Blu Ray Review: <i>The Rite</i>

2011

114 minutes

rated PG-13

Available on DVD, Blu Ray, onDemand, and iTunes on May 17th from Warner Home Video

Well, this won't take long. The film looks relatively sharp, although the muted palate won't make this demo material. But the details are rich and the film seems an accurate representation of its theatrical presentation. A standard-def DVD is also included, but like most Warner DVDs, it is an overly saturated, yellow-tinged presentation with heavy macro-blocking. The film sounds pretty solid on my English 2.0 set-up, as dialogue is always audible and cleanly seperated from the sound effects and the score. As for extras? Uh... well, you get a DVD of the feature, as well as a digital copy. Other than that, you get an alternate ending (it's more 'scary' but less credible), 12 minutes of deleted scenes (I wish Rutger Hauer's scenes had made the theatrical cut, as he underrepresented in the feature), and a seven-minute EPK about the exorcism school that I wish the film itself had focused on.

So, mediocre film, great video and audio, but a near-complete absence of extras. This is the very definition of a 'rental-only' release.

The theatrical review can be found here.