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

[MifuneFan]

Sad. Can't wait for all the people who doubted the "hearsay" of this Don May Jr. fellow previously to cling to his quotes like the word of God now.

[whitesheik]

Originally Posted by tele1962

So David it looks like this was done purposely, is it ever the case where film transfers/Authoring to Blu Ray are done without the consultation of the Director/Cinematographer?

Is this a serious question? I don't know, I don't think Alfred Hitchcock or any of his cinematographers were involved in any Hitchcock transfers, I don't think Orson Welles or any of his DPs were involved in the transfers of his classics, nor hundreds of other deceased directors and cameramen.

[antmumford]

Originally Posted by 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!

But the director didn't want you to see this version, someone else did. The director just happened to say that it looks ok to him. Big difference

[Dickieduvet]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

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.

It's real

[Whirlygig]

Originally Posted by bigdaddyhorse

Tom "loved the bright outdoors"

So I have learned that Tom is an easy guy to please, he just doesn't want to hear about Don's UPS delivery problems and then life is grand.

[Akijama]

Don May Jr.'s full review on NOTLD 90's BD:

While it's true that the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is not only one of my favorite films, but a true classic of the genre, I still like this film very much. Much ado has been raised online about the "look" of the new Blu release of this film from Twilight Time. Having just watched it, I can honestly say that some of the criticisms have been GREATLY exaggerated. Yes, the film is much darker on the Blu, and the color palette has been muted... but it actually DOES work for the film. It is a different look, but it adds a sense of dread and creepiness that the original prints did not have. Does this make it right? No, because the film isn't exactly the way the director intended... but as a piece of "revisionist" work, this new transfer of NOTLD90 is a winner in my book. Stop reading all the reviews and take a look for yourself on a PROPERLY calibrated television, and you might agree with me.

[MifuneFan]

I wonder where Savini got the disc from? Like was it sent to him after the fact, or did he have it already?

[Z0MBI3]

Originally Posted by antmumford

But the director didn't want you to see this version, someone else did. The director just happened to say that it looks ok to him. Big difference

Very true... very true... it certainly would be easier if Savini himself had made the changes. Regardless, I still have the DVD. Upscaled is better than nothing. I'm going to hang onto mine until the who's who and what's what plays out.

[Don May Jr]

What do my comments have to do with anything? I liked what I saw, but I'm not getting rid of the original DVD.

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Sad. Can't wait for all the people who doubted the "hearsay" of this Don May Jr. fellow previously to cling to his quotes like the word of God now.

[cooltobeyou]

Got this in the mail yesterday and watched it. I cant believe this thread is hundreds of pages of *****ing about this transfer. The picture quality looks fine to me. Its not too dark; nor is it too blue. Ive never seen the film before but I doubt I would have noticed a change if it weren't for the nonstop whining...or if I didn't have the Dvd playing side by side with the bluray.

Fun movie. Decent enough PQ.

[popeflick]

Originally Posted by antmumford

But the director didn't want you to see this version, someone else did. The director just happened to say that it looks ok to him. Big difference

How do you know that? How do you know he wasn't in the telecine room in 2009 when the transfer got made and signed off on the changes? It gets published 3 years later and someone tells him it's 'blue' which leads to his initial "Blue?" response. He fires up his disk sees his work from a few years ago and says it looks fine without going into details or further explanation.

See? I can play the guessing game on vaguely published statements as well and it sounds just as believable as your GUESS.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Don May Jr

What do my comments have to do with anything? I liked what I saw, but I'm not getting rid of the original DVD.

When you first relayed Savini's reply that it was "Blue?" some people pretty much considered it hearsay. This time around we do have actual quotes too, so there's no room for confusion.

For example this person, who didn't seem to believe that you spoke to Savini (or on his behalf):

Originally Posted by thephantomcat

I haven't seen any official statement from Tom Savini. Don't present hearsay as "facts".

[DuncanChrist]

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.

[Z0MBI3]

Originally Posted by popeflick

How do you know that? How do you know he wasn't in the telecine room in 2009 when the transfer got made and signed off on the changes? It gets published 3 years later and someone tells him it's 'blue' which leads to his initial "Blue?" response. He fires up his disk sees his work from a few years ago and says it looks fine without going into details or further explanation.

See? I can play the guessing game on vaguely published statements as well and it sounds just as believable as your GUESS.

Also...true, Haha.

[Irrob]

So, the writings on the wall. This was an intentional change and there won't be a recall. Oh well, I'm still keeping mine because whether I like the changes or not, this is still a collector's item. I'm outta here.

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by Don May Jr

What do my comments have to do with anything? I liked what I saw, but I'm not getting rid of the original DVD.

I'm not either... but I'm also not keeping the BD. The "revisionism" is too much for my taste. Not what I was looking for when I ordered a blu-ray of this great film.

Good to see you here though. I always associate you with NotLD (the original) because of the fantastic LD you put out with Elite, along with much of your other genre work in the late LD/early DVD era.


I'm perfectly happy to have a difference of opinion with people on the "new look" (including, apparently, Savini). But I'm still disappointed and I'll apparently just have to live with that -- at least until someone else releases this without the "blue haze".

[whitesheik]

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?

Right. Exactly right. You are the one being an "ass." Because both Mr. Redman and Mr. Jamieson have probably been in the business of restoring one thing or another longer than you've been alive. Mr. Redman IS a restoration expert who singlehandedly has rescued hundreds upon hundreds of film scores from the Fox vaults. That's not a "claim" that's a fact. And Mr. Jamieson was at Warner Bros. for many, many years and was involved in many of that company's restorations. That's not a "claim" that's a fact. As the clearly state, they are not involved in the transfer phase of anything they release on Twilight Time. The studios from whom they license hand them the transfer. That's the way it works. You probably have figured that out by now since it's been posted here about 1000 times, so one can only presume you are doing this mud-slinging just to be mud-slinging. How the moderators here allow this kind of character assassination is breathtaking, and not in a good way.

[A.MONK]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

The success of the Twilight Time version, at least from a sales perspective, has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt the commercial viability of this movie on home video. If I was a gambling man (I'm not), I would wager another edition of this Blu-ray gets issued by some entity after the three-year period is over. Will Sony go back and tweak the existing transfer that made it on the Twilight Time disc, incorporating some of the criticisms stated in this thread? It's possible.

I would say that the success of this movie's quick sell out can be tied to the after market prices for Fright Night. Are there people out there that genuinely love this film? Yes....however there were a lot of people buying multiple copies to sell on eBay.

[Ill_Be_Back]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

Come on. That's hardly a "samll change".

Even people who like it seem to rightfully acknowledge that it's a pretty radical departure from the original look.

I agree, it completely changed the look of the film that is no small change...

[whitesheik]

Originally Posted by Yojimbo68

What is interesting is that I'm sure when other Blu-ray releases from TT that came out and got rave reviews for PQ and AQ, it was easy for the guys at TT to take a bow and the credit. Now, it's all Sonys fault? If you're going to soak in the limelight on a celerbrated release you also have to take the brickbrats on the controversal ones.

No. As you well know, they have been very upfront since the day they began that they have nothing to do with the transfers. You know this and yet you keep on keeping on. Why? They have never ever taken credit for the transfers. They can take credit for using a good authoring house, for the packaging and for having the good taste to issue what they've issued.