Elite to rerelease Re-Animator and Night of the Living Dead! (1 Viewer)

[Mattias_ka]

I don't understand why some people think the will be a MAJOR improvment in picure quality on the new NOTLD dvd.

The old THX laserdisc is superb and having like Brian Lawrence says a great PCM track that's the winner in my book. For god sake, the movie is in black and white and in 1.33:1!I also don't think they will create a brand new master, no way. I also agree that the people behind Elite now is not the same serious people as when Don was there.

But if people want to throw out more money on something they already have it's up too them.

And DD 5.1?! Help me! What a stupid move.

 

[JonZ]

Theres no mention of deleted scenes or the missing Dream Sequence on the list of Re-Animator extras-if not Ill keep my old Elite version.

 

[Jon Robertson]

Matthias - adding a new 5.1 DD soundtrack is a splendid idea (well, it's not hurting anyone), and thank God Elite have had the sense to keep the original mono. Done well, I can well see the new soundtrack adding immeasurably to the eerieness of many scenes, especially the mentioned thunderclaps!

Frankly, this disc look to improve in every way over the old one and at $5 cheaper. I've already sold my old THX Elite DVD for exactly how much the new one will cost to pre-order!

 

[Matthew Kiernan]

Just going by Elite's current track record, I'd hold off on purchase until reviews come in and I wouldn't take that street date to heart. About 90% of Elite's DVDs haven't streeted on time.

And I seem to be the only person here who seems to think that cover really, really blows.

 

[Mattias_ka]

Jon Robertson, Ok, you can think so. I want the ORIGINAL movie with it's original sound not a remix. And PCM is soooo much better than DD.

 

[Bryant Frazer]

I remember that the old Elite DVD featured a gorgeous transfer hampered by some pretty bad MPEG-2 artifacts. I can't imagine this one being worse.

Anyway, I'm with Kiernan. The jacket, bleah. It looks like something Simitar might have put out back in the early days of the format.

-bf-

 

[Jon Robertson]

But, Mattias - you can listen to the film in its original mono format, albeit not in PCM. So, what are we arguing about?

 

[Mattias_ka]

Jon Robertson, Well for one PCM sounds MUCH better than DD mono that often are 192kbits.

 

[Jon Robertson]

Oh! You're disappointed over the lack of a PCM track, not the lack of a mono track (which had me scratching my head).

Agreed, PCM sounds infinitely better, but I've still heard some mighty fine DD monaural tracks, and I think this'll be a good 'un, regardless.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Something to consider...

Synapse's Don May Jr. posted over at another web-board yesterday that he'd heard of Anchor Bay releasing a new disc of the original, untampered cut (NOT the John Russo '30th Anniversary' fiasco, but the original version) later this year, with a brand new 2001 remaster. He said that if this happened, the picture quality would blow Elite's 1994 transfer (which he supervised when he was with Elite) out of the water, but he wasn't sure what extras would be on it. This disc is yet to be announced on Anchor Bay's website, but this is what Don had recently heard.

Given the rights sharing between Anchor Bay and Elite, and Anchor Bay's preparation of Special Editions for DAWN and DAY OF THE DEAD, it does seem quite likely. Anyway, I just thought I'd post this tidbit since it had come up... Folks might like to bear this in mind when the Elite remaster streets.

 

[Rich Malloy]

You know, though it's frustrating in some ways, this possible public domain free-for-all among serious distributors could be a veritable boon for the NotLD fanatic!

It's the kinda thing I'd like to see happen with METROPOLIS, and which has already kinda happened (and will apparently continue to happen)with NOSFERATU. And now NotLD?

I guess it would seem unlikely because of the fear that they'll dillute and split the market, but if Dan May Jr said it, you gotta wonder...

 

[Mattias_ka]

Anthony Thorne, I believe it when I see it. The Elite LASERDISC (not the dvd) have SUPERB picture so what's to make better?? The movie is in B&W, it's in 1.33:1 (but maybe not when Anchor bay release it in 1.85:1 and try to tell anyone that's the correct ratio "evil dead").

