Night Of The Living Dead DVD Retrospective

[JohnIan101]

PART I: THE 1968 CLASSIC - H P1

Darkness. This Fall evening is ready to rain; thick clouds cover the moon, but rather than free water from above - it denies you. The canteen has less than a mouthful. And without that precipitation you've opted to save those precious drops. Instead you drank the syrup that came from a can of peaches. Not quite the meal you wanted, but it serves its purpose, though it was generic.

There is a knock in the distance or rather below, muffled, but somewhat regular. Not much noise and more of a nuisance than a concern. With all you've seen and survived, you thought it was safer to take retreat at a cemetery - all of the fresh tenants have left months ago for... comfort food. Well - minus that undead fellow who was buried before the event hit; too weak to dig himself out.

So you have the place to yourself and the nearby mausoleum has stone walls and roof which is under serious consideration for a base of operation for the next few weeks. It has a gated door which you can shut and lock. And with some effort can be made quite homey. An inflatable bed and perhaps if you're lucky some decent solar panels, plus add some of those rechargeable walk way path lights - you got a swanky pad. Twenty of them will decently light up the tomb. And add a black blanket to cover the light from the gated door. All of which is doable.

But like so many of your plans, it comes to a halt - just like that. Those muffled knock has turned into an audible break of wood. Where was it coming from? This is your place, no room for lookie loos. And you certainly don't want his moans to become a becon. But things are gonna get real dangerous from this pitch black evening. And now there's lightning. WTF? It's gonna be one of those days.



Back in the July 14th, 2016 entry for the 1990 remake, I wrote about a 1993 documentary on the original which was released on VHS back in the day; the bonus feature for the 25th Anniversary set. Shortly after posting, I bought it - "Reflections On The Living Dead: Limited Edition".

This is an official DVD-R (manufactured on demand) titled. It was released on November 24th, 2015 from Tempe Entertainment for $14.99. Catalog number is TD-1130. UPC# is 8-22928-11309-5. The region 0 came in a common DVD case with a printed wrapaound (not an ink jet print out), looks nice. It does come with a printed disc label which does look ink jet.

The wrapaound is double printed; on the other side is a different title - "Robot Ninja: Limited Edition". Also region 0. The movie is from 1989 and from the images on that back, looks like crap. This too is an official DVD-R.

The DVD streeted against "American Ultra", "Shawn The Sheep: Movie" and "No Escape" (which is practically a zombie flick).

The release came with no slipcover, nor slipcover.

The DVD-R has fourteen chapters.

The documentary is seventy-nine minutes long.

- - -

Extras:

* Newly remastered print
* New introduction by writer/director Thomas Brown
* New interivews with Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman
* New interview with actress Judith O'Dea
* Additional Trailer: "The Dead Next Door [remastered] (anamorphic, 1989)

- - -

Audio:

* Dolby Digital 2.0 (stereo)

- - -

NOTES/RANT

There are no subtitles.

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

It is presented in full screen as was the original '93 release. I have no idea how limited this re-release is.



Above is the source, Simitar Entertainment Inc.'s two VHS box set (UPC# 0-82551-3193-2). The two tapes were housed in an embossed foil slipcase (catalog number 3159).

Cassette one had a movie introduction by actor John Carradine (who was not in the film).

*shakes head*



The menu is no frills. No sub-menu for chapters or audio selection. Just one button 'Play'. Why even have this screen if you offer zero options?

When heard about this doc (this past July) I did a search and discovered that it was released as an MOD by itself; remastered and recut. The new editing fixed pacing issues which was a problem the first time around - dull. And added a new interview footage with O'Dea along with new interviews with Hardman and Eastman. That VHS run time was 55:42 minutes (presented in hi-fi mono). What was that box set's price?

I am unable to tell you. Not gonna try, that info was lost to time.

Let me address this first before I continue. This was the source. For the January 14th, 2016 post, I wrote about another NOTLD documentary, "Chronicles Of The Living Dead!". That doc had archival footage of George A. Romero, Karl Hardman, John A. Russo and Russell W. Streiner; the roundtable interview is brief there, more like snippets.



But here we get the whole package. The video looks decent, not great, but not terrible. And considering the re-master came from an old VHS tape, I can't say anything too bad about it.

Just so you know, that statue on the coffee table is a Grim Reaper (designed by Kevin Yagher). "Horror Hall Of Fame" aired in syndication on October 27th, 1990; Night '68 won a lifetime achievement award. This was suppose to be an annual event, but only one was made. Shame.

Back on topic; it also has interviews with celebrity filmmakers; Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, Tobe Hooper, John Landis - horror icons in their own right.

And additional interviews with other filmmakers such as Fred Olen Ray, David DeCoteau and Scott Spiegel. Plus interviews with the editor of "Film Threat" magazine, Chris Gore and the editor of "Cinefantastique" magazine, David E. Williams.

Anyhow, you can tell that Landis was excited about the topic. He was happy. The rest of the filmmakers were subdued about it.



The interviews with Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman; they talk about creating the ghoul effects and the film's library music. Along with reminiscing on the production was entertaining with scrapbook photos.

By the way, footage with Spiegel and Hooper looks the worst, it was shot outdoors at dusk. The light was fading.

The magazine interviews were fine.

One other thing; the audio - the hiss associated with camcorders is present here. Not terrible, but you can miss it, it's prominent.

This video starts with the usually FBI warning on pirating, but has text on the bottom which reads, "Blah freakin' blah, make all the copies you want but don't sell them, ya jerks!"



The program begins with footage shot at "Evans City Cemetery" (Franklin Road, Evans City, PA) with Thomas Brown. Shot for the remastered re-release, new. But it starts with still frames from the beginning of NOTLD, snap shots if you will.

It made my ass tight. It keeps going on and on and on. "This is filler" I said to myself. The introduction could've been done as a voice over. Man, the way it's presented screams amateur, complete with a zombie walking in the background (Rod Dysinger). It looks so cheap.