CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD BLU-RAY & DVD: Coming in May from ARROW FILMS (UK):

Arrow Films, it seems have done it again. This time it is the seminal Fulci zombie shocker City of the Living Dead, which has received the special Arrow treatment.

Full specs are below:



"CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD

THE DEFINITIVE DVD AND BLU-RAY RELEASE OF LUCIO FULCI’S ZOMBIE CLASSIC.

One of the most revered zombie films of all time amongst horror fans, Lucio Fulci’s classic City Of The Living Dead gets the full Arrow Video treatment on DVD and Blu-ray in May 2010, presenting the film fully restored and uncut and complete with a host of unique and exclusive extras and featurettes (directed by Calum Waddell and edited and produced by Naomi Holwill with associate producer Nick Frame) specially commissioned for this must-have release.

Among the many extras are a newly recorded audio commentary with actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice, an introduction to the film by star Carlo De Mejo and ‘Carlo Of The Living Dead’, a 17-minute featurette in which De Mejo reflects upon his time working with the Italian master of splatter, Lucio Fulci.

The 50-minute ‘The Many Lives And Deaths Of Giovanni Lombaro Radice’ presents an extensive biography of the legendary screen victim, who guides viewers through the making of his most famous gut-crunching classics including ‘House On The Edge Of The Park’, ‘Cannibal Apocalypse’, ‘Cannibal Ferox’ and, of course, ‘City of the Living Dead’.

In addition to providing an alternative audio commentary to the main feature, legendary horror actress Catriona MacCall recalls playing the role of Mary in the film in ‘Dame Of The Dead’ and reflects upon the film 30 years on. Catriona also appears alongside Giovanni Lombardo Radice in a 20-minute retrospective Q&A session exclusively filmed live at the Glasgow Film Theatre following a recent special screening of the film.

Filmed in the Profondo Rosso shop in Rome, ‘Profondo Luigi: A Colleague’s Memories Of Lucio Fulci’ focuses on director Luigi Cozzi (Contamination; Starcrash; The Killer Must Kill Again) who talks about his own memories of Lucio Fulci and the Italian boom in zombie horror, while in ‘Fulci’s Daughter: Memories of the Italian Gore Maestro’, Antonella Fulci, the daughter of the legendary filmmaker, reflects upon ‘City Of The Living Dead’ and visits her father’s sets and speaks about his enduring legacy.

Both the DVD and the Blu-ray releases of ‘City Of The Living Dead’ also come with four sleeve artwork options and a newly commissioned booklet, ‘Fulci Of The Living Dead’, written by Calum Waddell and featuring exclusive new interviews with Sergio Stivaletti (Wax Mask), Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Fulci and Ian McCulloch (Zombie Flesh Eaters) among others, providing an in depth career retrospective on the Grand Old Man of Italian Gore. Plus both releases come with a double-sided poster and six postcards.

Directed by Lucio Fulci (The House By The Cemetery; The Beyond; Zombie Flesh Eaters) and starring Christopher George (Mortuary; The Exterminator; Grizzly), Catriona MacColl (The House By The Cemetery; The Beyond), Carlo De Mejo (The House By The Cemetery; Alien Contamination), Giovanni Lombardo Radice (Cannibal Apocalypse; Demons 3 and 4) and Michele Soavi (Demons; Phenomena; Tenebrae), City Of The Living Dead begins with the suicide of a priest in a church cemetery in the small town of Dunwich, New England. A sacrilegious act, the priest’s death mysteriously results in the opening of the gates of hell and, as fate would have it, it falls upon a reporter, a young psychic, a psychiatrist and his patient to team up and find a way to close the portal before All Saints Day, when the dead will rise and feed upon the living.

A hugely influential and much-admired work of horror cinema by one of the genre’s undisputed masters, City Of The Living Dead, taken purely as a stand-alone film, is a must-see horror classic. Now, this definitive special release from Arrow Video is, without doubt, a must-have for every horror fan.

City Of The Living Dead (cert. 18) will be released a two-disc DVD (£17.99) and single-disc Blu-ray (£22.99) by Arrow Video on 24th May 2010.

Special Features include: newly recorded audio commentary by actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice; audio commentary by actress Catriona MacColl and author Jay Slater; introduction to the film by star Carlo De Mejo; ‘Carlo Of The Living Dead featurette; ‘The Many Lives And Deaths Of Giovanni Lombardo Radice’ featurette; ‘Fulci’s Daughter: Memories Of The Italian Gore Maestro’ featurette; ‘Penning Some Paura’ featurette; ‘Profondo Luigi: A Colleague’s Memories Of Lucio Fulci’ featurette; ‘Fulci In The House – The Italian Master Of Splatter’ featurette."

**********************************************************************************

This release is planned to conincide with Blue Underground's Blu-Ray version, of whom Arrow have shared the HD master with. The extras are apparently going to vary over both releases, so this will call for a double-dip methinks. I hope to review the Arrow release at the end of May.

DAY OF THE DEAD BLU-RAY: Coming Monday from ARROW FILMS (UK):

As a follow-up to their 2009 Dawn of the Dead Blu-Ray/DVD combo Arrow Films (who are fast becoming my favourite UK distributor) are releasing George A. Romero's classic zombie dystopia: Day of the Dead in the form of a superb Blu-Ray package on Monday 29th March that will have fans creaming their panties in glee.

