The Arrow Video / Shout factory un-official preservation thread.

I remember back in Covid I rang Arrow Video and had a nice chat with somone there I was kind of looking for a job or a project since the industry I worked in was non existant due to health restrictions. They were not in good shape either. Cut a long story short. Arrow / shout factory do quite a good job when collecting materials together for lesser movies either license good restorations from others or do it themselves. And put together some good home media.

This thread is an un-official wish list. Post your idea (movie) that you think deserves the arrow / shout treatment especially older horror or more obscure films. Let’s hope one day somone reads it and says “oh that’s a great Idea!”

Horror B-Movies have always been a guilty pleasure of mine but I am not limiting the list to horror so I think It would be good to create a wish list of movies that deserve a restoration and extras basically ideas for a great home media release even though home media seems to be sort being killed off. Let’s ressurect it like we should some movies in this list.

Please post the Title and year and explain what it is that would make it a dream release.

Example:

The Cave (2005)

Quite good B-movie horror very little in way or special features although material is available.

Two articles on it.

https://movieweb.com/movieweb-goes-into-the-cave-with-cole-hauser/

http://horror-movie-a-day.blogspot.com/2008/05/cave.html

Seems like they butchered the movie going up against the descent 2005 and tried to turn it into a TV movie. There are obvious cut’s going on. Cole Hauser stresses that a directors cut will come out… Never did. Article sites numerous fades to black to insert TV adverts not Theatrical. Very little gore for a horror film. Opening mountain shots had flicker on it on my Dvd. No profanity when in a very streesful situation f-bombs are no doubt censored.

I thought the film was pretty good though. Good special effects. Trailer has extra stuff in it not in the film a tell tale sign something or quite a few things changed. Was Rushed editing was rushed.

Idea - Release a directors cut or unrated extended cut or deleted scenes on the side with the film. A directors cut or unrated cut would be preferable. Give this movie a chance to be a horror film and have more character engadgement. Sound effect of sonic scanning machine was well dodgy find a different sound effect! Ruined the use of it. Credits song was poor also. Audio was good for most part though but could do with some edits. Heartbeat style score music was very good. 2 soundtracks were released one for score one for licensed heavy metal music. Problem is heavy metal does not fit with catacombs or underwater caves… Needed something else there. Poor judgement on atmoshere. Another matter of Dialogue when Divers have regulators in their mouth should not only not be able to talk but the silence and lack of communication would benefit those scenes cave diving. I think the diving sign language element was cut out which I would assume could of played a part in not being detected by the creatures also. But some of the dialogue could have been prep talk deleted scenes before the dive whilst other dialogue were just forced ADR and did not a lot. Removing dialogue from those parts would be the way to go and restore whatever the original plan was before films running time was sacrificed.

Collect together all scattered extras from various releases or construct new documentary. Especially on the set’s and the expert cave divers and the story / lore and special effects and location shoots.

This film deserves a 2nd chance although it’s always pitched against 2005 the descent almost as if this film does not exist. The creatures make more sense than in the descent in the cave. I can’t help but feel there is a better movie locked in a can somewhere. I miss films like this we don’t get this quality production set’s in Horror that much these days it’s all green screen cheap crap. Give this film another chance.

https://theasc.com/magazine/aug05/cave/page1.html

Here is an interview with Bruce Hunt

https://youtu.be/m7eZFu7_0rw?si=QD3sEBMxBdwRclG6

The bit where he talks about “the cave” starts at 19.55

He confirms there were many changes imposed and he did not have the control he would have liked in the editing room. I doubt it was shot but the opening in the church was meant to be Nazi Soldiers not Brittish and Russian. I guess the Nazi soldiers were written out but still. It confirms that the film was meant to be R rated and a different tone. No doubt it had character beats lost. Directors resume includes Dark City and The Matrix trilogy as well as Austrailia with Hugh Jackman. Mostly 2nd Unit but a talented guy who had very little control over his first and only directional effort.

The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

Again a modest budget B-movie which envisioned itself as the next Jaws but with animatronic lions and perhaps bat’s too.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116409/trivia/

Quite a bit of a troubled production which is definitely amazing special features material. Controversy and nobody being particularly happy with the end result and claims 45 minutes were removed in post production.

Now I can see this movie did indeed suffer cut’s but 45 minutes worth would be the workprint I could see an extra 10 to 20 minutes from glancing over the script and a lot has to do with the animatronic lion.

When you actually look at the script action scenes there are many explained frenetic edits involving cutting away to something then to the animatronic lion growling roaring piercing eyes perhaps something in it’s mouth you get the idea. On paper this looks a lot but in reality these are quick frenetic edits to and from the animatronic lion. And I will be honest this would not only make for good special features documentary but it’s practically only in one shot within the film. These sequences could have been quite artistic. The script is very visual. I could also imagine more savannah footage B-roll being interlaced which was beuatifully shot.

