Isabella Rossellini gives an incredibly brave performance as Dorothy, a role that I doubt many actresses would have been willing or prepared to play. Additionally, Dennis Hopper is truly unforgettable portraying his completely twisted character Frank. The transfer is crisp and very clean looking, with a solid level of detail and little appreciable evidence of film grain. Colors are usually quite strong, providing very good saturation throughout the presentation, without any noticeable chroma noise or smearing. Additionally, flesh tones appear quite natural, that is, for most members of the cast.
Blacks are solid and the image delivers a good level of shadow detail.
Digital compression artifacts remain in check throughout the presentation. The Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtrack decodes to standard surround and it is definitely one of the better matrixed tracks from the eighties. Everything is well recorded and the sound has a genuine sense of presence. Dialogue is well reproduced, maintaining full intelligibility throughout. There are some cleanly defined channel separations in forward soundstage, while the rear channels provide a good deal of ambient sound, atmosphere and musical fill.