Night of the Living Dead: Criterion gives George A. Romero classic a 4K UHD release

It’s a good time to be a genre fan with a 4K UHD collection, because there has been a steady stream of “classic horror movie coming to 4K UHD!” announcements lately. The one I’m happiest to hear about today: Criterion will be giving George A. Romero‘s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead a 4K UHD release on October 4th – and copies are available for pre-order at THIS LINK!

Directed by Romero from a screenplay he wrote with John A. Russo, Night of the Living Dead has the following synopsis:

A disparate group of individuals takes refuge in an abandoned house when corpses begin to leave the graveyard in search of fresh human bodies to devour. The pragmatic Ben does his best to control the situation, but when the reanimated bodies surround the house, the other survivors begin to panic. As any semblance of order within the group begins to dissipate, the zombies start to find ways inside — and one by one, the living humans become the prey of the deceased ones.

The film stars Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, Keith Wayne, Kyra Schon, Bill Hinzman, George Kosana, Russell Streiner, and Bill “Chilly Billy” Cardille.

Here’s the list of special features that will be found on the Criterion 4K UHD and Blu-ray release:

4K digital restoration, supervised by director George A. Romero, coscreenwriter John A. Russo, sound engineer Gary R. Streiner, and producer Russell W. Streiner, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack

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

Will you be picking up a copy of Night of the Living Dead on 4K UHD? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

This isn’t the only cool Night of the Living Dead news we’ve reported on recently. Just a couple weeks ago, we heard that special effects artist Greg Nicotero – who worked with Romero on several different projects and has directed multiple episodes of The Walking Dead – is planning to direct a movie about the making of Night of the Living Dead!