This video was definitely a small passion project. Likes/comments are appreciated! PS- you guys are awesome, and you’re right! The alternate audio is in fact on the blu ray! 😮😮😮😮😮
The vhs covers was ENTIRELY how I selected these films for rental as a kid. My mum would read the synopsis and look at me like I was nuts lol. She still rented them for me though. ❤
because they barely parented us growing up, this is why so many GEN-X children are sarcastic, evil and morally flexible. We try to do right, but not above digging a hole and throwing a body into it.
This is why no one can prove the mandela effect is real and that Sinbad starred in Shazzam, a movie so crappy that nobody kept the vhs tapes. 🤣 really though, it is important to keep physical media because these big companies are ruining classics.
The composer on the weird version is Vladimir Horunzhy his name appears on the U.K. pre release pack by Guild video. Ken Weiderhorn hated the soundtrack and went to the CEO of Lorimar to ask for it to be changed. There are also loads of zombie voice fx Billy saying Brains the zombie who grabs Jessie’s hair saying brains. The narration at the start of the film too. I think Warner simply used the original print of the film when making the dvd and because all the language tracks for the film were produced after post production these remained unchanged.
@@l21n18 Yes, the 2004 WB DVD release with the different score was actually the films original score. Producer Tom Fox went behind the directors back and hired the composer and had the film scored before they locked picture on color correction... Editing was complete. When Ken had to screen a print for Lorimar he was unaware of the composer and had put a temp soundtrack in place... when the print rolled he was horrified, the execs gave him about $30k for a new composer and they hooked him up with J. Peter Robinson who made the score we know and love.
The image burned into my head is an old vhs cover of Dawn of the dead with zombie Roger face whilst laying in bed. It was a cover I was always fascinated with at the video store but could never rent it. When I finally got around to watching it many years later, I would say that was the film that changed my life.
I felt/feel the same. The green text, the orange sun background, and multiple iterations of Roger gives it a really unique and human drama feel, rather than just a straightforward horror film. Just the cover alone did that for me. It was the THorn-EMI release on cassette, vhs and beta.
@@joelalexander4513 Hahaha Demon Wind! Another classic cover. You're talking about the Vinegar syndrome release right? I wish I had the foresight back then to save my VHS tapes...
I’m in the same boat. But once I saw part one, I instantly fell in love with it. I regretted all those times I skipped it at the video store, I had no idea what I was missing out on.
It’s one of them movies that scarred me as a kid. The moment the bully kid bites into his mums head absolutely terrified me. As an adult it’s one of my all time favourites
I went to see Back to the Future when it came out and the film broke. While they were fixing it my friends and I were waiting in the lobby and there was a huge cardboard standee for Return of the Living Dead which came out later that summer.
I went to see an anniversary showing of Part II and after the movie ended stars Thom Matthews and Dana Ashbrook opened the Q & A with the statement "Well.... that's from the director of Meatballs II"
@billyrattlesticks6949 Absolute AWESOME Line and Beyond ICONIC! I'm 48 and Seen this when it Was NEW on NEW VHS Rentals and It Was/IS AWESOME Today as Well as Then!!! HollyWeird SUCKS TODAY and The WORST 70's/80's B Movies, Roger Corman Flicks are a MILLION TIMES BETTER than Supposed "BLOCKBUSTERS" TODAY!!! FACTS are IN the LOVE and Cult Following of Such Movies, Very FEW "Movies" made in the Last 15/20 years will be LOVED as MUCH as THESE Works of ART!!!
I remember on the DVD commentary track Ken even said the music didn't sound right. In general, the audio mixing on the DVD is rough. There's some misplaced ADR and tons of missing sound effects. The DVD is an interesting curiosity, and I'm glad Scream Factory was able to do Part II justice years later.
Sounds like it might have been a Temp Track film makers put in before they finish the Proper sound mixing and have their FINALIZED score. Somebody in the office got fired for sure! 😀
Out of both versions I have to say it's an absolute crime that the DVD version replaced the Trioxin Theme with what sounds like Video Game Music. The Trioxin gas accompanied by the theme in the first film is so Iconic and the Updated version in part 2 was so important giving you the feel of the first film. If I had any complaint about part 3 it would only be that they should've use the Trioxin Theme in the opening with the reanimated corpse.
There's a somewhat similar issue in 1987's "Summer School." It was supposed to include a Debbie Harry song called "Mind Over Matter," but there was a contract dispute, so E.G. Daily re-recorded the song. They goofed and left Harry's version in the French dub (available on the US DVD), which was the only place to hear her recording until a bootleg surfaced a decade or so ago.
Man, I am so glad you put this mystery to bed. I remember buying this dvd back in 2003 around Halloween and was completely baffled by how different it sounded. I had watched the vhs version so many times growing up and loved the music, so I was really let down with the changes. I also didn't know about the Scream Factory version, so i bought it while watching your video! Thank you!
The issue with the music is contracts are signed with something like "theatrical, broadcast television and video home movies (VHS)" Blueray, DVD, streaming didn't exist so the bands got paid according to the contract and the studio doesn't have rights to distribute the music in any other format. So if they do distribute ...on Blueray or whatever they are in violation of copyright which goes beyond just a civil suit for payment and could extend into criminal court.
Great video man! I’ve only seen the first film after watching one of your earlier videos and I loved it. but now you have me wanting to go out and buy both copy’s of this film and watch them.
Have you heard of the different voice for the Tarman in the 1st film? You can find clips on youtube of the original VHS/Theatrical voice. I can't remember why it was changed. It's just higher pitched. Weird.
