Red Sonja (1985) 4K UHD Review

Going purely on an uneducated guess, it seems most of the production time spent on Red Sonja was used lighting candles. There’s an entire room of them, and they’re so prominent, one of the characters who lives in this castle daily with said candles still sees the need to mention them. Oh to be the poor assistant who had to light these hundreds (thousand?) before shooting each day.

Those candles give power to a world-destroying talisman. How the talisman works or functions isn’t clear, but it’s a problem because Red Sonja’s villainous queen wants it under her control. It’s not clear because Red Sonja doesn’t really make anything clear – not the characters, not the world, or anything beyond the idea of a woman wielding a sword, and how that image would look great on a poster.

There are definitely worse movies than Red Sonja. Lots of them

It’s been reported that when attending the premiere screening, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife Maria Shriver leaned over and said, “If this doesn’t kill your career, nothing will.” I like to assume that happened during the scene where Schwarzenegger randomly appears to save the failing title hero, jumps onto a stiff metal fish prop, and wrestles with it for a few minutes. It’s pure cinema hokum.

Red Sonja has entertaining moments, and the sheer bizarre bravado in the costume design is absolutely worth sitting through this movie for. The same goes for Ennio Morricone’s score. But there’s no story momentum, especially in the first act where Red Sonja (Brigette Nielsen) wanders the land, stumbling upon events and people by sheer chance.

There are definitely worse movies than Red Sonja. Lots of them. However, there’s something about a movie that’s terrible even as it so clearly doesn’t want to be. Red Sonja has incredible landscapes, enormous sets, and a valiant attempt at epic scale, but nothing else functions as it should. Nielsen’s performance (her first) is stubbornly stiff, Schwarzenegger only appears when the story needs him to, and Ernie Reyes Jr. screeches through his part (almost his first) as a young narcissistic, bratty prince. Red Sonja follows ‘80s trends in sword and sorcery/fantasy epics, yet gets everything wrong about what made those competitors work, outside of flaunting its budget; that’s what producer Dino de Laurentiis specialized in.

A splendid 4K master from Arrow, Red Sonja looks incredible when at its best. Texture in the costumes, environments, and facial detail look dazzling. Red Sonja makes full use of the available resolution, sharpness at a consistent peak. Even in drabber moments, like those inside hazier environments, the benefits of this new scan remain apparent.

The pristine, spotless print keeps grain mostly consistent, the few spikes nominal. Arrow’s encode keeps up without any artifacting. Color carries a small sense of age/drabness. Red Sonja isn’t flattened by any means, and there’s saturation in many of the costumes. Landscapes don’t have the same energy though, greenery dulled.

Choosing Dolby Vision, Red Sonja sings with intense peak brightness when reflecting light from armor or sequins. The talisman/MacGuffin features a wonderful, perky glow. Black levels have fantastic density, if not the deepest shadows, but they provide a solid base.

Offered in original mono or a 5.1 mix (both DTS-HD), Red Sonja succeeds in terms of fidelity. While audibly a product of the mid-’80s, that causes minimal impact to the Ennio Morricone score. The 5.1 mix extends the music into the stereos smoothly, but there’s little movement in the surrounds. Much of the action stays strictly in the center.

Bass will accompany some of the larger-scaled battles, but the main support is given to the score, adding some range where it otherwise wasn’t in the past.

Two new commentaries courtesy of Arrow. The first is with critics Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth, and the second brings in comic book expert Dave Baxter. New interviews include actor Ernie Reyes Jr., action unit supervisor Vic Armstrong, Schwarzenegger’s stunt double Pietro Torrisi, stuntman Ottaviano Dell’Acqua, production manager Stefano Spadoni, FX artist Domingo Lizcano, and make-up FX assistant Adriano Carboni. An older but unreleased interview with poster artist Renato Casaro is next, along with an archival piece with assistant director Michel Ferry. Additionally, there’s a feature on Schwarzenegger’s career, with stills and trailers left.

Full disclosure: This UHD was provided by the label for review. This has not materially affected DoBlu’s editorial process. For information on how we handle all review material, please visit DoBlu’s about us page.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 42 full resolution, uncompressed 4K screen shots ripped directly from the UHD: