Species (Blu-ray)

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The level of detail in the film ranges from being good to not-so-good. Some scenes exhibit high level of detail and the picture is clean. Other moments find a higher than acceptable amount of film grain and lack of detail. Colors are typically good and nicely saturated. Black levels are good, though in the final climax when film grain is quite problematic, the black levels get weak and the dark scenes are not nearly as effective as they would have been if the shadows were truly deep, foreboding and dark. I didn´t notice many flaws in the digital compression of the title and the dropouts that were commonplace in earlier Sony releases. Macroblocking, stepping and other flaws could not be found. Though an improvement, "Species" on Blu-Ray was far from being ´beyond high definition.´

Sound:

Sony has provided English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and English Uncompressed PCM 5.1. A French 5.1 Dolby Digital Mix is also provided. "Species" sounds adequate and is not a disappointing sounding release, but it hardly rises above the soundtracks provided on the previous DVD release. The Uncompressed PCM soundtrack is perhaps the weakest such track yet to appear on Blu-Ray, but this is not necessarily a flaw in the handiwork of the disc manufacturers and more of a problem with less than exciting source materials. Christopher Young´s musical score sounds fine enough. Dialogue is mostly intelligible, but a few lines of dialogue are muddied with the sound effects. Where the soundtrack is disappointing is that most of the action takes place solely on the front stage. Not many sounds can be heard from the rear channels and the subwoofer remains very silent through much of the film. "Species" sounds fine, but is unengaging in a home theater setting.

Extras:

"Species" can lay claim to being the first Blu-Ray title that rises above its standard definition sibling in having additional supplements added to it. The two audio commentaries that could be found on the 2004 DVD release have found their way to the Blu-Ray title. The Director and Actor´s Commentary includes director Roger Donaldson and actors Natasha Henstridge and Michael Madsen. This was an entertaining commentary and the three seemed to have enjoyed themselves during the making of the picture. I enjoy Madsen as an actor and enjoyed listening to him here. The second Directory, Producer & Visual Effects Commentary gave a detailed look at the making of the picture and included Donaldson, producer Frank Mancuso, Jr., visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund and makup effects creator Steve Johnson. For those interested with the making of this film, this is a good listen, but may be boring for casual viewers.

Two featurettes that were absent from the previous standard definition releases have found their way to the Blu-Ray disc. Presented in 4:3 480i definition video, the two mini-documentaries run for about a half hour. I do not remember if they are composed of the same material that was on the LaserDisc, but I do know they were not on the standard definition release. Designing a Hybrid looks at work that was done to bring the transformation of Sil from her human to alien form. H.R. Giger at Work was a great look into the world of artist H.R. Giger and his eccentricities. I found this second supplement to be the most entertaining part of the disc and just had wished it were longer. There are some previews and a plethora of subtitle selections, but the theatrical trailer from the standard definition release is MIA. Still, it is nice to see Blu-Ray exhibiting more features than the older release.

Closing Thoughts:

I love science-fiction / horror films. It is easily one of my favorite genres. Unfortunately, "Species" played off like a horrible mixture of "Aliens" with "Syngenor" and any of the poor Cinemax Late Night flicks. With a great cast and H.R. Giger´s artwork, "Species" fell horribly flat. The entire picture felt like an exercise in getting Natasha Henstridge to take off her shirt. I´m somewhat thankful for that, as she is an incredibly attractive woman, but I wanted to watch a movie and not just a nice pair of boobs. Effects have not held up well over the years and "Species" look more dated than some films ten years older than it. The Blu-Ray transfer is adequate without any glaring problems. The source materials are limited and this causes a limited high definition transfer. Supplements were an improvement over the previous single-disc release. If you like the film, it is an upgrade over the older release, otherwise I am not sure I´d even recommend it as a rental.

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