Ok, you "maybe" could make it alittle sharper but what else?

 

[Serega_M]

To Bryant Frazer:
You wrote: "I remember that the old Elite DVD featured a gorgeous transfer hampered by some pretty bad MPEG-2 artifacts. I can't imagine this one being worse."
I dunno what kind of equipment and the screen you have (or have had), but actually, when I saw this disk on my Philips 16x9 32" TV (in WIDESCREEN mode, I need to mention) and old Denon DVD-1000 palyer (which was pretty standard model without any complicated digital filters as my present Pioneer Dv-737 has...) - I saw NOTHING but the gorgeous B&W picture and NO compression artifacts at all. Just some unusual pauses between the scenes cuts I saw (which was due to the early and not so perfect mastering of chapters I guess). So - I dunno what you are talking about - but on my equipment which is not Hi-Fi (maybe, except the player) the quality of the presentation was perfect without any annoying artifacts. Or maybe I have no eyes to see them
Just my two cents...
P.S. And I am not going to replace the existing wonderful edition from Elite... }:>

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Mattias, don't blame the messenger. I intially expressed the same doubts that you did. Don May Jr., who supervised the Elite transfer that you're so enamoured of (and which I agree is very nice) responded with his post mentioning that a new version was reportedly on the way from Anchor Bay and (his emphasis) advances in telecine technology since the Elite version was made would give any new remaster a big edge. Here's the links for anyone interested in reading them themselves.
View Askew's Vincent Pereira expresses concern that the upcoming new Elite edition is based on an 8-year old transfer.
http://www.mhvf.net/forum/scifihorro...124226891.html
I express the same doubts at Mattias:
http://www.mhvf.net/forum/scifihorro...124226897.html
Synapse's Don May Jr responds with his opinion to the contrary:
http://www.mhvf.net/forum/scifihorro...124226957.html
I have no idea if the info is true - Don posted the intial message, as he seems happy to be the first online with 'scoops' of this sort regarding Anchor Bay and Image Entertainment releases - but I don't share the suspicion you do about Anchor Bay product, and feel that if it did happen, it would be a quality disc. As Mark Zimmer commented, Elite's recent track record actually provides more reason to worry - the transfer quality on some of their recent discs has been just awful. They didn't win a Digital Bits 'Bitsy' award for worst disc last year, (I think it was their German horror three-comp, though others have been just as bad), for nothing.
For all I know, Anchor Bay may not be releasing NOTLD again on disc, in which case I'll pick up the Elite revision if it's an improvement. I'm just reporting what was posted, though, and if Anchor Bay DID do their own version, I'd imagine it would be superior.

 

[Lannie Lorence]

Don't forget, the Anchor Bay special edition looked great. Even better than the Elite transfer. Although that could be due to DVD's improved resolution, It did look better to me in other ways as well.

I mean, just look at how great the footage of the crazy priest that bookends the film is. Of course it helps that his sequences are in general far superior to anything else in the film. Okay, I'm just kidding in this paragraph. Sorry.

Don't get me wrong, I am in no way suggesting people buy this version of the film. I am simply pointing out that not only is a superior transfer possible, it has already been done. Unfortunately, a lame new soundtrack has been placed over it.

 

[Greg_Y]

No reviews of this one yet? The DVD streets this week. DVD Empire has complete artwork up, including the back of the case. It's going to take a few stellar reviews for me to pony up for this one.

 

[Joe Schwartz]

I'm eager to see a review of Re-Animator, especially one that compares the new Millennium Edition to the existing Elite DVD. Most of the extras that were announced for the new disc sound identical to the ones on the existing disc.

 

[Matt Pelham]

There was a rumor floating around that Anchor Bay was trying to get the rights to Re-Animator. That's really the only thing keeping me from buying this new version.