We had told you back in October, straight from Peter Jackson‘s mouth, that both Bad Taste and Dead Alive were being restored in 4K by the WETA Digital VFX team, and Jackson now reveals that they’re not the only early films of his that are getting the treatment. So too are Meet the Feebles and Heavenly Creatures, which Jackson also owns!
“I’ve done some tests on Braindead (aka Dead Alive), where we took the 16mm negative and put it through our restoration pipeline — and ****, it looks fantastic!” Jackson just told THR. “I’m pretty keen to actually just get them back out there again. That’s sort of my plan for now: to do a nice little box set — the early years! The naughty years!”
“The mixes on those films were pretty much all stereo in those days, so we’re going to get the old soundtracks out and do a 5.1 mix,” Jackson added, noting that both audio and video will be restored. He also teased that the eventual box set release will be packed with bonus features that have not previously been seen by any of us!
“I’ve always had video diaries being shot,” he explains. “So I’ve got about an hour or two of us shooting Bad Taste, seven or eight hours of us shooting Meet the Feebles, 50 to 60 hours of us filming Braindead, and at least 70 hours of us doing Heavenly Creatures. And it’s not just people talking to camera. It’s actually a guy on the set filming us making the film. So there’s some pretty interesting stuff there and none of it has ever been out.”
“I’ve done some tests on Braindead (aka Dead Alive), where we took the 16mm negative and put it through our restoration pipeline — and ****, it looks fantastic!” Jackson just told THR. “I’m pretty keen to actually just get them back out there again. That’s sort of my plan for now: to do a nice little box set — the early years! The naughty years!”
“The mixes on those films were pretty much all stereo in those days, so we’re going to get the old soundtracks out and do a 5.1 mix,” Jackson added, noting that both audio and video will be restored. He also teased that the eventual box set release will be packed with bonus features that have not previously been seen by any of us!
“I’ve always had video diaries being shot,” he explains. “So I’ve got about an hour or two of us shooting Bad Taste, seven or eight hours of us shooting Meet the Feebles, 50 to 60 hours of us filming Braindead, and at least 70 hours of us doing Heavenly Creatures. And it’s not just people talking to camera. It’s actually a guy on the set filming us making the film. So there’s some pretty interesting stuff there and none of it has ever been out.”
