Written by Andre Dellamorte

We’re now starting to see some awesome catalog titles flood the Blu-ray market. Yay us. It’ll be interesting to see how this is handled, as there are a couple of different approaches. For the most part what we’ve seen are 1080 transfers with the same supplements as the DVD. This is good and bad. It’s nice for BR to have exclusive content as selling points, even if it sucks. Lord knows I bought more than one double dip for exclusive content related issues.

What Universal has done is retro-fit all three films to their PIP mode. What they did was take the documentaries, and featurettes from their earlier incarnations, and turn it into a video commentary track. I don’t like this. The Thing, in this case, had an 81 minute documentary on the laserdisc and DVD, and also had deleted footage, and the theatrical trailer. The documentary is now cut up and plays during the film, to which it occasionally stops playing, and so you have watch the feature in the interim. I would rather watch the 81 minute documentary uncut, thank you. This approach fares a bit better with the Dawn of the Dead remake, as the featurettes on that title weren’t as in depth, and so they make for good little nuggets and factoids. With Land of the Dead you get the commentary with George A. Romero. Producer Peter Grunwald and Editor Michael Doherty, Featurettes “When Shaun Met George” (13 min.), “The Remaining Bits” (2 min),  “Storyboard and Final Scenes” (8 min.),  “Scenes of Carnage” (2 min),  “Zombie Effects - From Green Screen to Finished Scene” (3 min),  “Scream Tests: Zombie Casting Calls” (1 min), but it appears the rest of the DVD’s featurettes have been carved up for this film’s PIP window. The Thing comes with the excellent and justly famous John Carpenter and Kurt Russell commentary, while Dawn comes with commentary by director Zack Snyder and Eric Newman. All are presented in DTS 5.1 surround. The best reason to get these films are the absolutely gorgeous transfers of these movies.

The Thing is a masterpiece, of that there is no question. John Carpenter’s 1982 film is perfect in every respect, and the 110 minute film has done nothing but age perfectly. I recently interviewed Howard Berger and he agreed with me that effects have never improved on this film, and there is nothing you can do with digital that could improve or recreate the revulsion some of the images contained herein create. Kurt Russell leads a great ensemble cast (which includes Wilford Brimley, Donald Moffat, Keith David, and T.K. Carter) that faces an alien invasion. The aliens replicate you down to every detail, so the alien is hiding amongst the men assembled at an Antarctic station. The way the alien reacts when it’s found out creates some of the most beautiful, and haunting images that visual effects have ever achieved for horror and science fiction. It’s – literally – breathtaking, and I still marvel at the ingenuity today. A great cast, and a pitch black sense of humor marks this must have.

Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead is passable, good action, some good gore, but it pales in comparison to the original in my humble. Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames head up the cast of survivors who head to a mall to take refuge from the onset of a zombie invasion. With no safe haven, they make the mall their own, but a little bit of infighting causes some trauma, but the main impetus for leaving is going to an island to find some place they can survive. Jake Weber makes a strong impression as the haunted survivor who is the film’s heart, and the end credit montage really ruins the poignancy of the ending they had. If I dislike the film for any reason, it’s that they don’t leave that ending alone. But it should be noted that it works on its own, and the incidents that the film comes up with to keep the story moving (the guy across the street, the zombie baby) are interesting enough, and Snyder directs with the flash that suggested he might become the director he looks to be becoming.

Land of the Dead is a film that has gotten a mixed reception, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a continuation of Romero’s zombie trilogy that covers much of the same ground of the previous two entries. Instead of making it a great horror film, Romero was more interested in making his zombie western/action film. It’s loose and fun, and the political points it makes are fairly on the nose, but that’s not a mark against unless you had expectations that are silly. At least in my humble opinion. Headed up by Simon Baker, and featuring John Leguizamo, Asia Argento and Dennis Hopper, the cast is good B Movie fare, and the zombie gore gags are phenomenal. I enjoy the film, but I’m in Romero’s camp. The plot follows Baker as he has to hunt down rogue agent Leguizamo after Leguizamo is denied access to the good life by Hopper. Such leads to the zombies taking over the safehold. Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero make cameos.

All three films are recommended, though you might want to hold on to your previous version of The Thing.