Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Sudden Death gets a new 4K Blu-ray from Kino

EJ Tangonan

The Die Hard-at-a-hockey game that stars the Muscles from Brussels and features some outlandish sequences skates home in glorious clarity this summer.

jean claude van damme, sudden death

Many action stars tried their hand at a Die Hard copycat. Sylvester Stallone had Die Hard-on-a-mountain with his action movie Cliffhanger. Wesley Snipes had Die Hard-on-a-plane with the movie Passenger 57. Steven Seagal had both Die Hard-on-a-boat with Under Siege and Die Hard-on-a-train with Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. Martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme would get his own copycat film in the form of Die Hard-at-a-hockey-game with the 1995 film Sudden Death. You can now take the violent hockey action home with an all-new 4K transfer with the ultra HD Blu-ray from Kino, according to the announcement on Blu-ray.com.

Van Damme’s fare with this sports-themed film has its share of fans but is more notoriously known for the amusingly wild sequences that utilize its hockey setting, which include Van Damme fighting a terrorist who is disguised as a mascot for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as well as Van Damme finding himself as a goalie for the Penguins during a play at the Stanley Cup finals as he evades the bad guys. The film also stars Powers Boothe, Raymond J. Barry, Michael Gaston, and Audra Lindley. This film is considered to be one of the lesser clones of Die Hard that infamously features Van Damme’s character correctly GUESSING where the terrorists have planted bombs at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena.

The synopsis per Blu-ray.com reads,
“Ex-fireman Darren McCord (Jean-Claude Van Damme) has a new job working security at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. Hoping to impress his kids, he’s scored tickets to the Stanley Cup Finals, unaware that the place has been taken over by a group of terrorists. Ex-CIA agent Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe) is holding the vice president hostage in a press box and plans to blow up the building if he doesn’t pay the ransom. But, when Darren learns of his scheme, he jumps into action to save the day.”

The specs read:
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Subtitles
English SDH
Discs
4K Ultra HD
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD-100, 1 BD-50)
Packaging
Slipcover in original pressing
Playback
4K Blu-ray: Region free
2K Blu-ray: Region A

The Sudden Death 4K release hits the market on August 27.