Violent Night appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a pretty strong presentation.
Sharpness looked good. A sliver of softness impacted some wider shots, but the film usually felt accurate and concise.
No concerns with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge enhancement remained minor. Source flaws also failed to create problems.
In terms of colors, Night went with “action-standard” orange and teal, though it leaned toward the amber side to reflect the Christmas setting. The disc replicated the hues in an appropriate manner.
Blacks were deep and firm, while shadows showed good delineation. Overall, this was a pleasing presentation.
Similar thoughts greeted the good DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack of Night. I felt the soundscape delivered an involving experience in which the action scenes offered a nice sense of impact.
The film packed plenty of these elements, so we got many instances of gunfire, explosions, and other lively tidbits. Overall, the mix filled out the room in a satisfying manner.
Audio quality was positive. Speech came across as natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.
Music showed good range, and effects offered a nice sense of impact. These were the kind of loud, impressive elements one would anticipate, as they showed solid clarity. This was a good soundtrack.
As we shift to extras, we open with an audio commentary from director Tommy Wirkola, producer Guy Danella, and writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller. All four sit together for this running, screen-specific view of story and characters, cut scenes and alterations, cast and performances, sets and locations, stunts and action, music, effects, and connected domains.
Expect a pretty peppy and brisk chat here. Despite a bit too much self-praise, the participants keep things light and lively as they offer a fairly informative look at the movie.
Nine Deleted/Extended Scenes span a total of 19 minutes, two seconds. Most of these offer minor expansions of characters, so don’t expect a lot from them.
A few worthwhile bits emerge, though, such as one in which a newly-empowered Santa threatens a “bad dad” to clean up his act. The package also finishes with six minutes, 42 seconds of “Extended Scenes”, which really means it comes as a grab-bag of trims.
A few featurettes follow, and Quarrelin’ Kringle goes for three minutes, 45 seconds. It offers notes from Wirkola, producers Kelly McCormick and David Leitch, 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio, and actors David Harbour, John Leguizamo and Alex Hassell.
“Kringle” looks at the lead character and Harbour’s performance. A few useful notes emerge but much of this remains fluffy.
Santa’s Helpers spans five minutes, 56 seconds and involves Wirkola, Harbour, Leitch, Leguizamo, Hassell, Eusebio, scenic artist/on set painter Deborah Elizabeth, head greens person Corey Ticknor, costume designer Laura DeLuca, and actor Alexis Louder.
With “Helper’s”, we cover cast and performances, stunts and action, set design, and costumes. Expect another mix of minor insights and happy talk.
Finally, Deck the Halls with Brawls lasts six minutes, four seconds and provides comments from Wirkola, McCormick, Eusebio, Harbour, Leguizamo and actor/fight coordinator Phong Giang.
Here we learn a little more about stunts and action. It offers a rudimentary overview.
The disc opens with ads for Halloween Ends and The Estate. No trailer for Night appears here.
With Violent Night, we essentially get “Die Hard with a Santa. The movie fails to quite live up to the high concept premise, but it still brings enough thrills to mostly work. The Blu-ray boasts solid picture and audio along with a reasonable array of bonus materials. Though not a Christmas classic, the film entertains.