THE Dawn Of the Dead

It's been a long time coming, but I'm now looking at easily the most anticipated cult home video release of 2020 here, ladies and gentlemen: Second Sight's massive 4-disc (7 if count the bonus soundtrack CDs) 4k Ultra HD boxed set of George Romero's 1978 classic Dawn Of the DeadAnnounced back in January of 2019 and originally slated for release that summer, it's been delayed again and again, though largely for the right reasons ("we are giving the restoration team as much time as they need to do the most thorough job possible").  It's also been rough getting this imported properly into the United States, but if you've hung in through it all, I dare say you're happy now.
What's interesting about Night Of the Living Dead is that, as famous and powerful as it was, it didn't really kick off a sea of imitators.  It wasn't really until Dawn that zombie films became the genre onto itself as we know it today.  This is where Romero solidified his reputation for mixing social and political themes with his horror... not just for the simple observation that people can be mindless consumers like the zombies wandering the shopping mall, though that's clearly here, and the sort of thing films like The Dead Don't Die still seem to be patting themselves on the back for restating.  I think the real commentary is derived from reflecting on the human behavior, the ones we identify with as they attempt and fail to imitate a traditional way of life, ultimately taking up arms to defend their valueless merchandise from actual other survivors.
Not that we really come to these films to be taught a civics lesson.  We're here for the thrills and scares.  But what's interesting is that those don't really come from the zombies either.  They did in Night, where flesh eating ghouls surrounding your home really is the source of terror.  And they were made so again in the mindless remake.  But here, the most frightening aspect is the breakdown of civilization.  I mean, this film has a scene where a zombie is literally smacked in the face with a cream pie - they're the most helpless faction in this struggle for survival, which has transformed from an overnight siege to a savage war of attrition.  What's harrowing is right from the opening scene, authority is failing, scientists are shouting in futility on a television program that's being abandoned by everyone still working on it.  The police's last stand is a raid on an inner city apartment complex where they're shooting the lower class residents and each other.  And while they're still potentially dangerous, we see the zombies are easily managed, but that doesn't make everyone any less doomed.
The health of this film on disc went from vital and active to shockingly dry.  I used to own the 3-disc special edition of laserdisc from Elite and remember specifically not replacing it with Anchor Bay's original '97 and '99 non-anamorphic and nearly barebones DVDs.  It wasn't until their 2004 Special Divimax Edition that I finally found the jump worthwhile (a trend we'll see repeat with this film).  That was nice, but in 2006, Anchor Bay blew that and any other option out of the water with their definitive Ultimate Edition, a 4-disc set loaded with new and legacy extras and three cuts of the film (the theatrical - Romero's director's cut, an extended cut full of deleted scenes and extra footage, and the Italian cut, edited by none other than Dario Argento, who actually co-produced Dawn).  That was the go-to set for the DVD age and almost for the BD age.  Anchor Bay released a very early blu in 2007, which was a decent bump to HD for its time, but sacrificed the alternate cuts and a ton of special features.  It seemed clear that was for the early adapters and the obvious move for most fans was to wait for a BD equivalent of the Ultimate Edition.

Except the movie sort of slipped into a bit of a limbo when producer Richard P. Rubinstein paid a ton of money to convert the film into 3D, and then apparently expected a massive licensing fee that priced out any boutique label looking to release a update on home video.  The original blu (and an equivalent 2010 Arrow blu that at least restored more extras with a bonus DVD) went out of print and started fetching exorbitant prices, despite looking more and more in need of an upgrade itself.  Americans are still waiting, but in the last couple years, Koch took a stab at it with an Italian 4k edition, later expanded into a few other regions.  But people had issues with it, and eventually Second Sight announced plans for a massive, multi-cut 4k restoration that would carefully address every issue and also out-do even the Ultimate Edition in terms of features.  It took them a long time, but they've finally released separate BD and UHD boxed sets in the UK; and once again, I'm glad I waited to make the jump.  They're limited, but thankfully not too narrowly, having pressed 12,000 of the 4k box and 6,000 of the blu-rays.
Theatrical: 1) AB 2004 DVD; 2) AB 2006 DVD; 3) SS 2020 UHD.
Extended: 1) AB 2006 DVD; 2) SS 2020 UHD.