Now regarding claims Michael Douglas cut down screen time of Val Kilmer to include himself more I am also not sure this rings true entirely. It looks like there was a couple of extra scenes with Patterson and Remington together if anything and some more of Abdullah character.

A scene that also seems to be a horror jump scare involved when Patterson and Remmington venture into the lions cave or lair. They hear something Remmington fires his gun and a swarm of bat’s flies out the cave. Sounds like a nice jump scare scene cut for budget perhaps who knows but that sounds quite good. Stan Winstons bats?

Another scene that stood out was the ghost lion when killed somone had their photo taken with it dead. This is the animatronic lion again I would guess but the actor opens the mouth of the dead lion and sticks his head in the dead lions mouth to have his photo with trophy kill.

So I think that pretty much sums it up. It would be interesting to see this film with the animatronic lion and bat’s even restored to a extended or unrated version. Amongst some good documentaries about the ego’s at play and troubled production and Stan Winstons missing lions creature effects restored and their creation covered in detail. This could obviously be coupled with the real lions that were trained and used and a true historical documentary on the history of Tsavo lions vs the film. Plenty to make a truly brilliant release.

Stephan Hopkins other film.

Predator 2 (1990)

This would be intetesting also to see a uncensored version. I don’t see much extra missing scenes perhaps a couple and more violence during the opening drug bust operation and aparently the predator trophy scene had more scrern time Danny Glover at a funeral and some bar scene…But this film never had any other cut other than what was released theatrically however there was censorship at play as the film was assembled and given it’s a predator film it would be something that would be worth restoring and waiving the censorship cuts for the true 18 rating for fan’s of the Predator franchise. It’s a very quoteable fun film and it desrves a bit more horror / gore like the original. Quite a lack of special features for this film compared to the original too. It would be interesting to focus on the new Predator weapons and so on and some of the set’s and production location shoots. But Predator 2 is a censored yet solid effort with not much in the way of extra’s also considering the scope of the project.

https://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/bbfc_cuts_predator_2.htm

As far as I can gather the main cut’s were to the guy being stabbed and gutted whilst hanging upside down and a digital carcass overlayed in front of Keynes as the flying frisbee disc chops him in half. Probably some other stuff too certainly a curiosity. Apparently although the shoot out was more graphic you don’t see the Predator kill the Drug Gang at the start and you don’t see extra violence on King Willies Death either. I can imagagine more graphic ends for Harrigans sidekicks or team though as well as the FBI agents in the warehouse but it’s small stuff.

Overall The Ghost and the Darkness is the more interesting of the two and more deserving but Predator 2 uncensored would be an easier sell. So I would treat it as a 2 stage project Predator 2 first uncensored and with the guarenteed revenue from that release put profit towards making the far better more intetesting restoration to Ghost and the darkness with the aforemention wealth of Special features that would be extremely interesting. Cheaper and easier and more poular film pays for more obscure yet more interesting and frankly better films restoration.

So I am trying to make this list an interesting read compared to the general lists floating about on mainstream articles but I need others input too. I want to hear your good ideas.

Ok

The Time Machine (2002)

Another B-Movie of a modest Budget and another film with a story to tell about production trouble in the bonus features.

First up we have a deleted opening scene which should be restored to the film as the content of this scene permiates throughout the plot and provides important context for scenes that appear later on.

Next we have a deleted FX sequence that was apprently completed of the moon breaking up and meteorites slamming into buildings in New york. This was removed due to 9/11 terrorist attacks. This ILM fx sequence remains unreleased.

The next problem revolves around Stan Winstons Morlocks. The creatures were designed to only ever be shot and photographed in the dark. All the scenes were due to be set at night as they are nocturnal creatures. Then this suddenly changed and Stan Winston studios openly proclaimed our work looks shit here because the producers keep changing stuff too late in the design process and basically the statement firmly places blame on the studio for there whole look and appearance being poor. Surely this could have been somewhat remedied as doing a day for night color grading on the morlock scenes? I think having nocturnal creatures running about in the day should call for the intention of “day for night” grading to remedy these sequences and perhaps get these parts looking as originally intended. The Morlocks should of had reflective eyes or lit eyes? This could be a further missing attribute for the these monsters…

Finally the Director Simon Wells related to Orson Wells then suffered an exhaustion burn out and Gore Verbinski was brought in to finish off the film.

The ending was completely reshot and Jeremy Irons part was added late in production he was not originally attached to be in the film. It is noted that the film does not contain any mention of inequality and utopia as in the novel or any anti war messages which is sorely lacking. Especially leading up to this point should have been more pronounced. It does beg the question about other times he was perhaps due to visit to see these themes not perhaps have them explained.

