A hybrid aligned nematic liquid crystal compensation film using UV curable rod-like mesogen has been made to compensate the residual birefringence of a twisted nematic (TN) device at oblique viewing directions in the dark state. Effective retardation value of the fabricated film was characterized by experiment and calculation using simulation. The results showed that the film has a hybrid alignment with a tilt angle variation from 3 degrees to 19 degrees. The optical compensation effects are evaluated in terms of light leakage in the dark state and contrast ratio (CR). The measured results showed that the light leakage is greatly suppressed with the compensation film and the viewing angle characteristics of TN device are greatly improved, most particularly in the up direction. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.