Argento: 1) AB 2006 DVD; 2) SS 2020 UHD.

Before I delve into this, I can't help but say wowww, look how gorgeous Dawn looks now.  But okay, let me compose myself.  I suppose the first serious thing I'll draw your attention to is that the theatrical and extended cuts tend to be consistently using the same transfer.  The DVDs look like each other (and the 2004 and 2006 DVDs are for all intents and purposes identical) and the the two UHDs look like each other.  That's because they're both taken from the original 35mm negatives, with inserts for the extended cut.  But in both cases, the Argento cut has a distinctly different look, taken from the Italian interpositive and featuring very distinct color timing, and in the cases of the 2006 DVD, is also slightly windowboxed.  Segueing into the framing, then, all the DVDs are 1.84:1, which the UHDs slightly correct to 1.85:1, except the DVD of the Argento cut, which is 1.83:1.  In fact, Anchor Bay's DVD of the Argento cut is zoomed in far more than any of the other transfers, although that's not to say all the rest are the same.

Looking at the two sets above, we see that the UHDs are consistently (across all cuts) zoomed in tighter on the exterior shots, though they hue pretty closely to the DVDs on the interior shots. What this tells us (and me checking comparing other points in the film confirms) is that the film's been constantly re-framed between the new and old versions.  This pretty much leaves us to trust that SS is the correct framing, though they do assure us that their work was supervised by DoP Michael Gornick.  And indeed framing issues had been a complaint with the previous 4k releases of this film, and working to fix them was one of the reasons Second Sight's edition took so long in the first place.  SS's transfer is obviously a lot cooler (bluer), which we're also left to trust is more accurate, though I will say the distinction isn't always as strong as it is of Fly Boy in the office there.
Extended: 1) AB 2006 DVD; 2) SS 2020 UHD.
One last thing, while we're still examining the PQ, is the extended inserts.  Like I said, the theatrical and extended cuts are, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same... except when they're not.  So above is a shot only seen in the extended version, which isn't taken from the same negative, but rather the color reversal internegative.  And it holds up rather well.  You won't notice every time an added bit appears onscreen because it stands out from the rest of the film, the grain still looks fine and perfectly filmic in 4k, and the image is still quite strong.  Maybe the detail is slightly less clear and the grain a little more scattershot, but considering how things like focus vary throughout the film (an aspect of the original filmmaking, not the disc transfers), it doesn't snag in motion.  On AB's DVD, that footage looked a little overly contrasty, but Second Sight have made an ideal, transition-less blend with the rest of the film.

A nice thing you can say about the Anchor Bay's later DVDs is that they decked the film out with audio options, even to the point of overkill: mono, stereo, and two 5.1 mixes.  But surprisingly, they never included any subtitles, even for the Ultimate Edition.  Well, Second Sight of course bumps them up to lossless DTS-HD tracks for the mono, stereo and 5.1 tracks, except the extended cut, which just has the original mono in DTS-HD.  And yes, Second Sight has added optional English subtitles to all three cuts.
In terms of special features, I'm happy to report that everything from the Ultimate Edition has been carried over to the Second Sight box except the easter eggs.  I'd long assumed I'd be holding onto the DVDs for some of the special features, but I'm happy to report there's no need to bother.  It's all here, plus there's a bunch of great, new stuff.

