Criterion has announced that George A. Romero’s classic 1968 zombie horror Night of the Living Dead is set for a 4K Ultra HD release this October, with a digital restoration overseen by the legendary horror filmmaker himself prior to his passing. Check out the cover artwork and special features details here…
Shot outside Pittsburgh on a shoestring budget, by a band of filmmakers determined to make their mark, Night of the Living Dead, directed by horror master George A. Romero, is a great story of independent cinema: a midnight hit turned box-office smash that became one of the most influential films of all time. A deceptively simple tale of a group of strangers trapped in a farmhouse who find themselves fending off a horde of recently dead, flesh-eating ghouls, Romero’s claustrophobic vision of a late-1960s America literally tearing itself apart rewrote the rules of the horror genre, combining gruesome gore with acute social commentary and quietly breaking ground by casting a Black actor (Duane Jones) in its lead role.
- 4K digital restoration, supervised by director George A. Romero, coscreenwriter John A. Russo, sound engineer Gary R. Streiner, and producer Russell W. Streiner
- Restoration of the monaural soundtrack, supervised by Romero and Gary Streiner and presented uncompressed on the Blu-ray and 4K UHD
- In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film and two Blu-rays with the film and special features
- Night of Anubis, a work-print edit of the film
- Program featuring filmmakers Frank Darabont, Guillermo del Toro, and Robert Rodriguez
- Sixteen-millimeter dailies reel
- Program featuring Russo on the commercial and industrial-film production company where key Night of the Living Dead participants got their starts
- Two audio commentaries from 1994 featuring Romero, Russo, producer Karl Hardman, actor Judith O’Dea, and others
- Archival interviews with Romero and actors Duane Jones and Judith Ridley
- Programs about the film’s style and score
- Interview program about the direction of the film’s ghouls, featuring members of the cast and crew
- Interviews with Gary Streiner and Russell Streiner
- Newsreels from 1967
- Trailer, radio spots, and TV spots
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Stuart Klawans
Night of the Living Dead is set for a 4K Ultra HD release on October 4th.