In the theatrical trailer there is different VFX background at 1.14 for a Time travel arrival in far future showing the Eloi had evolved into a technolgical race. Something may have changed there or it was cut also. Another deleted scene… I guess showing hope before things go to hell. The Teaser trailer contains a good version of the time machine with guy pearce inside and an animatic for the logo with a mobius strip cool design that logo. Should be on the cover or the disc menu.

The film actually exists in a reality where the book is acknoledged to have been written by H.G. Wells and a fictional musical by Andrew Loyd Webber which Vox starts singing. That there should be cut out of the film. It is totally lame.

Theres an interesting story about production problems that would make for good special features material. Also a featurette on the actual time machine prop would be nice an impressive steam punk looking bit of kit and very expensive too to build it $13M. Whilst it’s not an amazing film there is scope to improve upon what is there in a Special extended edition release.
Furthermore the soundtrack is extremely good for this film way better than the film itself. A special feature on the soundtrack would be great as well. Perhaps also a feature on Orson Wells too would be something to pad it out going over his body of work.

All in all the time machine was ok but just barely scraping the average but the ingredients were there to be better than what it actually was. Is the future of this film written in destiny or could it be changed for better or for worse. Whilst making it destiny was not considered at all. So Fix this film up and present a better vetsion as intended. I feel that there could be even more unreleased stuff for this film that has still yet to be released. Anyhow that’s the special edition premise idea.

Total Recall (1990)

This film is a bonafide Classic and it’s pretty perfectly constructed. I don’t have much in the way to critisize this film at all. It did however suffer censorship cuts which should now be waived.

The problem seems to revolve around the Master print that was created which was by and large the same around the world and a distribution rights issue. When the Austrailian censors demanded further censorship cut’s this caused issues with releasing the film there and not wanting to deviate from the Video Master. However the further cut’s that were demanded were made for the Austrailian release. These censors are a bit whacky though. Yes I can tell that eyes popping out of a dummies head is not real. I know all these things are not real but I want to appreciate the art that went into the make up and special effects. It might be gory but we know it is all a bit of fun. The only other cut’s relate to whilst Quaid and Melina run away near the big glass window on Mars Quaid asks something like “what have you been doing since I saw you last?” She replies “Modelling for Recall…” this explains her image on the computer at Recall when the girl asks “what type of women do you like?”.

The teaser trailer animatic was meant to be inserted on the black screen before opening credits play.

Censorship cuts were:

1. Benny’s death is optically cropped to remove the exiting drill erupting from his stomach.
2. The innocent bystander used as a shield was bloodier before trimming.
3. The stabbing of Helm in the bar had the bowie knife slicing up his stomach. Stills of this were actually featured in Fangoria magazine at the time of the film’s release. (Noticeably)
4. Several shots of the scientists being killed by Quaid after he breaks free from the implant-machine were shortened. (Noticeably)
5. The scene of Richter’s arms being severed was shortened.

We got Commando and Robocop uncut but not this. Seems pretty trivial not to restore this just create a deleted scenes section or put new conformation cut together.

The only thing I would tag on to this would be the UK Arena TV documentary on Phillip K Dick. Extremely interesting and Highly Reccomended.

Also

Gladiator (2000)

Ridley Scotts theatrical cut was his preffeted version yet the extended cut is much better I think however censorship cut’s remain. I think both should be retained but using the extended cut as the basis a 3rd version should be assembled.

The Physical Bronze opening crawl is really good but no wheat field after that straight into battle.

Most censorship cuts are available in the extras across various releases some in poor quality some are reasonable. Some missing material alters the structure of the edit but only within the scenes themselves.

Opening Battle extra catapulted fireballs people burning and shot by arrows.

Missing death of Barbarian with Big hammer (unreleased) and Maximus does not fight in slowmotion.

Most major censorship cuts happen in Morrocan gladiator fight and the chariot Fight. The morrocan Chain gang fight was shortened quite a bit and re-edited. Build up was better to door opening into the ring Arm Severed shot missing and impalement on spike missing. Flow of sequence is disrupted / disjointed due to the cut’s made A Ceremonial killing happens at the end for those suffering barely alive after the battle by blunt club to head.

When a chariot flips up one of the women is impaled on the gate spikes above with splash of blood. This is crppoed out. The beheaded soldier on chariot is more graphic and runs a bit longer. Probably some more cuts in that fight. This fight does not feel disrupted by edits however.

A vulture pecks a dead gladiator in morrocco.

You see Maximus son trampled by a horse (CGI)

There could be more cut’s I am unaware off there is also some very well shot scenes which are non violent. Joquien phoenix riding through forest to see his father. The caravan to the morroccan arena. The Red Dye passage to the arena before fight. Theres quite a few really good shots which are cut for time.

That’s more or less it for Gladiator. These 2 are not B-Movies but certainly deserve to be served up uncut and censorship waived. There are more special features that remain unreleased and some of it was done by national geographic for gladiator.

Tarzan - The Legend of Greystoke (1984)

This film was partially restored for home video however a further 25 minutes of scenes in the congo and Tarzan growing up. The preferred Directors cut has never seen the light of day. It would be nice to see this version fully restored.

Padding out the release it would be great to have a documentary on Rick Bakers apes costumes and there creation.

Also include comprehensive documentary on the making of the film.

An Interview with the Vampire (1994)

This film was cut for theatrical running time then regret set in and the producers wanted the longer version more than the theatrical release. Whilst the director was quite happy with the shorter version both the producers and directors have expressed a desire to restore the longer cut as time has passed.

Quite a bit was cut from the Paris segment of the story.

Padding out the release a documentary on the script writing phase by anne rice and making of the film with a segment on Stan Winstons make up and special effects.

Stargate (1994)

This film did recieve a botched directors cut / extended cut but it is censored and still missing scenes and special effects.

MGM holds the rights to the film and the franchise and hold it in high regard yet still continue with the botched version of the extended cut.

The Director Roland Emmerich and Writer Dean Devlin want to remake or reboot the movie and start again. This is a bad decision because they still did not properly finish the longer version. MGM should allow them to properly finish the directors cut proper.

There are many trims and small cut’s throughout but also still whole parts remain removed. Ontop of this the Staff Laser effects remain unfinished or totally absent from the longer cut. Music cues were also ruined with the cut’s and trims made to both versions.

1. 2nd time Stargate is opened remains cut

2. Longer version of going up ramp and through stargate whilst the animation no longer looks the same as original. Stars flicker.

3. Some Bad Matte Painting work like Cardboard cut outs.

4. Various B-Roll shots ended up in Stargate SG-1

5. Both Kurt Russel and Daniel are killed & resurrected from the dead however only Daniel is shown in the coffin. Kurt Russell being shown dead after a beating is missing.

6. A sequence involving riding on the horse like creatures and being pursued by Deathgliders into a sandstorm is missing. The deathgliders return back to the pyramid at night having lost them in the sandstorm. The scene of the guard being told off for his failure by RA was restored however in the extended cut.

7. Various censorship cut’s movie was originally an R-Rated film cut for PG-13. RA’s severed hand is cut amongst little bit more blood from deaths here and there.

8. Final Battle was a bit bigger in scope with death gliders being destroyed fight in the hall shortened.

9. Kurt Russel Fight with the guard was shortend.

10. Alternate Ending where Daniel walks off with the people of Abydos.

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Arrow recently put out a release of this title but there is still quite a bit missing.

There is censorship cut’s to the film which indeed are sometimes very blunt or footage is swapped or left to run longer than intended in various parts but that is not the main issue.

It is the cut’s to the charcters performances which is the main issue and particularly bad editing in Zamora. I will just spit out the list from my head I might miss some things but it is very deserving of a reconstruction.

Black Screen at the start over narration is missing footage of a map amongst Conan sitting on a throne. Possibly some big Wednesday footage.

There were some shots of young conan and his father climbing the mountain removed. (Build up to top of mountain rather than just appearing there)

Young Conan is pursued by the pictish warrior big brute with all the tattoo’s. Conan’s mum saves him and kills the big brute warrior. This is not at all clear in the film as it is all cut out.

There was alternative versions of the pit fighter sequence.

When conan is set free we do not see him open the cage or cave collapse in an earthquake. Crom was angry. It’s unclear wether Conan was to escape his prision but still not really know what to do or run away by instinct. They did say it looked bad / not working. But him being on a leash in a storm was it seems to come after the cage and earthquake.

When Conan frees Subotai there is more dialogue between the 2 of them. “Your too big to be a thief” which is heard when Arnold punches the camel much later in the film.

Once we get to civilization and Zamora the editing becomes very messy. The big part missing is the pickpocket scene. This has quite a bit of dialogue and leads into the tower of Set procession with the princess with important dialogue. Then in the film as released we hear voiceover lines before the raid on the tower of set. This dialogue was taken from a deleted scene, camp set above the city with waterwheel and foreground miniature of the tower. Ron Cobbs cameo has strange insert of tower in that scene another odd edit. Once getting into the Towers grounds over the wall we meet Valeria. However Valeria introducing herself by name is cut so we never know her name. That is really bad editing choice criminal in fact. Once reaching the top of the tower Subtai kills a neadthal guard and Valeria takes a jewl. Finally the fight with the big snake has some better alternate angles which were Sadly not used.
Oops nearly forgot the elephant doing a big pooh in the city and Conan’s reaction “how does the wind ever get in here” shot of the elephant is missing ruining the joke.

When we get to the love yurt with Valeria and Conan. There was a scene where they look at eachothers scars and it is here that Valeria is shown as a pit fighter like Conan.