I was disappointed by the voice change. I preferred his original voice. Plus they also messed with the music in certain scenes. I watched the original on VHS so many times I have the whole movie memorized! LoL
Close to return of the livign dead pt2 you mention with the tornado zombie,was my experience with the fright night cover with the vampiric cloud above the house! I was going junior school in greece back then and just in front of my school was the vhs store,or videoclub we called them back then.When the school was out for the day we were going to see all the amazing covers from the movies,and fright night's movie cover was became the one that vaptized me in the horror genre from those years! Worth mention also that i do own both dvd edition from the ones you showed us here! 😎
Media accidentally released the TV edit for Halloween on VHS, which is cool because it has extra scenes that were filmed specifically for it while they were shooting Halloween II.
“Get the damn screwdriver,out of ma head” 😂😂😂😂😂 I watched this movie when it came out with my mom, I was only 10. This movie has so much meaning to me, not only because reminds me of my mom, but just opened me up to horror and zombie movies. This will always remain a classic to me.
Music rights on analog video and digital video are treated separately. There were a lot of music rights issues with DVD. Many releases were damaged by not being able to re-procure rights for songs that were just replaced with generic music. The Beavis and Butthead series DVD release was derailed by rights disputes. They had actually produced the first run but recalled them before release.
There's nothing mysterious about it , it's just a cheesy movie cover. Tom Savini's re-make of Night Of The Living Dead is probably the best of all the Living Dead movies and it blows Romero's out of the water even though he originally came up with the idea.
Hey Man,' Great vid as per usual. I'm sure you know this, but the Scream blu ray has the alt. DVD audio track included. You hear the other score, and the narration from the beginning on the blu ray. I'm about a decade older than you, and I remember getting this DVD on release week, and back then, via internet and Fango issues, they brought this weird audio anomaly up, including how you can hear original audio on the French track.
Doesn’t the blu-ray from scream factory have both audio mixes? I would agree as many different versions of films are made and studio will use what they have, especially if it isn’t a film made by them or one with a hug following they know will recoup the costs
The first thing that comes to mind when I hear "lawsuit with music" is the tragedy of the Quantum Leap DVDs. Most of my grunge & alternative friends think of Daria, but for me the music on that show was just background noise that I never noticed was amy different on the DVDs
I seen your video with Garrett (Rad) talking about the resurgence of dvd and when you mentioned the soundtrack being the original on the dvd when listening to it in French. I was thankful that I keep all my past versions of my favorite films. Thanks for the info Christian....
One missed item in your review, is that the poster art for Return of the Living Dead 2 (1988) is a near-shameless rip off of the poster art from Fright Night (1986)
Confused is the USA DVD the one that has the original music in the French languages selection or is there a foreign version that has it as the picture you show is some non USA version from the picture you show in the video. I guess my question is will the USA dvd version on amazon be the one to get ?
@@PlanetCHH Interesting to note that the foreign DVD cover you show is from some weird bootleg or something, because it apparently features a commentary track from the cast of Batman: The Animated Series (Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Adrianne Barbeau and Efrem Zimbalist jr.)
@@JDelwynn It's the Croatian version. Confused the hell out of me since I started reading the text while the picture was onscreen and didn't realize it hah. It translates to "Voices in the Dark" and so odd to be included here.
I remember picking this up when it first came out and immediately being turned off by the change in music. Same with the change in tarman's voice in the return of the living dead 1's releases.
Enemy Territory (1987). Starring Tony Todd, Stacey Dash, Ray Parker Jr, Jan Michael Vincent. Criminally underrated EMPIRE PICTURES film. They never released on dvd or blu ray because of music licensing. There was a band who did a few songs in the soundtrack that prevented a new release.
HOLY SHIT!!!!!!! SOMEONE ELSE KNOWS THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!! Oh my God, do you know how many times I've described this late night classic and got such stares of "what the hell are you talking about?!" Wow! Awesome! I love this flick.
I think my copy of the movie may be one of these with the original music. Ive had the dvd forever and its definitely got the tornado cover art. What are these things worth now? Edit: I just got in from work and verified it! The english version starts out with the brief verbal history of trioxin and on the french version it completely skips over that. About to waych the movie in full to see all the musical differences.
OK. Good theory. This mystery plagued me for some time as well. I honed in on one thing that, for whatever reason, is what I believe to be, at least partially, if not the entirety of why the score is different: (Drum roll) Francis Haines' Trioxin Theme! While used sparingly, there are a few sections of the English track score that use a variation on what is the main motif of the first film's theme. Being a musician, I know how easily a lawsuit can arise from something seemingly miniscule. But I also know the length that filmmakers are willing to go to get out of having to pay someone for iconic work they've produced. My guess is that perhaps between the release of the VHS and DVD, Haines discovered quite late that they had used incorporated a portion of his track into the score without being properly credited and, more importantly, paid. As you said, the film being such a low-level release is why a studio would not want to shell out for a lawsuit. So instead of ponying up, they lazily slapped a bunch of music they owned outright over the entire score so that no one could say a single note of it was copied. Why do I think this? If you listen to the alternate score, it is the most conspicuously absent element that is in the restored score. Every Halloween film had to credit and pay Carpenter to use the main theme. There were multiple Anchor Bay releases, most famously perhaps all five seasons of 21 Jump Street, that had EVERY song from EVERY episode replaced with cheap free stuff so as to not have to pay to relicense their music. This was problematic for a number of films. Like Dazed and Confused. It would have been far less expensive to have new bands do covers of older 70s songs to use in the film than to license the original versions. Linklater said it was the most important part of the film and refused to budge. So the studio paid, and he got all but, funnily enough, the namesake song from Zeppelin, as they are notoriously weird about allowing their songs in film. And the soundtrack became an enormous hit when released on physical media. I know these arent 1:1 comparisons, but I do think it illustrates just how fickle music rights can be in general. I'd love to know what anyone else thinks.
