Withers), a gifted young quarterback whose career is derailed by a brutal on-field-style assault. When childhood idol Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), an eight-time champion for the San Antonio Saviors, invites Cam to rehabilitate and train at his isolated desert compound, the offer seems like salvation. Instead, the visit becomes a hallucinatory trial in which mentorship curdles into manipulation, ritual, and blood sacrifice.

The narrative charts Cam’s psychological descent in parallel with increasingly punishing physical training and invasive medical procedures. Surveillance, injections, and nutrition regimens gradually give way to occult-tinged rites involving masked figures, red liquids, and transfusions that tie Cam into a clandestine G.O.A.T. bloodline designed to manufacture generational superstars. The compound’s brutalist architecture, sterile interiors, and vast desert exteriors turn everyday sports spaces—weight rooms, turf, film study—into arenas of dread, amplified by distorted concussion imagery, thermal/x‑ray-style visuals, and an unnerving soundscape of pads colliding, lab equipment humming, and breath faltering under exertion. Wayans’s Isaiah oscillates between soothing coach and demonic taskmaster, keeping both Cam and the audience off-balance, while Elsie White (Julia Fox), Tom (Tim Heidecker), and team doctor Marco (Jim Jefferies) orbit the scheme as enablers and potential betrayers. Themes of toxic masculinity, racialized ownership, and the commodification of Black bodies are refracted through football’s “next man up” ethos, culminating in a ritualized, gore-soaked endgame where Cam must either embrace the contract that predestined his rise or violently reject the system that built him.

Him ultimately lands as a jagged but lingering experience: a violent, nihilistic football horror story that uses body horror, supernatural and Satanic overtones, and the specter of head trauma to unsettle on multiple levels. The (American) football-driven imagery meshes with Cade’s injury and potential unreliability to create a disturbing, sometimes disorienting perspective, while the film’s commentary on sports culture—especially the treatment of child athletes, obsessive fans, and demanding parents—feels as troubling as it is credible, even when there isn’t enough narrative space to explore every idea in full. Bold, strange, and unexpectedly emotional, the film can be frustrating in its ambition, yet it lingers, not least because of Marlon Wayans’ forceful turn as a late-career horror antagonist and its piercing questions about how far someone will go for the approval of a hero.

On 4K UHD, Him benefits from a strong home-video presentation. The disc’s video and audio quality are excellent, supporting the film’s visceral violence and nightmarish football imagery with clarity and impact. The 4K release also offers a substantial suite of special features that delve into the production, providing added context for the film’s creative choices and tonal risks. For viewers drawn to its leads—particularly Wayans—or to the concept of football-inflected body horror and psychological unease, Him in 4K UHD stands as a technically impressive and thematically potent edition, even if it may be a one-and-done viewing for some audiences.