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

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Yup all over folks. Either keep, refund or sell those copies off.

Yup, I'm seeing things going in that direction. As a fan of the film, this is incredibly disappointing. There's no way I'm keeping mine -- that's such a radical change for no apparent reason and I'm not watching this film with a dark blue haze and muted colors. That's not the way it's supposed to be, plain and simple. I'd rather continue to watch my DVD or buy it in HD via Amazon for $15.

I'm sure that they'll find 3000 people who are all willing to keep the BD -- given that it's "rare" or whatever. And I'm sure this'll be going for $100+ on the secondary market soon enough, just like Fright Night.


But as a fan of the film and a previous TT completist, this is too bad. The only silver lining for me is the future impact to my wallet -- now that I'm officially not going to maintain a "complete" collection of TT BDs, I can start ignoring things like The Blue Lagoon and whatever other future titles don't interest me as much...

[xiaNaix]

Originally Posted by #Darren

I wonder at any point when they were preparing the disks for market if they noticed the differences between the trailer on the disk and the film on the disk?

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

It wasn't. But even if it was created the week they announced the release, that still doesn't change the FACT the two blokes who run TT had no involvement with it.

You've both hit the nail on the head here.

Darren has a good point. Two guys claiming to be "restoration experts" own a Blu-Ray release label. They release a movie that is tinted blue and looks nothing like it has ever looked in it's numerous incarnations over 22 years. At no point during the course of the disc's authoring, pressing, and packaging did these two "restoration experts" notice that the movie looked completely different than it ever has, even in the trailer on their own disc, nor did they mention this to the 3000 people who ordered their expensive limited edition packaging. And, when it was pointed out to them, they first didn't see the problem, then promised to "look into it" now claim it was out of their hands and there's nothing they can do about it.

And, EddieLarkin is correct also. Twilight Time clearly had no involvement with it. They obviously couldn't even be bothered to look at it before they released it.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Facebook:Twilight Time DVD Label Appreciate your support, Felix, it means a lot to us. These situations can be stressful, but all will be resolved.

Yup all over folks. Either keep, refund or sell those copies off.

If anybody become stressful about a movie, then there is some definitely wrong. People are putting a lot stress upon themselves because, this issue is not stressful at all. You want something to be stress about? how about being unemployed, homeless, unable to buy food and provide for your family. Now that's something to be stress out about, not for a blu-ray movie. That's silly!

[RogerMathus]

My copy arrived yesterday and I checked it out upon reading this thread. On my screen the Blue-ray does not look as bad as most of the posted screen shots and video clip comparisons. I did note, however, that the opening cemetery scene seems to go to a twilight look mid scene as the girl starts running but on my setup it does not appear as dark as on the posts. Also, the interior scenes are not as blue or dark as the screen shot posts. The corresponding scenes in the standard definition trailer on the TT disc also look different (brighter) than the Blu-ray rendition on the disc.

[Dickieduvet]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Facebook:Twilight Time DVD Label Appreciate your support, Felix, it means a lot to us. These situations can be stressful, but all will be resolved. As we stated on Sunday, we were in touch with the studio yesterday, and a definitive answer will be coming soon, but all the indications are this was how the Blu-ray was intended to look.

Yup all over folks. Either keep, refund or sell those copies off.

If it's intended to look that way wtf does the director not know anything about it???

[AndrewFM]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

but as a fan of the film and a previous tt completist, this is too bad. The only silver lining for me is the future impact to my wallet -- now that i'm officially not going to maintain a "complete" collection of tt bds, i can start ignoring things like the blue lagoon and whatever other future titles don't interest me as much...

lol

[JoeDeM]

Originally Posted by xiaNaix

How can they not have anything to do with the transfers of any film they release and both claim to be "restoration experts" on their Facebook profiles? Yeah, that's not damage control at all. And I'm the one being an ass, right?

Audio restoration experts is what they are, hence the isolated score.