This issue happened with the 1994 movie, Blown Away with Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones. The blu-ray release had multiple classic songs replaced with poor covers of the same songs I grew up hearing while watching it growing up on DVD/Broadcast.
Children of the Corn II has a similar issue. On the US version compared to the either the French or Spanish version of the film there are 2 different scores for the film. I have the Children of the Corn Trilogy region free Blu-Ray from Mexico, and Part II has a different soundtrack if you switch to English from Spanish.
I love this movie, have done since being a kid in the 80s. I was horrified when I bought the DVD, absolutely HATED the alternate score. I’d heard that was just a temp score when editing, and had somehow made it to the DVD. Still, I’m so glad the proper version finally got an HD release.
When "Airplane" was released on VHS in the Netherlands it was retitled to "Flying High" and the BeeGees song Staying Alive was replaced with some generic disco
I'm looking on DVD rewind & apparently on the Scream Factory Blu-ray you can access the alternate soundtrack. So that screw up score is on the Blu-ray. It actually sounds better in my opinion.
@@PlanetCHH oh for sure, at least it shows a time when Scream Factory were run by actual fans & not just business people. Only fans would care enough to fish that out for people.
so i'm confused...I have the dvd release of r.o.t.l.d. pt 2 already. But i had no idea it didn't have the original songs from the vhs release.& closest to that, is what I'm looking for🤔 so in that case, should i buy the blu-ray?
I saw this right after it played on satellite in the 1980s, I was five! We watched it at a friend's birthday party. Back then the few kids in the neighbourhood with satellite dishes taped movies like crazy, it was awesome.
I have the VHS but never seen the dvd of blu ray . I live in the UK so the DVD here might have the original soundtrack on it. When the film originally came out here it was quite a thing. playing off the back of the success of the first film, there was TV trailers for it (bear in mind we only had 4 tv channels back then and only 2 of those showed adverts) and when it came out on video it has stand up cardboard advertising in the video rental stores, i used to have one of the cardboard stand ups at the time.
another great vid, always learning on this channel! lol. would be cool to see you touch on hidden dvd features? like on the old lionsgate and vidmark discs. or maybe touch on promos from the video store days? thanks bud
2:35 "It really took me back but I was so in love with the aesthetic of the film that I completely forgave it." "It took me back" means it brought back memories, but unless you hated the first movie, why would you need to forgive something for bringing up memories? The expression you are looking for is that you were "taken aback," which means that something was unexpected in a negative way. For some reason youtubers mix these phrases up constantly.
4:11 "I was aghast by how different the music was", "aghast" is an adjective describing you, not a verb being done to you by the music. you were aghast AT the difference in the music; the people in the movie were gassed BY the zombie tanks.
@@spodoinklehorse They're saying Evil Dead 2 is very similar to RotLD part 2 in that sense, also both being horror comedies. I guess the first RotLD had comedy too, but part 2 leans far more heavily into comedy and I'm glad it does. Both are kinda continuations of the previous films but also use characters and/or same actors from the first.
@@stevepemberton151 Not exactly, why would Ash go to the same cabin with a GF that iirc has the same name? It's both a remake and continuation, at the end of the day they're fictional movies so it works I guess. It might take some out of the movie though and confuse people, but they're both great sequels IMO and I kinda like that they used actors from RotLD that died, it comes off as something they did for a laugh TBH and I like both characters, it's hard to imagine it with other actors. Hard to imagine Evil Dead 2 without Bruce too.
Part 2’s Blu audio isn’t even correct. It’s a VHS rip where you can hear the hiss throughout and tape damage at one point. The only TRUE audio is the Laserdisc. Love shout factory but the fact they used vhs over laser was really annoying. To further answer your question, WB do keep workprint audios around from time to time if they need elements to split into a 5.1 mix. My theory would be the elements were just easier to get.
Yeah they might have had the Negative with a temp or alternate score laying around and put that out by accident when they did the first DVD. DVD companies messing up isn't that hard to believe. lol
After watching the DVD for the last 15 or so years, I totally forgot that The Monster Mash played during the end credits of the VHS version. I need to dig that out. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Sometimes playing the actual VHS tape version is worth it. You get that low-fi mono sound as the tracking is adjusting to the optimal level with amusing sound blips as it heads off into one or two tv spots before the actual movie starts.
Same thing happened on the first DVD release of Happy Birthday to Me and yes an earlier print with the original score that's on the M&E (Music & Effects) track was used by mistake. The only lawsuit that could occur is if the original composer(s) on both those films found out. So yeah, it was a mistake in the mastering of the DVD'S
Great video! You just a new subscriber and I'm going to watch return of the living dead 2 for the first time tonight after work. I wonder what score the streaming version has?
On that Original Movie's Soundtrack they couldn't get the rights to the song "Dead Beat Dance" by The Damned. It was only on the Theatrical, Laserdisc and VHS versions and some TV versions. They replaced the song with Straw Dogs aka The FU's song Young Fast Iranians. The Really Funny thing if you listen it STILL has The Scream from the end of the "Dead Beat Dance" song in the movie.
I got the sequel at a HMV in Toronto back around 2014, It's says "Collector's Edition" and esthetically it looks the same as my copy of Part One, purchased at the same store. Mine has a different cover than what you're showing. Now I have not watched this specific BluRay to know about the music, but in the notes on the back it reads "Original Theatrical Soundtrack". My cover just has a visual montage of the salient characters in shots from the film. Ahhh, I just solved my own query, mine is the BLUE RAY version, maybe why the cover difference???
Hey Great Video Man, The Spanish Version on the ROTD 2 DVD also has the Original Score. So does The Blu-Ray. Your Channels Intro Sounds Similar to the ROTD 2 Zombie Theme 🤘😎🤘.
