Heart and Souls Retro VHS edition Blu-ray review

Jun 13, 2022- Permalink

1993’s Heart and Souls, directed by Ron Underwood, is the latest entry in Mill Creek Entertainment’s cute Retro VHS Blu-ray series where the slipcovers recreate the boxes of popular video store rentals. This comedy stars Robert Downey Jr. as a businessman whose guardian angels since childhood are a quartet of ghosts (Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard, Tom Sizemore and Charles Grodin) who now need him to help them with their unfinished business so that they can be released. The cast also includes Elisabeth Shue and David Paymer.

The 1080p AVC encoded video transfer is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It’s a good looking transfer with good details in the usual suspects (faces, clothes and locations) with a light level of film grain. The colour palette is full of bright colours. Black levels are pretty good with some loss of detail in shadows and darker scenes.

On the audio side, there’s an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English. The audio track has some good ambient sounds in the surrounds but the real star is the score which is bright and dynamic. Dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized in the mix.

As mentioned, Heart and Souls is part of Mill Creek’s Retro VHS series. The slip cover looks like a VHS tape partially out from its box, while the “box” has the appearance of a video store rental including an image of a “Staff Pick” sticker. The disc also comes with a nice selection of bonus materials including a lengthy interview with director Ron Underwood, interviews with screenwriter S.S. Wilson and production designer John Muto, as well as a theatrical trailer.

Heart and Souls has a great cast coupled with good video and audio presentations. There’s also a nice amount of new bonus material. If you remember this one in your local Bloackbuster back in the day, it’s a fun addition to your collection.