Blu-ray

When college friends Faith (Selena Gomez), Brit (Ashley Benson), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) discover that their Spring Break vacation in Florida might be put on hold due to a lack of money, they do what any sensible young ladies would do. They rob a fast-food restaurant.

Empowered by this crime and free of any responsibilities, the quartet hit their vacation at full throttle, partying their little hearts out. But a meeting with a local rapper and gangster called Alien (James Franco) sets them on an entirely new path that will push them to their limits.

Harmony Korine's portrait of 21st Century American youth presents us with a searing vision of flesh and violence. It's a challenging film, but one that rewards you with its chilling, witty and sometimes tender portrayal of a generation lost in a landscape of superficial, hedonistic concerns.

Picture: Working with Gasper Noe's regular cinematographer Benoît Debie, Harmony Korine cooks up a neon-lit, candy-coloured nightmare with Spring Breaker's AVC 2.40:1 1080p encode. Colour saturation is nothing short of dazzling, fine object detail is excellent and the disc handles the film's heavy grain with aplomb.
Picture rating: 4.5/5

Audio: Just as Spring Breakers isn't your typical, everyday movie, so it is that the film's sound design is equally unconventional. So, while it's true that dialogue and narration both play a key role in the film's soundtrack (and are delivered perfectly by the Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track), the major driving force in the mix is actually the music. And it sounds unbelievably good.

Composed by Skrillez and Cliff Martinez, the film's dynamic score provides the tempo that drives the film forward, drawing you into the chaotic narrative as it weaves its way around the entire soundstage with a ferocious energy.

However, it's not all big bass beats and pounding percussion. The mix proves just as acoustically adept and even more absorbing in its quieter moments – a prime example being the brilliantly creepy yet touching moment when James Franco's Alien tinkles the ivories and regales his new girl gang with a performance of Britney Spears' Everytime.
Audio rating: 5/5

Extras: The Blu-ray disc features a fascinating chat-track from Korine alongside a Making of… doc (26mins), a short reel of raw behind-the-scenes footage (2mins), brief featurettes about the film's director and stars (2mins and 1min respectively), premiere footage (2mins) and the theatrical trailer (2mins). All of the video content is presented in HD.

A bonus DVD adds several of the extras that were featured on Lionsgate’s US Blu-ray platter, including the three-part Breaking it Down: Behind Spring Breakers documentary (22mins), a single deleted scene (1min), outtakes (8mins) and a featurette about the film's soundtrack (7mins).
Extras rating: 4/5

We say: A superb hi-def package ensures that this unconventional drama hits plenty of highs on your home cinema setup

Spring Breakers, Universal Pictures, All-region BD/R0 DVD, £25 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 4.5/5