One of our test room favourites is turning 40 – and there's a special treat coming for hardcore David Bowie fans

David Bowie holding a silver orb in his hands. He is wearing black gloves and his hair is in a blond mullet. — (Image credit: Columbia Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures)

In our dedicated AV test room, there is a wide range of discs that we rely on to put a variety of home cinema hardware to the test. Whether it is a premium 4K projector or a budget soundbar system, every product needs to be put through its paces with the right test discs.

And one of the most enjoyable discs that lives on our shelves is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. Enter Jim Henson's Labyrinth, a fantastical classic that has delighted audiences since 1986.

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For physical media collectors or big fans of the film, there's exciting news to mark the anniversary. You can get a collector's edition of the film, complete with a 4K steelbook. As well as the film, a selection of bonus featurettes can be found, including Inside the Labyrinth, which is a making-of documentary, and audio commentary with the conceptual designer Brian Froud. There is also a contact juggling tutorial... I can't say I'm not intrigued to see that.

That all comes in at the rather hefty price of £70 at HMV. If you want the steelbook on its own, you can snag the disc for the cheaper price tag of £32.

Labyrinth 4K Blu-ray steelbook collectors edition on a brown packground — (Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures / Columbia Pictures / HMV)

It might not be the most technically challenging, as there are no demanding fight scenes or tricky segments to push a TV's upscaling powers, for example. But the physical effects Henson is famous for remain wonderful to behold, whether that is the dizzying visuals of the Escher-inspired staircase or the tactile-looking puppet cast.

Like, say, Little Shop of Horrors and A Nightmare Before Christmas, its stellar score, including team favourite Magic Dance, makes it a great way to gauge your audio system’s performance, even if it lacks the Dolby Atmos presentation that a more modern movie would enjoy.

Plus, hearing David Bowie absolutely hamming it up as the swaggering Goblin King is always a pleasure.

Both the steelbook and the collector's edition bundle will be released on 22 June, and you can pre-order from HMV now.

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Robyn Quick is a Staff Writer for What Hi Fi?. After graduating from Cardiff University with a postgraduate degree in magazine journalism, they have worked for a variety of film and culture publications. In their spare time, Robyn can be found playing board games too competitively, going on cinema trips and learning muay thai.