I'll be A/B'ing it tonight with the BFI.

The impression I've gotten from screenshots (which have been misleading me more and more in general recently) and from what I have seen of the BFI disc is I expect the BFI edition of the English Language version will be vastly superior to Shouts, while the opposite may be the case with the German Version.
BFI's German version definitely has it's share of problems...especially when you compare things like establishing shots which are shared between the English and German cuts. No good reason those should look several notches worse on the German cut, but they do.

Films in motion sometimes look different than how they do in static screen caps. You also have to trust the site is digitally pulling screen caps directly from the BD. Some sites use publicity stills or analog captures.

I have the BFI edition. I also have the Scream Factory edition from the Herzog boxed set but haven't watched it, so I can't confirm. The BFI edition is gorgeous.

Hey, My Other Self, are you still able to track a slipcover copy down??? If so, you'd be my hero. I have a copy, but no slip.

I'm wondering if there isn't something in the works for Romero's Dead Trilogy.

NIGHT- Confusing to figure out what's really going on. No version at all with some retailers like DVD Empire. Amazon seems to have only versions that have been altered in some way. Two versions of re-mastered 40th ann. for streaming. One is from Weinstein Co. The OOP Elite version can not be listed by marketplace sellers because of "agreement with our content providers"

DAWN- Completely OOP on both DVD and BD

DAY-Anchor Bay version OOP. Although both Amazon and DDD have Shout version in stock, DVD Empire has it as "Discontinued"

I could see the Dead trilogy coming out next Fall. It would most likely just be a repackaging of existing discs with some new extras.

I was just thinking about this. I sure hope they are going to release it, they would be the perfect company to do so.

I don't know. Scream seems to screw up things when given the opportunity. The first film could be problematic for them.

I think it isn't so much that they screw up, but that they don't put extra money/effort into most titles. Whatever master is delivered to them, unless it's totally shot to shit, is usually "good enough" for release.

I should have chosen better words because that's what I really meant.

I think Scream works on a case by case basis since they are working hard finding the unrated cut for "The Vault of Horror". Let's not forget the work they put in to find the lost elements to "Night breed".

How could we forget? Our credit card statements are a strong reminder. Plus, Scream didn't find the Nightbreed footage, but they are doing fans a great service by bringing it to home video.

Look, I love Scream and what they do. Truly. But they seem to be putting bonus features and packaging ahead of a/v quality, something that Arrow was guilty of when they first started. I'd rather get a barebones disc with stellar a/v specs than a packed disc of supplements I may watch once, with average a/v quality.

That's actually a great theory when you think about it.

The Weinstein Company has the "rights" to the HD master alongside all of the bonus material they produced for the 40th anniversary release a few years back. I actually own the Japanese Blu-ray which is pretty much a replica of the material that TWC put out alongside having stellar picture quality. The Weinstein Company has already been willing to working alongside both Anchor Bay (well they do own 25% of Anchor Bay) and Shout Factory.

It's clear that Anchor Bay no longer owns the video distribution rights of Dawn as all Blu-rays and DVDs are now OOP, but who does? Supposedly, the 3D post-convert screened at Cannes earlier in the summer for distributors. However, no news came after that. You don't spend $10 million converting a 35-year-old film into 3D and have it sit on a fucking shelf.

Shout's release of Day is still in print. DVD Empire is shit and has been for years.

I think the issue with NOTLD is that it is in the public domain and nobody wants to do a HD master of it because anyone would be able to use it. This is the reason companies put out altered versions (like the Anchor Bay 30th Anniversary version), so they can assert copyright over their unique releases.

If Shout does come out with a Romero Dead Blu Ray box set would you prefer the original 3 or all 6?

For me it would be the first 3. I love Land , but the two after that I can do without.

They made the effort to include the Zombie Halloween films so I'd imagine that they would make an effort to include all the Dead films.

That would actually make a lot of sense since I really can't see any other reason why the original Night of the Living Dead hasn't been released (in the US at least) on Blu-ray. It'd be nice to get it though.

If they're able to license them all I'd say go for a complete set personally. The first three are the best but still it'd be nice to have them all in one set.

Not entirely true.

While yes, the film is in public domain, the "materials" are not. The HD master that The Weinstein Company made seven years ago cannot be used by any other company as they hold the license to the master. This is why the standard defition master Elite made for their original THX-certified disc and the later Millennium Edition were not used by any other company as they would've been sued. This is also why the few "bootleg" Blu-rays of NOTLD have not used TWC's HD master.

I'm a completist, so I'd want all of them. Just like wanting a complete Hellraiser set. A lot of times, I put in a so-terrible-I-could-scream sequel just for kicks and giggles.

But I realize these days of having a complete set of anything is unrealistic (obviously, F13th set is probably the most complete set ever released in movie studio history).

I wish they would do a Hellraiser set as well. Would also love it is they got a director's cut of Bloodlines for it.

The Halloween set that Scream Factory just put out is one of the best examples of a complete set as you can get. All the films to date plus alternate cuts of three of the films in the set. I generally agree though with remakes and sequels very rarely will a complete set stay complete very long.

Sorry to sidetrack a little bit, but on the subject of being a completist, when I was collecting Friday the 13th on dvd, even though I don't much like Jason Goes to Hell or Jason X, I had to own them both because I love most of the series and had to complete the collection. Whereas with something like the Simpsons, I LOVE the first 10-11 or so seasons, but strongly dislike the last 12-13 seasons. But instead of buying them all, I decided to buy none because I couldn't just own the first 10 and not the last 15. And I really couldn't buy 15 seasons I hated.

But its funny, even though it was a landmark show in my youth, I can't just own some of them and not others due to my collectors OCD. Isn't that fucked up? haha

Apparently the F13 boxed set didn't include the unrated version of JGTH, for whatever fuck reason. I always remember I saw an edited for TV version that on BET while channel surfing one day. Of all the odd places.

I've always wished we could get the uncut version of The New Blood but I don't think it'll ever happen as I don't think proper elements exist for it to be put together. Nothing fixes Jason Goes to Hell from being awful though.