Rating: 
Summary: New scenes are Quite Disappointing at Time but DVD is Great
Review: The best thing about the 30th anniversary limited edition is the Audio Commentary and Dobly Digital 5.1 Surround Sound is great and the CD Soundtrack comes with it is good also. What i didn`t know that they remove fifteen of the old footage replace it with the new footage, what John A. Russo filmed some of it good the new footage and the rest could have been better. But it was the new ending that really the film and it`s like Dawn Of The Dead and Day Of The Dead doesn`t exist anymore. The real disappointment that the 98 edition-the original is rescore too bad, i miss the old score. The best thing about this flawed edition is the running commentary track by the filmmakers. Grade:B+.
Rating: 
Summary: From the Zombie's Mouth
Review: I am a zombie. The zombies in "Night of the Living Dead" were not real. That is not how real zombies act. We are actually quite sociable and passive, except when provoked by bad film portrayals such as this one. I expected some vindication in this new version. But I was disappointed. So much so that I almost cried, but since I am already dead, the tears would not well up.
Rating: 
Summary: The Death of a Classic
Review: Boy, this is a tough one. The original "Night of the Living Dead" is a landmark genre milestone, deserving buckets of praise. Despite pitiful actors, crude make-up effects and a budget from hell, George A. Romero really struck a nerve in 1968. He created a classic that still to this day stands out as one of the best. A classic in no need of any additional scenes...Therefore, I cannot for the life of me explain how much I HATE this new version of the film. The 15 minutes of new footage brings absolutely nothing to the story. Only confusion and irritation. There is a new religious angle (given to us by the most hysterical and hideously overacted priest in cinematic history), that completely ruins the quiet mood of the original. Some extra gore-scenes and shots of more modern looking ghouls have been added, replacing several well known zombie shots from the 60's version. The soundtrack has been completely replaced by modern synthesized music, a move that finally puts the lid on the original movie, turning it into a modern day techno extravaganza with the 60's atmosphere of a Marilyn Manson concert. The most tremendously clumsy and idiotic fault is that the sound is out of sync with the action in many scenes, which really makes you wonder who in God's name approved the final print. The only good thing I can say about this new edition is that the picture quality has never been better. Super sharp and crystal clear, the best transfer ever. I really suffer with Mr. Romero... His first masterpiece has been bashed by critics, truncated by censors and marketed by greedy people who ripped him off financially. It has been remade and restored with terrible results and he will forever be associated with every worthless new experiment, churned out by dollar hungry amateurs determined to bank in on his name. I sincerely hope he had nothing to do with this release. Romero is a quality-buff, adamant about the perfection of his work. He is hardly mentioned in the narration, and I'm pretty sure he's happy about it. Because no matter what happens, George A. Romero will always be the one and only inimitable master of the living dead. No one can ever take that away from him...
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Summary: A Masterpiece that Redefined Horror Forever
Review: After watching movies year after year after year, we have specfic pictures that have changed the very way we had previously looked at something either in life, philosophy, or etc. Gone with the Wind and the Wizard of Oz made 1939 audiences see the unbelievable potential of color films, Orson Welles amazed critics and audiences alike with his masterful grasp of film concept in Citizen Kane, John Ford showed that the Western could show emotional depth and sophistication in the Searchers, and Alfred Hitchcock horrified audiences by proving that anything can happen in the movies even the death of a main character fifty minutes into the movie. With 1969's highly influential Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero presented to audiences a frightingly plausiable possibility. The villains in Romero's piece were not monsters from outerspace, 50 feet tall women, radioactive lizards attacking Tokyo, or some cheap special effect plastered unconvincingly on a film's background. They were human. The film's plot talking about space radiation from a Venus Probe cauing the Dead to rise can seem rather silly. Besides the facts of the scientific and the campy, humans were attacking and eating humans. The enemy was not some bizarre tangent of someone's imagination. They were human. The possibility and likelihood that these events could conceivably happen in real life may be "Night's" greatest and most obvious contribution to the horror film. Like Hitchcock's Psycho, the threat was something real that could perhaps happen or may have already happened. These films deal with repressed psychological fears that resulted from abnormal pshychology, the cold war and anxiety over possible nuclear armageddon. Romero and his collaborators bickered fiercly over artistic control in this film, and it shows prominently through the film. Especially in the relationships between Ben and Mr. Cooper in the film's final half. The film's brillant denoucement of how humans self-destruct through mis-communication is very celebral and moving in it's simplicity and gut-wrenching execution. For a horror film, these philosohical attributes make Night of the Living Dead an emotional powerhouse that still thrills audiences to this day. The ambiguous final five minutes of Night of the Living Dead brings more questions about human morality than most modern fiction. All this in a ninety-six minute movie made on very low budget. Generally low budgets hamper movies significantly, in the case of George Romero's Night of the Dead, the graniness of the film's picture and the simplicity of Night's set make the anxiety and fear that much more close. A brillant milestone in modern horror movies. A must-see. See Romero's 96 minute orginal over Russo' overbearing 30th anniversary addition that everyone is complaining about.
