Now that 2018 has come to a close I thought it would be a good time to share my favorite physical releases of the year. I am a big supporter of physical media and will continue to support it. I like owning my movies that I can hold, not in some cloud somewhere. I love box art. This year was a great year for exclusive Steelbooks at Best Buy. Some of them will make my list. In deciding the number I fell on the most obvious one, 18.
Number 1 was an easy one for me, it’s the long overdue, proper high definition release of the greatest horror film of all time, Night of the Living Dead!
A sister, Barbra (Judith O’Dea) and her brother, Johnny (Russell Streiner) go to a cemetery to visit their mother’s grave. While they are there a man approaches the siblings. He attacks Barbra and Johnny intervenes. Johnny is killed in the struggle and Barbra must run for her life.
Barbra makes it to a farm house, with the man that killed her brother right behind her. A man arrives at the house, Ben (Duane Jones). Soon Barbra and Ben learn that they are in for the fight of their lives as a horde of the recently deceased have returned to life and feast on the flesh of the living!
Inside the house Ben and Barbra soon meet a group of survivors who have holed up in the basement of the farm house. This leads to tension and fighting, with the living dead not the only adversaries that could kill you.
I have told this story many times on the podcast, but I thought I would share it here as well. Many years ago, my grandmother took myself and my two brothers to Walgreen’s. While we were there my grandmother told us we could pick a VHS from the 99 cent bin. She said we could pick anyone we wanted. The cassettes were all thrown in, with no rhyme or reason. I can’t remember which one of my brothers picked the VHS with Heckle and Jeckle cartoons, but I remember that was one picked. I choose a VHS with some truly goofy cover art, but the name was terrifying, Night of the Living Dead. I remember putting the cassette into the VHS player and I was hooked immediately. I very much remember the terror I felt as the zombies came pouring into the farm house. I remember not being able to finish it. I was too scared.
I’m not sure when I got up the nerve to finish the film, but when I did I knew I had watched something special. Not realizing at my young age that not only is this one of the most important horror films of all time but also one of the most important films of all time period.
My affection for Night of the Living Dead has only grown as I have. It ranks as one of my most favorite films. As I have become a fan of the film, I have also learned about its tragic past as well. As the original distributor neglected to put a copyright at the end of the film, thus placing the film in the public domain which led to a bunch of shoddy releases.
Finally in comes The Criterion Collection to give me and the fans of the film a release that this film has long deserved.
The Criterion release of Night of the Living Dead features an absolute stunner of a 4K scan of the film. The booklet included in this release says that the 4K scan came from the Museum of Modern Art from the original 35mm camera negative. I can say this is one of the most impressive restorations I have ever seen on a film. Everything looks amazing. The details, grain levels are all spectacular. I have seen this film at least a dozen times and I feel like I have watched it again for the first time.
Night of the Living Dead sounds stunning on Criterion’s blu-ray. Dialogue is clear, sound effects sound great. Again this is THE best Night of the Living Dead has ever sounded to me. Hats off to the restoration team.
Night of the Living Dead comes with a coffin full of special features spread across a two disc set. Included is the work print version of Night of the Living Dead, which comes with its original title, Night of Anubis. It’s a little rough but boy what a cool thing to include. Also on disc one is two commentaries, the best is with George Romero and several other cast and crew members. Romero has always been a treat to listen to and on this commentary from 1994, he doesn’t disappoint.
Disc 2 has a bunch of new and vintage featurettes. With over an hour of new interviews, by far the best is Light in the Darkness, where some of best directors working today discuss Night of the Living Dead. The roundtable includes Guillermo del Toro, Robert Rodriquez and Frank Darabont, so much fun. Also included are some 16mm Dailies, archival interviews with Romero, Jones and Judith Ridley. Trailers, radio spots and TV spots are also included.
Night of the Living Dead finally gets the blu-ray release it deserves. If you are a film fan you owe it to yourself to pick this up as this is the definitive release of the greatest horror film of all time.
Film: A+
Video: A+
Audio: A+
Extras: A+
Overall: A+