To start with, the 2004 DVD doesn't have a lot, but it does have the excellent audio commentary by Romero, Tom Savini and associate producer Christine Forrest (a.k.a. Christine Romero) from the laserdisc.  Besides that, it has some trailers, galleries and two easter egg interview snippets, but it's mostly all about the commentary.  The Ultimate Edition has that commentary (plus all those trailers, the easter eggs, etc), plus two more commentaries, giving each cut its own commentary.  That's pretty great, because it's a good way to watch the different cuts without getting bored watching what is still by and large the same movie three times in a row.  So the extended cut has Rubenstein and the Argento cut has a more fun, relaxed take with cast members David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Gaylen Ross.  It also has a great, feature-length retrospective documentary called The Dead Will Walk, plus on-set home videos with commentary by the zombie extra who filmed them, Robert Langer, and a tour of the Monroeville Mall location with Ken Foree.  Plus there are even more trailers, galleries, radio spots and even a vintage commercial for the mall.  And there's Document Of the Dead.

Possibly the most important extra of all is really a feature film that's been deemed worthy of its own individual release several times in the past: Roy Frumkes' 1980 Document Of the Dead.  Synapse first released it in 1998 - in fact, I still have that DVD, for reasons we'll elucidate a little further down the page.  Then it was expanded into a longer cut (now getting into Land and the later Dead films) and restored in HD, which Synapse put out as the "Definitive" release in 2012.  And it's such a crucial history of the film, with tons of exclusive footage filmed on location and behind the shooting of Dawn, that it's been included in both the Ultimate Edition set and Second Sight's latest box.  In fact, Second Sight again has really gone all-out with this.  Because the Ultimate Edition features the original 1998 cut again, though it's a little longer, because they took some of the deleted scenes from Synapse's DVD and tacked it onto the end of the film as an addendum.  But then Second Sight, in the interest of being thorough and completist, has included that DVD cut (with the addendum) and the longer "Definitive" version.

And just for the record, yes I know there are even more cuts floating around out there.  There's the short, roughly hour long original film school version from '79, and an "'89" cut with a couple minutes of different footage, though still running far shorter than the latest "Definitive" cut.  Frumkes just keeps Lucasing it, and those are available on some foreign DVDs if you really feel the need for the perfect Document collection.  But honestly, I think even two cuts is overkill.  Basically, it's a great hour on Dawn with varying degrees of bonus footage tacked onto it and re-redited each time.
1) 1998 Synapse DVD; 2) 2004 AB DVD; 3) 2020 SS original cut BD;
4) 2020 SS "Definitive" cut BD.

So as you can see, the original cut never got restored, but the expanded version has and it looks heaps better.  Synapse's original DVD was interlaced, though (hey, it was all the way back in 1998) so the subsequent releases at least fix that.  It's also a little bit greener.  But otherwise, even on the blu (and I understand this was the case on Synapse's blu-ray as well), the original cut is always presented as just upscaled SD.  There is unique footage to both cuts, so I can see the reasoning for continuing to release both besides just historical preservation, but by and large, the extended cut is the one fans are going to want to watch, and the difference in quality is extreme.  Sure, it's some pretty rugged looking 16mm stuff, but on blu it finally looks like film, with authentic grain, greatly clarified detail, no funky video noise or compression, and much more authentic colors.  Also, the DVDs (yes, both) are a bit squished at 1.29:1.  Second Sight corrects this for both cuts, restoring the original cut to a more natural 1.33:1, and the extended cut to 1.34:1.  And more notably, the extended cut also reveals more information along all four sides.  The only slight disappointment: the audio is lossy on every version.

