New Anchor Bay ZOMBIE DVD Is NOT 16x9 (1 Viewer)

[Joshua E]

Imagine my disdain today when I opened my mailbox and discovered the new Anchor Bay re-release of Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE is not a new anamorphic transfer. (In fact, it's exactly the same DVD release as before, just with a slightly different cover) This truly sucks, especially since DVDPlanet listed it as such when I pre-ordered it. So buyer beware. Anyone know WHY AB didn't do a new 16x9 transfer?

 

[Matthew Kiernan]

AB never announced they were doing a new transfer. This is simply a re-release of the original disc. They lose the rights to the title soon and wanted to get it back on the market before the next version comes out.

Shriek Show (a division of Media Blasters) now has rights to ZOMBIE and will be putting out a new version of the film this year, I believe. It will probably be 16x9 and loaded with extras.

 

[Jon Robertson]

As a discussion point, have the horrendous compression errors been fixed?

If you'd have asked me what format I thought the original release was, I'd have said "VCD" without hesitation.

I still wake up screaming from the smearing and blockiness of the underwater shark scene.

 

[Matt_Marlow]

The transfer looks exactly the same as the previous release; all of the flaws are still present. Even though it's nonanamorphic, for people with players that scale NA discs, ZOMBIE is flagged so that scaling happens automatically. What's really strange, though, is that the menu screen is also flagged to scale for 16:9, so the top and bottom is cut off when you view the menu. Which is not a good thing, especially if your player generates black bars on the sides of 4:3 material. Also, if you have a progressive scan player, it IS encoded as film, so you won't have to deal with watching it in inferior video mode (this may only apply to JVC progressive scan players, I don't know).

 

[Jon Robertson]

Ah well, might as well support Shriek Show then.
From this chat transcript, it all seems to be a labour of love. I can't wait!

 

[Walt Riarson]

wow. These guys do sound impressive. Can't wait to see some of their stuff.

 

[Todd_B]

Thanks for the 'heads up' on this disk and the tenative Shriek Show release.
I am looking forward to it...
Todd B

 

[Bryan_ZZ]

I also noticed something when I opened my new Zombie - AB left the Trade Center in the drawing on the insert. Glad to see that.

Bryan