Night of the Living Dead (1990) - Out of Print

[HyperRealist]

I wonder how much TT paid Savini to say that...

[Dickieduvet]

Originally Posted by AndrewFM

hahahaha!

I'm not joking, wish I was. He replied a few minutes back.

[xiaNaix]

Originally Posted by AndrewFM

Now watch all the "If the director/producer/DP approves it, I'm cool" haters turn to "How dare they?!?!"" haters.

Not me. If Savini says it's cool then so be it. I still think it sucks but I'm not going bash Tom Savini. I have respect for him and his contributions to the genre. I just don't agree with him.

[Ill_Be_Back]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

I wonder how much TT paid Savini to say that...

They seem to be paying quite a few people to say things in their favor...

[risky1975]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

All I won't to know is who is accountable for authorising the changes. It's not Savini, Who else could it be?

it does not matter.... who! Sony owns it and that is what they wanted to do with it.... no of you have any choice in this matter...i said it before i bet if Savini said he loved it (i think he would )a lot people would be good with it..

[AndrewFM]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

"Sony"

I think that's all the answer we're going to get on the topic.


This is reminding me of the issue with the DVD release of Star Wars, when the "force theme" music during the Death Star dive (which has been predominant in every previous incarnation of the film) was muted to the point of being nearly inaudible. It was obviously a MISTAKE, but Fox/Lucasfilm announced it was a "creative decision" to avoid a recall.


It's wrong, everyone watching this movie knows it's wrong, but the Powers That Be will pretend it isn't and claim it was intentional, as if that somehow makes it OK to awkwardly turn the 1/4 of the film that takes place in daylight and make it dusk.

I'm not playing. The disc is going back.

Nice placement of this post immediately above the Savini statement.

[JoeDeM]

Originally Posted by AndrewFM

Why are we so convinced it WASN't Savini? all we know is, second-hand, he was surprised it was considered "Blue". Well some people say it's darker, but not really anymore blue. I think TV calibration is making that difference.

Perhaps they need to put a Director Approved sticker on future releases.

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by risky1975

it does not matter.... who! Sony owns it and that is what they wanted to do with it.... no of you have any choice in this matter...i said it before i bet if Savini said he loved it (i think he would )a lot people would be good with it..

I still think the timing ruins some some colors and makes the inside scenes look a bit too dark when the lights are on, but if Savini is cool with it I see no reason to get rid of my disc. Glad I waited before asking for a refund.

[risky1975]

i knew it...(.CUZ THE MOVIE I BETTER NOW.) now lets see who doubles back! lol.. this will never get the original blu release as it shouldn't ....no need to the movie is fine

[antmumford]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

I'm not joking, wish I was. He replied a few minutes back.

He clearly hasn't seen it in a while then (i.e on every other format going) to remember how its meant to look otherwise he would have said "its different but I don't mind it"

Daemonias earlier post was absolutely spot on though, mine arrived today and I'm from the UK, just put it on and yes it is pretty much as bad as most people make out. The scene where Barbara walks into the house and she switches off the oven, there is meant to be food burning on the stove, can you see it? No. Do I want to see it? Yes because that was the way it was shot and made originally. Full stop. I had to stop it after the scene cos it was royally peeing me off to be honest

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by AndrewFM

Nice placement of this post immediately above the Savini statement.

I fail to see the relevance. The answer is still "Sony". Savini didn't say he made the changes, just that he watched the disc ("last night") and likes it.

Great. Good on him. I don't.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Again folds it's a wrap, no replacements.

[hamchuck1]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

HEY FOLKS, BAD NEWS!!!!!

Just had an update from Tom Savini via FB:

His response:

"You know what...I watched it last night and it's beautiful. I can't see anything wrong with it and I watched it on my 70 inch high def Sharp"

That's from the Director himself.

That's all I needed to know. I'm all set with this thread for now until a full explanation comes out about it. I don't mind the changes.

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

HEY FOLKS, BAD NEWS!!!!!

Just had an update from Tom Savini via FB:

His response:

"You know what...I watched it last night and it's beautiful. I can't see anything wrong with it and I watched it on my 70 inch high def Sharp"

That's from the Director himself.

If this is actually real, can we all stop bashing TT now? I'm happy that Savini likes it, but regardless of his opinion, there's still no denying it's been changed. But I really don't think it's fair to lay blame on TT when the director himself is supporting said change.

[antmumford]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

I fail to see the relevance. The answer is still "Sony". Savini didn't say he made the changes, just that he watched the disc ("last night") and likes it.

