KillerQ

Hey all,

As many of you may know, there is a new version of Night Of The Living Dead coming out today. Has anyone previewed this DVD? How is the "set-top game"?


I'll pick it up, because i have never tried the colorized version (and this one is supposed to have improved color), and the humorous commentary


Here is a description:

"Night of the Living Dead

(1968) George Romero's iconic zombie masterpiece gets colorized in yet another DVD release, this one with a remixed 5.1 soundtrack and comic supplements. But don't worry, true believers, the original B&W mono version is here as well.

SUPPLEMENTS: Comic commentary by Mike Nelson (of Mystery Science Theater 3000), a set-top zombie game, and vintage horror trailers.

DETAILS: Full screen, DTS and Dolby 5.1 remix and original Mono, optional English captions, B&W and colorized versions. No rating. Fox."


It looks like it will retail around $10 -- which is cool.... any thoughts?

Thanks,

Matt

mikewendt

I'm sorry but this release looks garbage. Romero said on the commentary track of the Mellenium Edition that, that's the definative version of his film & the one he'll own in his collection. I figure that's good enough for me...

Groucho

The only reason to get this would be the Mike Nelson commentary it seems.

stinkeye

review

Crocker Jarmen

I hope to see it in a video store some time. I'm a little curious to see how the movie would look in color.

There's a pretty good review of this DVD somewhere on the site.

QuiGonJosh

I'll stick with the ME...how can you honestly top that DVD? Its impossible...you cant! CULT JUSTICE!

Gil Jawetz

God, it makes me sick that they would colorize this film. Including the b&w version doesn't help. These people should be ashamed. Disgusting.

KillerQ

Hey,

I am a huge fan of this film -- and i Believe that if you are a true fan of a film, you will respect how other people honor it.... That is, i don't think that they are trying to upstage the ME edition with this one -- this is just a release with some features not available before that they think fans would like-- i mean, i don't know... I think it's cool... nothing to get mad over. If they colorize it, and you don't like it - fine, but don't get angry - it's not like they are recalling all of the BW versions, and making this the ONLY version....

I guess the people that don't like releases like this also have tribute/cover bands as well....

Matt

Gil Jawetz

Why? It's a fluke that Romero didn't copyright this an so it fell into public domain. If he owned the rights no one would have the opportunity to colorize it without his permission. This is straight-up bastardization. Unlike Lucas, who owns his films and can do whatever nonsense he wants to them, NoTLD is an orphan and can be abused by any shyster with a computer. There's a company that has turned it into a 3D movie, with a headache inducing technique that doesn't work. Colorizing this film is like colorizing Citizen Kane: The B&W is beautiful and is integral to the film. I love Adam's reviews, but if I had reviewed this one it would have gotten a big fat SKIP IT for the colorization.

I'm waiting for someone to go back and release black-and-white versions of popular color films.

sracer

The problem is that retail shelf-space is at a premium. Stores aren't going to be stocking multiple versions of the same film. The result? Low quality trash like Madacy's disc fills shelves. Then there is the "marketing" factor of AB's 30th Anniversary set.

Anyone looking for NOTLD, would easily find Madacy's or AB's disc, but it was virtually impossible to find either of Elite's disc. With yet another POS release, at a lower MSRP, it will be even more scarce to find the Elite disc.

I guess that I can sit back and say, "no biggie, I got my Elite ME disc, and my brother has the original Elite disc".

ArchibaldTuttle

I will be picking this up for the commentary, the colorization might be cool too, it will look nice next to the ME.

Gil Jawetz

But... WHY?!?!

clckworang

I just can't see myself picking up a colorized version of this film, no matter how good the extra features. I still curse myself for ever picking up that 30th Anniversary Edition from Anchor Bay. It was just awful. I'm so happy to have the ME disc.

ThatGuamGuy

Do you really think that the sort of person who would be bothered by this is the sort of person who would not special-order (or order on-line) a title if they couldn't find it? I definitely agree with you that the ME is the best version, but if somebody doesn't care enough to find that out, do you think they would also be the sort who are bothered by the end product? Personally, I don't think so.

I'm also quite curious what Mike Nelson will do with a good movie.

Adam Tyner

I'm enough of a purist that I choose not to watch colorized versions of movies and would prefer that it not be done at all, but as long as I can see a movie the way it was intended, I'm not really bothered by whatever alternate versions may be floating around. It's like having a DVD with the widescreen version on one side of the disc and a cropped version on the other. As long as that widescreen version is provided and as long as it isn't compromised by the presence of an alternate version, I'm good to go.

Unfortunately, Mike Nelson's commentary (which, not surprisingly, is the only reason I was interested in this DVD) is only available over the colorized version.

I wouldn't have recommended the DVD if the only version on it were colorized. Think of the colorized version as a bonus feature you'll never watch.

The same thing he does for The Beast of Yucca Flats -- although I love Night of the Living Dead, Mike doesn't seem to care for it all that much.

cultshock

Mike's commentary is the only reason why I'll be picking it up too. It's too bad that the track is only on the colourized version, but at least the price is right.

Gil Jawetz

Oh, you know I totally respect your tastes, but I do think that colorization is a different kind of abomination from full-screen. And even tho this disc gives you a choice it's a disgusting example of crass consumerism. Combined with the fact that NOTLD is, IMO, one of the 5 best american films ever made, and I'm left feeling pretty damn pissed. Having the average consumer even thinking that the colorized version is an acceptible alternative shows me that the creators of this disc are scumbags. I bet if you asked buyers of this set which version they watched 9 of 10 will say the color one.

Adam Tyner

If you want to drop 'em a line...

http://www.offcolorfilms.com/contact.html

Gil Jawetz

"Dear Off Color Films:

You guys are douchebags.

Love, Gil"



I seriously doubt that there's anything I can tell them. As a non-customer of theirs my opinion really doesn't matter.

gutwrencher

color for Reefer Madness worked out perfect, I thought. here I was...baked...and watching colorful smoke spew out. couldnt stop laughing.

but color up NOTLD?

forget about it. even Nelson is not enough to make me buy yet another NOTLD release. Joe Bob Briggs...maybe.

joliom

No contest between this piece of crap and the Millennium Edition. But it does have a better cover, imho.

sracer

Who is Mike Nelson?

sracer

That assumes that the person even knows that there is an Elite ME in the first place. Believe it or not, there are plenty of people who care about DVDs but don't follow this forum... or any DVD forum.

Virtually all of the films on disc have only one release available. Someone sees NOTLD, and pick it up (not realizing that there are a dozen different releases of different quality).

But like I said, "hey, I got mine."

milo bloom

I guess it's hard to know who he is since the usual "Joel is better than..." isn't in front of the word Mike.

He was the second host of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and was a writer for many years before that.

sracer

Thanks for the info... I used to watch MST3K when Joel was the host, but after about a half dozen shows, the gag got old. But I can see why people would be interested in his commentary track.