When Conan goes to Thulsa Dooms palace the Speech given by James Earl Jones was shortned. Conan being beaten up was shortened and cut. One of Thulsa dooms servents does a Har-Kari on themselves commanded by Thulsa Doom and then the girl jumps off the cliff by command.

The Wolf Witch was to re-appear in the film and have another scene. She may have told Subotai where to find Conan on the tree of Woe. I Can’t confirm this but it is probably the only other place she could have re-appeared I think in any purposeful way.

Upon attacking Thulsa Dooms Palace to get the princess there was to be some voiceover explaining the neandethals as they prepare cannibal feast and also regarding the orgy there is some dialogue missing. Too many repeated shots of Thulsa doom covering cut scenes. A bit more censorship during the battle here.

After this battle and the pillar crashes a scene where Subotai shoots a couple of arrows at soldiers and Conan and Valeria run off rather than lingering far too long on thogrimm. Extra dialogue when Thulsa Doom talks to his henchmen after becoming human again. This was in a trailer.

King Ozric being slain was removed.

Valerias funeral… There was an editing error where you hear the music and see the explosion on the pyre repeated but footage is different angle. Should only be once. This also has a missing Narration by mako found in Conan the destroyer “and so Conan mourns his loss Valeria”

Battle of the mounds has a scene prior where Mako explains the ground has drunk so much blood. The Battle itself has some censorship cut’s and is not in entirely correct order. Various shots are flipped horizontally. Stuff missing and noticeably so. Conan throws a Spear which Knocks a Rider off a Horse. The worst Cut though is Conan Finishing off the guy who falls off a horse before Thulsa Doom Rexor and Thogrim move in on Conan.

Finally the Extended version ending is better however we miss Conan killing another guard before getting to Thulsa doom. A more graphic angle Conan showing Thulsa Dooms head Upon Conan walking off with the princess that was not the end. Conan and Subotai were to say farewell to oneanother and part ways.

As you can see by that write up there is a lot removed from the film. It is still one of my favourites if not my most favourite film. I think it suffered quite a bit though in editing though. It’s very deserving of a proper reconstruction. It’s probably an ectra 10 minutes tops.

For me, it’s Bringing Out the Dead. Really hoping this can receive a proper 4k restoration some day.

waffle said:

For me, it’s Bringing Out the Dead. Really hoping this can receive a proper 4k restoration some day.

Scorsesee with Nicholas Cage about ambulance drivers. Yeah I have that film on dvd it’s a great film. I think. Not much said about it these days.

I went to buy a copy of Killers of the flower moon and was horrified it’s not on physical media. Only in Italy does it have a blu-ray release. They really are trying to kill off physical media.

Godzilla (2014)

This film needs a Special Edition. It was a very enjoyable movie albeit with complaints.

1. Not enough Kaiju action

2. It felt like stuff was missing

3. Overly dark Tranfer

It’s another title where Gareth Edwards was shadowed by Gilroy coming in to do a final pass on the edit. But it seems Edwards is less afflicted here than Rougue One’s changes and ultimately Gareth Edwards walked away from Godzilla trilogy after Rogue One which he was slated to helm.

There is quite a bit of information floating around about this Extended or Directors Cut and for the most part it sounds good.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MT_fZOlx-9I

And the Novel based on the script.

https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Godzilla:_The_Official_Movie_Novelization

The Novel seems pretty accurate account. I especially like the deformed radioactive miners in the phillipines that would have really given it an unsettled feeling.

So More Character scenes for the most part. Which is good but still only small whiffs of monster action. I think that formula is better though. Just look at King of the Monsters the sequal… A terrible mess of a movie with very poor writing and horrible characters tonally awful. Which brings to my attention one scene in King of the Monsters which may have been lifted from the original 2014 version. Not only is it the only good scene in KOTM but it is also the only scene that has the same tone as 2014 original.

The scene is a board room meeting where they discuss what to do about the monsters and how it effects the planet and civilization to which Ken Watanabe quips about Godzilla being the saviour or something.

This scene feels like it was the ending scene of the 2014 movie to me. And I would be unsurprised if it was lifted from it.

So far as extra Monster action that was removed there is the scene after Golden Gate where fighter jet’s attack near Alcatraz which is unreleased. There is also smatterings of extended shots or alternate angles of Kaiju fighting.

The recent TV series expanded on the Bikinni Atoll Nuclear test and I think perhaps that would perhaps be enough to satify fans a bit on more Godzilla too.

Essentially KOTM has no reason to exist nor does any other of the strange monster verse stuff idea aside from Kong Skull Island. Everything else seems like junk being churned out.

If I were them I would consolidate and do good service to the 2014 Godzilla effort and pretty much forget the rest apart from Kong Skull Island film which was good too.