[AndrewFM]

Originally Posted by slimdude

If anybody become stressful about a movie, then there is some definitely wrong. People are putting a lot stress upon themselves because, this issue is not stressful at all. You want something to be stress about? how about being unemployed, unable to buy food, being homeless. Now that's something to be stress out about, nor for a blu-ray movie. That's silly!

This kind of reason in a sea of insanity has been attempted before. Like a wise poster said (unfortunately forget his name), it's the sales model and business and price that really amplified all of this. I, of course, agree with you.

[Dickieduvet]

Originally Posted by JoeDeM

Audio restoration experts is what they are, hence the isolated score.

The audio on the disc is FU'ed as well though missing several audio FX

[shamus]

Has anyone compared the daytime shots at the END of the bluray to anything?

[Dickieduvet]

The end looks bang on and exactly as the beginning should look.

[Mr Kite]

Originally Posted by PuppetMasterBlu

Facebook:Twilight Time DVD Label Appreciate your support, Felix, it means a lot to us. These situations can be stressful, but all will be resolved. As we stated on Sunday, we were in touch with the studio yesterday, and a definitive answer will be coming soon, but all the indications are this was how the Blu-ray was intended to look.

Yup all over folks. Either keep, refund or sell those copies off.

Mate that was not the answer it was a guess.....we need to find out who signed it off. If they can not or will not give that information then make your decision.

[xiaNaix]

Originally Posted by JoeDeM

Audio restoration experts is what they are, hence the isolated score.

They probably should have restored the missing camera clicks at the end of the movie and the gun sound effects then.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by xiaNaix

Wow! Any proof that this is a fact?

If these guys are so-called "restoration experts," even if they had nothing to do with the transfer of NOTLD90, how can they justify selling this mess to the public? The movie has never looked this way in the 22 years since it's release. Not in it's theatrical run, not on VHS, not on laserdisc, not on DVD, not in the streaming HD versions currently available, and not even in the trailer on Twilight Time's own disc! I'd hardly call that a restoration and not something you should expect from people claiming to be experts in the field.

To be fair to Twilight time, I don't see that they've made any claims about being "restoration experts". It's well known they just take what the studio's give them. The only thing they claim is that they are going to only select films with "acceptable" materials and "pass" on things that are in too bad of shape to hold up to blu-ray scrutiny. I'm OK with that, especially if they are digging out old/forgotten films that never even had a home video release before. Not everything has to be perfect, HOWEVER with a more modern film like this, and I guess somewhat of a "cult" horror type film. There is clearly less margin for forgiveness.

Honestly, even though I hate the tinted look, if you watch the film with no knowledge or predisposition it *IS* a clean, detailed, quality transfer. It appears to be an acceptable transfer, if not for the heavy handed tint that has been applied throughout. That still doesn't make it ok, because the tint is SOOO distracting that it really does outweigh everything else positive about the transfer. If anyone doubts the differences, watch the trailer, watch the film, then watch the trailer again. The differences are eye-popping. Not that the trailer is as clean of a transfer as the film, it seems to be an inferior (albeit HD? source). However the color differences are immediately apparent.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Got my copy this morning in the U.K. (5 day turn over, some sort of record for S.A.E. I reckon), and this is all a load of overblown whinging. Yes it's changed, no I don't prefer it, but colour and detail are all still there. It still looks fantastic. And it is in no way, not even close, to as bad as the caps suggest. Even the "proper" ones that were posted. It's not as dark, and it's not blue. The night filter over the daylight scenes give a more purple hue if anything.

I'm not defending the change, because I'm totally against any revisionism, but I have never seen a blow up over an alteration like this on a Blu-ray before. Titles that were f***ed with much worse, more popular titles at that, haven't received this kind of response. This is all fueled by the sales model, and the price point. If Sony had put this out themselves for $20, there would be maybe 3 people in this topic pointing out the shift.

I get that you've paid more, and so you expect more, but that shouldn't influence your response to the transfer. I will act and respond the same way to the quality of a presentation whether I've paid $5 or $500. I, and everyone else, paid $35 for this release because it was a limited run. That's it. No one should have been under the impression that the $35 guaranteed you a faithful rendering.