And Document Of the Dead, even though it's included here as an extra, brings with it its own extras.  The original DVD had three (which, yes, is the reason I've held onto it).  The first is the 7-8 minutes of extra footage, which has since been tacked onto the end of the original cut on the Ultimate and Second Sight releases.  But the other two are exclusive to Synapse.  There's an additional twenty minutes of "Lost interviews," including a portion with Adrienne Barbeau, and an audio commentary with Frumkes and his DoP Reeves Lehmann.  Now, Frumkes recorded an updated commentary for his expanded version, which yes is on the Second Sight disc, but neither they nor Anchor Bay carried over the old one.  Of course, it has to be said, the two commentaries repeat a lot, and you have to be pretty die-hard to need the commentaries for both cuts.  But if you've already got the Synapse DVD, that and the extra interview footage might be worth hanging onto.
But we're not done talking about extras yet, because there's still all the new stuff created by Second Sight!  And there's a bunch.  We get a fourth audio commentary (for the theatrical cut) this time by expert Travis Crawford, to give the outsider historical perspective.  Then there's a new, hour-long feature called Zombies and Bikers, talking to a ton of the cast and crew.  There's also a half-hour tour of the original mall location with Gornick, Savini, the assistant cameraman and a stunt man, nearly half-hour featurette on the production of the film, a new interview with Tom Savini, a vintage interview with Romero and an interview with actor Richard France.  And those on-set home videos?  They have a new commentary by Langer's brother, yes, in addition to the old one, which is still there as well.  And there are three soundtrack CDs - one of the Goblin score and two of the library music.  And there are two hefty books inside: a 160-page hardcover collection of essays and photos about the film, and the complete Dawn Of the Dead novelization. The discs are carried in two digipacks, all bundled together in a very thick, sturdy box.  And, if you ordered directly from Second Sight, they also included four exclusive art cards.
This is one of those movies that's such a staple, so revered and something I've consumed so much growing up, that I haven't wanted to watch it again for a very long time.  That's partly why I was satisfied just holding onto my DVDs even when I could've kept triple- and quadruple-dipping on the HD discs from Anchor Bay, Arrow and Koch.  But I don't think I'm being hyperbolic to say Second Sight has reinvigorated Dawn Of the Dead.  I'm back in love.  And I don't know if, given the availability of this restoration, a US release is around the corner.  But I also don't know what more anyone could ask for - what further supplements could do anymore than repeat what's already been presented here?  So if you were thinking of holding off, I'd say don't.

37 comments:

  1. I seem to be having issues with screenshots on this and the Tremors review. Has anyone else noticed either broken links or wrong pictures?

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    1. Ah! Yes, well spotted. Some of the DVD screenshots had broken links to the fullsize versions (I had "http://http://" in them). I was so busy checking and rechecking my UHD shots, I never looked twice at the DVD ones. Anyway, I fixed 'em now. Thanks for letting me know!

      I can't find any issues in the Tremors ones, though.

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    2. Thanks! For Tremors, the Arrow BD link for the screen cap of Fred Ward and Finn Carter links to Arrow BD screen cap of Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon by the truck. Hope that helps!

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    3. Oh yeah - cheers! I just fixed that one, too. 8)

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  2. The Second Sight may have reinvigorated an old film using the OCN, but it is still a missed opportunity. They could have got rid of some camera goofs like the flapping hand appearing right corner of screen when Peter shoots the zombie kids(Anchor Bay 2007 release corrected it to their credit, but Arrow did not!!) or missing zombies in fields after being blown up and then disappearing in the next shot. A little CGI could have worked miracles- before I hear moans, Romero used it in Land of the Dead to mixed effect. Also the Second Sight has over blueified everything. The Zombies looks like smurfs in some scenes. Sorry this release may look great overall but the color pallette is still off and reality the OCN still has lots of scratches.

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    1. I own both the older Anchor Bay blu ray and the newer Second Sight blu ray boxset. First off I must say the screenshots on the Second Sight doing the rounds on some sites are pretty accurate and comments about blue looking Zombies are not far wrong. The Theatrical of the Second Sight is just too bright in places and the colours too saturated more so than previous releases.

      Anchor Bay used a HD Divimax interpositive I think full of problems and by doing a DNR 2 pass for scratches and dirt caused ghosting issues. The Second Sight has none of this but the colour palette is not now as I like to remember it. Forget the Arrow release it is a darker dirtier print using the same Divimax HD master but with a lot less grain removal and the aspect is off too. This film never quite gets the best release it deserves. Second Sight have more or less done this for many, but for me they made a mess of the colour palette. And yes continuity goofs are still there. At least Anchor Bay fixed a major one by left decentering the frame a little to avoid camera man's hand being seen etc or camera crew being seen. This film's raw feeling actually gets no benefit from remastering as the special FX looks even more plasticky in places in HD. I find myself putting in the older Divimax DVD when I want to watch it these days which is forgiving more of the cheesy effects.
      Jack