Shaolin (2011)

I only saw this movie last week and I missed it back upon it’s release. Bunched in with other films I did see like Musa the warrior, the Warlords and so on War of the Arrows deserves a mention too. I feel like I cheated myself out of this film and glad I finally discoveted it, if only very late.

Being from the UK this is cut for Horse falls and Animal Cruelty you know the nation that holds the cruelest horse race ever known as the Grand National Broadcast and re-run on telly.

Anyway those cut’s are annoying and are disruptive but furthermore it seems the extra’s were overall better on the UK release but other regions got the deleted scened… 43 minutes of them.

That says to me there was certainly a longer cut planned for the 3 hour mark and noted some alternate dialogue in UK extra’s especially upon Any Lau killing his Military Rival over the children arrange marridge proposal at dinner. It’s not the greatest plot written but this film does have a heart aswell as some really good Martial arts.

I have no idea about the 43 minutes of deleted material or what they contain overall but there was a good training scene fight in there at the temple I have seen on youtube. Requires sound editing and VFX wire removal. The director Benny Chan has now passed away so a Directors cut is not possible. But from the gist of a review most deleted material relates to the monks and character building and fleshing out sub plots.

I really quite enjoyed Jackie Chan in this film too sometimes I find him a bit too whacky but he was much more grounded here but it all fit quite well as the legendary Cook who saves the temple.

I reckon this 2 hour movie needed a bit longer to flesh out the story and an extended cut would be a good thing for it. It’s rare you get a decent kung fu flick with a decent drama and for that reason alone I think it would be a good idea. The fight scenes are also really well done but not overdone. The balance is good on this one.

Being

King Kong 1933 if Warner Archive ever gets into 4K. Same for Errol Flynn Adventures of Robin Hood.

Also wouldn’t mind if Shout/Gkids did all the other Studio Ghibli in 4k now that Boy and the Heron is getting a release.

From Hell (2001)

This film was a resonable effort from the hughes brothers but once digging into the supplemental features especially the deleted scenes a slightly more fleshed out film starts to appear.

Upon studying the actual released film it became apparent that references or conversation relating to Aberline (Depp) being psychic were inserts or shot for choice this can be removed from the story in that sense but not in terms of his dreams and visions. So it can be public knowledge or private.

It really needed scenes of Aberline questioning other suspects although none has been released.

In terms of Mary Kelly (H Grahem) she can be shown to be dead or killed and not going to Ireland to have kids and stuff. This is another option.

The Alternate ending can transition to the original ending via a dissolve on Dead Depp with the coins on his eyes.

Anyway can see quite a different film than that of the theatrical. The grave broken coffin is also an insert I think. I reckon it is worth a directors cut treatment but not sure it will make it closer to the graphic novel upon which it is based. I am also not sure if it is censored apart from sex.

Jaws (1975)

Jaws is one amazing movie but is not perfect although massively entertaining and a legendary experience.

A while back Spielberg and Dreyfuss talked about brining Jaws to a new generation with perhaps a CGI shark. I think that lead to the 3D conversion we got in 2023 without any enhancements.

I think a better way forward would be to find the UK theatrical release and restore the Autopsy scene of Chrissy Watkins back to the film.

I would also vouch for the opening to be restored to day / dawn rather than artificially darkened and censored.

Now coming to the Abc TV version. I think the extra shots of the fishermans boats hunting is fairly valid material. Many cut’s feature this extension and action.

Ensure music restored for Ben Gardners boat Jump scare.

As for the Kitner death scene I think the missing shot is in the Jaws 4 teaser trailer before cut to chief Brody in the deck chair. In the ABC cut the raft washing on shore is extended and this would help restore the cut music here.

The guy in the pond being chomped seems like an underwater shot with bubbles and blood is missing between transition from above water to below then the leg sinking.

I think Quints Deck hand quitting his job would also be a good inclusion because it makes the following scene make more sense.

Showing a opaque Chief brody reflected in the sharks black eye as intended in chum scene?

Last but not least the missing shot of quints tackle box where Chief says “hooks and lines” after Quint and Hooper fall out. This is a clear editing error.

Obviously restore the profanity to the ending too.

That would make the Ultimate cut of Jaws I reckon. But that is my opinion.

of the labels out there I feel like arrow does the best job. All the other labels are butchers. Like the remastering going on with films at the moment are a joke. Most labels are using some dude who will take his own liberties & will tailor the remaster for an LED TV… Also a lot of these remasters Ai takes the grains out & you are seeing a loss of texture, movement & true color. The grain is supposed to be there. These current remasters are lifeless versions of films i love…

Scrubbing the detail is common these days and is a quick fix for digital displays accommodating the pixel.

Aliens (1986)

Although James Cameron did his directors cut and the film is a great action flick a lot of fun and thrills very rewatchable There is a a feeling it does not quite work with Hadleys hope scenes. It needs an Ultimate cut.

