Dawn of the Dead (1978, Second Sight)

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I can put up with a lot for an original audio track, maybe non-stop sibilance is a deal breaker in some cases. But I'll take a mono track sourced from a VHS tape over a remix. The 192kbps mono I use on Anchor Bay's Day of the Dead disc never makes me feel like I'm listening to **** audio because it's the full unedited track but for most people it's probably awful. Though the lossless option sounds no better Lol

The sibilance is a bit shit tho, and as you say lossy or lossless makes no difference. In that one case I prefer the remix because the quality of the dialogue recording is so much betterer, albeit not the original remix that had all the changes and errors but the re-remix on the Arrow that fixes most of the problems. Made my own mono downmix of it too and muxed it in with the Shout transfer. Think of it as a 'remastered' mono

[drush9999]

I've always been used to the sibilance on the audio of Day, I kinda feel like it's part of it's DNA. But I would welcome a clean mono track if it's technically possible given the stems may have long gone.

[Keoma]

Finally got around to watching this. Is there a reason why Argento's cut does not have Italian as an audio option?

[Mr. Chaverria]

That theatrical cut got it right.

I enjoy the Cannes and Argento cuts but.... they're not great. They're fun though.

[tofurice]

Do Second Sight 4K’s ever go OOP? Looking at getting this but can’t pull the trigger for a while!

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by tofurice

Do Second Sight 4K’s ever go OOP? Looking at getting this but can’t pull the trigger for a while!

Depending on the terms of the contract, their license with Rubenstein for DotD may expire at some point.

[Pluthero Quexos]

A couple of the 7 disc blu ray sets just showed up @diabolik
https://diabolikdvd.com/product/blu-...-ray-region-b/

[Telemachus]

I watched the Argento cut for the very first time, pretty good. It really becomes a different sort of movie, I think some of the dramatic moments don't carry as much weight in certain places with the score changes. I appreciated the leaner runtime. I think I liked the part where they stopped at the refueling station a bit better in this cut. Having the news broadcasts stay on later into the film made it feel less isolated, I'm not sure I liked that.

[Muyfa666]

Is the CD the only difference between the limited and standard 4K SS boxset?

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Muyfa666

Is the CD the only difference between the limited and standard 4K SS boxset?

There was also:
ADDITIONAL CONTENT

• Rigid box with lid featuring the original iconic artwork
• 2 inner digipaks
• 150-page hardback book featuring 16 new essays, archive article, archive George A Romero interview and rare Behind-The-Scenes stills
• Dawn of the Dead: The novelisation book by George A Romero and Susanna Sparrow with exclusive artwork

[Muyfa666]

Trying to slim down my movie collection and I have both the limited and the regular SS 4K.

[vinncent]

Originally Posted by Muyfa666

Trying to slim down my movie collection and I have both the limited and the regular SS 4K.

You have both but can not see the diffrence?? Pretty sure a 150 page book is hard to miss! :-)

[McCrutchy]

Never mind, this was meant for the 4K UHD thread, but I'll leave it here:

[Show spoiler]I finally sat down with this a few weeks ago. I know I've said this many times before, but I really don't like horror all that much, however, I have to acknowledge that this is, if not the best zombie movie, then certainly the best zombie "sequel", although I also remember finding a lot to admire in Day of the Dead. I hadn't watched it in many years and I thought it was something like 90 minutes, but then I checked the timecode and saw it is actually 127 minutes, which is obviously rare for a horror film, especially one from the 20th century, yet the film rather flies by. I honestly loved it more for its awesome setting, even if the plot point about hiding out in a mall doesn't make a ton of sense (first of all

[Show spoiler]if the mall is nuclear-powered, someone has to be running the power plant, but even if the plant is still running, the mall would be one of the first places looted and wouldn't be available to the protagonists for weeks or months as depicted, because locals would know where the mall is and that it would be a repository of supplies, also they put the zombie corpses in what I assume is either the (J.C.) Penney's fridge or a restaurant's fridge, which exposes the food to rotting flesh

), seeing the mall in all its 70s glory is really fun and now, unfortunately, very nostalgic. It's amazing that Romero got so much out of a film which largely features only four actors, but the beginning with the TV station and the subsequent raid on the apartment building provides ample opportunity for other characters besides zombies. The creatures themselves seem to be kind of one-note here, which is sort of the point, but then, one of the problems with a zombie movie is how intelligent or capable to make your zombies. Romero's zombies here are not really a threat as long as you are armed or physically capable of running to safety, and of course, the real enemy

[Show spoiler]is other humans, who eventually find the mall (maybe it was hiding...) and do what people would do, bringing an end to the fantasy the main characters have created

. Ultimately, this is a very sad film, especially when you consider that

[Show spoiler]everyone who survives will die prematurely, one way or another, but that's part of what makes the movie great, it doesn't offer any kind of Hollywood ending or any real hope, but

at the same time, life goes on for as long as it can.

Obviously, I watched the theatrical cut and thought it looked and sounded lovely with HDR and the lossless mono track. I guess there is some kind of perverse situation with Richard Rubenstein and the rights to this film (and other Romero films) in the US, so I see no real reason not to get this release. It's already almost five years old (counting from the original LE release in November 2020) and as of a year ago, there is a great review from Randy, who speaks about the film a hell of a lot better than I can:

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

Kind of surprised that it took over three years to get a site review of this set:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dawn-...284522/#Review


In summary, Randy is singing the praises that all of us who own it already knew.

And don't forget the next post down, from David:

Originally Posted by David M

Nice to see. This project was a huge undertaking. What Chris at Second Sight managed to pull together is kind of astonishing in hindsight. (I'm pretty sure he's also responsibile at least in part for getting The Hitcher's camera negative unearthed, so...)

I'm not sure if it was credited on the final release, but Fidelity in Motion actually did some restoration work on the OCN version (which is used on the non-Argento cuts) to reduce image warping at the end of one of the reels.

One of my enduring memories of 2020, and probably one of the only semi-positive ones, was sitting at JFK Airport's Alaska Air lounge (which didn't survive the events of that year) in mid-March, killing time before a flight, rotoscoping one of said scenes to isolate moving areas. I remember thinking it was darkly appropriate to be working on a film about a zombie apocalypse when the airport was nearly empty.

Anyway, I should probably get to bed now.

[Telemachus]

This is one of the best sets I ever owned, it's such a treasure trove with the different cuts all on their own UHD discs. Such a shame most labels will not do this and stick alt cuts on a Blu ray instead or not at all. If Second Sight gets to do a Day set we will be eating good.

[Muyfa666]

Originally Posted by vinncent

You have both but can not see the diffrence?? Pretty sure a 150 page book is hard to miss! :-)

Can't be arsed to go find them... ;-)