Great. Good on him. I don't.

Hear hear, Savini may not mind the new look but that doesn't mean its acceptable.

I could have just manipulated my version to have blood splatter on the screen everytime a zombie gets shot or something and show it to Tom, he says "I like it" and now everyone should be watching my butchered version. That's not right, so why is this?

Originally Posted by Daemonia

Hmmmm....this was a long thread.

Listen, there is no debate here. This transfer is all wrong. There is a specific scene that shows the sun setting and the moon rising. Does it get dark in your part of the world while the sun is still shining? You must live in a damn strange place then.

The film has clear, visual indicators as to where the true transition from day to night should be. Whoever altered this film in this way is a moron. It's not alright and this should never have been done. Did they not notice the transition scenes of day-to-night? Was this transferred by a blind, one-armed monkey in the garden shed? I'm truly baffled. This debate shouldn't even be taking place. TT/Sony should have delivered an HD version of the film as it's always been intended to be. If the filmmakers had truly intended the early sequences to be day-for-night, that transition sequence would never have been shot, much less included in the finished film. Now what part of this don't you understand? A scene showing suneset and nightfall - I mean, do you want detailed instructions? How far do we need to go to spell this out for people? It's WRONG. No amount of saying otherwise will make it so.

Finally gonna break my silence and chime in (against my better judgment). This is all well said. For more proof the transfer is botched, from the dvd booklet:
John Vulich: "We wanted everything to be realistic, not stylized. Other movies featuring zombies have usually had people in gray make-up with a lot of wrinkles. We thought it would be scarier if our zombies looked like people: you know, like your neighbors, only they're dead."

Everett Burrell: "We learned that the dead turn a sort of yellow, not gray, as usually portrayed in the movies, so we gave our zombies a yellow cast to their skin."

None are yellow on the BD, all are on the dvd. Patricia Tallman mentions Tom "loved the bright outdoors" despite originally wanting it to be gloomy and overcast. Not night, just a dreary day.

I have watched the BD and dvd back to back myself and do not like the look of the BD one bit. This isn't what the film looked like in theaters years ago when I saw it. Not like the VHS tapes or cable broadcasts I watched through my 20's, not the dvd I watched through my 30's. Oh yeah, I also have a rough vcd of the workprint and despite the colors being FUBAR on that, they still look better than the new colors on the BD. Don't get me wrong, the opening 5 minutes and last 9 minutes look absolutely awesome on the BD, but it's far less than 25% of the film that isn't tweaked. It's not as dark and not as blue as the screens appear on my computer monitor, but it still loses all color and tons of details under whatever they put on it to make it darker.

With all the evidence it's clear to me that someone took it upon themselves to put this tint in. Who and why remain to be seen or heard. I'm hoping against hope for an exchange as I love the film and want it in HD. I'm half-tempted to offer this in trade for a custom bd burn of the vudu or any other HD version that keeps the right colors. Too distracting for me, too much of a change. I like the old way with the contrast of the beautiful day to the horror breaking out all over.

To those defending the transfer: Glad you like it, enjoy it. Doesn't make you dumb or silly or of questionable tastes. I just can't stand it and feel so bummed about it. I was jumping for joy when this showed up Saturday, now I could care less that I have it. Still deciding between return or ebay, but waiting for final words before doing anything. I won't be keeping it is all I know for sure. Even if Savini somehow approved this and says it's the new definitive version, I'll stay with the dvd. 99% sure Sony will say "that's what it's supposed to look like, deal with it", but it's not supposed to look like this. It never has, so why now? Why on a limited edition? If they wanted to unleash a new version of the film on the world would they really do it on a 3000 copy LE? None of it makes sense, admit it!

[HyperRealist]

ya but is Savini's 70" calibrated?

[madp]

If Savini likes it it must be great... Just like how everyone agreed with the changes Lucas made with the original Star Wars trilogy.

[Z0MBI3]

If Savini is good with it, by all means, I'm good with it. I won't be doubling back, I am that person. I want to watch what the directors want me to see. I'll still be waiting for who ok'd the changes though, because I'm interested.

Thanks for sharing, btw!

[xiaNaix]

Via Don May Jr. on TT's Facebook page...

"He told me it looks "terrific", so there ya go. I liked it, too... it was different, but I felt the darker images added a sense of dread and mood that intensified the scares. The blue tinting seemed GREATLY exaggerated on some screengrabs I've seen online. Like it or not, the director approves!"