Dawn of the Dead (1978) - OUT OF PRINT

[Jr7936]

i still like the out of print arrow release with 3 discs. that to me is the def release of the movie and considering all the discs either played in my ps3 or xbox 360 I can't complain at all

if you can find it i would recommend it

[Lemmy Lugosi]

Thanks for the info on the Japanese set. That sucks, but at least I can cross it off my list now.

[cakefactory]

I've always wondered about the backstory on that blonde zombie who gets shot in the face. I remember the old VHS edition had some kind of production still that was a closeup of that makeup and it gave me nightmares as a kid and I guess has been lurking in my subconscious ever since. It's not seen very clearly in the movie. Seeing that scan of the picture of the actress made me try and look it up, but it's weird how it seems to be nowhere on the net apart from VHS cover scans.



I think it was one of the panel artworks in that anchor bay DVD set from several years ago too. The actress was apparently Jeanie Brown/Jefferies and she was on the makeup crew. I'm surprised there isn't more publicity of that still, it's easily the most gruesome make-up job in the movie (unless you count the head explosion effect!).

[Zantoro]

Thanks, Cakefactory. That's a cool scan of the old Japanese VHS release. Yes, I always wondered about the blonde zombie myself. When I was a kid, I had the old HBO release with Roger on the cover. I have been a fan ever since. The movie still creeps me out. My favorite shot is the two semis descending on the mall parking lot. Something about that shot with lumbering dead standing in the parking lot gets to me. It's just so eerie.

I often wondered what the blonde looked like without all that makeup. Needless to say, she was definitely cute! Here is another scan of her and George sitting together. I bet George was a happy man then!

JR...: Thanks for the recommendation. I have several Arrow Titles. Have you checked out their edition of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II yet?

Best,
Zan
Blondie.jpg

[cakefactory]

Thanks for the additional scan! I looked around the net for a while and found a couple of those same pics on some interview article.




It's a great movie, and is definitely one of my favorites. I first heard about it from reading a review by Roger Ebert back when I was about 10 years old, which brought to mind a pretty vivid image of the movie that had nothing to do with what it was actually like! I also saw that famous still of the machete zombie which looks far more realistic and gross than it does in the movie. When I finally saw it in high school I was surprised by how different the tone was from how I'd imagined, but still remember cringing severely at a couple parts (the arm bite at the beginning, the thumb into the leg cast, and of course the intestines coming out of the stomach at the end). That 4 disc ultimate edition is definitely one of the most-watched DVDs in my collection. I'm hoping they release some kind of definitive edition on bluray eventually, but I like the movie enough that I won't let the fact it's a DVD stop me from rewatching it. I've watched all the versions a couple of times but still always end up going back to the US theatrical version. I'd probably be fine if they just released a really good bluray of that version alone, though it would be nice to have all the commentaries preserved from the different versions.

I'm with you all the way that it's far better than Day. I could never get past the bland characters and the foul dialogue...Ebert's review of that one pretty much nailed it, I thought. Tons of screaming and distracting accents and no one to root for (besides Bub), unlike both Night of and Dawn of who both had some very endearing characters. I could never stand Rhodes, he seemed like such a cartoon villain throughout the whole movie. Sarah's so constantly dour and her boyfriend is such a moron I could never get invested in her. The only reason I've watched it as many times as I have is just cause it really is the epitome of splatter effects.

[InvisibleLoad]

Thanks Zantoro for the review and saving me a lot of money. Dawn of the Dead (1978) is one of my favorite horror movies. It never gets old. The mixture of laughs and scares makes it such a rewarding experience time after time. Once a definitive Blu-ray set with all the cuts gets released, I will be foaming at the mouth.

[xiaNaix]

Discs 1 and 2 were accidentally encoded with "Expanded" PC RGB color. That's why a lot of people are reporting greyish black levels and bad color grading. If you can switch your player or TV to use "Limited" colorspace everything should appear normal. At least that seems to be solution on my Panasonic VT25.

[Spire]

Originally Posted by xiaNaix

Discs 1 and 2 were accidentally encoded with "Expanded" PC RGB color.

Where did that info come from?

[xiaNaix]

Originally Posted by Spire

Where did that info come from?

From people such as myself who actually have the discs.