I hate when they change something that doesn't need changing like when they updated the Friday the 13th PART 5,6,7 AND 8 DVD cover in the UK when they first came out with that cheap-looking brown and yellowish covers when compared to the originals which are superior covers. Having grew up on Rotld 2 in the late 80s on VHS and that was the soundtrack I was familiar with until the DVD came out and remember the other new score didn't work for me. I always put that DVD version down to someone just updating the soundtrack. Just another little thing I noticed in Halloween 4 when Michael is on top of the car trying to grab Rachael, the VHS version has the Halloween theme playing in the background all the way through til Michael falls off but in the (UK) Anchor Bay DVD version Rachaels screaming, the cars screeching, the theme plays for a few seconds then suddenly stops.
The dvd release version is also the version that’s online to buy digitally on iTunes (but as an HD transfer), so it seems they’ve doubled down on that version, lol
I’m having flashbacks to watching the TV show “21 Jumpstreet” season 1 on DVD for the first time. I loved watching the show on television primarily for the alternative 80s music (particularly R.E.M.) but to my horror, they replaced all the music with generic stuff that totally didn’t fit the show. It was like watching Miami Vice with Muzak.
Just the fact that you care about RoTLD makes me so happy, I'm over 50 and saw this when it was released, I loved the first film, and the first thing I thought when I saw part 2 was, why is James Karen and Tom in this movie? they got nuked! haha. Everyone likes part one the best, but Rave to the Grave is the worst one, or possibly part 3, but I love part 1 and 2 equally. Great video man loved the trivia and lore surrounding the releases.
When I was 15, I worked in a video store from like 1988-1990 and our distributor sent us poster packs for upcoming stuff. The poster for this movie was in one of 'em. Once it came down and went home with me, it stayed on the walls of various apartments well into my 20's. Ha I shoulda framed that thing.
This video was definitely a small passion project. Likes/comments are appreciated!
PS- you guys are awesome, and you’re right! The alternate audio is in fact on the blu ray! 😮😮😮😮😮
U ever experience a Mandela affect with horror movies before ?
Anthrax 🤘
😊
@@tedmetalhead6177 what?
I have to ask. Is that a screensaver of the Zombie tornado from the cover of returns of the living dead 2 behind you ? It looks awesome.
The vhs covers was ENTIRELY how I selected these films for rental as a kid. My mum would read the synopsis and look at me like I was nuts lol. She still rented them for me though. ❤
100% mate
The somewhat random art for horror movies really did make or break my decision to watch it or not
because they barely parented us growing up, this is why so many GEN-X children are sarcastic, evil and morally flexible.
We try to do right, but not above digging a hole and throwing a body into it.
The importance of preserving VHS tapes cannot be exaggerated.
I agree that's why I kept all my old vhs tapes and dvds
Totally agreed. I kept all my DVDs which is a decent collection. Family always asks why do you keep them….well this is why
This is why no one can prove the mandela effect is real and that Sinbad starred in Shazzam, a movie so crappy that nobody kept the vhs tapes. 🤣 really though, it is important to keep physical media because these big companies are ruining classics.
@ytrefugee113 It's not a Crappy movie cause it doesn't Exist!! 😂
@dary0097 yeah I'm pretty sure they know.
The zombie tornado is a representation of trioxin in the clouds
Bingo I said "that's not a tornado.. it's the toxin clowd." Lol
@@Jaymcq trioxin* cloud
Yup, I really didn't think it was that hard to figure out.
Never really thought about it -but that makes perfect sense
Duh
The composer on the weird version is Vladimir Horunzhy his name appears on the U.K. pre release pack by Guild video. Ken Weiderhorn hated the soundtrack and went to the CEO of Lorimar to ask for it to be changed. There are also loads of zombie voice fx Billy saying Brains the zombie who grabs Jessie’s hair saying brains. The narration at the start of the film too. I think Warner simply used the original print of the film when making the dvd and because all the language tracks for the film were produced after post production these remained unchanged.
So that was the original track?
@@l21n18 Yes, the 2004 WB DVD release with the different score was actually the films original score. Producer Tom Fox went behind the directors back and hired the composer and had the film scored before they locked picture on color correction... Editing was complete. When Ken had to screen a print for Lorimar he was unaware of the composer and had put a temp soundtrack in place... when the print rolled he was horrified, the execs gave him about $30k for a new composer and they hooked him up with J. Peter Robinson who made the score we know and love.
You know the artist for the cover was definitely a Fright Night fan.
The image burned into my head is an old vhs cover of Dawn of the dead with zombie Roger face whilst laying in bed. It was a cover I was always fascinated with at the video store but could never rent it. When I finally got around to watching it many years later, I would say that was the film that changed my life.
I felt/feel the same. The green text, the orange sun background, and multiple iterations of Roger gives it a really unique and human drama feel, rather than just a straightforward horror film. Just the cover alone did that for me. It was the THorn-EMI release on cassette, vhs and beta.
Mine was "The Dead Pit". The VHS box had the embossed cover that popped out and the glowing yellow light up eyes on the zombie!
@@WizardKelek hear, hear. And how about Demon Wind? I actually own that lenticular vhs and just got the lenticular re-creation of it on blu ray.
@@joelalexander4513 Hahaha Demon Wind! Another classic cover. You're talking about the Vinegar syndrome release right? I wish I had the foresight back then to save my VHS tapes...
@@WizardKelek I am talking VS BD, yep! Truth be told, the VS rendition isn't as good as the vhs, but when is it ever? lol
I saw part 2 before Return, so I will always have a soft spot for it. Loved it as a kid.
I’m in the same boat. But once I saw part one, I instantly fell in love with it. I regretted all those times I skipped it at the video store, I had no idea what I was missing out on.
I seen this one for the first time on cable TV and I remember it having the voice over so the DVD cut is the one that must have been on TNT
That's me with Revenge of the Nerds 2. And Nightmare on Elm Street 4. And Weekend at Bernies 2.
Seen part 1 first … movie Spooked me for a while lol !! part 2 had some creepy parts too tho
Me too!
It’s one of them movies that scarred me as a kid. The moment the bully kid bites into his mums head absolutely terrified me. As an adult it’s one of my all time favourites
Gave me a jolt when I was 11
I was lucky enough to see this during its original run in theaters back when I was 12 or 13
Same but 16 or 17
I went to see Back to the Future when it came out and the film broke. While they were fixing it my friends and I were waiting in the lobby and there was a huge cardboard standee for Return of the Living Dead which came out later that summer.
Same bro. My mom actually took me❤
Same here. I was 12 and for this to play at my local theater was wild since my town had 11k population at best. It showed during the summer.
Same...christ....how young is this guy?! LOL!!!! WE ARE OLD!!!
I went to see an anniversary showing of Part II and after the movie ended stars Thom Matthews and Dana Ashbrook opened the Q & A with the statement "Well.... that's from the director of Meatballs II"
I like meatballs 2 actually, it was fun
What was the format of the movie?
"Get the damn screwdriver, outta my head" That is all 🤣
@billyrattlesticks6949 Absolute AWESOME Line and Beyond ICONIC! I'm 48 and Seen this when it Was NEW on NEW VHS Rentals and It Was/IS AWESOME Today as Well as Then!!! HollyWeird SUCKS TODAY and The WORST 70's/80's B Movies, Roger Corman Flicks are a MILLION TIMES BETTER than Supposed "BLOCKBUSTERS" TODAY!!! FACTS are IN the LOVE and Cult Following of Such Movies, Very FEW "Movies" made in the Last 15/20 years will be LOVED as MUCH as THESE Works of ART!!!
@@Moggzilla76 Absolutely spot on pal :)
I remember on the DVD commentary track Ken even said the music didn't sound right. In general, the audio mixing on the DVD is rough. There's some misplaced ADR and tons of missing sound effects. The DVD is an interesting curiosity, and I'm glad Scream Factory was able to do Part II justice years later.
Sounds like it might have been a Temp Track film makers put in before they finish the Proper sound mixing and have their FINALIZED score. Somebody in the office got fired for sure! 😀
Out of both versions I have to say it's an absolute crime that the DVD version replaced the Trioxin Theme with what sounds like Video Game Music. The Trioxin gas accompanied by the theme in the first film is so Iconic and the Updated version in part 2 was so important giving you the feel of the first film. If I had any complaint about part 3 it would only be that they should've use the Trioxin Theme in the opening with the reanimated corpse.
DUDE!!! I Felt the Same Way with the Cemetery Music!!! What a GUT PUNCH with this DVD!!! 😞
The same thing was done to a nightmare on elm street 3 dream warriors. Here in the UK.
There's a somewhat similar issue in 1987's "Summer School." It was supposed to include a Debbie Harry song called "Mind Over Matter," but there was a contract dispute, so E.G. Daily re-recorded the song. They goofed and left Harry's version in the French dub (available on the US DVD), which was the only place to hear her recording until a bootleg surfaced a decade or so ago.
Man, I am so glad you put this mystery to bed. I remember buying this dvd back in 2003 around Halloween and was completely baffled by how different it sounded. I had watched the vhs version so many times growing up and loved the music, so I was really let down with the changes. I also didn't know about the Scream Factory version, so i bought it while watching your video! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this; I really enjoyed it. Watching it with the voice-over was truly awesome!
I’m thrilled you brought this to our attention bro I was always curious myself good stuff.
The issue with the music is contracts are signed with something like "theatrical, broadcast television and video home movies (VHS)" Blueray, DVD, streaming didn't exist so the bands got paid according to the contract and the studio doesn't have rights to distribute the music in any other format. So if they do distribute ...on Blueray or whatever they are in violation of copyright which goes beyond just a civil suit for payment and could extend into criminal court.
Great video man! I’ve only seen the first film after watching one of your earlier videos and I loved it. but now you have me wanting to go out and buy both copy’s of this film and watch them.
Have you heard of the different voice for the Tarman in the 1st film? You can find clips on youtube of the original VHS/Theatrical voice. I can't remember why it was changed. It's just higher pitched. Weird.
I was disappointed by the voice change. I preferred his original voice. Plus they also messed with the music in certain scenes. I watched the original on VHS so many times I have the whole movie memorized! LoL
Close to return of the livign dead pt2 you mention with the tornado zombie,was my experience with the fright night cover with the vampiric cloud above the house! I was going junior school in greece back then and just in front of my school was the vhs store,or videoclub we called them back then.When the school was out for the day we were going to see all the amazing covers from the movies,and fright night's movie cover was became the one that vaptized me in the horror genre from those years!
Worth mention also that i do own both dvd edition from the ones you showed us here! 😎
the zombie subtitles on the shout factory is quite funny :)
Media accidentally released the TV edit for Halloween on VHS, which is cool because it has extra scenes that were filmed specifically for it while they were shooting Halloween II.
I swear I see one version of Halloween that had that extra scene
@@l21n18 If you watched it on tv the chances are very high, one extra scene is Loomis talking to child Michael in the mental hospital.
“Get the damn screwdriver,out of ma head” 😂😂😂😂😂 I watched this movie when it came out with my mom, I was only 10. This movie has so much meaning to me, not only because reminds me of my mom, but just opened me up to horror and zombie movies. This will always remain a classic to me.
