logo Sign In

Night of the Living Dead: The Ghoulish Amalgamation! (* unfinished project *)

Author
Date
Author
Time
 (Edited)
Post link

Night of the Living Dead '68. You know it. I know it. My grandpa’s dog knows it. People who’ve never seen a zombie movie in their life have heard of it. Some hail it like the Second Coming, as though we should all get on our knees and bow before its sheer badassness.

…

I didn’t think it was that great. Don’t get me wrong, as 1960s horror films go, it was up there in the top ten. Unfortunately, the only other title in that category with any redeeming value is Psycho (now <span class=“Italics”>that’s</span> a horror masterpiece). But, if only in an attempt to make up for this striking revelation of nonconformity, I would like to say that Dawn of the Dead '78 absolutely blew my socks off. That was a <span class=“Italics”>damn</span> good movie. Now, being a horror junkie, I make a pledge that I will watch (legally or otherwise) every installment of a horror series that I think is worth watching. This zombie classic met that standard, at least. So, I go looking for the sequels so I can have them under my belt, as well. I knew, just from listening to other horror fans that Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Land of the Dead came next. What I didn’t know was that they weren’t alone. The Living Dead series has the single most revoltingly confusing history of sequels, remakes, sequels to remakes, remakes of sequels and totally unrelated movies with incredibly similar names that I’ve ever seen. But that’s not what I’m posting about.

NotLD68 (to distinguish it from the cheesier but ultimately more enjoyable NotLD90) has one quality that distinguishes it from other modern horror classics: it’s in the public domain. This means that anyone with the ability to burn a disc could throw their own DVDs out on the open market and the Copyright Nazis couldn’t do a thing about it. As such, there have been countless VHS, LD, and DVD releases over the entire lifespan of home video as we know it. Horror movies (by comparison with other genres) usually get low-profile DVD releases on which sites like Amazon and others don’t pick up all the info. Some of these versions have alternate, wedged in, and even colorized footage.

Now, I’m the kind of person who’s always liked deleted and/or extra scenes, no matter how crappy they are. As you can imagine, I worship the fan-edit genre. It’s fun to mess around with a classic. This is why I now have no problem with GL playing around the OT. Since he’s provided us with a choice between the old and new (however crappy the old’s picture and sound is in comparison), I harbor no ill-will, anymore. But anyway, my favorite thing to do is take every frame of film that could possibly be put together and stick it into the main feature. The aim of my little project here is to do exactly that with NotLD68. I’m going to take the different versions of the classic (yes, even the much-maligned 30th Anniversary Edition; all footage must go!), and cram as much of it into one film as the narrative will allow. Also, since black and white actually bores a lot of people (seriously, I’m not joking), I’ll be using colored and/or tinted footage whenever possible.

Right now, I’ll bet you’re thinking: <span class=“Bold”>Wait, you’re going to take the many versions of a beloved piece of horror cinema and splice them together? You’ll be mixing monochrome, tinted, and color footage as well as pieces of at least two different soundtracks? It’ll look like an idiot pasted it together!</span>

That’s the beauty of it: an idiot <span class=“Italics”>is</span> pasting it together! This is a personal project of mine, more for me than anyone else. I’m just quirky like that. If anybody wants to see it, though, I’d be glad to torrent it. But I need some help from any horror experts on the board. Which of the multitudinous DVDs should I buy? I know I’ll at least have to buy the 30th Anniversary Edition and Benefit for the Living Dead for the extra scenes included, but I need to know what others to get. I need:

1.) The color version with the best picture (minimal grain, blur, and distortion).
2.) If the above has any changes from the original cut (other than color, obviously), the one with the best black-and white picture.
3.) The version (whatever color) with the best sound (minimum pops, scratches, and hums, etc.; not just the best score).
4.) Any other versions besides the three cuts already indicated.

Any help would be appreciated! With any luck, I’ll soon be able to give you Night of the Living Dead as it was never meant to be seen!

Author
Time
Post link
DVD Compare has this to say:

The Region 1 Off Color Films / Fox has DTS 5.1 sound.
The Region 0 (but it's an American release) Elite Entertainment - Millennium Edition) has the best transfer.
Note that the Region 1 Off Color Films / Fox includes both colorized and B/W versions.

Didn't someone make a HD2DVD port of this? Or am I imagining it?
Author
Time
Post link
Well, after looking up the info you posted, I think I will buy the following three DVDs:

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Living-Colorized-Black-White/dp/B0002IQLGM/ref=sr_1_5/103-3607521-7085429?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1185900158&sr=1-5
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Living-Dead-Anniversary-Limited/dp/630561346X/ref=sr_1_15/103-3607521-7085429?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1185900158&sr=1-15
http://www.amazon.com/Benefit-for-the-Living-Dead/dp/B000QCUZMA/ref=sr_1_26/103-3607521-7085429?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1185901421&sr=1-26

Sound about right? The colorized version is said to be uncut, so a perfect B&W transfer isn't that crucial. I would still like to know if any other alternate cuts have been released on DVD. I guess not, since I haven't been able to find any.
Author
Time
Post link

there is a fan edit called "The Survivor's Cut"

just google it.