There's more info here...
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1496542/bl...-rgb-pc-levels

[Spire]

Never even knew about stuff like this. Interesting. (and apparently problematic)

[TheWalkingDead]

Is the Starz/Anchor Bay going Out of Print? Or is that just the Arrow release?

[BladeRunner2007]

Originally Posted by TheWalkingDead

Is the Starz/Anchor Bay going Out of Print? Or is that just the Arrow release?

From my understanding both are already out of print. The Anchor Bay for some time already.

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

From my understanding both are already out of print. The Anchor Bay for some time already.

They did a new Halloween last year, maybe they'll do a new Dawn this year? One of my two favorite movies, I can't stand the Blu-ray.

[Pecker]

I can't understand why this film still hasn't had a stellar Blu-ray Disc release.

I hope Arrow re-visit it. They're certainly doing a superb job with almost all of their releases recently.

Steve W

[redrunner97]

Originally Posted by kidglov3s

They did a new Halloween last year, maybe they'll do a new Dawn this year? One of my two favorite movies, I can't stand the Blu-ray.

They won't. Its oop. That means it is no longer owned by them.

The film was recently transfered to 3D, so we'll probably see that version soon. From someone.

[BladeRunner2007]

We need a proper 4K scan from the original negative with corrected color timing. Supervised and approved by both cinematographer Michael Gornick and director George A. Romero. Also the original unaltered lossess mono audio mix!

[evoxturbo]

Originally Posted by kidglov3s

They did a new Halloween last year, maybe they'll do a new Dawn this year? One of my two favorite movies, I can't stand the Blu-ray.

Coming from someone who has only seen the original Dawn of the Dead on Bluray and no other forms of physical media, whats wrong with the bluray? I can understand that it looks soft due to DNR but overall its not that bad. Maybe because the bluray is the only version of the film I have seen. I got my copy at FYE for 8 dollars years ago.

[BladeRunner2007]

Originally Posted by evoxturbo

Coming from someone who has only seen the original Dawn of the Dead on Bluray and no other forms of physical media, whats wrong with the bluray? I can understand that it looks soft due to DNR but overall its not that bad. Maybe because the bluray is the only version of the film I have seen. I got my copy at FYE for 8 dollars years ago.

Yep, DNR is the main issue. I don't think it looks that bad. Actually it has never looked better on a home video format. I am quite happy with it. But it could look so much better.

[evoxturbo]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

Yep, DNR is the main issue. I don't think it looks that bad. Actually it has never looked better on a home video format. I am quite happy with it. But it could look so much better.

This is exactly how I feel about Scarface. Best it has ever looked but could look much better. I tend to give older movies a break in the picture quality / sound quality department. I understand the studios cant work miracles but with that excellent job Universal did with Jaws, you know there is always room for improvement. How did you feel about Escape From New York US transfer?

[BladeRunner2007]

Originally Posted by evoxturbo

This is exactly how I feel about Scarface. Best it has ever looked but could look much better. I tend to give older movies a break in the picture quality / sound quality department. I understand the studios cant work miracles but with that excellent job Universal did with Jaws, you know there is always room for improvement. How did you feel about Escape From New York US transfer?

I quote myself from the EFNY thread

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

I just watched the blu-ray. Here are my thoughts on it. Overall I was very pleased with its presentation. The picture quality is a huge improvement over any DVD release. Period. The colors look more natural than ever, which is a good thing. The blacks are very deep, but nothing looks crushed. Every detail that needs to be seen is visible. This is a dark film to begin with but the transfer is not too dark. It is about as perfect as it gets. Improves the atmosphere greatly. Now, it is a bit soft looking, but that is because of the way the film was shot (most of the film takes place at night, low budget, panavision, camera equipment in general, etc.). I did not spot any use of DNR & EE. Everything looked very natural and there was a nice thin layer of grain visible throughout the film. I don't think this film could look any better. Some might scream "do a 4K scan!" but I highly doubt this would improve the sharpness drastically. I am very happy with the picture quality.

As for the audio. I watched the film in Dolby Surround, because this is the original mix from 1981 with the original sound effects and music. I have to say it sounded fantastic, although it's lossy. But that didn't bother me much, because I highly enjoyed watching the film with its original soundmix again, which was unavailable since 2003 or so.

I can honestly say that EFNY never looked and sounded better than on this blu-ray presentation. The film itself is a legendary classic. 'Nuff said.