Diary of the Dead -----> May 20th
 

Fangoria announced the street date for Romero's newest dead film, Diary of the Dead on DVD May 20th from Weinstein/Genius. No word on extras or a Blu Ray release as of yet.

Also on that day, a new version of Night of the Living Dead will be released. This year is its 40th Anniverary.

Personally, I can't imagine a better SE of NotLD than Image's Millenium Version. That had 2 audio commentaries, interviews, and a pristine print. Plus, I have it autographed by all the cast and George. :)

I had the opportunity to see Diary in Dallas (it never came to Omaha) but I got too busy down there, so that's a blind buy for me.

Looking forward to Diary.

I hope that each disc is bundled with a bottle of Dramamine.

Yaaaaaay! I can't wait!

Terrible, terrible film.

Thanks for the Threadcrap.

He's right though.

As much as I love Romero, this is easily one of his weakest efforts. Everyone I saw the flick left feeling upset that Romero made a zombie film that simply was just bad.

I own Night, Dawn, Day and Land; but will not be purchasing Diary.

Please the movie was cool people. I'll definitely be buying it and getting it signed at the NJ fango con now the NOTLD new one? Probably not. It would have to be sweeeeeeet.

Well, at the very least, this is a film that would not benefit greatly from a BD release.

I get it, April Fools! Good one, OP!

This is a film that may benefit from the DVD format. It is sort of a failure, but one with some worthwhile scenes and some decent zombie kills. My advice is to fast forward anytime one of the characters is giving a monologue on the nature of the media.

Weinstein Co., no bluray edition... that's not new news...

Diary of the Dead

Audio Commentary with George A. Romero, Director of Photography Adam Swica, and Editor Michael Doherty
”For The Record: The Making of Diary of the Dead” – A ninety minute, five-part look into the creation of the film including interviews with the cast & crew.
”Character Confessionals” – A series of “in-character” confessionals from the cast that were not seen in the final film
”Familiar Voices “– A look at some of the original recording sessions of three of the famous voices used in the background of the film.
”MySpace Short Contest Winners” – The Best of the “MySpace” Diary of the Dead contest winners
Night of the Living Dead: 40th Anniversary Edition

Duane Jone’s Final Audio Interview
Audio Commentaries
”One For The Fire – The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead” - An all-new 90 minute documentary on the making and enduring appeal of the film featuring cast & crew interviews.
Restored all-new 4x3 1080p HD transfer


Also the cover art has been posted. Diary has its one sheet as the cover, with the Demension Extreme logo on top left and NotLD is a really plain cover all black except for some fire glowing behind shadowed zombies. Ugly, IMO.

I liked it - as in it didn't suck - but yeah, it's probably the weakest of the Dead films.

Agreed with the "threadcrapper". I'm a HUGE Romero fan, but Diary was a major misstep in his career. I'll probably still pick this up so I can revisit it, and hopefully enjoy it more, but I really disliked it in theaters.

the link to the cover art I mentioned: http://www.zombiefriends.com/club/news.asp?nid=60

Maybe the film, Diary, will work better on DVD than in theaters? I never saw it, like I said, but despite the wildly mixed reviews I'm eager to see it. At least the Weinsteins are giving it attention on DVD, those extras seem good. Romero said to me when we talked about its release pattern in Feb, that it bombed in Toronto but did good in cities like Chicago and LA. He did mentioned that e expected it on DVD soon, that was Feb 20thish so May seemed reasonable.

I just hope Weinsteins don't do such a weak release pattern for Mother of Tears.

NotLD DVD extras seem repeated from Image's Millenium Ed, except for the new transfer (although that was pretty sweet looking) and the new 40th anniversary doc. Might hold off on this release...

I thought it was much better than Land, and I liked Land. Can't wait to pick it up and see it again. I really don't see what was awful about it (the acting as usual is awkward, but Romero makes it quite charming in his own way). It even had some of the best stuff in any of his films (the Amish guy comes to mind). I also thought it wasn't as blunt with it's message as Land.

Hope they make a part 2.

Here's a few things that made this "film" awful:

• Shakey cam. Was it really necessary?
• Terrible acting. If this was supposed to have the feel of "lost footage" ala Blair Witch Project, it failed... miserably.
• Special Effects. None.
• Story. It was a hodge-podge smattering of things that were disconnected. I never felt connected with any of the characters.

Other bad things:

- Motivations: Are you really going to stop to charge your battery when zombies are eating your friends? Are you really going to let a zombie chase your friend around and not help just so you can film it?

The people were annoying. Romero's anachronistic tendencies were too much for me this time around. The "message" of the film was delivered about as subtly as a kick to the groin, unlike Dawn of the Dead.

I could go on, but I wrote a review for it and that was about as much as I care to talk about the demerits of the film.

KC: You might want to put - motivations in spoiler tags... :)

Wow. Both films look to be fucking stacked.

I may be in for NOTLD.

Coverart for Night is awesome.

I'm in for Diary, but not sure about NOTLD. I have the Image release, and mine's signed, too.

I'll get Diary because I love Romero and am a completest. Also the hope that it gets better with repeat viewings (like Land did).

I hate the cover, though. Did they really need to release it thgrough Dimension Extreme?

I agree with whoever said that DIARY OF THE DEAD is a film about obnoxious characters in an RV driving past far more interesting movies.

I love Romero, I love his films, I'm a HUGE fan of his DEAD movies...and I thoroughly hated, hated DIARY OF THE DEAD. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's Romero's PHANTOM MENACE. And I'm not sure how anyone can tell how good the extras are based on a press release.

Buyer beware.