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    2. This film has never had much luck in the ideal release department and the amount of double dipping over the years has been absurd. Second Sight has gone beyond the call of duty in many respects. Most fans just want the best version remastered albeit the theatrical and it has been done, but too well. This film made in a guerilla style of film making on the move would never purely lend itself to a full HD or 4k remastering without the pitfalls of the cracks under the hood showing. Yes, it now looks terrific, but those lack of budgetary effects and painted zombie faces look rather too artificial and amateurish. That said it is still a great film to watch for the acting from largely unknowns which strangely is effective for that script as well as period!

      The extended version is naff with dreadful lines and equally woeful scenes Romero wisely cut to make his theatrical, especially the dock scene with Pilato. The Argento cut is bad and the audio always sounded like it was recorded in a tin can. A film like this now would cost over 50 million to make yet Romero did it for under 750,000 US$. What an achievement! Getting a true feel for what the film felt like back then you must watch it on VHS or even Betamax(as if!), but the divimax DVD is a nice way to go too for purists. The HD rendition though beautiful done can be just a little too striking picturewise for this film sadly to capture that late grainy, raw 70's feel!

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    3. Some good thoughts, but I'm actually glad that Second Sight didn't go this route of digital revisionism.

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    4. After comparing the very old Anchor Bay Divimax dvd with the newer Second Sight 4K remastering I now realize how awful and limited the Divimax standard definition looks upscaled on a 4K tv! The dvd still looks okay on my old 720p TV mind you, but I probably sell it now.
      Chris

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  3. When you compare the Anchor Bay Divimax release of this film to any of the blu ray versions it is like watching the film through a dirty window and you avoid the R1 interlacing and potential 3/2 pulldown judder or the R2 aliasing and sped up by 4% chipmunk voices. All of course how finicky your viewing senses are and if you notice it.

    Blu ray/4k really cleaned it up either perfectly or excessively depending on your viewpoint. I'd much rather have any of these releases than a dinosaur PAL or NTSC DVD.
    Michael

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  4. This film is a classic and deserves a better release. I'd love to see Criterion come in and do an edition like their excellent Night of the Living Dead. Honestly, I prefer the natural color tones of the original and ultimate edition. It just suits the mood and tone. The over blue saturation is trying to make it look modern and it just comes off as bad.

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    1. Couldn't agree more the older Ultimate Edition has a richer color timing with far more natural tones. The Divimax single disc from 2004 is identical to it in video quality terms. Contrary to popular belief the DTS on it is actually not that bad, like a high bitrate mono and superior to the 'hissy' Dolby tracks.
      Derek

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  5. Yeah, quite a lot of folks on some blu ray forums bemoan 'the attack of the Smurfs,' effect on this great iconic horror flick, showing captions captured with mobile phones only to be shutdown from so called 'experts' of TV HDR for 4K not set up correctly or wrong color options blah blah.

    The truth is this can be valid, but a lot of these people don't moan about it with their other 4k releases. The film Dawn of The Dead now has a bluer cooler tint similar though not as bad as that first awful restoration of Night of the Living Dead 1990 reviewed on this great site here by the way. I went back to my Anchor Bay blu ray which apart from the DNR issues is a fine release.
    R. Jones

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  6. Anchor Bay kitted out the 2004 Divimax with 5 audio choices: 5.1 Dolby, & 2.0 Surround, 2.0 mono, 2.0 stereo Commentary & a really uneccessary 5.1 DTS track which plays more like huge bitrate mono, but clear nonetheless with better bass definition. Truly overkill mind you!

    I prefer either the 2.0 Dolby Surround as it's actually not that bad played as vanilla stereo. There are very few surrounds in these pseudo 5.1 mixes in anycase, so tracks are just a waste of valuable video space and quite hissy in parts especially the abysmal Dolby 5.1 choice sounding like it was recorded in a tin can.