Personally If I were to address this issue the actual start of the Hadleys hope part is correct in it’s placement. But the journey to the derelict is not with Mewts family. I think Newt dreaming in the medical bay is where it should go like a dream or flashback. This would then lead to the planted facehiggers by Carter Burke.

I reckon all the extra deleted scenes are good apart from Drake’s scene looking for Newt I would not include this one. But the rest are pretty good dialogue and story.

A couple of bits from the Skotak brothers are missing a search light on the Narcissus at the very start of the film and prepping the 2nd drop ship model on Sulaco shots never released.

There is also contained in the making of documentary extension to Burkes Death as alien attacks Burke from doorway in red lit corridor. Burke being cocooned does not work.

So when it comes to the sentry guns scene some of the aliens being shot apart was taken from the Alien Hive Ambush and are missing from there. Also there is confusing edit on the Explosion in the Hive soldiers name escapes me but there is a shot missing. The APC was meant to shoot open the wall before driving off. There is extra model footage of driviving in the coridor.

The Alien attacking shots for Spunkmire death and the female dropship pilot death are wrong way around. The scenes of the Alien should be swapped back to correct order. There is extended footage of that dropship crash also. Similar to the guns continuity fix cameron did already.

The miniature Alien Queen looks bad when Ripley runs away with newt from egg chaber. Would be far better to use close ups if awailable. The theatrical trailer contains an extra shot of the Alien Queen not found in the film i think back aboard.

So I reckon the directors cut can be improved upon. I think it’s worth another go for an Ultimate cut. Also somehow it is graded Teal rather than Blue / purple grade which is signature Cameron color pallette.

This reads more like a list of fan edits than actual preservation projects. By all means lay out your personal visions for these films, but this is hardly the sort of thing that Arrow/Shout would involve themselves in.

Jonno said:

This reads more like a list of fan edits than actual preservation projects. By all means lay out your personal visions for these films, but this is hardly the sort of thing that Arrow/Shout would involve themselves in.

Yeah they should do though. I think really the best thing about home media is you can relax time constraints a bit… Less pressure but also all the interesting extra features which these guys do do.

Second Sight was it? Did a good job on “from beyonf” if I remember correctly. Quite a bit of restoration (new version) Essentially although having great picture and sound is a strong desire for obvious reasons but there are still many films that deserve a re-edit and restoration of material. I don’t think restoring everything to a film makes it better either. You often need to subtract also.

Not so much a personal vision just laying out here what I see within the material of titles or scripts. If i can put the idea out there for a restoration rather simply talk about picture or sound quality as those things are kind of a given these days. I would happily take a DVD of any alternate cut not bothered if it is 4K or 8k. I am far more interested in alternate cut’s / censorship and seeing things fleshed out and restored. It is far more interesting although picture and audio obviously matter a lot across the entire experience.

Sylvester Stallones’ ‘Cobra’ is crying out for an Arrow release! Assuming the material from the legendary (unseen?) workprint is still available, not only would this satisfy fans demands but also a guaranteed money spinner for Arrow to justify the effort.
I’m guessing there would be serious licensing issues involved but if they could iron out those issues… Oh man!!

Brunner68 said:

Sylvester Stallones’ ‘Cobra’ is crying out for an Arrow release! Assuming the material from the legendary (unseen?) workprint is still available, not only would this satisfy fans demands but also a guaranteed money spinner for Arrow to justify the effort.
I’m guessing there would be serious licensing issues involved but if they could iron out those issues… Oh man!!

Yes Obviously the TV version exists for Cobra and the workprint exists. This is the sort of thing I am on about and I was coming to that one at some point in the list. It’s more worthy than cliffhanger too. A extended uncensored cut has been wanted for a long time.

Year of the dragon (1985)

This film feels like a workprint. Not sure exactly what I would cut presumeably some of the wife stuff. This film is reslly good but messy. This is a typical subtraction case would not add anuthing but I would whittle it down and tighten it. Otherwise good film.

JadedSkywalker said:

King Kong 1933 if Warner Archive ever gets into 4K. Same for Errol Flynn Adventures of Robin Hood.

Also wouldn’t mind if Shout/Gkids did all the other Studio Ghibli in 4k now that Boy and the Heron is getting a release.

King Kong the original is great.

King Kong (2005)

It’s a good film but it is marred with some really bad over the top CGI effects sequences and poor sound effects in general. Music score is also flat. Main Theme music is good though.

When viewing the extended version of the film there are some good extra bits especially the piranhadon swamp scene.

I attempted to reassemble the boat tripto skull island sequences that were removed. I was pleasantly surprised by the character building and how it was better than the film that was released however you go over the hour mark until reaching the Island. I did not keep everything but as much as I could. This was as far as I got but enjoyed editing this part. It really did a lot to flesh out the story. It was not boring.

