Likely best-known for his role on TV’s smash hit series Game of Thrones, Nikolaj Coster-Walder’s film career started back in his native Denmark. With 1994’s Nightwatch, we find his cinematic debut.

To pay for his studies toward a law degree, Martin Bork (Coster-Waldau) gets a job as a night watchman at Copenhagen’s Forensic Medicine Institute. Martin figures this will offer a quiet setting in which he can catch up on his assignments.

However, a rash of serial killings occur in Copenhagen. Along the way, Martin finds himself implicated as a potential suspect in these brutal murders.

Serial killer films are a dime a dozen, as are movies about innocent men accused of crimes they didn’t commit. Does Nightwatch manage to find a way to differentiate itself from that crowd?

Yes, though that doesn’t mean it comes across as original. While Nightwatch focuses much less on the murders than I expected as I went into it, the movie nonetheless delivers plenty of genre tropes.

In particular, writer/director Ole Bornedal goes Full Hitchcock here. Nightwatch displays an immense Hitchcock influence, right down to musical stings “borrowed” straight from Psycho.

Still, even with the heaviness of the Hitchcock vibe, Bornedal creates an involving thriller. In particular, the movie boasts a dark and oppressive tone.

Nightwatch manages to secure the viewer in an unsettling place that creates a consistent sense of tension. Even when the story doesn’t get into especially disturbing domains, the film leaves us on edge.

This goes a long way, especially given the mix of predictable elements involved with Nightwatch. In particular, Bornedal works so hard to set up one particular character as the killer that it becomes absolutely inevitable he won’t be the culprit.

Cheesy as that red herring may seem, it comes with the territory. Once Nightwatch fully invests in the serial killer side of matters, it does so in a way that creates thrills and allows us to ignore some of its genre excesses.

I can’t call Nightwatch a great thriller, partly because it feels so derivative. Still, it managed to keep me unsettled and involved from start to finish, so that counts as a major positive.

Nightwatch appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though a bit dated, the visuals held up pretty well after more than 30 years.

Overall delineation worked fine. A few lower-light interiors showed a little softness, but most of the image appeared accurate and well-defined.

The movie lacked issues with jagged edges or moiré effects, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed natural and I witnessed no print flaws.

Colors emphasized an amber overtone, though the movie brought a fair amount of chilly blues or greens when appropriate. The hues seemed to reflect design choices.

Blacks felt deep and dense, while shadows appeared well-represented. This wound up as a solid representation of the source.

While not a bad mix, the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack seemed oddly unbalanced. This meant that although effects usually popped up in the appropriate places, exceptions occurred.

Various elements could seem too loud at times, and they spread to the rear speakers more actively than felt appropriate. Although we got a decent sense of place through the film, this lack of cohesion created some distractions.

Audio quality also varied, especially in regard to effects. Those came with iffy foley work on occasion, so the elements sometimes didn’t blend well.

Speech remained concise and distinctive, at least, and music showed good range. Again, nothing here flopped in terms of audio, but the track lacked consistency.

As we head to extras, we find an audio commentary from writer/director Ole Bornedal. He brings a running, screen-specific look at story and characters, sets and locations, music, cast and performances, his US remake and a few other domains.

Every once in a while, Bornedal offers minor insights related to the movie. However, when he talks, he tends to simply narrate the film, and he goes AWOL so often that this turns into a disappointing and not particularly useful chat.

In addition to three trailers, we get a few video programs. The Making of Nightwatch spans 28 minutes, 13 seconds and involves Bornedal, producer Michael Obel, cinematographer Dan Lausten, steadycam grip Jacob Bonfils, production manager Jens Arnoldus, lighting director Michael Sørensen, clapper loader Thomas Holm Christensen, sound designer Michael Dela, foley artist Julien Naudin, and camera operator Søren Berthelin.

The program looks at photography and editing, story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, and audio. “Making” leans toward technical elements so it can seem a bit dry but it nonetheless provides some good details.

Not Afraid of the Darkness goes for 16 minutes, 56 seconds. It brings remarks from Laustsen.

Here we learn about his cinematic career as well as his work on Nightwatch.

Finally, Death in Denmark occupies 14 minutes, nine seconds. We get statements from critic and “Nordic Noir” specialist Barry Forshaw.

“Denmark” delivers an “appreciation” that covers Nightwatch and its 2023 sequel Demons Are Forever.

Despite its heavy Hitchcock influence, Nightwatch manages to stand on its own two feet. Although the movie delivers a mix of genre tropes, it does so in a skillful and unnerving manner that allow it to turn into a taut little thriller. The Blu-ray comes with solid visuals and erratic audio as well as a few bonus features. Nightwatch offers good popcorn fare.

Note that this Blu-ray for Nightwatch comes only as part of a two-film “Nightwatch Collection”. It also includes 2023’s sequel Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever.