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‘Night of Anubis’: What to Expect from Criterion’s ‘Night of the Living Dead’ Workprint

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Just what is this “never-before-presented” print we’ll be seeing next year?

One of this week’s big news bites was that the Criterion Collection, as rumored earlier this year, will be releasing the new 4K restoration of Night of the Living Dead that the late George A. Romero himself recently described as being “Closer than anything we’ve seen to the definitive version of the film.”

Under the supervision of Romero, Gary Streiner, Russ Streiner, and John Russo, the Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation restored the seminal classic in 4K from the original camera negative prior to Romero’s passing, and Criterion will be releasing it on DVD and Blu-ray on February 13, 2018.

Night of the Living Dead joins the Criterion Collection with…

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director George A. Romero, co-screenwriter John A. Russo, sound engineer Gary R. Streiner, and producer Russell W. Streiner
  • New restoration of the monaural soundtrack, supervised by Romero and Gary R. Streiner, and presented uncompressed on the Blu-ray
  • Night of Anubis, a never-before-presented work-print edit of the film
  • New program featuring filmmakers Frank Darabont, Guillermo del Toro, and Robert Rodriguez
  • Never-before-seen 16 mm dailies reel
  • New piece featuring Russo about the commercial and industrial-film production company where key Night of the Living Dead filmmakers got their start
  • Two audio commentaries from 1994, featuring Romero, Russo, producer Karl Hardman, actor
    Judith O’Dea, and more
  • Archival interviews with Romero and actors Duane Jones and Judith Ridley
  • New programs about the editing, the score, and directing ghouls
  • New interviews with Gary R. Streiner and Russel W. Streiner
  • Trailer, radio spots, and TV spots
  • More!
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Stuart Klawans

The one thing that immediately caught our eye about the release is that it’s going to include Night of Anubis, described as a never-before-presented work-print edit of Night of the Living Dead. Is this the infamous cut of the film that includes 9-minutes of never-before-seen footage, removed by Romero prior to release?

Sadly, that missing footage – despite recent reports – is lost forever. Jim Cirronella clears up what you should, and should not, expect from Night of the Anubis

“First, what is the ‘Night of Anubis, never-before-presented work-print edit of the film’ as advertised? While Night of the Living Dead was originally shot on 35mm, the Latent Image’s editing equipment was 16mm, so a reduction print of all the raw footage was needed so that George Romero could edit the film. George’s original edit of the film entitled “Night of Anubis” was said to contain additional scenes that were cut at the request of Continental. This mythical original cut of the film that everyone knows as “Night of the Living Dead” was also said to have been destroyed in the flooded basement of the former Latent Image offices, along with any chance to see those missing scenes.

Thanks to Gary Streiner‘s efforts at finding a proper home for Night of the Living Dead’s original picture and sound elements at the Museum of Modern Art, the Night of Anubis 16mm work print was discovered among materials from the now-defunct WRS Motion Picture Labs. What comprises the “Anubis work print” are reels of 16mm silent picture along with 16mm magnetic track containing unmixed dialogue, music and sound effects. Examination of the reels showed that the work print had also been cut to match the theatrical version of NOTLD, which would have been required for those audio tracks to match the final edit of the picture. Remember, although NOTLD’s primary picture element is a 35mm negative, the film’s final sound mix would have come from those 16 mm magnetic tracks that were cut along with the work print. Unfortunately, this means that scenes such as the Cooper’s additional bickering during the infamous basement jump cut had also been removed (and discarded) from the work print.

So what is different in the Night of Anubis work print? First, the original title still remains, and secondly, there is an alternate day-for-night view of the ghouls approaching the farmhouse. Since neither of these shots would have affected the soundtrack timing, both were left intact in the work print.

But if a lack of missing scenes in the work print has got you down,” Jim adds, “then you’ll be very pleased with this next item, ‘Never-before-seen 16 mm dailies reel.’

More on that in the coming weeks.

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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