Zodiac 4K UHD (2007) Review | Road Rash Reviews

4 stars, a brilliant restoration of a classic serial killer film.

Zodiac is a 2007 crime, drama, thriller film, written by James Vanderbilt (White House Down, Scream) and based on the non-fiction novels Zodiac (1986) and Zodiac Unmasked (2002) by Robert Graysmith (Auto Focus).

Directed by David Fincher (The Game, Se7en, Gone Girl), this remarkable film based on the actual case files of The Zodiac Killer has enjoyed a 4K restoration and is available to own on 4K Ultra HD from 7th July 2025, courtesy of Warner Bros Home Entertainment.

“The Examiner’s going, but won’t go front page. I say let’s go front page, if he kills twelve people it’s not our fault.”

It’s July 4th 1969 and amid the celebrations, Darlene Ferrin (Ciara Moriarty), a married woman and her lover Mike Mageau (Lee Norris – Greyhound) head away from the crowds and park up at a remote location. Another car pulls up and Darlene is fatally shot, while Mike is left for dead at the scene.

One month later a letter arrives at the office of the San Francisco Chronicle claiming responsibility for the attack and also including one third of a cipher which he claims contains his identity. The other two parts are sent to the Vallejo Times and the San Francisco Examiner, with the condition that they should be printed on the front page, or he will kill twelve more people.

Crime reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr. – Air America, Weird Science) is on the case, with the not very welcome help of code obsessed Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal – Source Code, Southpaw, Nightcrawler), the paper’s political cartoonist who correctly predicts that he won’t reveal his identity. He also uncovers an additional clue which proves to be very helpful and sees him brought in to help.

Inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo – Begin Again, Now You See Me 2) and Inspector Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards – Miracle Mile, Experimenter) are the officers on the case, but it soon becomes apparent that there have been cases in other areas and collaboration between the departments is almost non existent. Their main suspect Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch – Lucky, The Invitation) is ruled out by his handwriting, and as the years roll on with more killings and more letters and all the suspects being ruled out, the sense of desperation to catch this killer grows into an obsession for some of those investigating.

“This is the Zodiac speaking. I am the murderer of the taxi driver over by Washington Street and Maple Street last night. To prove this, here is a blood stained piece of his shirt.”

Zodiac is a brilliant film, superbly written and directed and with a stunning cast of actors all at the top of their game. It offers chilling insights into one of the most infamous unsolved serial killer cases in the US.

It is expertly directed and brings tension by the bucket load as well as being pretty brutal in places. It’s chilling to think that it is all based on actual case files and very easy to see how the case turned into an obsession for those involved.

The conversion is really good, the picture is clear and crisp but still retains all of it’s brooding atmosphere. This release also includes a Director’s cut, which adds an additional five minutes, my only complaint with this is that only the theatrical release is in 4K, the Director’s cut is standard Blu-ray. That aside, this is a great package and well worth adding to your collection.

“I enjoy needling the Blue Pigs. Hey, Blue Pig, I was in the park, you were using fire trucks to mask the sound of your cruising prowl cars.”