Then upon reaching the Island things still remain solid however I tried to incorporate the scene filming on the shore with Anne Darrow like original. The fight on the boat is shortened which was a shame. Things remain steady until and engrossing up until…

The Brontosarus chase. This sequence is horrible. All we really should have got was the characters running from the Raptors.

Everything remains good until…

T-Rex fight. Kong vs 3 x T-Rec was too much and too much sillyness. It would be nice to just have single T-Rex fight. I seem to remember somone managed to edit this way down to that so it is possible.

There are lot’s of nice bit’s deleted that are not OTT which help continue the adventure. Things remain Solid until…

Kong Ice skating with Anne this is just too much.

The Military going after Kong and the planes attacking were shortened. Also the car chase was shortened.

I reckon this film could be so much better if it focused on the characters more and put the monsters less at the forefront.

The sound effects and music are generally better in the game based on the movie than the film itself. I would vouch for a more grounded take on it as I reckon it should be much better than it is. It did so much right but lost it’s way with the spectacle rather than the investing in characters. It’s all there though just marred by silly antics and over the top rubbish in places.

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Terry Gilliam does CGI and honestly does it much better than many others. A good looking film indeed but not that great fairly mediocre with flashes of brilliance. This is no “Brasil” effectively Gilliam let the studio change as much as they would like this time rather than fight over a preferred vision.

There is however a Gilliam version. It would never be ushered in with the same fanfare as “Brasil” but a better version does exist.

1. Different Jokes that you would expect from a Terry Gilliam Movie which were all removed focus on making Matt Damon a more conventional fantasy lead character. Big Character re-write.

2. Tbe Prologue of the finished film was a flashback in the third act, revealing key information about the heroes that had been obscurred up until this point.

Gilliam walked away without expressing any interest of re-creating his vision on this one and vowed never to work with Weinstein again. Still it could be interesting if he was to change his mind. A directors cut could elevate this film to better standing with a lack of fantasy films in recent years. There are many deleted scenes on the DVD.

Braveheart (1995)

Around another hour of material exists. Gorier Battle scenes were censored. Some small extra plot scenes made there way into TV edits in the US Broadcast. Sadly the uncensored version has never been released.

Sorcerer (1977)

This film made the Jaws troubled production problems look like a picnic acording to Roy Scheider. The fabulouse trucks on the bridge sequence was only done after being built 3 times…

Friedkins Version is the Superior Version and he claimed he would not change a single frame of it. But he did tinker with the audio a bit on the latest release.

The Studio released a “wages of fear” version for distribution Outside US Market. This version although inferior had Material that was Omitted from the US theatrical Cut. Friedkin also does not like it. However within this version includes some very intetesting bits and pieces and plot points. Some shots are action shots these particulsrly feel missing from the theatrical cut. There is more Tangetine Dream score in this version also.

In My opinion both of these cut’s should be amalgamated perhaps not including everything but most sequences, the character stories in the US version should be brought in whilst at the shanty town as flashbacks. The Structure of the film could be improved and although Friedkin has been Staunch aboit it. He sould understand it could be better.

For this one an extended cut would be good to see with a different structure.

When Roy Scheider takes out the guy with the Shovel. Shots are in the wrong order here.

Wages of fear version of getting to / walking to the blazing well near the end is much better than theatrical version.

New version bluray has crushed blacks on famous bridge scene and color tinted an already tinted sequence.

Anyway Friedkin going back in on this one is unlikely but I reckon he should think again and look at the other version that he does not like but find the things that are missing from his version. Some of it relates directly to his version in a matter of fact way.

Is this just a list of deleted scenes you wanna see released? Kind of reads like that, no idea what Arrow or Shout have to do with it.

I’d say Friedkin going back in on this one is HIGHLY unlikely. He died in August 2023.

Brunner68 said:

I’d say Friedkin going back in on this one is HIGHLY unlikely. He died in August 2023.

Oh!I never knew he passed away my bad. I guess he atleast got to share Sorcerer out more internationally in his preffered edit.

Still It seems more could have been done with that release although it was never a major hit, it does stand the test of time which many of Friedkins other works do. I want to get a hold of that babysitter film he did of like folk horror tale. Heard it’s a bit of a weak offering but never seen it.

No, this is not a list of deleted scenes I want to see. It’s a list of films that could do with an alternate version or multiple alternate versions in an effort to either uncensor or improve and have more extensive special features on the making of the film or about the subject matter. This was how home video was revolutionized and this is how it should be maintained. With special intetest in the art and stories of it’s creation.

These Boutique labels need to be given more freedom and creative license to make better films too aswell as better quality. Even if only limited to bonus features or an option to view an alternate cut in some circumstances… Obviously without erasing the original.