Sounds like a 4th rate dvd studio to me. I seriously doubt I will replace my old Anchor Bay DVD of this title, I feel they did a great job at the title, considering the print they had to work with, I will hold off buying the new version until I hear more positive word about this unknown studio, as I would rather spend my money on a Anchor Bay DVD like FEAR NO EVIL and MOUNTAIN TOP MASSACRE. Sure dont want another FINAL COUNTDOWN like fiasco.

Shrik Show is just a division of Media Blasters, who's released a ton of Anime titles onto DVD, so they aren't a 4th rate dvd studio. They are just a kinda new company, like Blue Underground.

With all due respect to Anchor Bay, they didn't do any work at all with any print of Zombie. All they did was copy the laserdisc prepared in 1998 by Bill Lustig for Roan, including his questionable 5.1 remix (a style of remixing that Lustig has since repudiated). And they didn't even do a very good job of porting the laserdisc, as the DVD looks pretty poor. As far as I'm concerned, Zombie has yet to have a true DVD release yet, but it seems like Shriek Show will finally correct this; this will be the first time that a transfer of the film is being created that is intended for DVD release in the US.

Shriek Show is not an "unknown studio," nor are they "4th rate." Media Blasters, their company of which SS is a subsidiary label, has been around for years, and is indeed known to many. Just because you've apparently not heard of them, it doesn't mean the rest of the universe hasn't. Their track record may not be perfect in the eyes of many (although I haven't come across a problematic disc yet), nothing Shriek Show has done has been anything near a "Final Countdown-like fiasco." If anything, ironically, Anchor Bay's own Zombie disc comes much closer to Pacific Home Entertainment's Final Countdown disc than anything that Shriek Show has done. AB's Zombie disc is notorious for being considered nearly unwatchable by many, and is a sad remnant from the early days of that company's DVD releases. I'm not sure why you feel so compelled to attempt to insult Shriek Show, but you're way off base, even more so in light of the quality of AB's Zombie disc.

DJ

Thanks for the link! Yeah, I kinda have to agree with leaving the Zombie 5 banner off of it. While it's almost debatable if the previous movies should be included in the 'series' this really looks like a case of them starting to retitle any Italian zombie movie and adding it on. Before we know it they will be releasing Zombie 18: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Still looking forward to this release though, and in all truth I don't care what they choose to title the movies or associate them with as long as they keep releasing them and doing a decent job of it as they go.

As for the 2 disc Zombi 2 release, this is making me angry, Hulk like angry. About last year I'd finally gotten my Zombie Movie DVD collection to be about where I wanted it, lots of great, varying titles, etc. and now many of these movies are coming out with new special editions. Arg.. Urg...

When I finally double dip and replace them I'm assuming there will be 3 disc editions announced shortly.

That's a fairly strong opinion of a studio you have no experience with and hadn't even heard of until this thread. I wish I had that kind of keen insight. Perhaps that would allow me to enjoy some of the horrible AB discs that have been released more, and the excellent SS discs I have less.

As mentioned already, SS is a label of Media Blasters that has been around for a few years and is known for quality releases. The SS label specializes in euro-horror/exploitation movies; they have a couple of other labels like Tokyo Shock and Anime Works that you have also probably never heard of, but manage to release quality discs regardless. If you follow cult movies or lesser known titles at all, it's hard to believe you wouldn't have heard of these studios.

Please educate me on this. I was lead to believe Lustig inproved on various movies like SUSPIRIA, HIGHLANDER, DEEP RED with his remixing from other messageboards and their reviews, but it isnt the correct sound I am listening to?

MEDIA BLASTERS is botchy and all over the place in the quality department. They get the rights to great films but have botched every one that -I've seen so far- in the way of transfers and proper encoding.

I am not knocking them, I just hope they have their **** together by now.

AB version of Zombi is OK. I enjoyed the German Woodoo DVD much better. I think this SS version could be the definitive, since they've been working on it for a while.

If you think SS are dodgy, Anchor Bay release loads of defective, botched, broke dvds all the time. does no one remember they have has massive problems in the past with defective dvds?

SS seem OK from the dvds I have seen so far, I have owned loads of faulty made Anchor Bay dvds, and loads that just rot and now are useless. so they must also be a poor company.

I remember the Opera debacle. Oh that was a horrible blunder on their part. Almost forgot about that one!

not a defect par se but the people (at Anchor Bay) responsible for the close captioning for "Deep Red" is simply attrocious and downright insulting for anyone who might have to depend on this in enjoying and understanding this film.

If you are just going by studio's that have had 2-3 defective disc & calling them a "4th rate" studio, then you would have to consider Universal a "4th rate" studio

Anchor Bay has come out in public before and stated themselves that they had pressing problems with whatever plant was doing their discs. They have also been good enough to replace anything that is wrong. Now compare that to some of the big studios that could care less about anything other than the initial sale ....

As for Deep Red, it states right on the package that AB did not have parts of the audio track b/c it was missing for whatever reason. Not like they covered it up. I wouldn't buy it then. Hopefully, Blue Underground will have more luck with the film. It's not like any major studios are in line ready to release it though. If there is anything to complain to Anchor Bay about it would be the Argento discs that are not 16:9 enhanced!

With that be said, I have not had any problems with my Shriek Show dvds.

my complaint was not centered on the lack of an audio track it was for the 'close captioning' for the hearing impaired - the captioning comes across as a lazy attempt to abridge the dialogue, which they (Anchor Bay) did an awful job at.

If this is about the bad pressing, I didnt get that upset about it. I called them that day....they sent me a new and improved disc....had it within a week. what a blunder...true. but in my case...I was yellin'....what service!!

For the Zombie remix, Lustig recorded new sound effects. If you think this is an improvement, that's great. It's not what I want to hear. Thankfully, Lustig has given up on this.

And I don't know if Lustig had any hand in the Anchor Bay Highlander DVD sound mix, as there was already a 5.1 track created for the 1996 laserdisc.

DJ

What do you mean by this? I thought that the subtitles on this disc were very good. There are even two separate subtitle tracks: one for just the Italian inserts and one for the entire film. I'm not sure what you're complaining about. Are the sound effects descriptions on the CC bad or something?

The difference is that Shriek Show have released a couple dozen titles and Anchor Bay have released hundreds. That's why I said that Shriek Show has a high percentage of quality issues compared with their overall output. And what do you mean by "broke dvd"?