909 Night of the Living Dead

[tenia]

"includes never-before-seen, exclusive animated scenes not found in the original live-action film."
It might be because English isn't my native language but I read this multiple times and can't help thinking "that seems normal that those animated scenes couldn't be found in the live action film since, you know, it was entirely live action."

[Feego]

It's not your English. It's a stupidly written sentence that confused me too. What I think they are trying to say is that, instead of being a scene-for-scene remake, it will include new scenes not based on any in the original film.

[tenia]

That's my guess too.

[Orlac]

I bet you they do nothing more interesting than animate Ben's story of Bleecklen's Diner.

[swo17]

4K UHD coming Oct 4

[Roscoe]

Well, we'll see what the reviews and those who know say, but I'm not sure how much of an upgrade it's going to be. How much better can it look than it does on that Blu-Ray?

[ryannichols7]

this is potentially that forthcoming SDR UHD..no Dolby Vision listed but it could be HDR10. I'm sure someone will email criterion and get an answer

[Finch]

If there is not even HDR, I wonder if they are reluctant to apply it because Romero is not there to approve it. And if it is indeed SDR only, I think the existing Blu-Ray will do fine for me.

[ryannichols7]

this isn't like the Kino titles they did SDR on where almost all of them previously had issues on BD (this includes Criterion's own Great Escape) - NOTLD very specifically already has a very good BD from this very same company, so if this is purely an SDR upgrade I can't imagine the difference will be that immense, and will be a bit disappointing.

[swo17]

Could the compression on Criterion's BD be noticeably improved upon?

[Ribs]

Seeing as Kino’s HDRless upgrades of The Great Escape and The Apartment are all head and shoulders above their relatively well recieved BDs and Lee Kline’s own reluctance about the format’s percieved improvements, I will give a benefit of the doubt that they’ve done their research and found it a substantive upgrade.

Also it would not surprise me if this turns out like Virgin Suicides where it does have a grade but whoever is approving the copy feels it is restrained enough to not warrant being mentioned, which could be in response to the way Citizen Kane was recieved (or not! Just a theory!)

[EddieLarkin]

Confirmed as SDR only, via email to a Blu-ray.com poster.

Seems to me this is a cash in release more than anything, NotLD was no doubt a big seller for them on BD. That said the caps will be interesting, barely passable compression isn't always apparent until you have something to compare it to.

[andyli]

Not using HDR (actually a package that combines high dynamic range and wide color gamut and 10 bit color depth) is more forgivable on a black-and-white film. The gamut gain means nothing to it anyway. Depending on the photography techniques and aesthetic choices of the director and the DoP, the high light may not yield sufficient new detail to justify the re-grade, either.

[jsteffe]

I'm very happy with the Blu-ray, which was a revelation when it came out, but I'm curious to see if UHD yields improvements in the handling of grain. It seems likely that it will.

[MichaelB]

Seeing as Kino’s HDRless upgrades of The Great Escape and The Apartment are all head and shoulders above their relatively well recieved BDs and Lee Kline’s own reluctance about the format’s percieved improvements, I will give a benefit of the doubt that they’ve done their research and found it a substantive upgrade.

Or cynically calculated (although I'd doubtless have made the same decision) that the market for a 4K NOTLD is so clearly out there that people will buy it even if it's pretty much identical to the Blu-ray.

[Finch]

Criterion confirmed the UHD edition will come in a 3 disc Scanavo case. Maybe there'll be an actual booklet this time and the poster.

[black&huge]

Criterion confirmed the UHD edition will come in a 3 disc Scanavo case. Maybe there'll be an actual booklet this time and the poster.

And now I'm surely hanging onto the blu for the digipak

[Finch]

Studio Canal are going to release NOTLD in Europe (French and German editions announced so far) and reportedly with HDR10.

EDIT: worth bearing in mind that the Studio Canal release is reportedly from different sources, a 35mm print from the UK and a dupe negative, while the MoMA restoration Criterion used was from the original camera negative. The comparison between the two 4k releases should be interesting!

[Finch]

Arthaus have put up the source specs for the German UHD which will be sourced from the same restoration as the Criterion, with no HDR. I haven't seen any word yet about the French edition.

[Orlac]

Harry Knowles reacts with his usual calm dignity to the 30th Anniversary Edition - http://legacy.aintitcool.com/node/4397

Every week, for the first 6 years of my life, I watched NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD projected in 16mm. It was the first film that I had memorized

Wait, so his parents put newly born Harry in front of NOTLD and then repeated it for 6 years????

Guess that explans why he's....all messed up.