Ron...please help: re PARAMOUNT (1 Viewer)

[Will K]

The cuts on the original Friday The 13th were minimal. Each entry suffered some cuts. However, parts 2, 6, and 7 had huge chunks of footage removed, particularly 7. Kane Hodder(Jason) has been known to show a reel of the excised wet stuff at Fangoria conventions. Trust me: it's much more than a trickle of blood and by no means minimal. In its original form, it would have been an over-the-top, gory-as-hell crowd pleaser.

 

[Brett C]

I would hardly say the difference on My Bloody Valentine was subtle not only was EVERY effect scene altered but Paramount felt that the sound effects were too gruesome as well and forced changes in that department on the director.As the story stands(according to past articles in Fangoria),The film was massacred along with Friday The 13th pt2 By Paramount before they were even submitted to the MPAA.Due to getting a lot of flack from certain circles in the media about releasing such a violent film(Friday The 13th).So they chose to self censor,meaning we have next to no chance of ever seeing these films in their original intended forms and also by the very evident lack of respect the studio holds for its Horror catalogue aka, Barebones...

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

...also by the very evident lack of respect the studio holds for its Horror catalogue aka, Barebones...

Paramount releases almost every catalog title barebones. The flip side of this is, of course, more bits for the movie and no superfluous EPK crap just so they can catalog the hours of bonus features on a jacket blurb.
They also have a better batting average than most of their contemporaries at delivering high quality representations of original soundtracks even when they also include remixes.
"Hatari", "El Dorado" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" are all fairly barebones, but watching them, I do not detect a lack of respect for their John Wayne properties. I simply marvel that they have gotten them to look and sound so good. Of course, the recently lowered prices don't hurt, either.
I can absolutely see where you are coming from with the edited for content concerns, I just think you are reading a bit too much into the fact that the titles are barebones.
Regards,

 

[Chuck L]

Ken, in regards to your post, I do understand what you are saying. On the other hand, I have not heard of a long line of censorship concerning those John Wayne titles. Therefore, you are comparing apples to banana's...never the two shall meet.

One company that does go the extra mile with their releases, either horror or any other genre is Anchor Bay. It has been suggested many times to deaf years for Paramount, should they not want to give the fans of the series the uncut versions, to simply license the films to AB. Paramount will still be able to retain their rights to the series and the films as a whole, but AB would be able to please the fans of the series by giving them what they have wanted.

Now...the flip side of that one...Martin Blythe has stated many times that it isn't a policy of Paramount to sub-license any of their product. All in all is fine, but this does go against the lines of proper Supply and Demand. Paramount has sited that they haven't been pleased with the sales figures regarding the current crop of DVD's in the Friday series. Why? Because they aren't giving the people that would buy these DVD's what they are wanting. So them siting poor sales to public, only backfires on them for not giving what we have demanded verses what they have supplied.

In our house, we have every form of home video product, minues Beta of course, of the Friday series. VHS, Laser and DVD. I have pre-ordered Paramount's last two DVD's arriving soon. I love the series, regardless of the cut versions. BUT, unlike most of the general public that doesn't care about the cuts, those that are into horror films know the difference. DVD gives Paramount the ability to offer the trimmed scenes and the cut gore, reentered into the movie, via seemless branching. Apparently, they choose to ignore the technology that is at their finger tips. If they did utilize this feature, sales would increase.

Again, and knowing that I am repeating myself, it isn't like we began this crusade last year. In fact, many fans of the series have been pushing Paramount to release the uncut footage from every movie of the series since the orginal release of each one. There are many edited scenes from this series. Having scene a lot of the footage that was cut from Part 7, it would make the movie into an extra special event. (Please see IMDB for details on these scenes or many of the various Friday sites.)

We have asked for the cuts restored to part 2, which garnered an X rating at the time of the release. We have asked for the alternate ending of the titles stars beheading from Part 3. It isn't anything new. This has been going on for nearly twenty years. Finally they have the technology to do, and alas, they still don't.

If their plans are to go back and do Special UNRATED Editions, so be it. I will be the first in line to buy all of them. But, they could have done a Star Trek on us. When it came to release the first film in that series, they did a full scale Special Version. Knowing that the fans have waited for so long and may request have been made, Paramount could have easily began their Special UNRATED Versions of the series beginning with Part 7 and then revisit the others. Again, they did not.

There are many things that could have been done with this series. But the lack of interest on THEIR part, has kept them from it. If they did the series right, purchases would be brisk. But giving in to the Blockbusters of the world and small minded individuals that feel that horror has no place in cinema, keeps them from honoring the people that gave them the money in the first place...we the horror community.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

And still no Four Flies on Grey Velvet..... :frowning:

 

[Chuck L]

And if that does happen Mark...it will be a cut version 9 times out of 10....

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Ken, in regards to your post, I do understand what you are saying. On the other hand, I have not heard of a long line of censorship concerning those John Wayne titles. Therefore, you are comparing apples to banana's...never the two shall meet.