TT promises to put the transfer on disc unmanipulated, which I'm sure is what they've done. Sony not f***ing with the brightness or colour timing or whatever, is not part of the promise. In the exact same way that Fox doing a nice 4K rescan of Demetrius and the Gladiators is not part of the promise, instead of providing an old DVD-era telecine.

If they do sort an exchange, I'll send mine in. If they don't, I'll still be perfectly happy with this disc, and the price I paid for it.

+1

Would I have preferred the new color timing to have retained more brightness on the Twilight Time BD? Surely, the overall darkening went too far in my opinion, though the original DVD also looks way too bright in some scenes and probably did need some color correction. The unnamed Sony technician whom altered the brightness on the new BD transfer simply over did it.

For the people citing the HDTV broadcast master as a reference is disingenuous at best. That is clearly taken from the same older telecine transfer at the same color temperature, of the original DVD's master. Using that picture as a reference for the film is wrong, even if some people think the overall colors and tint looks better on it than in the new HD transfer.

At some point people are going to have to accept that Sony's mastering team made a completely new 2K scan of the film elements around the dawn of the Blu-ray era, probably intending to release the film for its 20th anniversary in 2010. All the indicators on the Blu-ray's image give it away. At that stage someone consciously altered the color timing, probably thinking they were improving the image of this obscure horror catalog movie.

Some of the outrage over this transfer is misguided at best. It's not perfect but is largely a fine transfer that has gotten overwhelmed by criticism of the changes in the brightness level. Personally I consider it very lucky we got this movie on Blu-ray at all. It looks vastly better than many other lower budget horror titles from the 80s and 90s on Blu-ray.

[The Real Horror]

Like, has anyone seen a comment by ROlockCK from Twilight Time about this problem? That cat has been whistling Dixie while chewing gum, eh? Likely to wet yourself when doing THAT. Go figure.

[mewsick75]

I think the chances of Sony re-releasing this title 3 years or so down the road are extremely slim. We might see a Blu-ray copy show up in Hong Kong or another part of the world, but who knows what transfer that will get or even if the Picture Quality is worth it. Yes there is blue but the picture quality alone is extremely good. All I'm saying is that I wouldn't bite off my nose to spite my face.
The choice is ultimately yours to make.

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Personally I consider it very lucky we got this movie on Blu-ray at all.

We're in a current retail situation where a major studio (MGM/Fox) has released Killer Klowns from Outer Space. And where niche labels like Shout are putting out things like Deadly Blessing and Death Valley.

Romero's Living Dead films have always done well on home video. Anchor Bay has milked Dawn and Day over and over...

I'm not sure I can consider it 'very lucky' (read: unlikely) that this was released on BD. Seems very reasonable that this would have come out sooner rather than later, in some fashion.


I also find it hard to consider it lucky if a film is going to hit BD in such a radically altered way. Higher resolution or not, this isn't how I want to watch the film. If this is what's going to happen with Sony's catalog going forward, maybe they should just stop... or hand the keys over to someone more responsible. Because, while The Blob '88 is hardly a cinematic masterpiece, I don't want to watch it coated in a haze of cotton candy pink because some overeager tech thinks no one gives a shit about the movie and it looks cooler that way.

[Z0MBI3]

Well... I've been trying to follow this. A lot of people on this forum have much more knowledge than I on technical issues, and I like this forum because of that. But, I think it's very safe to assume, this transfer is botched. Unacceptable? I believe that to be an opinion, and it's OK, to be on either side of the fence. I myself, really like my movies to be as the director and dp, etc wanted them to be. Because I'm that way.. I do believe I'll just throw mine up to ebay if TT doesn't release anything else within a week. It's been fun reading all the comments though You guys have a good week!

[shamus]

Originally Posted by Dickieduvet

The end looks bang on and exactly as the beginning should look.

thank you