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  7. After viewing and selling on this Second Sight boxset I can report that there also audio issues with it. In the theatrical commentary there are some pops and clicks which weren't evident in the older Divimax release or Ultimate Edition. The Argento 5.1 is totally dreadful as well, but that is probably due to the material available, , the channel balance seems even worse than older releases.

    There are overly brightness issues in some video scenes of both the theatrical and extended cuts and grain texture is not even in parts-again the source. I saw a matrix like webbing to the picture and my TV set up is correctly fine tuned for HDR which I've never seen before in other 4k releases of other films. I don't think that this is quite the magnificent restoration others have said, but the level of detail is very good-too good in fact as everything(FX) looks too plasticky andd amateurish even more now. Glad I kept my ultimate Edition!

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  8. I still have the Anchor Bay 2004 Divimax dvd of Dawn of The Dead 1978, and can confirm the actual resolution without the black bars to make it 480p(1.85-anamorphic) is 1.8305 not 1.84 as mentioned in the review above.

    The Dolby 2.0 surround has the best bass balance, acoustics/frequency range than the other tracks and is the superior option I think to enjoy this film on dvd. The video is very nice for a film over 40 years old. Only quibble is the edge enhancement to bring out detail and to be fair it has done this on a soft grainy print.
    Frank

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  9. P.s I'm referring to the theatrical one disc!
    Frank

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  10. That bloody flapping hand(Romero directing?)when Peter shoots the zombie kids is still in the Second Sight remastering of the OCN, but thankfully missing in Anchor Bay's Blu Ray earlier 2007 release. A bit of CGI done well could have got rid of those blatant numerous/continuity errors which make this production look so amateurish now as well as dated.

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    1. I've totally been disappointed with every release of this classic. The oversaturation and DNR issues of Anchor Bay's 2007 release and the remastering of the OCN by Second Sight produced even worse color timing(over blue hue!) and contrast issues despite rendering from a cleaner print that I sold them both and just watch the divimax dvd now on my 4K TV!

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    2. I'd include nearly every dvd of this film in the disappointing category too. Glad I kept my Ultimate Edition. Wish they'd had a 'Wizard of Oz' type restoration on the Second Sight OCN opportunity. I don't buy into the original Director of Photography Gornick supervised every frame of it(remember Shivers release supervised by Croneberg and they release R version!)and no way is new colour timing like it was meant to be back in first U.S release 1979. All marketing hype!
      Wilson

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    3. Yeah, I'm definitely with you re: skepticism of "approved transfers." I'm seeing more and more markedly different transfers from different companies, supposedly supervised or scrutinized by the filmmakers, that I'm starting to feel like many of them are just signing off on letting them use their names for the marketing claim, but not actually taking an interest. That Shivers instance was a perfect example.

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  11. Michael Gornick a great guy by the way was probably flown in and did his bit admirably, but being there from start to finish and scrutinizing every frame is impossible. My bet is in the industry directors albeit the film director/creator or photography director get the memorandum from a media assistant or company reps telling what is about to be done and request their input at a meeting expenses paid of course.

    They then see a prior end product or digital draft so to speak and give their name to it after a modicum of input and leave. Think of Halloween 1978 revisions. No way does new color timing match original cinema releases-film projectionists have said so many times over, but these people come out of the wood work, get paid big bucks and swear blind this is how it was intended. Total bs!

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  12. 4K revisionist scans are highly problematic. Blue/cyan etc.

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  13. We went through the awful DNR phase when Blu-ray first came out-destroying natural grain to the point of as if Madame Tussaud's was releasing Predator for a showing on blu ray; Patton was just as bad!