No I am not. I agreed with the "edited for content" concerns and disagreed only with the specific statement I quoted about "barebones" releases being evidence of a lack of respect from Paramount. I was very specific and my analogy was to that point and no other.
The specific issue with Paramount and horror is that they have to date not released the uncut versions of a number of titles. If there is a secondary issue, it is the titles that they have not released, but then every studio except maybe MGM seems to have that one.
Since releasing only cut versions is the issue with Paramount and horror, I would encourage folks not to invent other issues. The "barebones" catalog titles are in no way specific to horror films, let alone a sign of disrespect to their audience from the folks on the mountain.
Regards,

 

[Chuck L]

Can we just say they are lazy then?

 

[TerryW]

Ron, we also spoke of Four Flies but that hasn't yet appeared on any release schedule. You said ALL OF US would be very pleased. I am NOT pleased to see NO mention of this Argento classic.
Is it simply that it's scheduled for '03 or beyond and you still can't speak about it? I would think you could say that it's still coming 'in the future,' as Martin Blythe has singled out that title more than once in the past.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

This is the quote from Ron

But the first week in September should
make horror fans VERY happy.

There seems to be a great deal of horror
films coming all at once.

Ron was not suggesting that every single horror fan would be getting every Paramount title they wanted in the exact form that would most satisfy them. He was looking at the release schedule and observing that there would be a lot of Paramount horror titles released in early September.

Regards,

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Ken,

Correct. Thanks.

 

[James Alexis]

Apologies to anyone who took offence at my earlier post. I had meant it to be said with a sense of irony but that's difficult to do without making eye contact!

I do still hold to my view however that these are minor films (allbeit ones that obviously have an audience) - I don't think Paramount is famous for horror movies so I guess there should be no surprise that it's nothing more prestigious. Would have been nice to see a Special Edition of Rosemary's Baby with a documentary and Polanski commentary for example.

I think us horror fans should be lobbying the studios for the REAL classics - surely we all want to see a decent edition of Robert Wise's The Haunting or House of Wax or Horror of Dracula than My Bloody Valentine or Friday 13th Part 12?

And I am not somebody who thinks all slasher movies are rubbish - the original Halloween (which started it al) is an absolute classic and belongs in anybody's Top Ten Horror Movies - as does Texas Chainsaw.

Each to his own I guess....

 

[Damin J Toell]

Each to his own I guess....

Exactly. So keep that in mind and keep your comments to yourself when you feel like jumping into a thread and trashing that thread's subject matter.

DJ

 

[Robert Crawford]

If only people remembered and respected that thought, there would be less problems here.




Crawdaddy

 

[Robert Crawford]

Damin,
That comment wasn't necessary!




Crawdaddy

 

[Will K]

I think us horror fans should be lobbying the studios for the REAL classics - surely we all want to see a decent edition of Robert Wise's The Haunting or House of Wax or Horror of Dracula than My Bloody Valentine or Friday 13th Part 12?

No, actually I'd like all of them.

 

[Tom Rhea]

I absolutely do not understand for one minute why any studio would release a cut version of a movie when said movie's fans are clamoring for the uncut version. The only reason to do so is to appease the sort of people who wouldn't be interested in even the cut version of the movie (as happened with Eyes Wide Shut in the US). I can understand wanting to avoid controversy and all, but as has been pointed out many, many times around here, aren't these studios primarily concerned with making money? Why cater to people who are NOT your customers?

 

[Chuck L]

That goes back Ken to the original post that began this thread....very happy.

It was stated very clearly on the list that was submitted to Paramount the presentations for how we wanted the films. That being UNCUT. That was the way it was written and the way it was presented.

When you are told that you are going to be VERY happy...you expect for someone to give you what they requested was your requested. BUT...when it was clear to them what was asked for and what was wanted and it still doesn't happen...why be happy? Can you answer that one. (And this is the point of all this. I am sure that if this kind of reaction was given to your favorite genre or favorite film, that you would be chopping at the bits as well.)

If you have read a post of mine, you know, I am buying this films nonetheless....will I be getting a cut version of My Bloody Valentine, no I won't. And why, because it is butchered beyond belief.

Why am I getting the Friday's then? To show support in hopes that one day they will hear and release what we have wanted for two decades now.

I care about all things horror. If you look in my signature, I mention The Haunting, one of my all time favorites. Like others have stated, you pick your favorites and lobby for them, let me lobby for mine. If you don't like that, don't add to it.

 

[Chuck L]

DAMN! Tom got it....others, please follow!

 

[Will K]

Tom makes a great point, albeit it's one that's been made countless times in other "uncut horror" threads. The type of person who would be offended by gory violence in a Friday The 13th movie is going to pass right over it in a store. They want nothing to do with it, don't want to look at it and they certainly aren't going to rent or buy it. Besides, this same horror-phobic consumer is already annoyed these films exist at all, so what's the point in limiting the market to censored versions? R, uncut. It's all the same to the folks who don't care.

Other studios such as MGM actively release "unrated" material and I have yet to hear of any backlash, so I remain at a loss as to what Paramount fears will happen if they release an uncut horror movie. Sadly, it doesn't look like an answer is in the offing.