✒️ The Dark Half (1993) 4K UHD Blu-ray Review
George Stark isn’t just back. He’s bleeding through the margins.
🗓️ Release Year: 1993
📀 Format: 4K UHD + Blu-ray (2-Disc Set)
🏷️ Label: The Criterion Collection
📦 Region: Free (4K) / A (BD)
🎨 Video: 2160p UHD, 1.85:1, Dolby Vision / HDR10 / 1080p Blu-ray
🔊 Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
💬 Subtitles: English SDH
📚 Extras: See special features section below
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🪶 The Film 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Dark Half may not be top-tier Romero or peak King, but it is something darker: a feverish identity crisis, wrapped in maggoty pulp and cracked typewriter keys. Timothy Hutton pulls double duty as Thad Beaumont — a mild-mannered writer with a screaming, psychopathic alter ego named George Stark. Think Jekyll and Hyde by way of Misery, with a whole lot of birds.
Romero's direction stays lean and functional, eschewing excess for dread — not quite horror, not quite thriller, but always tinged with something rotten beneath the skin. Hutton goes unhinged (a little too much, at times), and the supporting cast includes Michael Rooker as the sheriff trying to make sense of the escalating carnage. The real fun? Watching Romero wrestle with the story’s central idea: what if the mask you wore to write became real — and came to kill you?
It’s clunky in spots, sure. But The Dark Half is rich in mood, grounded in blood-soaked metaphor, and, for King/Romero fans, deliciously unmissable.
🎥Video Quality 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Note: Stills shown are promotional and not taken directly from the 4K UHD.
Vinegar Syndrome delivers yet again with a meticulous 4K restoration scanned from the original camera negative. The Dolby Vision UHD encoding — handled by Fidelity in Motion — breathes new life into Romero’s overcast aesthetic. Blacks are deep and inky, without swallowing detail, while the fall palette hums with subdued warmth.
The image has texture — real, tangible film grain, beautifully intact and never smothered. Close-ups on Hutton’s dual performance reveal fine detail (including some gnarly makeup work), and even night scenes retain clarity without banding or murk.
This is the best The Dark Half has ever looked — no contest. If you’ve only seen this on digital or Blu-ray, you haven’t really seen it.
🔊 Audio Quality 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track gives The Dark Half a brooding, atmospheric presence, spreading subtle sonic details across the surround field without ever overwhelming the mix. Dialogue is clear and centered, effects like fluttering sparrows and clacking typewriter keys creep in from the sides, and Christopher Young’s orchestral score swells with eerie elegance. It’s not a bombastic remix, but it deepens the tension and dread in all the right ways — immersive, moody, and totally in tune with Romero’s haunted tone.
🧩 Special Features 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Vinegar Syndrome didn’t just crack open The Dark Half — they exhumed the whole damn graveyard. This 2-disc set packs in a high-bitrate UHD100 disc mastered in Dolby Vision from a fresh 4K scan and restoration of the original camera negative, plus a Blu-ray loaded with extras. You get a Romero commentary, a 36-minute making-of documentary (The Sparrows are Flying Again), and new interviews with key crew like cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts and first AD Nick Mastandrea. There's also a tour of filming locations, a 1991 Pittsburgh PBS segment featuring Romero, and a treasure trove of archival material: behind-the-scenes footage, EPK featurettes, deleted scenes, storyboards, stills, and more. Cap it off with a gorgeous 40-page book of essays (limited edition only) and reversible sleeve art, and you’ve got the kind of deep-dive collector’s package that feels just this side of necromantic.
Bonus Features:
2-disc Set: 4K Ultra HD (High Bitrate UHD100) / Region A Blu-ray
4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
Commentary track with writer/director George A. Romero
"My Roots with Romero" (12 min) - an interview with first assistant director Nick Mastandrea
"A Merchant Ivory Cameraman in Pittsburgh" (10 min) - an interview with cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts
"Shadows of the Past: Locating The Dark Half" (5 min) - a featurette on the shooting locations of The Dark Half
"George Romero and The City of the Living Dead" (10 min) - excerpts from a 1991 Broadcast on WQED, Pittsburgh's Local PBS Station
"The Sparrows are Flying Again" (36 min) - a making-of documentary from 2014 with writer/director George A. Romero, special make-up effects creators Everett Burrell and John Vulich, visual effects supervisor Kevin Kutchaver, actor Robert Joy, editor Pasquale Buba, and more!
Archival making-of featurette from the Electronic Press Kit
Archival interviews from the Electronic Press Kit
Behind-the-scenes footage
Deleted scenes
Storyboards
Image gallery
TV spot
Original trailer
40-page perfect bound book with essays by Daniel Kraus, Scout Tafoya, and Lawrence DeVincentz (Limited Edition Only)
Reversible sleeve artwork
English SDH subtitles
📦 Packaging
The 2-disc set comes housed in Vinegar Syndrome’s signature hard slipcase — embossed, textured, and gorgeously illustrated. Inside, the black case holds both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs, with custom artwork on the reverse insert and disc faces. It's collector catnip.
🪓 Final Thoughts 🌟🌟🌟🌟½
For fans of split identities, Stephen King deep cuts, and George A. Romero’s brainy brand of horror — The Dark Half is a must-have resurrection. Vinegar Syndrome’s 4K edition is hands-down the definitive release, pairing a gorgeous Dolby Vision transfer with an avalanche of special features and top-tier packaging. Even better? The collector’s edition is limited to just 10,000 copies and available exclusively through Vinegar Syndrome’s website — once it’s gone, it’s gone. Don’t let George Stark get to it first.
For fans of literary horror, split personalities, and King adaptations that cut deep, The Dark Half carves out a worthy place on the shelf.
🛒 Grab The Dark Half on 4K UHD from Vinegar Syndrome:
👉 The Dark Half 4K UHD – Vinegar Syndrome
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