Join the dark side… and get a free cookie!

Author
Time
Post link
Whoops! Forgot to point this out: Benefit for the Living Dead is a fine-tuned version of the "Survivor's Cut." So, I already have that.

EDIT: Well, I have found another cut of the movie, but it is not in DVD quality and is merely a parody re-dubbing of the original. For those interested, it's called *inhales* "Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Terror" *hyperventilates*.
Author
Time
Post link
I don't know what the point of this is since The only "alternate footage" would be in the 30th anniv. edition, which of course is already on dvd. The public domain versions would more likely have footage cut out rather than added in, since there is no actual "deleted scenes" for this film. There was a 3-D version released in some crappy 3-D boxset a few years back. On the other hand there are several alternate audio tracks that could be used. The Fox version has the MST3K track. There was a ghetto "laugh track" version that was released on DVD. And there's that homemade "night of the dawn blah blah blah". The only other thing that I could suggest is that you track down an introduction by George Romero that was filmed for the pay-tv airings.
Author
Time
Post link
There is a deleted scene from NOTLD but nobody including George has it. In the scene in the basement when Harry is talking to his wife there is a horrible jump cut. Apparently there is a long conversation between the two. George cut the scene out and tried to make it seem sless as possible but it resulted in a poor edit.

Many years ago a friend and I were going to shoot additional footage and add it to the movie as a joke. We were having a Halloween party and we were going to have it playing to see if anyone noticed. The changes were going to be simple and quick. For example the shot of the radio in the car at the beginning we were going to replace with a CD player. When he reaches for the cross/flowers from the back seat of the car to take to the grave we were going to add a quick scene of his hand rummaging by a bottle of Jack Daniels and condom wrappers before finding them. Stuff like that.

Never happened unfortunately.
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: slashface
I don't know what the point of this is since The only "alternate footage" would be in the 30th anniv. edition, which of course is already on dvd. The public domain versions would more likely have footage cut out rather than added in, since there is no actual "deleted scenes" for this film. There was a 3-D version released in some crappy 3-D boxset a few years back. On the other hand there are several alternate audio tracks that could be used. The Fox version has the MST3K track. There was a ghetto "laugh track" version that was released on DVD. And there's that homemade "night of the dawn blah blah blah". The only other thing that I could suggest is that you track down an introduction by George Romero that was filmed for the pay-tv airings.


On the contrary, this will be quite different from the 30th Anniversary Edition. When Russo added in that 15 minutes of new footage, he chopped 15 minutes of the original cut out. So, the 30th Anniversary Edition doesn't include all of the original cut's footage. That's reason enough for this edit, but there's more. The fan-edit-turned-legit-DVD-release Benefit for the Living Dead (aka the Survivor's Cut) mixed in a couple more new scenes and added a colored tint to the film, but cut out all of the 30th Anniversary footage. And neither of these recuts featured full colorization, a treatment only given to the original cut. So, this release of mine will have all in one place what would normally require purchasing three different DVDs. I think that's justification enough, don't you?

P.S.: I considered using the footage from the 3-D version, but it requires the special glasses, and the colorized footage would look better, anyway. Another version is the "Live from Wisconsin" version that aired last Halloween on G4, but it really just amounted to an MST3K type deal, only with two hillbillies that couldn't tell a joke to save their lives.
Author
Time
Post link
Originally posted by: Johnboy3434
Originally posted by: slashface
I don't know what the point of this is since The only "alternate footage" would be in the 30th anniv. edition, which of course is already on dvd. The public domain versions would more likely have footage cut out rather than added in, since there is no actual "deleted scenes" for this film. There was a 3-D version released in some crappy 3-D boxset a few years back. On the other hand there are several alternate audio tracks that could be used. The Fox version has the MST3K track. There was a ghetto "laugh track" version that was released on DVD. And there's that homemade "night of the dawn blah blah blah". The only other thing that I could suggest is that you track down an introduction by George Romero that was filmed for the pay-tv airings.


On the contrary, this will be quite different from the 30th Anniversary Edition. When Russo added in that 15 minutes of new footage, he chopped 15 minutes of the original cut out. So, the 30th Anniversary Edition doesn't include all of the original cut's footage. That's reason enough for this edit, but there's more. The fan-edit-turned-legit-DVD-release Benefit for the Living Dead (aka the Survivor's Cut) mixed in a couple more new scenes and added a colored tint to the film, but cut out all of the 30th Anniversary footage. And neither of these recuts featured full colorization, a treatment only given to the original cut. So, this release of mine will have all in one place what would normally require purchasing three different DVDs. I think that's justification enough, don't you?

P.S.: I considered using the footage from the 3-D version, but it requires the special glasses, and the colorized footage would look better, anyway. Another version is the "Live from Wisconsin" version that aired last Halloween on G4, but it really just amounted to an MST3K type deal, only with two hillbillies that couldn't tell a joke to save their lives.


their re-creations of scenes from the movie were kinda funny though. the whole live horror movie thing was lame though, although the idea of taking out zombies with a block of cheese does kind of give me a chuckle.