OMG me and my friends used to quote that line all the time back when we were kids
@@derekhein3738 my brother and I still do. We're in our 40s lol
I was always a fan of the first film but I never gave this movie a chance...until I saw you talking about it. Thank you for that!!!
One of my favorite movies. It never gets old!
Music rights on analog video and digital video are treated separately. There were a lot of music rights issues with DVD. Many releases were damaged by not being able to re-procure rights for songs that were just replaced with generic music. The Beavis and Butthead series DVD release was derailed by rights disputes. They had actually produced the first run but recalled them before release.
There's nothing mysterious about it , it's just a cheesy movie cover.
Tom Savini's re-make of
Night Of The Living Dead is probably the best of all the Living Dead movies and it blows Romero's out of the water even though he originally came up with the idea.
What? What does the cover have to do with this video
@@PlanetCHHMy Bad, your right.
Soz i apologise, I mis-read your video title.
Saw the movie in the cinema back in 1988 , but can’t remember what the music score was 😞
Hey Man,'
Great vid as per usual. I'm sure you know this, but the Scream blu ray has the alt. DVD audio track included. You hear the other score, and the narration from the beginning on the blu ray.
I'm about a decade older than you, and I remember getting this DVD on release week, and back then, via internet and Fango issues, they brought this weird audio anomaly up, including how you can hear original audio on the French track.
Doesn’t the blu-ray from scream factory have both audio mixes?
I would agree as many different versions of films are made and studio will use what they have, especially if it isn’t a film made by them or one with a hug following they know will recoup the costs
Yes, both audio tracks are on the blu ray.
I am shocked! It does!!!!!
The first thing that comes to mind when I hear "lawsuit with music" is the tragedy of the Quantum Leap DVDs. Most of my grunge & alternative friends think of Daria, but for me the music on that show was just background noise that I never noticed was amy different on the DVDs
I seen your video with Garrett (Rad) talking about the resurgence of dvd and when you mentioned the soundtrack being the original on the dvd when listening to it in French. I was thankful that I keep all my past versions of my favorite films. Thanks for the info Christian....
One missed item in your review, is that the poster art for Return of the Living Dead 2 (1988) is a near-shameless rip off of the poster art from Fright Night (1986)
I was going to say that too. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw that cover
Believe it or not, Return 2's poster was done by the same guy behind Fright Night's poster.
Confused is the USA DVD the one that has the original music in the French languages selection or is there a foreign version that has it as the picture you show is some non USA version from the picture you show in the video. I guess my question is will the USA dvd version on amazon be the one to get ?
Yes the USA Amazon version! I just used a high res image of a foreign dvd to show for b roll
Ok awesome 👏
@@PlanetCHH Interesting to note that the foreign DVD cover you show is from some weird bootleg or something, because it apparently features a commentary track from the cast of Batman: The Animated Series (Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Adrianne Barbeau and Efrem Zimbalist jr.)
@@JDelwynn It's the Croatian version. Confused the hell out of me since I started reading the text while the picture was onscreen and didn't realize it hah. It translates to "Voices in the Dark" and so odd to be included here.
3:29 What version is that is says audio commentary by Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy? that looks like a misprint and should have been Batman
I remember picking this up when it first came out and immediately being turned off by the change in music. Same with the change in tarman's voice in the return of the living dead 1's releases.
Enemy Territory (1987). Starring Tony Todd, Stacey Dash, Ray Parker Jr, Jan Michael Vincent. Criminally underrated EMPIRE PICTURES film. They never released on dvd or blu ray because of music licensing. There was a band who did a few songs in the soundtrack that prevented a new release.
HOLY SHIT!!!!!!! SOMEONE ELSE KNOWS THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!! Oh my God, do you know how many times I've described this late night classic and got such stares of "what the hell are you talking about?!" Wow! Awesome! I love this flick.
I think my copy of the movie may be one of these with the original music. Ive had the dvd forever and its definitely got the tornado cover art. What are these things worth now?
Edit:
I just got in from work and verified it! The english version starts out with the brief verbal history of trioxin and on the french version it completely skips over that. About to waych the movie in full to see all the musical differences.
"The Return of the Living Dead, this movie changed my life" , instantly subscribed!
Very insightful. I only saw the original (a LOT) when I was a kid. I never knew there was a change in the soundtrack.
OK. Good theory. This mystery plagued me for some time as well. I honed in on one thing that, for whatever reason, is what I believe to be, at least partially, if not the entirety of why the score is different:
(Drum roll)
Francis Haines' Trioxin Theme!
While used sparingly, there are a few sections of the English track score that use a variation on what is the main motif of the first film's theme.
Being a musician, I know how easily a lawsuit can arise from something seemingly miniscule. But I also know the length that filmmakers are willing to go to get out of having to pay someone for iconic work they've produced.
My guess is that perhaps between the release of the VHS and DVD, Haines discovered quite late that they had used incorporated a portion of his track into the score without being properly credited and, more importantly, paid.
As you said, the film being such a low-level release is why a studio would not want to shell out for a lawsuit. So instead of ponying up, they lazily slapped a bunch of music they owned outright over the entire score so that no one could say a single note of it was copied.
Why do I think this? If you listen to the alternate score, it is the most conspicuously absent element that is in the restored score. Every Halloween film had to credit and pay Carpenter to use the main theme.
There were multiple Anchor Bay releases, most famously perhaps all five seasons of 21 Jump Street, that had EVERY song from EVERY episode replaced with cheap free stuff so as to not have to pay to relicense their music.
This was problematic for a number of films. Like Dazed and Confused. It would have been far less expensive to have new bands do covers of older 70s songs to use in the film than to license the original versions. Linklater said it was the most important part of the film and refused to budge.
So the studio paid, and he got all but, funnily enough, the namesake song from Zeppelin, as they are notoriously weird about allowing their songs in film. And the soundtrack became an enormous hit when released on physical media.
I know these arent 1:1 comparisons, but I do think it illustrates just how fickle music rights can be in general. I'd love to know what anyone else thinks.
Thats why i still also collect some dvds,you never know when you have some hidden gems😉💯
I LOVE this movie and was fortunate to find out about the music before I purchased it and went for a bootleg. SF knocked this release out of the park.
Saw this as a kid. I'll never forget "Get that damn screw driver outta my head!" Haha
In a southern accent nonetheless…. Iconic
"1:18 Bat that's compactedd and itt's not tha Tartan 2001."
Extremely informative brother. I literally purchased this as I was watching your video. That's when you know a video is good.
4:53 Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill did the audio commentary for the DVD!?
The version on Tubi (to watch for free) also has the alternate soundtrack. Voice over beginning, alt score, ends with Flesh to Flesh.
I believe the original score was done by Vladimir Horunzhy 👍
This issue happened with the 1994 movie, Blown Away with Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones. The blu-ray release had multiple classic songs replaced with poor covers of the same songs I grew up hearing while watching it growing up on DVD/Broadcast.
What an awesome deep dive! Thank you!
Children of the Corn II has a similar issue. On the US version compared to the either the French or Spanish version of the film there are 2 different scores for the film. I have the Children of the Corn Trilogy region free Blu-Ray from Mexico, and Part II has a different soundtrack if you switch to English from Spanish.
Loved this video! Genuinely had no idea about this whole story.
Interesting always wondered about the differences in the soundtracks. Thanks!
Finally someone who appreciates return of the living dead 2 as much as I do! I never knew about this alternate version so thank you for the info!
I love this movie, have done since being a kid in the 80s. I was horrified when I bought the DVD, absolutely HATED the alternate score. I’d heard that was just a temp score when editing, and had somehow made it to the DVD. Still, I’m so glad the proper version finally got an HD release.
When "Airplane" was released on VHS in the Netherlands it was retitled to "Flying High" and the BeeGees song Staying Alive was replaced with some generic disco
I'm looking on DVD rewind & apparently on the Scream Factory Blu-ray you can access the alternate soundtrack. So that screw up score is on the Blu-ray. It actually sounds better in my opinion.
I am blown away it does! Luckily it doesn’t change the direction of this video, but still. WOW!
@@PlanetCHH oh for sure, at least it shows a time when Scream Factory were run by actual fans & not just business people. Only fans would care enough to fish that out for people.
I have the DVD and if you switch it to french language, the score changes too. But I never watched the entire movie in french.
Ah crap, I said his before watching the full video and saw you mentioned it too.
I loved how the original soundtrack was still available using the French dubbing.
so i'm confused...I have the dvd release of r.o.t.l.d. pt 2 already. But i had no idea it didn't have the original songs from the vhs release.& closest to that, is what I'm looking for🤔 so in that case, should i buy the blu-ray?
"10:06 Thej also brieflj menntschiand itt, tha reaszan on tha vadjoo vvbr commenntarj claiminh sam thinh abavt preffrennsc iff II riecall."
Great movie! A staple on cable when I was younger. Interesting.... i didn't know!
I saw this right after it played on satellite in the 1980s, I was five! We watched it at a friend's birthday party. Back then the few kids in the neighbourhood with satellite dishes taped movies like crazy, it was awesome.
I have the VHS but never seen the dvd of blu ray . I live in the UK so the DVD here might have the original soundtrack on it.
When the film originally came out here it was quite a thing. playing off the back of the success of the first film, there was TV trailers for it (bear in mind we only had 4 tv channels back then and only 2 of those showed adverts) and when it came out on video it has stand up cardboard advertising in the video rental stores, i used to have one of the cardboard stand ups at the time.
another great vid, always learning on this channel! lol. would be cool to see you touch on hidden dvd features? like on the old lionsgate and vidmark discs. or maybe touch on promos from the video store days? thanks bud
2:35 "It really took me back but I was so in love with the aesthetic of the film that I completely forgave it." "It took me back" means it brought back memories, but unless you hated the first movie, why would you need to forgive something for bringing up memories? The expression you are looking for is that you were "taken aback," which means that something was unexpected in a negative way. For some reason youtubers mix these phrases up constantly.
4:11 "I was aghast by how different the music was", "aghast" is an adjective describing you, not a verb being done to you by the music. you were aghast AT the difference in the music; the people in the movie were gassed BY the zombie tanks.
@@sam_biblythanks actually this is helpful to me. Grammer was never my forte 😂
@@PlanetCHH i'm here for you bro. interesting video, i love this movie
Evil Dead 2 is a reworking of Evil Dead basically
And? This is about Return of the Living Dead 2, what has the Evil Dead got to do with it?
AND evil dead 2 is a continuation of evil dead. Nothing even close to a remake.
@@stevepemberton151 and? Why are you two clowns taking about a different franchise altogether? Are you two robot lovers or something?
@@spodoinklehorse They're saying Evil Dead 2 is very similar to RotLD part 2 in that sense, also both being horror comedies. I guess the first RotLD had comedy too, but part 2 leans far more heavily into comedy and I'm glad it does. Both are kinda continuations of the previous films but also use characters and/or same actors from the first.
@@stevepemberton151 Not exactly, why would Ash go to the same cabin with a GF that iirc has the same name? It's both a remake and continuation, at the end of the day they're fictional movies so it works I guess. It might take some out of the movie though and confuse people, but they're both great sequels IMO and I kinda like that they used actors from RotLD that died, it comes off as something they did for a laugh TBH and I like both characters, it's hard to imagine it with other actors. Hard to imagine Evil Dead 2 without Bruce too.