Rating:
Summary: filth of the lowest order
Review: I have to agree with the previous reviewer. This is TERRIBLE. Being a fan of the genre I was ecstatic to see a special edition version of NOTLD. Little did I know that the so called "never before seen footage" would consist of below b-movie acting writing and direction, as well as a dead ringer for Anton LaVey posing as a priest. The same Anton LaVey lookalike who is responible for BUTCHERING the original score. The bonus soundtrack cd isn't even the original spooky score! It's the worst kind of MIDIfied noodling with no emotion behind it whatsover. Stay far away from this. Far, far away.
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Summary: WARNING: This is NOT the movie you think it is!
Review: When I first saw the packaging for this Special Edition of Night of the Living Dead it said there was 15 minutes of new footage and a new score. Well, GREAT I thought. 15 minutes of new footage that must've been cut out from the original release! New score, well, that could be a good thing too! Until I opened the box to see the little booklet that revealed the ugly truth... There are new scenes alright. New scenes made by new people TWO YEARS AGO! The new scenes are badly acted, badly written, and badly edited. Scenes that subtract from the overall impact of the film and do nothing but taint a true horror classic. The new music is a cheesy synthesizer score that does nothing but irritate and distract throughout the film. (Cheesy synthesizer is good for other horror films, but it does NOT work well here.) I originally bought this at a store, got it home and didn't even sit through the whole thing. I zipped through various chapters to see the HORRIBLE new additions in all their glory. The next day I took it back and told them it skipped because I was so determined to get rid of it. STAY AWAY!
Rating:
Summary: It's a great addition to a classic
Review: I loved the Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary Edition! The new footage is cool and well done. Another great addition to my Night of the Living Dead collection!
Rating:
Summary: Classic Horror Film Is Butchered In Restoration
Review: I cannot believe why Romero/Russo would do such a thing! Restoring a classic takes guts, and can be done artistically (ala, the Star Wars Trilogy) if the artist has developed his ideas in the context of the film: thus rendering a balance of old + new ideas. However, what Romero/Russo did was way off kilter. First of all, the beginning credits looks like a low-fi public access printout -- is this NOTLD or the Blair Witch Project? Secondly, the so-called "never-before-seen footage," which we waited in anticipation to see, is beyond atrocious. The actors (what actors?) look like they've just walked off a pornfilm set, including the reverend who wears his "rico suave" goatee plus chest hairs. Furthermore, these incongruous scene were recorded on a video camera as opposed to film, which Romero had utilized so well in the original pressing. In addition, the twerp who reconstituted the films nightmarish score must have used a keyboard resembling an early midi-compatible Casio. The original music was made in the 60's, representing a sound for its genre; however, the new composer has created something akin to the sounds of 80's industrial music, Nine Inch Nails, and Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. For those who were awaiting NOTLD's 30th anniversary for their video collection, I'd say stick with the original edition or the films 25th anniversary version that was digitally restored as well. In short, I personally would rather see Turner's colorized edition over the above.
Rating:
Summary: PAINFULLY BAD
Review: If Ed Wood was still alive he couldn't even get excited about the new scenes in this film. If you are a fan of night of the living dead buy the elite dvd but stay far away from the special edition. The new scenes add nothing to the story and actually detract from it. Russo's direction in the new scenes is about as exciting and creative as a wet sponge. The new scenes are poorly written and the acting is even worse. I was really looking forward to this and was terribly disappointed. View at your own risk - stomach aches, nausea, vomiting could be the result at seeing a master piece of a horror movie butchered courtesy of Russo and friends.
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Summary: Aint It Cool News Review....
