Offspring appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Apparently shot on Super 16mm, Offspring suffered from the stock’s limitations.
That said, a lot of the flick looked pretty good. Delineation actually worked better than suspected.
This meant largely positive accuracy, with only moderate softness in wider or darker shots. Though the movie didn’t demonstrate great accuracy, it tended to appear fine.
I noticed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes failed to manifest themselves. Grain seemed appropriate, while print flaws became a moderate issue, as periodic specks, scratches, tears and blemishes appeared.
In terms of colors, Offspring often opted for a light teal vibe, though orange popped up for fire-lit scenes among the cannibals. These tended to look fine, if not impressive, and HDR gave them a little extra zing.
Blacks were reasonably deep and dense, while shadows were acceptable. They could be a little murky during nighttime shots, but that wasn’t a serious issue.
HDR added some impact to whites and contrast. Given lowered expectations that related to 16mm, this seemed like an adequate presentation, with the main issues related to source defects.
As for the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it used the spectrum in a mildly involving manner. Most of the material revolved around environmental information, with occasional snatches of music as well.
Though the mix lacked ambition, it still featured appealing activity around the spectrum, especially during the more overt horror moments. Nothing dazzled but the soundscape opened up moderately well.
Audio quality worked fine. Dialogue felt reasonably natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.
Music showed nice range and impact, as the various songs and score packed a good sense of dynamics. Effects appeared accurate and tight. This turned into a decent soundtrack for a creepy tale.
As we shift to extras, we find two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from director Andrew van den Houten, writer Jack Ketchum and cinematographer William H. Miller, as all three provide a running, screen-specific look at the source novel and its adaptation, cast and performances, sets and locations, various effects, photography and editing, stunts, and connected topics.
Expect a pretty solid commentary here, as we get a nice overview of the project. The discussion keeps us with it the whole way and offers a lot of good notes.
By the way, if you wonder why van den Houten and Miller refer to Ketchum as “Dallas”, that’s because “Jack Ketchum” exists as the pen name for Dallas Mayr.
For the second commentary, we hear from director Andrew van den Houten and digital colorist Matt McClain. Both sit together for their running, screen-specific discussion of the source novel and its adaptation, cast and performances, sets and locations, various effects, photography, recoloring and cleaning for the 4K scan, and related domains.
A chatty piece, this turns into a fairly enjoyable conversation. However, it leans too heavily on a look at the updated visual rendition of the film and too little on the actual production.
Not that we don’t get good notes about the flick’s creation, as the track offers useful material in that domain, and I admire that van den Houten attempts to avoid repetition with the info in the original track. Still, the push toward the new scan makes this an inconsistent commentary.
A slew of video pieces follow, and Pollyanna and Andrew spans 14 minutes, 21 seconds. It involves a chat with van den Houten and actor Pollyanna McIntosh.
They talk about the franchise as a whole, with an emphasis on McIntosh’s role and performance. This turns into a lively and engaging chat.
Fly on the Wall lasts 42 minutes, 40 seconds and consists of behind the scenes footage from the production. We follow the tech scout through the formal shoot, with glimpses of final scenes as a comparison.
I always enjoy this kind of material, and “Wall” works really well. The footage seems consistently compelling.
Next comes Progeny. It fills 20 minutes, 47 seconds with remarks from van den Houten, McIntosh, Miller, author Jack Ketchum, production designers Brian Rzepka and Krista Gall, sound mixer John D’Aquino, executive producer Frank Olsen, 1st AD Sarah Grant, stunt coordinator Daniel Lemieux, and actors Holter Graham, Erick Kastel, Ahna Tessler, Stephen Grey, Edward Nelson, Leigh Shannan, Amy Hargreaves, Andrew Elvis Miller, Art Hindle, Preston Mulligan, Jessica Butlet, Tommy Nelson and Spencer List.
We get notes about story/characters, cast and performances, stunts, effects, sound and other production domains. Actually, much of “Progeny” shows additional footage from the shoot ala “Wall”.
However, these elements come along with plenty of comments from those involved. That makes it a good overview.
Eight Webisodes occupy a total of 17 minutes, 42 seconds. These involve Gall, Rzepka. Miller, van den Houten, D’Aquino, Ketchum, Miller, Tessler, Nelson, and Hindle.
The clips give us little nuggets of the shoot as well as more behind the scenes shots. These remain moderately promotional but they’re more substantive than I expected given their purpose.
An extension of one webisode, Meet Jack Ketchum runs six minutes, 16 seconds. The shorter version goes a mere one minute, 20 seconds.
The author tells us about his work and the cinematic adaptation. Though brief, this becomes a good chat.
A Restoration Comparison fills two minutes, 50 seconds and displays the original scan on the left with the 4K transfer on the right. The latter does show improvements but they’re not night and day.
Audition to Scene spans one minute, 11 seconds and lets us contrast the tryout from Miller with final film footage. It acts as a clever POV.
With First Stolen’s Bailout, we get a three-minute, 12-second clip. It involves van den Houten, Grey, PA Lee McEwen and line producer Zorinah Juan.
Via the other extras, van den Houten and others refer to a incident that involved Grey during the shoot, and “Bailout” lets us see the fallout as it happened. It becomes an interesting view of this issue.
Three segments pop up under Archive Easter Eggs: “Cannibal Dance” (0:24), “Kid Cannibal” (1:13) and “Prowler Stick” (0:41). These provide silly moments from the shoot that don’t seem especially compelling but might offer some fun.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we finish with an Image Gallery that shows 77 instances of movie shots, photos from the set and ads. It becomes a nice compilation.
As a story of baby-eating cannibals, Offspring occasionally musters some violent urgency. Too much of it seems erratic and borderline dull, however, as the meandering story fails to give us much of interest. The 4K UHD comes with decent picture and audio as well as a solid selection of supplements. Expect a forgettable low-budget horror tale.
Note that this 4K UHD version of Offspring comes as part of a two-film package. It also includes a 4K rendition of 2011’s The Woman.
