Night Of The Living Dead DVD Retrospective

[JohnIan101]

PART I: THE 1968 CLASSIC - L

Lush is the area before you. It once was someone's huge backyard garden. Quiet observations revealed the reason. The former owners of this property had set up a solar pump, attached to their well. It continued to do it's job long after the proprietor or proprietress had fled or... joined their ranks.

Right now, that kind of speculation is pure trivial. You have a garden of fresh fruits and vegetables all to yourself. This is why keeping that clothed bag was a great idea. It's somewhat safe at the moment, the best action is to grab as many as possible and leave it as you found it - a derelict.

This way should anybody come and find this too, they won't get the idea that someone was here before and lay in wait for your return for more. That kind of carelessness can get you killed.

And apples too!

You pluck a few to add to your sack when a knocked over tin can catches your ear. Breath held and ears, full Vulcan. Hard to tell, the brick and wooden fence around this place is ricocheting the noise. Not that it matters, the hand which grabbed your shoulder did the trick in record time.

A tumbled and a near gnaw on your right ear - yup the owner is here; complete with her now so literal garden apron "Green Thumbs". She has been bitten on both legs, each showing bone through the darkened wounds.

At that point you notice there's an axe on her back. A gift to "Green Thumbs" by another visitor or an acquaintance? Either way, very handy. A shuffle here and there with a serious tug and hard swing - the former lady falls down one final time.

Looking about while calming down... nothing. This was so muted, hardly a sound from either of you. Now what?

A nearby tarp to cover the body and a return to your gathering. Why not? This is still a great opportunity, "Green Thumbs" and all.

Welcome back to Turd City. No matter how often you try to leave its memory behind, it reels you back in. Like a constant backed-up toilet.

This time out, a public domain print was given a HD release. Oh joy! As pointed out earlier, I'm not into BDs so as to be expected, I don't own this. This post is the result of many hours of research.



"Night Of The Living Dead: 50th Anniversary" streeted on October 3rd, 2017 from Mill Creek Entertainment (UPC# 6 83904 63300 2) for $14.98. It's SKU is 63300. The region A (1080p) came in a common BD case. Do not know if it's locked, but seriously why would you want???

The Blu-Ray streeted against "Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales", "Cult Of Chucky" and "Sharknado: Global Swarming".

No slipcover was issued, but it appears to have come with an insert, the instructions for the Digital Copy (don't know the expiration). No idea how many chapters; can not find that info online.

The motion picture is ninety-six minutes long.

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Extras:

jack-$hit

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Audio:

* LPCM 2.0 uncompressed

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NOTES/RANT

There are subtitles in English.

Okay.

A short entry since it IS unanimously - crap on a cracker.

This was my favorite quote from an unlucky buyer...

Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Looks like a 240p web video upscaled to DVD and then upscaled again to 1080p.

- J. S. Harbour

Indeed.

Here's another from a Blu-Ray reviewer Martin Liebman from blu-ray.com:

No clean-up has been performed, and the print is riddled with wear, pops, and scratches. It's unrelenting, and there's not a shot, scene, or sequence in some severity of deterioration, which is often thick and the presentation's most noted quality.

Here are some assorted comments.

Complete rip off. Not remastered, not in any way downloadable. Not the remaster that was advertised.

- Vincent K. Guagenti

No special features. Not an HD remaster or restoration. No features at all. 50th Anniversary Edition my ass.

- Disposable420

The VHS in the back of your closet probably looks better than this "HD" version. I hesitate to use the term remaster. That would imply an effort was made to produce an acceptable product.

- Vince Duggan

It's not worth your time. Instead, try and get a copy of the DVD 2008 version, or 40th Anniversary Edition, which has George Romero's signature on the cover. It was restored and remastered in HD.

- Eleuterio Soto

You get the point.

I've seen screen snaps, it looks so much like the video for the BCI Eclipse 2005 DVD. A December 22nd, 2016 entry - click here, should you want. Yes, not the same, but same difference.

And that's it. No seriously.

Well, rumor has it that Criterion will be releasing their version sometime next year of the 1968 classic. But no real news at this time. It's on my radar - would buy the DVD edition if it happens.

This was not the entry I wanted to give for Halloween month, but I guess this will have to do. *shrugs*



Here's a behind-the-scenes pix and quite appropriately - poor. Here's a question I don't know - is that Digital Copy given just as bad?