Night Of The Living Dead DVD Retrospective

[JohnIan101]

PART I: THE 1968 CLASSIC - C1

This outing I'm covering a remastered (once again) DVD - 40th Anniversary Edition. *jazz hands*

You're getting three parts this week!



It was released on May 20th, 2008 from Genius Products (#81174WRP1) for $19.98. It came in a regular DVD case.

The DVD streeted against "George A. Romero’s Diary Of The Dead", "Killing Zelda Sparks" and "24: Season One - Special Edition".

This release originally came with a cardboard foil slipcover which mirrored the case's wraparound. It also came with a single sided advertisement for this very release and "Diary Of The Dead".

The motion picture is ninety-six minutes long.

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Extras:

* Newly remastered print
* Commentary 1: director/co-writer George A. Romero, co-writer/actor/film editor John Russo, producer/actor/make-up/electronic sound effects/still photographer Karl Hardman and actress Marilyn Eastman
* Commentary 2: producer/actor Russell Streiner, director of photography/actor/assistant camera Bill Hinzman, actress Judith O' Dea, actor Keith Wayne, actress Kyra Schon and production director/actor Vince Survinski
* "One For The Fire: The Legacy Of 'Night Of The Living Dead'" documentary (anamorphic, 83:48 minutes)
* "Speak With The Dead: A Conversation With George A. Romero" August 26th, 2007 interview (anamorphic, 15:48 minutes)
* "Ben Speaks: The Last Interview With Duane Jones" December 13th, 1987 (audio only with stills from the movie, 16:46 minutes)
* Still Gallery (68 images)
* Theatrical Trailer
* Additional Trailers: "George A. Romero's Diary Of The Dead" (non-anamorphic, 2007), "Halloween" (non-anamorphic, 2007) and "W∆Z" (anamorphic, 2007 - also known as "The Killing Gene")
* Home Video Ads: "Inside: Unrated" (non-anamorphic, 2007) and "Automaton Tranfusion" (non-anamorphic, 2006)
* DVD-ROM: Original Screenplay (PDF)

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Audio:

* Dolby Digital 2.0 (remastered mono)

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NOTES/REVIEW

There are subtitles in English and Spanish.

The DVD is not dubbed in any language(s).

Some bits before we get to the meat (as it were) of the review.

There was an early misprint when the 40th was announced - having Dolby Digital 5.1. Not true. If you want that kind of audio you need to seek out Elite Entertainment's "Millennium Edition" or 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's 2004 colorized version (also came with DTS).

The commentaries are once again from the 1994 laser disc special edition, not a bad thing. Both were very thorough, nothing to complain. It could be a statement of how great they were. *nods*

The gallery here is abbreviated. Elite Entertainment's 2002 "Millennium Edition" has 159 pictures. Both releases (this and that) are dwarfed by the "25th Anniversary Collector's Edition" LD ('94) also from Elite Entertainment; some 400 images. Just a reminder for those keeping track.

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When I first reviewed this in 2008 I wrote that the film has an 'ever so slightly blue hue'. I wish to recant.

As I cull the specs for the disc I'm viewing it on my portable DVD player. I don't see any of that indigo, looks very black and white. I may have been tired at the time of writing, I'm a night owl so it may have effected my viewing.

The film has never looked as good as it does now. I mean NEVER. The release prints (1968) were done on out of date film stock and left overs, Walter Reade (distributor) went the cheap route. This 40th outshines the previous best, the "Millennium Edition".

All the fine details are now to be seen, like the very lite stripes on Ben's shirt. While its true this edition has more grain, it doesn't get in the way. Double edge sword, some are bothered by that sort of thing. As I wrote, this was never printed on grade-A stock.

Okay. This is a hot topic among die hard fans - framing. The presentation on the "Millennium Edition" is actually window boxed; fuzzy black frame around the screen. This boarder was taken out for the 40th. A lot of people are claiming it's digital zoom. I don't think so. I believe they struck a new master from a better print. Here an example...



Left is the 2002 release, the righ is 2008. As you can see there is a boarder on the ME. The boarder is gone in the 40th, but there is MORE of the image shown! That's a moth flying across the camera on the lower, right hand side.

Before this new master, people were claiming that was a goof; some guy's hand waving slightly across camera, telling the actor to move (the edge of his fingers).

Nope - it's a moth.

Here's another example...



When Barbra (Judy O'Dea) first enters the farm house she's freaked out by the stuffed boar head. This is a real goof, there's a hand in front of the camera moving it into position (it's there for four frames). Once again, left '02, right '08. You can see the specks in the ME that are gone in the 40th.

But there two specs in the 40th (upper center) that are not present in the ME.

There are some scenes like where Ben (Duane Jones) disassembles a table that looks like a digital zoom. Not so much, that zoom is also in the "Millennium Edition" - caught my eye when I was comparing, it's present.

There you have it. The 40th edition is from a newer master, struck from a better print. This is a non-issue and should be celebrated if anything - we're getting a little more of the movie than the past three decade of home video (re-)releases. You don't need to lug around Dr. Theopolis to know this is a very good thing. *nods*

The biggest extra present is the near, feature length documentary. Damn impressive. Minus a few who are no longer with us, the doc has interviews with all the cast members. It was nice to see it dedicated to the late Karl Hardman (1927 - 2007). Well, minus O'Dea. For some reason she has really shunned her participation, but then again so did the late Jones. I suppose she wants to be known for something other than NOTLD.

The documentary features the very last interview with Hardman.

Anyhow, as I wrote weeks ago, if you really want all the extras (well... most); you need to have both the 40th and "Millennium Edition" DVDs. If you are just interested in the best looking version, then you only need the 40th.

The Home Video Ads and Additional Trailers are not a menu choice, it's a single long clip that runs at the start of disc play.

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The "40th Anniversary Edition" from Genius Products (#81174WRP1) as seen above in 'The 1968 Classic Reloaded - A' was re-released as an exclusive from Best Buy for the 2009 Halloween season. Sorry, I do not know the actual street date; checked my archive, couldn't find a listing. I can tell you it retailed for $14.99.

The DVD was given a new slipcover (cardboard), replacing the original cardboard foil slip. Important, the image you see here is a reproduction I made. I found one pix online for it, but the picture was low res. So I used it as a reference. Anyhow, I don't own this. Why would I? It's not as nice as the red foil one.

What is it?

It's the very same DVD release with a new slipcover masquerading as a new title. In short, Best Buy pulled a Wal-Mart (retail giant does this for its movies all the time).

Sure, there is a second possibility.

NOTLD 2008 special edition had a limited pressing. I recall reading some folks were having a hard time finding a copy in stores, only X amount were made. Best Buy made an agreement with Genius Products to sell the DVDs at their stores only.

You may be asking, 'why not just re-release in a small amounts to all stores?' True, it's for Halloween, most retail shops have a holiday movie rack (even grocery stores) - it would make a perfect fit. I agree.

This is conjecture; perhaps they still have some copies which hadn't sold, but not enough for all stores to order. So Genius came up with the idea to sell their surplus with a new slipcover to a single chain. I can tell you that when I ran into it, I only saw two DVDs at my Best Buy, limited quantities.