Arrow Video - Dawn Of The Dead Blu-ray

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Hey I don't think you were being negative - perhaps slightly ahead of the curve though. Now that I've had a Blu-ray player at home for a month I'm now obsessed with watching stuff on Blu-ray and almost forgetting DVD exists but the reality of the market is right now it's seriously niche and ludicrously expensive and restrictive to work with. Also as my month has worn on I've run out of decent things to watch on Blu-ray (sadly I'm not made of money) and putting on DVDs like for instance The Sopranos - they look amazing - to the extent I won't rebuy that on Blu-ray - rather I think I think I'll selectively pick the films I really love.

I think with this Dawn set a nation of DVD owners will have finally on UK shelves the Argento cut available to them, some fine extras and once they upgrade to Blu-ray they can experience the theatrical cut in HD and see just how much better their DVDs look.

As for which cuts are in HD - the theatrical is available - we asked if any more had been done and only the Argento cut had been but it's a disaster - really awful so that was ditched and all efforts were put into getting as many extras of real quality as possible with an emphasis on documentaries rather than endless commentary tracks.

With any luck I should have some artwork to post - possibly as soon as this weekend.

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Almar@Cult Labs

With any luck I should have some artwork to post - possibly as soon as this weekend.

The second time in two days that I've soiled myself

[Almar@Cult Labs]

We must start supplying Cult Pants around here...

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Oh yes lol.

In fact,I've came up with a brilliant idea.Dvd covers are usually plastered with quotes from movie crirics praisintgthe films,I think it would be great to have some quotes from fans on the cover instead."I think i just soild myself"-stevoj."Almost as good as Night Of The Demon"-Reaper72,thats sort of stuff

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Well funnily enough that was originally planned for Shameless releases - may yet happen one day!

[ash595]

Is it the first Time Tom Savini's Scream Greats available on DVD ? Great news

[Funktion]

The lack of HD versions of the other two cuts it's disappointing, especially since I'm sure Anchor Bay will sooner or later release a set with all these in HD (it would be nice for once to have a more or less "definitive" release, instead of one that will suit until someone releases a BD will all cuts in HD; I'm sure I'm not the only one tired of purchasing the same films over and over), but I will get the UK edition anyway, to support your first Blu-Ray effort, hoping for more releases in the future (especially from the Shameless label). I would surely buy any Italian horror films you release on BD (uncut), and with the lack of films from the sub-genre on the format it would be sure to be of greater interest for horror fans than releasing films already available elsewhere on BD.

But while the extras included are certainly impressive, and you did a great job with them (the non-inclusion of a few extras from the R1 set is easily surpassed by the inclusion of Scream Greats and Fan of the Dead, the later I'm curious to watch for the first time), I must say the use of 2 DVDs instead of a second Blu-Ray is highly disappointing, if not upsetting. Why couldn't you use a second BD for all the extras and bonus cuts of the film? I hear arguments that people who don't own a BD can just purchase this release and watch these 2 discs in the meantime, but as a Blu-Ray owner I must say this practice of including DVDs in Blu-Ray sets (in releases from other labels, it usually isn't even for the extras, but for including a SD copy of the very same film) is ridiculous. I don't remember buying my first DVDs and getting VHS tapes, so that those who didn't upgrade could watch them in the meantime. If it's a Blu-Ray set you are making, you should have done just that, not this hybrid release. The BDs have quite a few advantages over the DVDs, especially regarding the durability and scratch resistance (not to mention un-noticeable layer changes, among other things), so even for the SD content you could have used a second BD, and you could even upconvert your content during encoding, which would improve the visual quality of the content included.
I'm not trying to be a jackass, and complain just for the sake of complaining (again, you did a great job with the extras for this release, and the artword looks wonderful), but it seems people forget of those who actually own a BD player, those who should be the buyers for this release, and keep making these concessions that make for an inferior release, just out of consideration of those who still don't own a BD player.
I hope you take this into consideration for future releases

[Almar@Cult Labs]

Point taken - I thought the DVD plus VHS comparison was funny but I don't think it's quite in that league! It's much cheaper to author, produce and manufacture 2 DVDs than 1 Blu-ray and as most Blu-ray players will upscale and this allowed UK DVD fans to finally get hold of an Argento cut from a UK shop shelf it seemed like a good move and helped keep the price down to a pretty amazing £17.99. As you rightly point out the extras are good and I think all the best available are now together for the first time anywhere and it was worth spending budget on them which are going to be in SD anyway and put them on DVDs rather than not buy them and make people pay for another Blu-ray disc.

The complication people need to bear in mind is you can assemble the most insane edition of a film but retailers often end up setting the price that they'll buy at which suddenly leaves you with a product that'll ruin yo as a company.

It's all a delicate balancing act and I think the best possible set will come out of it so don't think we don't want perfection as well!

[bdc]

I'm getting really confused...
Will the director's cut be included or not?

[Splatterdragon73]

Not too long until pay day for yours truly so i'll be paying a visit to HMV's website to pre-order this title when the time comes!

Counting down the days!