Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I’m usually a fan of the Elseworld’s DC stories from time to time. Especially when they deal with Batman as it’s a nice change of pace from the typical Batman centric detective stories. Taken from the 2000-2001 graphic novel of the same name, Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham is an H.P. Lovecraft inspired horror story that was originally penned by the co-creator of Hellboy (and the feel and tone shows just how much Hellboy took from H.P. Lovecraft’s works), in what would be one of the oddest Batman stories ever.

The story opens up with Bruce Wayne in an alternate reality world, and in a 1920s/1930s time line dealing with the after effects of an arctic team gone missing. Headed by Oswald Cobblepot (William Salyers), the team has been missing for quite some time and Bruce (David Giuntoli) and his two sons find the crew massacred, and a lone expedition member named Grenden who has mutilated himself and babbling incoherently about the great one returning. Returning to Gotham Bruce is forced to don the cape of Batman once more, as the whole of Gotham seems to be going crazy. Grenden soon escapes, and monsters start unleashing themselves upon the city in the form of the cult of Ghul (headed by Talia), who is after an ancient tome that very well may hold the secret to what lay up in the great north.

But every step that Bruce takes towards an answer, creates a horror and monstrosity along the way that very well may test the Batman more than any other villain has ever seen. Not only that, but tie his own destiny with the past, and the sins that his father and others brought upon their children many many years ago.

Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham is a fun story, and for a PG-13 film, carries quite a bit in the way of horror elements in it. Sam Liu still has his trademark dialog and Batman light stuff, but the Lovecraftian themes displayed throughout are a drastic change of pace, even from the heavily R rated Constantine stories of late. Sadly there’s not a whole lot of character development with side characters like Oliver Queen, Cobblepot, and even Poison ivy, but instead re crafts many of the age old rogues gallery and hero friends into twisted and warped versions of themselves within Lovecraft lore.

Personally I have never read the graphic novels from 20+ years ago, so I’m not sure how well the film stuck to the source material, but I really liked The Doom that Came to Gotham. It really feels like a story taken right from the pages of Hellboy or Call of Cthulu games from back in the late 90s. A bit bloodier than normal, but still not R rated, the flick is creepy, twisted, and since it’s stuck in the Elseworlds universe, is perfect as a one off take on classic characters, despite some awkward lack of back story that could have been aided in fleshing out the story a tad.




Rating:

Rated PG13 for some strong violence, disturbing images, language and brief partial nudity




4K Video: Video:

The Blu-ray included is rather mediocre, with banding galore, and suffers from heavy black crush due to low bitrate and a very dark aesthetic that really taxes the Blu-ray capabilities. The 4K UHD, however, is much better overall, with stronger colors, and much better blacks. The film is still very VERY dim most of the time, but the hot neon greens and blood reds really pop off the screen due to the HDR, and blacks are deep and inky with only ONE scene where I caught any major banding (the scene in the Ghul lair where the bird beaked monster comes out of a whole in the wall). Color rendering is deeper and richer, while the blacks just that much inkier. Fine details isn’t going to be hugely improved over the 1080p image as the art style doesn’t scream tons of intricate details, but the better black levels make it easier to see things, and thus a boost in textural details.





Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio mix is pretty much in line with most of the other DCAU films. And by that I mean that it’s generally “good”, but never really a great mix. The action is right up front and in your face, with moderate surround usage and decent bass response for some of the action sequences (the end with the great one coming through the portal is the best), but overall it’s not going to blow you away. Kind of like the animation style, the audio mix just doesn’t have a lot going on except for the typical score and “whizz, bang, biff, pows” of the action sequence. Bass is adequate, but once again, just doesn’t stand out as super incredibly powerful. Good, not great, but more than satisfactory.







Extras:

• Batman: Shadows of Gotham (New Featurette) – An examination of themes of existential dread in a world drenched in gothic overtones that combine to create one of Batman's most unique adventures.
• Audio Commentary – Filmmakers and storytellers, including producer/co-director Sam Liu and screenwriter Jase Ricci, take in all the gothic horror and intrigue of Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham.
• Previews
• From the DC VAult
- The Demon's Quest: Part One
- The Demon's Quest: Part Two

Final Score: ​

It’s not perfect by any means, but Batman: Doom That Came to Gotham is a fun side story from the main DCAU tales. It’s got a deliciously tasty Lovecraftian theme, with some fun takes on age old characters in an entirely different time period as well as time line. The 4K UHD disc is definitely better than the “meh” Blu-ray disc that is included, and while extras aren’t ENORMOUS, they are fairly informative. Worth checking out at the very least.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: David Giuntoli, Gideo Adlon, Karan Brar
Directed by: Christopher Berkleley, Sam Liu
Written by: Jase Ricci, Mike Mignola, Richard Pace
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French DD 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG
Runtime: 109 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: March 28th, 2023

Recommendation: Check it Out