Review: I have had some pretty awful experiences in my life. As well as quite a few wonderful ones. The worst, I always thought, would be having to stand in the room while the authorities pulled the melted jewelrey from my mother's burnt corpse. That was a bad experience. Then there were the two rusty nails that slammed into my knee to the hilt. Oh yeah... and not being able to move my legs. I always thought that nothing I could see in film could even approach the misery of these personal moments. But then, I could never in a thousand years imagine the creative still-birth of the 30th Anniversary NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD DVD. Now I know what you are thinking, or at least I think I do. You may be thinking that I have grossly overstated the level of personal offense with which I take this DVD, but I swear to you I am having to control myself sooo much right now from merely ranting... How can I tell you exactly how they pissed on this film? NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is one of my first favorite movies. Every week, for the first 6 years of my life, I watched NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD projected in 16mm. It was the first film that I had memorized. It scared me away from wanting to ever frequent cemeteries. And it made me ask my Dad how they make movies. And he handed me my first Famous Monsters of Filmland, along with a book on LON CHANEY... a little thin blue book. And that is how it began. Also at the time I was addicted to KING KONG, GORGO and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. I was seeing each of those... constantly alongside LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Corman version) and REEFER MADNESS. In fact earlier this day I had watched the Alamo Drafthouse's last night of the Cannibal fest where they screened NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. I was in a great mood. I'd been saving watching this 30th Anniversary edition till after I saw this screening at the Drafthouse. Quint came over to watch it with Father Geek and I... and my god... the horror. I feel as though I have just watched a personal family member gang-raped by a pack of super sodomites. If you love NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD don't even pick up the box that encases this dung heap. First off, John Russo should be buried alive and fed through an IV and given adequate oxygen for the next 30 years. He has butchered, defaced and ruined one of the greatest horror films of all time. From his additions (as well as subtractions) to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, I can say with the utmost confidence that talent does not in any way reside within this shell of a so-called writer. He has created something that at it's best moments perhaps achieves the utter stupidity of 'GREEDO FIRED FIRST', but mostly resides with floating turds in a city sewer system. There is not one instance in the entirety of the DVD that even begins to be good. And I'm even talking about the original footage. They have ruined every single second of the film through laughably awful sound effects and mixing, through a HORRENDOUS new bit of noise shat out by talentless hack, Scott Vladimir Ligina. They have erased all grain from the film, making it stark and crisp and in focus where it was once gloriously creepy and atmospheric. Sigh... Perhaps I should just begin... at the beginning. Gone are the opening shots of the film. Instead we begin upon the Chevy truck, that we later see Ben driving. But for now, it is driven by two redneck types hauling the body of the 'cemetery ghoul' in a coffin in the back of their truck. Terrible dialogue about how he was a child murderer has been created as if to give some sort of backstory to the first zombie we ever see. This is HORRIBLE. REALLY REALLY HORRIBLE. The dialogue and acting between the two corpse handlers is terribly written and delivered with all the subtlety and nuance of a kindergarten play about butterflies and toast. When we finally arrive at the cemetery we get a look at this abominable tone deaf synthesizer addicted skinhead, Scott Vladimir Licina. Not only did he piss on the entire film with the single most offensive score I have ever listened to in my life, he and his gigantic teeth, have decided to bookend this film with an overbearing and painfully awful portrayal of a Reverend. They have the cemetery zombie attack the two drivers and then we cut straight to Barbara and Johnny parked at the cemetery. All the foreboding shots of the drive... gone. Now, new thunder sounds pounding the entire scene. Drowning out their dialogue. This is... awful. I really have never known the meaning of that word till I witnessed this atrocity. Let's cut forward a bit. Remember where Ben and Barbara have first gone into the house together? When he tells her to go turn on all the lights, and then he begins searching for nails and hammer and wood? Well... we see him find the toolboxes. We no longer see him put the screwdriver in his back pocket, gone is the search for wood... he no longer looks under the sink, the initial nailing of wood is gone.... Oh yeah... as a matter of fact... When Barbara leaves the room here, it instantly cuts straight to her at the music box. All of the in-between and dialogue has been cut. Remember Ben relating to Barbara what happened to him? Remember him talking about a tanker truck... describing that? GONE. Remember Barbara telling the story of Johnny and her? Well, they got to the cemetery... but all of her fantastic hysterical fits... GONE! Gone. So much character development. Gone gone gone. Remember the scene between Harry and Helen in the basement where Harry talks about the Radio up stairs and Helen begins screaming at him about that. About how they don't like one another. Well now... Harry goes down in the basement. Does his initial bit about , "We'll see who's right. We'll see when they come pleading for me to let them in" And then... cut to our all around swell guy, Tom pleading with Harry to come on back up... a mere minute and a half after he's entered the cellar... there by making it seem as if... Tom instantly had a change of heart. Gone is the development between Harry and Helen about their marriage problems, the issues with Harry's superiority complex. If fact... throughout the entire film all of this basic fundamentally important to the story work is GONE, to be replaced with Reverend Wide Teeth and his bunch of morons. Also... all the radio broadcasts are now different. It no longer feels like a radio broadcast from the period, but now feels like someone trying to impersonate a radio broadcast. Gone is most of the Venus probe stuff. Gone is the information about the Rescue Centers. Gone Gone Gone. They hacked the hell out of this film. Remember the naked zombie? GONE! Instead we have additional stumblers. No useful or even
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