EJ
Criterion Collection
You smell something? I smell something. I smell…I smell 4K Blu-ray!
Criterion has just released Reginald Hudlin’s 1990 debut feature film, House Party. The label gave the film a lot of love, remastering it in 4K with a digital restoration that was supervised by Hudlin. When it was originally announced, Criterion’s schedule initially listed this for last November. It would see a bit of a delay, but fear not! House Party has now been released at the beginning of the new year and we check out how this release measures up.
House Party
House Party is an all-out classic. Don’t ever let anyone tell you different. It sits on the same shelf as John Hughes’ coming-of-age teen comedies and deserves to continue its pop culture relevance. Its timelessness may be slightly hindered by Kid ‘N’ Play being tied so closely to the early 90s “happy hip hop” scene, but f*ck it. My cry two tears in a bucket, f*ck it. The themes and the story are timeless. The issues are relevant. And the fashion, slang and songs are a snapshot of an amazing era.
I grew up on this movie. I’ve grown up with many movies in which I’ve continually loved, but sometimes, a rewatch in my adult years with my evolved sensibilities can expose a movie for being what it really is and my rose-colored nostalgia glasses become incredibly apparent. Watching this movie again definitely solidifies that it’s the real deal. It’s not only a good watch, dipped in 90s memories. It’s a comfort movie. The subsequent House Party sequels would crank up the silly humor and some absurdity that those movies (coupled with the non-franchise Kid ‘N’ Play movie Class Act) kind of established a cartoonishness that could be seen as the “Kid ‘N’ Play style.” It’s kind of a throwback to The Monkees TV show with its silly visuals (like the floating alarm and phone shots in House Party 3). Here, you can tell that Reginald Hudlin had a vision and his style is perfectly grounded, but he also added some comic flair for punctuation.
The 4K Blu-ray includes Hudlin’s original short film that he made for his thesis at Harvard. When you watch it, you see that he’s had the hallmarks of the movie down early on. Surprisingly, his original short also feels grittier despite still being a comedy. It’s in 16mm. It takes place in New York. The titular party is bathed in red light. And there’s a lot of the feature film’s personality that is notably absent without the presence of the musicians and comedians. It makes you appreciate even further how great the characters are in the official movie — that you just can’t help but root for everyone. Kid ‘N’ Play are the quintessential duo where one is an underdog and the other acts more alpha. Martin Lawrence as Bilal is the perfect tag-along friend who is also the punching bag comic relief. Tisha Campbell and A.J. Johnson are the perfect mirrors to Kid ‘N’ Play and I still can’t decide who I’d rather get with, although Tisha Campbell is the perfect “girl next door” that draws you to her. Full Force (although they might not pass for high schoolers) are classic bullies of that era with their intimidating builds and bad attitude. And good lord, Robin Harris as Kid’s dad owns every scene he’s in. His dialogue is so dense, I caught jokes I never caught before and found myself laughing from discovering them for the first time.
It can’t be said enough. House Party just captures the innocence and fun of high school, which makes it endlessly rewatchable. It’s a total comfort movie. 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, VHS, Beta — if you can, you should just revisit House Party. And if you’re new to it, definitely check it out to either relive the 90s or discover the 90s right as it was blossoming.
How’s the 4K Blu-ray?
The movie is presented in DolbyVision and has a DTS-HS Master Audio Soundtrack with 4.0 Surround Sound. I made sure to watch this release in my apartment complex’s private theater room and I got to see it as I’ve never experienced before — on the big screen and in surround sound. It was an amazing screening experience as the picture looks beautiful. There are so many details I’ve never caught before that I saw on my viewing, such as being able to see the cast peppered throughout the party crowd in wide shots (in which they went through the trouble to add character moments that were easy to miss) and seeing that Kid was a big fan of the X-Men with posters hanging in his room. I also never caught certain fashion details of the era, which the 4K made pop out more, like multiple party goers sporting hearts etched into their haircuts.
The special features aren’t many, but they’re pretty good for anyone who is yearning for information behind the movie. We have a new interview with the Hudlin brothers, Reginald and Warrington, as they go in depth about their history with this movie. They recall how they went from student filmmakers to making the film and blowing up after its success. We also get a commentary from Reginald Hudlin, where he shares more anecdotes about the film scene-by-scene. The cast reunites in a 2025 interview via Zoom and everyone tells their story of getting involved along with sharing their favorite memories. A couple of cool revelations include that the amazing dance battle scene was A.J. Johnson’s idea and it was basically put together during filming. Plus, Kid ‘N’ Play revealed that New Line was ready to pass on them until executives saw a crowd of fans go “Beatles-mania” on them outside of the studio’s offices.
We also get the aforementioned short film thesis from Hudlin, which added an exclamation mark for the title to become, House Party! You can see the skeleton of the feature film in this short and how much the cast was ultimately able to contribute to the feature and truly give the final film its identity.
So, it should always be addressed — being a 4K Blu-ray — it will be pricey for a physical media disc. The format is a premium quality and it’s not nearly as common as Blu-ray is, so unfortunately, the price tag will be intimidating for casual shoppers. For collectors and big fans of this movie, I feel like it’s a must-buy.
You can check it out at the Criterion store HERE.
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Source:
JoBlo