    Revisionist releases with awful teals or greens e.g Matrix, French Connection, Blade Runner were everywhere too. Now 4K(any content) which never seems to look right on any Dolby Vision TV(Mandalorian looks pretty dreadful too!) I've owned, with tugid coloring or muted, despite careful calibration of settings. Glad I kept some of my DVD's! Not the Same Colour(NTSC) or PAL doesn't seem as bad now!
    Bill

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  14. I absoluted hated this Second Sight 4K revisionist remastering of Dawn of The Dead, so much I sold it immediately. The film has made the zombies look like extras from a grotesque French theatre production of the 18th century with exaggerated chrome levels and an annoying blue tinge throughout worthy and almost equal to that awful Night of the Living Dead 1990 botched blu ray release years back! The Anchor Bay 2004 release though problematic doesn't seem so bad now-wish I had kept it!
    Derek Jenks

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    1. The 4k remastering is 'Blue' throughout and far from the cartoony feel coloring which Romero used to wax lyrically about in old interviews. This film looks awful on my HDR enabled TV and it is set up perfectly. I hate these revisionists releases. The zombies and fx look even more ridiculous now. Pancake paint. Back to Anchor Bay's release for me!
      Franz

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  15. After recently comparing again the old Anchor Bay/Starz blu ray of Dawn of The dead with its older 2004 Divimax dvd the difference is startling in terms of detail and clarity from a non (OCN)original camera negative print. The blu ray at the time garnered a lot of negative reviews due to ghosting issues and over DNR use cleaning this old film up, but still blows the dvd out of the water.
    I much prefer Anchor Bay's Blu-ray compared to the much praised Second Sight's restoration's color timing, though it's without doubt an impressive 4k encoding. Romero always emphasized the film as having comicbook tones due to its over saturated coloring and I think the 4K detracts from this original director's intention My 5 cents' worth! Best regards.
    Barry

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  16. Blue, blue blue! I'm one of many who probably sold or passed this Second Sight 4k set on, because the remastering botched up the flooring to an awful blue and too over right. The older Divimax dvd has splendid colours and contrasts compared to this 4k mess!

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  17. When posted words got screwed up and changed? Above post should say coloring not flooring and too over bright instead of over right.

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  18. It's either a.i or your Google keyboard offering words as you type or sometimes it does it when you've posted. An annoying thing which happens nearly everywhere!
    Peter

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  19. I've always been fascinated by what could be considered as the best blu ray remastering or to a lesser extent 4k of any cinema film, because to my mind it has not been done as yet. Some purists might argue 'The Wizard of Oz!' which by all accounts was a marvellous restoration. However, most releases of other films have proved to be massive disappointments.
    Mike

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    1. 'Lawrence of Arabia' is excellent on Blu/4K, the second 'Patton' Blu looks amazing, 'Tora!, Tora!, Tora!' looks a jiffy on Blu and in my offbeat choice 'Waterloo' looks stunning on Blu. I would also add the 4Ks of 'Casino' and 'Spartacus'. These are great remasters that come to mind among others well worth marveling at.

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    2. I think the first Patton blu release got criticized heavily for the overdone DNR waxy look didn't it? Glad to know second release is better!
      J.B

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    3. Yes the first 'Patton' was the one ripped apart for excessive DNR. The second version is like having your own film print. Wonderful job was done. Definitely highly recommend it!

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    4. Thanks for confirming that. Cheers Chris!
      J.B

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    5. You're welcome! Hope you get to enjoy it soon. Fox releases tend to go out of print but can be found on the secondary market decently enough.

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  20. Second release version of Patton certainly is a revelation. Remastering early days of dnr etc is hit and miss. Also the 4K craze geared towards Dolby Vision set ups, is problematic too.

    Back on topic track, I hated too the colour timing and remastering of the older 2007 Starz( Anchor Bay) release of Dawn of the Dead. Not quite Predator, but still a bit scrubbed waxy and oversaturated with red with black crushing in some scenes. The newer Second Sight 4K is just blue blue and overbright, so much that I sold it soon afterwards.

    Now I'm just really glad I kept the superb older Ultimate Edition dvd set and mostly play the theatrical which is identical to the Divimax 2004 dvd single disc. What Anchor Bay did was nothing short of phenomenal in getting an old print to look so good, especially as it wasn't the OCN like Second Sight used later. The dvd colour timing is perfect and without the woes of the blu dnr ghosting mess as some grain texture is healthily retained in the dvd. Looks just like HD when upscaled on my 65" TV.
    Judd

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