Curdled - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Gabriela (Angela Jones) is just a little off. She’s obsessed with death. She’s been that way ever since she was a little girl living in Colombia. As a child, she saw a man get shot and die in the street, and instead of reacting to the violent scene with revulsion, she became fascinated. What compels people to kill? What goes through their minds when they do it? What goes through the minds of their victims? There are so many questions and so few people want to talk about it with her. They just shy away or get uncomfortable with the subject and move on to something else.

Now a grown woman, living in Miami, she sees an ad for a cleaning service that specializes in post-crime scene disposal. She jots down the number, looks them up, and goes down to their offices to see if they’re hiring, so that she can be a part of the action. Sure, she won’t see any actual bodies, but she does see the aftermath and bloody carnage left behind after the scene of a murder, and she thinks this will help her understand her obsession better.

Paul (William Baldwin) is even more off than Angela. He kills people, and he’s been dubbed the “Blue Blood Killer” because he specializes in killing rich women in their homes, spilling their rich, “blue” blood in the process. As fate would have it, his latest victim is to be cleaned by Gabriela, and there’s a key piece of evidence he needs to collect before she finds it.

The story behind Curdled is that Quentin Tarantino saw director Reb Braddock’s short film about a woman obsessed with death and liked it so much that he put a version of that character into Pulp Fiction, as a death-obsessed cab driver. He would then produce the feature-length film version that we have today. At the time of its release, it didn’t connect with critics or audiences, and it still hasn’t really developed much of a cult following. Still, I think it’s a much better film than its reputation would have you believe. It’s just good fun. I dig the style, with its Latin-flavored score and '60s-styled aesthetic. I also dig how it feels like a connective chapter in Quentin Tarantino’s cinematic universe that bridges the gap between some of his goofier fare, like From Dusk Till Dawn.

Curdled isn’t a “great” movie, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s a slight, pleasant outing with some charismatic performances that help carry the story, including Barry Corbin, who’s basically playing another version of Maurice from TV’s Northern Exposure. The funny thing is, I think that Gabriela would be more at home in the 2020s. In the ‘90s, she made people uncomfortable by asking so many questions about what motivated a killer to kill. Today, she might have a popular podcast to indulge her fascinations.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Curdled arrives on 4K UHD and 108p HD Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber Studio Classics in a two-disc release. Both discs are housed in a standard case with a removable slipcover containing identical, original poster artwork from the film’s original release and subsequent home video releases. The cover art features Gabriela cleaning up a grisly crime scene whilst blowing bubble gum.

For this release, Curdled was scanned in 4K from its original camera negatives and graded in Dolby Vision HDR. For all its dark, macabre goings-on, Curdled is surprisingly light in how it’s executed, focusing on the humor of its disturbing story, and this is reflected in both the set design and the cinematography. Aside from the blood spilled throughout this picture, the color red features prominently, as do a number of other darker colors, that saturate the frame in an ironically comforting sort of way. Many shots have a soft, dreamy focus that helps divorce the viewer by keeping them removed from the reality of violence. This isn’t a movie that revels in blood and guts; it’s a character study of a disturbed woman who means well. Kino Lorber’s release looks great, with the red of Gabriela’s uniform, or the pink from a bubble of bubblegum popping, eclipsed by the warm browns of the upper-class mansions that create the crime scenes she’s tasked with cleaning.

Like most Kino Lorber releases, viewers have the option between a 2.0 stereo mix and a 5.1 surround mix, both encoded in DTS-HD MA. Both are fine options, the stereo option favoring those who are only using their TV speakers or a two-channel soundbar. The 5.1 mix isn’t significantly different, as there isn’t a lot in the way of ambient effects here, or sound effects that make their way to the rear of the soundstage. The rear speakers mostly see action from Joseph Julián González’s jazzy, Latin score and a few loud effects that spill over, like an echo in a corridor or a radio playing softly as Gabriela cleans a scene for her job. With both audio options, dialogue clarity is favored, and viewers should have no issues with the comprehension of what actors are saying onscreen.

For a Kino Lorber release, Curdled has a robust offering of special features, many of them legacy features from Rolling Thunder’s DVD release from many years ago. There are three audio commentaries, an interview, a behind-the-scenes featurette and the original short films that inspired the movie. Quentin Tarantino’s intro and outro on the Blu-ray disc has the filmmaker explain how he came into contact with Curdled as a short subject, and his involvement in producing the feature-length adaptation.

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary - Actress Angela Jones, Co-Writer/Director Reb Braddock and Co-Writer John Maass

• Audio Commentary - Film Historian and Author Dwayne Epstein

• Audio Commentary - Reb Braddock and Co-Writer John Maass

Blu-ray Disc

• Audio Commentary - Actress Angela Jones, Co-Writer/Director Reb Braddock and Co-Writer John Maass

• Audio Commentary - Film Historian and Author Dwayne Epstein

• Audio Commentary - Reb Braddock and Co-Writer John Maass

• Intro/Outro - Executive Producer Quentin Tarantino (SD 1:12/7:25)

• Serious Fun (HD 15:11) - Interview with Angela Jones

• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (SD 8:03)

• Curdled (SD 34:17) - Original Short Film

• Baby Curdled (SD 5:54) - Shorter, demo version that would eventually become the short film Curdled

• Television Playback Pieces (SD 11:21)

• Deleted Scenes (SD 21:46)

• Danza Macabra Rehearsals (SD 6:16)

• Trailers

Curdled may be a Quentin Tarantino production, but it feels more at home with a specific kind of quirky, light independent dark comedy that tackles some very serious subjects with a good sense of humor. To that end, even though it references other Tarantino-related films, it feels less like Pulp Fiction and more like Sunshine Cleaning. Kino Lorber’s release looks fantastic in 4K/Dolby Vision with a pair of capable lossless audio tracks, supplemented by some excellent features (both archival and new). Curdled is Recommended.