No "new material" as such. This laserdisc (a bootleg, of course) was made in 1993 from the *original* 96m Director's Cut of the film. As in, the version that Sam Raimi delivered to Universal for approval. Universal demanded significant cuts, theaters ended up with the 81m version ... and, years later, the 96m "Director's Cut" was spliced back together by Anchor Bay and MGM and released on DVD.
The laserdisc has two significant things about it -- since it's the *original* director's cut, and all the official releases are *re-created* director's cuts, any mistakes in the recreations wouldn't be in here -- and can be discovered by a comparison. (I'm sure everyone knows that the Anchor Bay version has a few mistakes and missing shots in it -- right?)
Also, this laserdisc is fullscreen -- and since AOD was shot open-matte, that means that this disc actually has *more picture information* than the recreated director's cuts, which are all cropped to widescreen.
So, no "new material", but it's got more picture information than any director's cut currently available, and a mistake-free roadmap of what the director's cut really looked like.
Whoa!! Are you kidding?! That is amazing! I'd say this is a great preservation project even without removal of subtitles or any other cleanup. If you still need help transfering the data from the laserdisc at the best possible quality drop into the General Preservation and Fan Edits, Requests and How-To's and Technical Discussion section, the guys over there will be happy to help you out. Here is a link that section http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/categories.cfm?catid=12. You are going to need a video capture card on your computer and a good deal of HD space, I have done a lot of VHS transfers but never LD, so that is as far as I can help you. Good luck.
Originally posted by: jephyork I can't believe nobody's heard of this version before. It's sort of famous -- the "Jei Wea laserdisc". I've had a VHS bootleg of it for eight years.
Ah yes, the Jei Wea LD. A while ago I sent Scott a big Video Watchdog article about the different versions of AOD that was published in 1998, before all the DVDs came out, and that LD was the main source for the director's cut comparison iirc.
One of the things about it that's puzzled me for years, though, is that picture from ED2 of the deer-head over the fireplace biting Ash. Is that actually *from* something, like a deleted scene -- or was it just a photo taken while goofing around on the set?
Not as far as I'm aware, I had to scan all the pages and send them to Scott to JPEGs. It's an interesting read - thrilling, in fact, when it came out - but quite dated now given the 96-minute cut is so easily available. The same issue contained a lengthy excerpt from Bill Warren's The Evil Dead Companion about the shooting of ED1 as the book hadn't found a publisher at that point.
So is it too early to start talking about cover art yet?
I figure since Anchor Bay/Universal/MGM have pretty much used the American and European key arts to death it would be cooler to go with something else.
There's the Italian poster, which was used in a truncated form on the old Boomstick Edition:
Or the three John Bolton covers for the comic book adaptation:
Personally, I think #3 of the comic would make a cool cover. Does anyone know if the TPB released by Dynamite has the covers without the logos etc?
The Italian poster would be a great choice, but if you're able to do something with the 3rd comic book cover, then go for it - because that's some great artwork.
I've been toying with the idea of calling this the "Primitive Screwhead Cut" or "Edition." So I'd like to see that on whatever artwork gets released with this.
I'm extremely close to having this thing finished. I hate giving estimates on when this will be done, but I feel confident enough now to say it will be done within the next few days.
Originally posted by: RidgeShark but I feel confident enough now to say it will be done within the next few days.
Wow that soon! Now I feel like a little kid during those last painfully long days before Christmas. No pressure though. I do like the Primitive Screwhead Edition for the name.
Awesome news on this one, can't wait to check it out!:-)
Have you thought about trying to clean up Within The Woods? That would be pretty great to see.
Another Evil Dead project I was wondering if anyone had attempted was a preservation of the early 80s Japanese LD transfer, which seems to look a lot better than any subsequent 3:4 LD or DVD releases, which going by what I can find have warmer colours, are missing a lightning strike scene, and at points are zoomed in (I only have the later transfer - have only seen screenshots of the Hologram JP LD).
Some info here: http://www.horrordvds.com/vb3forum/archive/index.php/t-31511.html
I've got a different Japanese LD with burnt in subtitles but i would love a transfer of that LD.
it was the basis for this project -> http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=6902&highlight_key=y&keyword1=book%20of%20the%20dead
Put the DVD logo in the lower right hand corner and leave the other logos for the lower space on the back cover. Otherwise, it just looks too crowded on the front. A fantastic cover, that's for sure!
Yeah, I'm not entirely happy with the logos being there either, however the Army Of Darkness logo is firmly stuck on the top left side of the artwork, leaving a gap on the top right hand that needs filling. If anyone's got any other ideas what I could fill it with, let me know!
So I came across this thread on some Google search around page 3. I have been eagerly awaited the final product, but feel compelled to contribute now. I really like the idea with the cover but I agree with it being a bit busy, but don’t get me wrong it look great. Before Nowhere Man came out on DVD I had created my own custom DVD cover. This was made just before taking Photoshop and Photoshop Advance, after which I made a few changes. I was trying to make it look as authentic as possible. I tried to put as much detail in, including the DVD logo, company logos, a storing DVD’s in a cool place warning, even down to a bar code. I just wanted to share what I’ve done, it took a lot of time and each item on the picture is a separate layer. I also have a blank Photoshop template with guides that when printed will fit a standard DVD case. A further step I do is after the page is printed, I use a corner punch that make each corner rounded. I also have a lot of logo for both black or white backgrounds, and color logos.
@djsmokingjam, it might be possible to put the Army of Darkness logo on it’s own layer and try and recreate the picture behind it using the rubber stamp tool.
The Cover: http://myweb.cableone.net/dolemen/Temp/Nowhere_Man.jpg
"To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods." -Thomas Babington Macaulay
Alas the AOD logo isn't on a separate layer, but rather is part of the actual image I'm using for the cover. I'm still working on the overall sleeve though, and will be sure to post my close-to-finished effort for feedback.