Return Of The Living Dead (MGM) + Sometimes
They Come Back (MGM) + Night Of The
Living Dead 3-D (2007/Lionsgate)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Films: C+/C+/D
With I Am Legend out in theaters a big hit,
we thought we’d look at three recent DVD releases to quench your curiosity
about them. There is 1985’s The Return Of The Living Dead, a film
George Romero sued to stop from competing against his underrated Day Of The Dead, now out in a new Collector’s Edition from MGM. Not as smart as Romero’s production, it is
meant to be comic and entertaining, which it is. Too bad it inspired so many lame
imitators. It’s anamorphically enhanced
1.85 X 1 image shows its age, but it is not bad to watch, while its Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo (with no surrounds) shows its age. We like the glow-in-the-dark paperboard
slipcase it comes in, plus extras on the disc include three featurettes, two
audio commentaries and the original trailer.
Tom
McLoughlin’s version of Stephen King’s Sometimes
They Come Back (1991, also from MGM) is has a good lead in Tim Matheson
with Brooke Adams as an angry teacher comes is haunted by an ugly past incident
about to return form the repressed… and the grave. Not bad, if overlong. It leans towards King’s
more sentimental works (Green Mile)
and Horror works, but cannot decide on which to go with. Interesting, it’s anamorphically enhanced
2.35 X 1 image shows its age, but it is not bad to watch, while its Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo is the best of the three films here by default.
Finally
is the third version of Romero’s Night
Of The Living Dead from 2006 & Lionsgate DVD, following Tom Savini’s
remake. This one is in 3-D, is
pointless, has no idea what it is doing, wastes Sid Haig and 80 minutes of your
time if you watch it. The 3-D is too
gimmicky for its own good and our copy came with four glasses. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is
mixed, while its Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is silly. The useless extras include trailers, 3-D
stills, audio commentary and three featurettes.
Stick with the original instead.
- Nicholas Sheffo
