The Return of the Living Dead 4K UHD (1985) (Arrow Video)

[MifuneFan]

Arrow will be releasing The Return of the Living Dead on 4K in October! The song "Dead Beat Dance" will still be replaced due to rights issues (see explanation from producer James Flower at the bottom).

UK: The Return of the Living Dead 4K Blu-ray Amazon UK/Zavvi
Arrow UK Store - HMV - Rarewaves

US: The Return of the Living Dead 4K Blu-ray Zavvi US Import
Diabolik DVD - Orbit DVD - Atomic Movie Store - Monster Maul

4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando Arocena
• Perfect bound collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Gary Smart and a preview of the forthcoming sequel comic Revenge of the Living Dead
• Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando Arocena

DISC ONE - FEATURE (4K ULTRA HD)

• 4K restoration from the original negative
• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Original* lossless mono audio plus DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by writer-director Dan O'Bannon and production designer William Stout
• Audio commentary by Stout and actors Don Calfa, Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley, Beverly Randolph and Allan Trautman
• Audio commentary by actors Thom Mathews and John Philbin and make-up effects artist Tony Gardner
• Audio commentary by fans and filmmakers Gary Smart and Chris Griffiths
• The Origins of the Living Dead, an archive interview with author John Russo
• The FX of the Living Dead, an archive featurette on the special effects
• Party Time: The Music of Return of the Living Dead, a featurette on the film's soundtrack
• Horror's Hallowed Grounds, an archive tour of the locations by Sean Clark
• The Dead Have Risen, an archive featurette with Calfa, Peck, Quigley, Randolph, Trautman, Clu Gulager and James Karen
• Designing the Dead, an archive featurette with O'Bannon and Stout
• The Decade of Darkness, an archive featurette about 1980s horror classics
• Deleted scenes from a VHS workprint
• Theatrical trailers and TV spots

DISC TWO - MORE BRAINS! (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE BLU-RAY)

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the 2017 feature-length documentary about the making of the film, featuring extensive interviews with cast and crew
• A Conversation with Dan O'Bannon: The Final Interview
• Deleted scenes from the documentary
• Return of the Living Dead in 3 Minutes
• Resurrected Settings: The Filming Locations Today
  
  * The song "Dead Beat Dance" by The Damned has been replaced due to rights issues beyond our control

THEY'RE BACK FROM THE GRAVE... AND READY TO PARTY!

Taking the genre that George A Romero invented and turning it on its (severed) head, Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon made his directorial debut with one of the most beloved horror-comedies of the 1980s: the instant zombie classic The Return of the Living Dead.

Freddy (Thom Mathews) is on his first day of work at the Uneeda Medical Supply Warehouse when his co-worker Frank (James Karen) decides to show off the airtight canisters filled with human remains in the basement, lost by the military long ago. One of the canisters unexpectedly leaks a poison gas and sets into motion a full-scale uprising of the undead, against which warehouse boss Burt (Clu Gulager), mortician Ernie (Don Calfa) and Freddy's punker friends (including scream queen Linnea Quigley) may be the last defence. If the zombies don't eat their brains first!

Scored by an immortally cool punk/psychobilly soundtrack (featuring The Cramps, The Flesh Eaters and Tall Boys), The Return of the Living Dead has rib-tickling gags and gut-churning gore by the bucketload.

Originally Posted by James Flower, Producer for Arrow

I can tell you that we certainly did try to license the song, and had set aside a generous budget in order to do so, but hit a brick wall despite our best efforts. For those not aware, in order to license a song for film and television, you need to clear two sets of rights: the publishing rights to the composition, and the sync rights to the actual recording. Sometimes those rights are owned by the same company, but more often than not, it's two different companies who both require equal terms and payment before separately agreeing a deal. (This is also why it's incredibly difficult to clear music videos as bonus features.) Anyway, after tracking down which companies held both sets of rights for "Dead Beat Dance", one didn't reply to our repeated queries at all, and another said they didn't have the rights even though they definitely do. Nothing to do with The Damned wanting too much money or hating the film - just plain old incredibly frustrating administrative inertia. (We'd asked Second Sight how they cleared it and Chris couldn't remember.) It's worth noting that MGM have gone as far as revising the end credits and the official music cue sheet to remove all mention of the song now, so it's not like there's an argument for precedent in "accidentally" including the track - it's not cleared for use, end of story. At least it's only in the background on a radio for 40 seconds - of all the songs on the soundtrack, it's arguably the most disposable.

Source (credit to dwk)

[RevolverOcelScott]

Wow, interesting.

Will it have the missing song...

Nevermind, you added it, nope.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by RevolverOcelScott

Wow, interesting.

Will it have the missing song...

No, see the note at bottom. Still have rights issues.

[cooey]

Will be grabbing this one

[Driver78]

Artwork?

[ste71]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Arrow will be releasing The Return of the Living Dead on 4K UHD in October!

[url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FJYDY4M6"?tag=bluraycom-21"]

Bu88er! I bought the Scream Factory UHD last May!! Ah well, I can double dip, just for this one.

[ste71]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

No, see the note at bottom. Still have rights issues.

I wonder how Second Sight got around it all those years ago?

Not a deal-breaker.

[MifuneFan]

Just noticed the Amazon link is for the Blu-ray edition. Didn't spot the 4K one, but no reason it won't come as well I imagine.

[cooey]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Just noticed the Amazon link is for the Blu-ray edition. Didn't spot the 4K one, but no reason it won't come as well I imagine.

Amazon are like "Oh sh*t Mifune found the BD already, quick get the UHD listing up now!"

[MifuneFan]

Slightly afraid to see artwork reveal as it's by y Orlando Arocena, who has done a lot of pretty bad Steelbook covers, mostly from Shout.

[cooey]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Slightly afraid to see artwork reveal as it's by y Orlando Arocena, who has done a lot of pretty bad Steelbook covers, mostly from Shout.

The same one that's done the High Tension steelbook from LL? Oh man....

[hanz0]

[RevolverOcelScott]

woof

[cooey]

Originally Posted by hanz0

Hmmm.... I don't hate it

[MifuneFan]

Yeah, I'm okay with that. Would love an original poster store edition though, on the case itself, none ofthat O-card nonsense.

[RevolverOcelScott]

If I'm seeing correctly, pretty much the same extras as the Shout as well, in fact, the Shout has the whole workprint, this just has the deleted scenes.

[ste71]

Originally Posted by hanz0

Love it

[jstxanothrxstory]

Looks pretty comparable to the Shout release. Shout includes the full workprint rather than just the segments that aren't in the final film as Arrow's doing, but Arrow has some additional stuff on their bonus disc.

[RevolverOcelScott]

Return of the Living Dead 2 would have been better than a rehash. Except the UK folks can now get without importing, which is cool and all, but man....

[fattyjoe37]

Damn, was hoping it being a UK release would mean the missing song could be included. Guess the Second Sight Blu will still be my go-to.