Part 2’s Blu audio isn’t even correct. It’s a VHS rip where you can hear the hiss throughout and tape damage at one point.
The only TRUE audio is the Laserdisc. Love shout factory but the fact they used vhs over laser was really annoying.
To further answer your question, WB do keep workprint audios around from time to time if they need elements to split into a 5.1 mix. My theory would be the elements were just easier to get.
Yeah they might have had the Negative with a temp or alternate score laying around and put that out by accident when they did the first DVD. DVD companies messing up isn't that hard to believe. lol
After watching the DVD for the last 15 or so years, I totally forgot that The Monster Mash played during the end credits of the VHS version.
I need to dig that out.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Ever notice the cover is almost an exact replica of the cover to Fright Night and Fright Night part 2?
Which music is on the digital version of the film?
Sometimes playing the actual VHS tape version is worth it. You get that low-fi mono sound as the tracking is adjusting to the optimal level with amusing sound blips as it heads off into one or two tv spots before the actual movie starts.
This video just earned you a subscription
Wasnt the audio and sound track chanced for the first one from the vhs to dvd but the sound track was fixed but not the audio?
so if i switch the dvd to french it plays the sound track from the shout factory release?
The version on Amazon has the altered soundtrack too.
Same thing happened on the first DVD release of Happy Birthday to Me and yes an earlier print with the original score that's on the M&E (Music & Effects) track was used by mistake. The only lawsuit that could occur is if the original composer(s) on both those films found out. So yeah, it was a mistake in the mastering of the DVD'S
Great video! You just a new subscriber and I'm going to watch return of the living dead 2 for the first time tonight after work. I wonder what score the streaming version has?
It's not a lawsuit issue it's a rights issue.
They couldn't clear the rights in certain regions. They expired.
Or so thats what we was told in 2004.
Wow, GREAT video!
Saw part 2 first and absolutely fell in love with it, so prefer it to the 1st. Still got the VHS
On that Original Movie's Soundtrack they couldn't get the rights to the song "Dead Beat Dance" by The Damned. It was only on the Theatrical, Laserdisc and VHS versions and some TV versions. They replaced the song with Straw Dogs aka The FU's song Young Fast Iranians. The Really Funny thing if you listen it STILL has The Scream from the end of the "Dead Beat Dance" song in the movie.
CHH's foray into investigative journalism? I love it!
I have the SF blu-Ray and it has the voice over track. It's the second track. This is my favorite dead film out of the 3.
Omg it does! That makes this even more interesting
Is the voiceover in the beginning also on the laserdisc ?
I got the sequel at a HMV in Toronto back around 2014, It's says "Collector's Edition" and esthetically it looks the same as my copy of Part One, purchased at the same store. Mine has a different cover than what you're showing. Now I have not watched this specific BluRay to know about the music, but in the notes on the back it reads "Original Theatrical Soundtrack". My cover just has a visual montage of the salient characters in shots from the film. Ahhh, I just solved my own query, mine is the BLUE RAY version, maybe why the cover difference???
Note: I have not viewed the BlueRay as I usually keep my "collector" Dvd+ in its factory plastic. Snob, yes.
I commented too early, you showed the BlueRay I have....
Yup, Lorimar. My bad.
Hey Great Video Man, The Spanish Version on the ROTD 2 DVD also has the Original Score. So does The Blu-Ray. Your Channels Intro Sounds Similar to the ROTD 2 Zombie Theme 🤘😎🤘.
I hate when they change something that doesn't need changing like when they updated the Friday the 13th PART 5,6,7 AND 8 DVD cover in the UK when they first came out with that cheap-looking brown and yellowish covers when compared to the originals which are superior covers. Having grew up on Rotld 2 in the late 80s on VHS and that was the soundtrack I was familiar with until the DVD came out and remember the other new score didn't work for me. I always put that DVD version down to someone just updating the soundtrack. Just another little thing I noticed in Halloween 4 when Michael is on top of the car trying to grab Rachael, the VHS version has the Halloween theme playing in the background all the way through til Michael falls off but in the (UK) Anchor Bay DVD version Rachaels screaming, the cars screeching, the theme plays for a few seconds then suddenly stops.
The dvd release version is also the version that’s online to buy digitally on iTunes (but as an HD transfer), so it seems they’ve doubled down on that version, lol
Huge fan of the film. Is it a specific dvd release? Or is it all dvds before the screamhouse release that have the soundtrack
thanks for this explanation man
I’m having flashbacks to watching the TV show “21 Jumpstreet” season 1 on DVD for the first time. I loved watching the show on television primarily for the alternative 80s music (particularly R.E.M.) but to my horror, they replaced all the music with generic stuff that totally didn’t fit the show. It was like watching Miami Vice with Muzak.
Just the fact that you care about RoTLD makes me so happy, I'm over 50 and saw this when it was released, I loved the first film, and the first thing I thought when I saw part 2 was, why is James Karen and Tom in this movie? they got nuked! haha. Everyone likes part one the best, but Rave to the Grave is the worst one, or possibly part 3, but I love part 1 and 2 equally. Great video man loved the trivia and lore surrounding the releases.
Music can change the context of everything it's done so throughout human history when telling a story
When I was 15, I worked in a video store from like 1988-1990 and our distributor sent us poster packs for upcoming stuff. The poster for this movie was in one of 'em. Once it came down and went home with me, it stayed on the walls of various apartments well into my 20's. Ha I shoulda framed that thing.
Ok, I'm a bit confused. DVD = second version of the soundtrack, and the Scream Factory Bluray = the original version by Horunzhy, is this correct?