Below are the full specs of this phenomenal release:



OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:

"DAY OF THE DEAD – 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

ROMERO’S ZOMBIE MASTERPIECE ON BLU-RAY PACKED WITH A HOST OF WORLD EXCLUSIVE EXTRAS.

This March, Arrow Video celebrates the 25th Anniversary of writer-director George A. Romero’s 1985 horror masterpiece, Day Of The Dead, with a special two-disc Blu-ray release that features a host of world exclusive extras, including a restored presentation of the film, a new hi-def soundtrack (the original ‘uncensored dialogue’ version, completely restored), four alternate sleeves, a double-sided poster, a 24-page collector’s booklet ‘For Every Dawn There Is A Day’, plus a very special collector’s comic – ‘Day Of The Dead: Desertion’ – featuring a brand new ‘Bub’ storyline. Also after years of Dawn of the Dead getting all the great documentaries Day finally gets the retrospective it deserves with the all-new Joe of the Dead and Travelogue of the Dead.



Specially commissioned for this 25th Anniversary Blu-ray release of Day Of The Dead, the world exclusive 24-page comic ‘Day Of The Day: Desertion’ is written by ‘Hack/Slash Meets Re-Animator’ co-writer, Barry Keating, and ‘Halloween: Nightdance’ creator, Stefan Hutchinson, with artwork by ‘Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode’ illustrator Jeff Zornow. The storyline recounts the dark and disturbing origins of Day Of The Dead’s iconic zombie, Bub. Only available as part of this Blu-ray release, ‘Day Of The Dead: Desertion’ is just one of the many features that makes this release the one, must-have edition of Day Of The Dead for fans and collectors worldwide.

The Day of the Dead Blu-ray was developed in conjunction with the members of Cult Labs - (www.cult-labs.com) - a forum where film distributors interested in fan opinions spend time getting their expert feedback. One of the artwork options included in the packaging - the triple layer Night/Dawn/Day of the Dead poster was their most popular alternate choice. The main artwork is an all-new oil painting commissioned from artist Rick Melton.

In this, the third instalment in Romero’s ongoing zombie saga, the living dead have now taken over the world and only small pockets of human resistance survive. One such group of desperate survivors, a motley crew of scientists and soldiers, are holed up in a 14-mile long underground missile silo. As the scientists experiment on forcibly captured zombie specimens to try and find a way to control them, the soldiers become increasingly impatient with the lack of results and are eager to wage an all-out war on the undead. Soon, the tension between the two human camps erupts into a violent situation that is only overshadowed by the vicious zombie slaughter that surrounds them.

Easily the bleakest, goriest and most chilling of Romero’s zombie movies to date, Day Of The Dead sees Tom Savini and his special effects team hitting an all-time career high with an endless succession of super-realistic flesh tearing, bone snapping, gut spilling mayhem that for some viewers will prove almost too much to endure. The setting within a seemingly endless series of underground caverns adds an unbearable tension to a movie that is still as shockingly violent and claustrophobic today as it was twenty-five years ago.

wo all-new documentaries were commissioned for this epic release. In Joe of the Dead (directed by Calum Waddell) actor Joe Pilato talks about his career in movies - beginning with his work in the little-seen Pittsburgh horror outing Effects (which also featured Romero regulars Tom Savini and John Harrison) to his small parts in Dawn of the Dead and Knightriders and, of course, his work as Captain Rhodes in Day of the Dead. In addition, Pilato addresses the remake, where his career went following Day of the Dead's disastrous box office upon its initial release and his thoughts on the movie being rediscovered and hailed as a classic.

In Travelogue of the Dead (directed by Naomi Holwill) join Pilato as he travels across Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow in October 2009, celebrating the 25th anniversary of DAY OF THE DEAD. Witness him meeting the fans, reciting his most famous lines from the movie - live and on stage - and drinking with the best of them!

Calum Waddell also penned the For Every Dawn There Is A Day collector’s booklet which is an essay on the making of the movie that collects brand new interviews with Romero, Savini, editor Pasquale Buba, asst director/ composer John Harrison and actors Joe Pilato, Lori Cardille and Gary Steele

The two-disc 25th Anniversary Edition Day Of The Dead (cert. 18) will be released on Bly-ray by Arrow View on 29th March 2010.

Special Features

Four sleeve art options; double-sided fold-out poster; ‘For Every Dawn There Is A Day’ collector’s booklet; ‘Day Of The Dead: Desertion’ – an all new exclusive 24-page collector’s comic featuring new Bub storyline; 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio and 1.0 Mono audio options.

Disc One (Blu-ray)

Theatrical feature; audio commentary with special effects team of Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, Everett Burrell and Mike Deak; Joe Of The Dead – Acting In A Romero Classic; Travelogue Of The Dead.

Disc Two (DVD)

The Many Days Of The Dead; Behind the Zombies footage; Romero Zombography;
Photo Album of the Dead; Souvenirs of the Dead; Night Of The Living Dead trailer; Dawn Of The Dead trailer; TV Ads of the Dead; The Audio Recollections of Richard Liberty; Wampum Mine promo."

**********************************************************************************

Awesome stuff, indeed. I hope to be reviewing this release in the near future once it plonks through my letter-box.

*RECENT NEWS! I've heard that this release may be postponed for (approximately) a week. This is due to a delay at Sony in getting everything packed up into each release in time for Monday. I'm willing to bet it'll definitely be worth the extra wait though.*