909 Night of the Living Dead

[Michael]

What about the restored, 40th anniversary DVD from Weinstein? That's what I have and I think it's pretty good.

[ianungstad]

Night of the Living Dead and Eraserhead are two films that mk2 added to their catalog last year. The film is in the public domain but I believe mk2 is repping Romero in an official capacity. (so they probably have access to the original elements, etc.) On the mk2 site they have it listed as "restored in high definition":

http://www.mk2pro.com/film-en/night-of- ... d/?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A year ago I emailed mk2 about Eraserhead and they said that they've sold it to a new US distributor who were going to re-release the film in theaters this year but there hasn't been a word on that since. I assume they've easily sold Night of the Living Dead as well. So there should be a really nice new edition on home video coming up sometime in the not too distant future. Criterion? Anchor Bay? Who knows.

[domino harvey]

What in the world? Code Red just released a double bill with a version of this film they've referred to as Night of Livin Deadz (Screencaps here). The product description:

NIGHT OF THE LIVIN' DEAZ UNRATED/2.35:1

George Romero directs this cult classic! The radiation from a fallen satellite might have caused the recently deceased to rise from the grave and seek the living to use as grub. This is the situation that a group of losers penned up in an old farmhouse must deal with. Racial tension escalates as African-American brother Duane Jones tries to tell everyone what to do, and one honky (Karl Hardman) doesn’t want to listen. Code Red is proud to present this classic motion picture in the euro-cut in 2.35:1 Letterbox as many Asian countries viewed it that way. To add some creativity, we did a tribute to Al Adamson by adding color dimension to this historical release.

SHOWN IN LOLLIPOP COVERMATION

I repeat: What in the world?

[knives]

That has to be a late April Fool's joke.

[solaris72]

"Lollipop covermation"......?

[Koukol]

This is a movie that actually benefits from low quality sources. When I want to rewatch this one, I dig out my decades old EP mode VHS tape. Otherwise, the Elite is the best option.

I disagree.

Seeing the Weinstein print made me appreciate Romero's Cinematography much more with the deep inky blacks.

[Koukol]

Bill from CodeRed said they had some time on their hands so they made that DVD on a goof.

[manicsounds]

Code Red having time on their hands sounds about right. They keep releasing nothing for long periods of time...

[domino harvey]

They've actually released a lot of stuff in the last six months, have you checked their Big Cartel site? They just do direct sales now, so you won't find 'em on Amazon

[Orlac]

Seems a stupid move from a company that claims to never sell anything

[Orlac]

Some interesting news of missing scenes - http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p ... count=2142" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Attention Arrow!

[Numero Trois]

Some interesting news of missing scenes - http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p ... count=2142" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.avclub.com/article/george-ro ... ead-227091" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://mentalfloss.com/article/70163/ge ... ad-footage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dwk]

Looks like the restoration is complete, but I don't see any mention of any additional footage: Night of the Living Dead 4K restoration to premiere at MoMA

[Gregory]

MoMA lists the runtime as 95 minutes, but if it included the newly rediscovered footage it would be more like 105 minutes.

[jsteffe]

MoMA lists the runtime as 95 minutes, but if it included the newly rediscovered footage it would be more like 105 minutes.

Romero's comments suggest that the restoration was more focused on visual quality than restoring deleted scenes. This makes sense, though it would be nice to see the deleted scenes as extras.

If the Film Foundation has supported this restoration with MoMA, there's reason to hope that the Criterion Collection will release it. Certainly the film is worthy of being in their catalog!

[Gregory]

I'd guess that it was decided that the footage from the found 16mm workprint would look very noticeably of lesser quality than the rest of the 4k restoration and they couldn't countenance that.
The nearly ten-minute scene should never have been cut from the film in the first place, so now that it's found it's frustrating to see the film (presumably) continuing to be presented without this key footage of the major zombie sequence of the film. I'd much rather have a temporary drop in quality for those 9–10 minutes than have them go on being left out for the foreseeable future. Maybe I'm just being impatient here, but this new restoration was why this long-lost footage was dug up in the first place so it's maddening to see it continue to be out of viewers' reach.

[dwk]

If the Film Foundation has supported this restoration with MoMA, there's reason to hope that the Criterion Collection will release it. Certainly the film is worthy of being in their catalog!

Not that this necessarily means anything, but George Romero was at the FilmStruck launch party.

[hearthesilence]

George Romero will also be at the MoMA screening.

[Drucker]

Tickets went on sale at 9:30 this morning and already sold out. Very bummed. I left my house at 9:20. I'm neurotic, so I was inclined to wait until they went on sale and buying them, but I figured there was no way on a Saturday afternoon they'd all sell out. Oh well.

[hearthesilence]

Hah, I tried to get them at 9:45ish, never believing they'd sell out so fast on a Saturday morning too! Never underestimate the horror crowd.

FWIW, there is another screening the following Saturday, but Romero won't be there and I think it's the smaller theater.

[Drucker]

Wow. Can't believe it sold out in 15 minutes.

[FrauBlucher]

I can't help but think this will tour the country in the new year. I guess the distributor is up in the air at this point. Hopefully Janus.

[dwk]

Glenn Kenny tweeted about the rumored deleted scenes:

The rumored "zombie attack" scene does not exist, per Gary Streiner. The inventory unearthed a minute more of basement scene (hence jumpcut) which as I understand it wasn't reinstated.

[Gregory]

Then I guess the question is why Romero was saying very different things at events last year, as confirmed by multiple parties in attendance, and talking about an additional six minutes of dialogue in the workprint footage.

[swo17]

Feb 13