PIC of the Week – Night of the Living Dead (1968), Criterion Collection
Article series by Ray Schillaci
My God, is this really happening? There have been a glut of DVD releases of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. But, there is only one I have recommended over the years, Elite Entertainment’s 1997 version which presented a crisp, clean presentation that was far superior to anything we had seen before. Even the newer Blu version from Mill Creek (not even remastered) is far below expectations, that Blu is a far cry from the much touted 2002 DVD “Millennium” version from Elite that had a few more extras over the ’97 version. But, set them all aside, for The Criterion Collection has delivered the dead like it’s never looked or sounded before along with a bevy of new extras which will have Romero Dead fans salivating.
This version was restored by the Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation, with funding by the George Lucas Family Foundation and the Celeste Bartos Fund for Film Preservation. What does this all mean? It means legitimacy! That’s right, good ol’ George A. Romero, along with his writing partner John A. Russo, and their classic Night of the Living Dead has finally received their due in the home entertainment market with an illustrious presentation.
Does this mean I’m tossing my ’97 DVD Elite version? Not exactly. It’s become somewhat of a collector’s item along with Elite’s ’82 DVD version of Sami Raimi’s The Evil Dead (perhaps the only version that does not mess with the original aspect ratio). But, Criterion’s presentation is like watching a brand new movie. Romero’s film has never looked cleaner, and the sound is incredibly fresh and crisp with an honorable lossless PCM 1.0 monaural track.
Aside from the presentation, the biggest news is that Criterion has supplied for the first time a work print edit of Night of Anubis. That was the title at the time as told by sound engineer Gary Streiner, who gives us a fascinating introduction to the work print. Apparently, the title they were originally going to go with was The Flesh Eaters. But, the company was threatened to be sued by a film of the same title that was done in ’64 (another favorite of mine). Romero was so irritated by this that he said he would come up with a name nobody would use. And, he was right! Even the distribution company refused to use Night of Anubis.
To this day, Night of the Living Dead haunts viewers. I just showed it to my 18 year-old, and he was very impressed, and found it far more haunting than most Blumhouse features he has seen in the theaters. In fact, he was surprised as to what they got away with. And, he not being a fan of most B&W films, found Romero’s vision stark and unsettling. It’s even more so with the Criterion Blu.
Criterion gives us the creepiest of box art and a wonderful insert that folds out ala mini poster. On one side is an in-depth article, Mere Anarchy is Loosed by Stuart Klawans, film critic for The Nation and columnist for the New York Daily News. On the other side is eerie artwork depicting the infamous little girl in the basement. We get a 2 Blu discs with special edition features including the work print mentioned. The rest of the extras should fill the hearts of any Romero fan:
¥ New 4K digital restoration, superset by good ol’ George himself and co-screenwriter, John A. Russo, sound engineer, Gary R. Streiner, and producer Russell W. Streiner
¥ New restoration of the monaural soundtrack, supervised by Romero and Streiner and presented uncompressed
¥ A new program featuring filmmakers Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) , Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water), and Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sin City, From Dusk Till Dawn)
¥ NEVER BEFORE SEEN 16mm dailies reel
+ a half a dozen other extras – just too numerous and lengthy to go on about. But, all fascinating.
Best price: Fry’s Electronics $18.31 beating the manufacturer’s price at $39.95
