Incubo sulla città contaminata Nightmare City/City of the Walking Dead 4K UHD (1980)

[Gojira-96x]

Incubo sulla Città Contaminata 4K Blu-ray

Plaion Pictures Italia will release Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City (also known as City of the walking dead) in 4K UHD

28th August.

[dallywhitty]

Interesting. Curious as to how this scrubs up in 4K, given how damaged the negative is.

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Interesting. Curious as to how this scrubs up in 4K, given how damaged the negative is.

Sample of the restoration <3

[Ben_C]

Nightmare City is a God-tier movie for me nowadays, absolutely love it to bits. Of all the old horror films to have a compromised negative though, it’s such a shame that it has to be this one.
I’ve learned to ignore the damage as best as possible on the Arrow Blu, and hopefully they’ll give us an upgrade in due course too.

[WJB]

Originally Posted by Ben_C

Nightmare City is a God-tier movie for me nowadays, absolutely love it to bits.

Completely agree. This is one of my all-time favourites. For me, it's the ultimate example of Italian horror: shameless ripoff of a successful American film which somehow manages to improve upon the original and is a hell of a lot more fun.

The invention of running zombies was an incredible idea, and the list of 'WTF?' moments in this film is too long to list: the utterly bizarre dancing show, the absurd (and waaaay too protracted) ending, the inexplicable appearance of Mel Ferrer... The list goes on!

I'd welcome a 4K upgrade, but agree that it needs to be done right. Arrow, Arrow, where are you?!

[DaylightsEnd]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

Sample of the restoration <3

Wows, those skin tones are shyte! Think I'll wait for more caps.......


Awesome flick. This is actually a big surprise. I'm thrilled at the development and the possibilities here, but I'll definitely be watching this one closely to see exactly what Plaion pumps out, and from what underlying source element(s).

[Nguss]

The nightmare becomes reality

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Surely there must still be perfectly-usable IPs in existence for this film? I'd rather have an IP scan than another presentation of the OCN considering the extent of the damage.

[Nguss]

The IP on the Arrow was ok but the damaged negative scan was so much better PQ wise.
I would still prefer a scan of the negative despite the issues with it but may be in the minority there.
I wonder if there might there be a halfway mix of the IP and the negative? It was really from memory the first 30 mins or so that were the worst affected.

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Originally Posted by Nguss

The IP on the Arrow was ok but the damaged negative scan was so much better PQ wise.
I would still prefer a scan of the negative despite the issues with it but may be in the minority there.
I wonder if there might there be a halfway mix of the IP and the negative? It was really from memory the first 30 mins or so that were the worst affected.

The alternate presentation on the Arrow Blu-ray was an awful old telecine made from an internegative or some other element generations removed from the OCN. That's not really a good indicator of what a freshly-scanned and mastered IP scan could look like. If such a source still exists then it could be used to replace the badly-damaged moments and the presentation could be mostly OCN-sourced.

It's all speculation at this point, but I find it pretty hard to believe that the only options are a horribly-damaged OCN or an awful smeary telecine made from a source multiple generations removed from the OCN.

[Driver78]

Originally Posted by Nguss

The IP on the Arrow was ok but the damaged negative scan was so much better PQ wise.
I would still prefer a scan of the negative despite the issues with it but may be in the minority there.

I wonder if there might there be a halfway mix of the IP and the negative? It was really from memory the first 30 mins or so that were the worst affected.

The bolded sounds like the right course to take. The damage isn't throughout the entire film, just a section. Personally, I did like the "grindhouse" nature of the Arrow BD at the damaged sections and would absolutely not mind if they scanned those sections "as is" for any forthcoming 4K release. As far as this edition from Plaion, I'd grab a copy if I don't have to jump through hoops.

[Nguss]

Originally Posted by Driver78

Personally, I did like the "grindhouse" nature of the Arrow BD at the damaged sections and would absolutely not mind if they scanned those sections "as is" for any forthcoming 4K release.

I agree with this too. I didn't mind the damage as much as I thought I would but I suppose I was comparing it to some terrible dvds. I think I may even still have a 'red edition' dvd somewhere in the cupboard. This film is just beautiful trash so I will also most likely get the 4k if the quality is a step up.

[Gojira-96x]

Preorder available:

https://amzn.eu/d/4fmyrR6

[Al Sex Gore Simpson]

Absolutely love this film so very excited about it coming to 4K. Will be curious to see who else will follow suit in the US and UK. Do Arrow still hold this one? I'd expect Severin for the US but I'd welcome an 88 Films release in the UK given their recent track record with UHD.

[Gojira-96x]

[Ben_C]

Rather odd looking slipcover art there.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by Ben_C

Rather odd looking slipcover art there.

Yes, 9/10 for originality but 3/10 for it being relevant to the actual film.

[DaylightsEnd]

Have any of the USA boutiques like Orbit or Diabolic indicated that they'd be carrying this stateside?

[ZombieTwin2]

Originally Posted by DaylightsEnd

Have any of the USA boutiques like Orbit or Diabolic indicated that they'd be carrying this stateside?

They're probably hanging fire until confirmation of an English language track.

Kev W

[nin74]

Any info about the quality of the transfer?