Night of The Living Dead on BD

[John Hodson]

DVD Times reviews Network's Night of The Living Dead.

[Fresno Bob]

Oh no, a total horror show

[Lee R]

It's what I expected really. A hi-def transfer of a public domain print. You could argue the Network disc is a more authentic viewing experience, complete with a random print cut... but you'd be mad to choose it over the Optimum release.

[Smiler]

I'm still hanging on to my Optimum copy by the looks of that review.

[rickcurz]

The cropping on the Optimum doesn't look that bad.

[Andrew Smith]

I didn't notice the cropping until it was pointed out to me, but now that it has been it is really pretty inexcusable.

[rickcurz]

It is inexcusable, but the industry is rife with it. Practically every film has some cropping, and the cropping on this one ain't that bad. If you compare it to the cropping on for instance all of the vinatage TV releases released over the years like the first season of Space 1999 (Carlton which is badly cropped - the Network remaster is correct). I agree, transfers ought to expose every last mm of image - full width, full height - unless otherwise specified by the production folks who made it. I used to be an absolute stickler for the aspect being perfect, and to a certain extant I still am, but recently I purchased the ITV BR of Thunderbirds (1964-6) and it has been reformatted from 1.37:1 (original neg) to 1.77:1, and doesn't suffer one jot. Apparently, the film makers had to contend with rounded matted TVs back in the 60s and so things were framed with a generous border of wasted space to accomodate. Night of the Living Dead (1968) would have been projected at 1.85:1, and most likely Romero would have framed it for that ratio as commercial cinema's could not (indeed still can't) show Academy ratio correctly (or are reluctant to change their mattes). He prefers the Academy ratio for this film and Martin (1977). However, NotLD can take the mild cropping. This disc is supposed to have decent picture and sound, taken from the same master as the Dimension Extreme DVD of a couple of years ago, even down to the well regarded 84 minute documentary.

The Beaver is very positive about the Optimum BR, stating that thr cropping is "mild":

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcom...livingdead.htm

Although Beaver is incorrect in stating that the doco is off the BR of Diary of the Dead (2007).

[Fake Shemp]

There's a BD release of this coming out September 08 from local distributor Shock but there's no details yet of which transfer their using. They're also releasing 2 disc blu rays of Dawn Of The Dead and Day Of The Dead.

[rickcurz]

Arrow in the UK have already put out well-regarded ALL region BR's with loads of extras already.

[Lee R]

Although Beaver is incorrect in stating that the doco is off the BR of Diary of the Dead (2007).

It was on that release, though.

[rickcurz]

The doco - One for the Fire: The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead (2008) - on the Optimum (UK) Night of the Living Dead BR is off the Dimension Films DVD from 2008/9, and not off either the US or UK BR's of Diary of the Dead:

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparison....php?fid=13438

[Lee R]

You're right. My memory cheats.

[Borderline]

Arrow in the UK have already put out well-regarded ALL region BR's with loads of extras already.

"Well-regarded" is going a bit far. I have read enough (possibly bullshit) negative reviews and forum-based arguments that for now, I am sticking with my (crappy, but cheap) Anchor Bay releases.

[Lee R]

Really? I have the AB discs but have heard nothing but praise for the Arrow editions. I'm planning on picking up the Arrow editions when they drop in price a bit because they apparently haven't been badly DNRed unlike the AB editions.

[Borderline]

I'd be interested in your thoughts because I have heard that they are badly DNRed (possibly not quite *as* badly) and come from the same crappy pre-DNR transfers as the AB releases.

I have, however, not seen a single review from a source that I fully trust.