UNCUT movies on DVD. (1 Viewer)

[Matt Pelham]

It seems to me like there is a good market for seeing movies that were originally trimmed to avoid an "X" or "NC-17" rating fully uncut on DVD. More recent films are getting special unrated editions, but I think DVD provides a great opportunity to re-edit some older movies that have never before been seen fully uncut.
Robocop is a good example. The only way to see it was by bad workprint bootlet videos until Criterion got ahold of it. Also uncut versions of American Pie 1, American Psycho, Basic Instinct, Original Sin, etc. It's getting so popular to have "unrated" attached to a DVD that even movies that were never trimmed are just sticking extra stuff in there and slapping an unrated on the cover (Pitch Black, Van Wilder, Sweetest Thing, Road Trip, etc.)
That's why I'm surprised some of the more notoriously cut movies aren't available on DVD yet. I would really LOVE to see uncut versions of:
Hard Target - Something like 20 minute of violence were cut for an R rating.
Hardware
Total Recall - almost every violent scene was heavily cut
Scream - one version of the VHS in uncut but mistakenly labeled R.
Friday the 13th parts 1,2,3,5,6,7, and 8
Nightmare on Elm Street 5
Menace to Society - Would like to see uncut, including the infamous "prison riot" scene
Eyes Wide Shut
The Burning (1981)
Nightbreed
Phantasm II and III
My Bloody Valentine - finally being released by Paramount, but in the toned-down R rated cut :frowning:
Cherry Falls
Valentine
and those are just a few off the top of my head. I don't think any of those movies are available uncut in any format (except for Nightmare and Scream), so wouldn't it make sense for studios to re-edit and re-release them? With uncut Monster's Ball, Resident Evil, and Last House on the Left all coming out it seems to be getting better, but what about all the other, older movies?

 

[Will K]

The Burning (1981)

MGM used an uncut print for their Amazon.com-exclusive VHS release so I would imagine they'd do the same for the eventual DVD release. If you want to see it uncut, it's a steal for $6.99 until the disc comes out.
As for the slasher titles, I don't think I can add anything that hasn't already been discussed heatedly before.

 

[Aaryn Chan]

American Pie 1 unrated was worst than the R-rated.

 

[Enrique B Chamorro]

The laser disc (DD & DTS) version of Scream was uncut.
The Jap. R2 NTSC DVD of Eyes Wide Shut is uncut.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

All video versions of Eyes Wide Shut have the music censored during the orgy scene.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

All video versions of Eyes Wide Shut have the music censored during the orgy scene.

I don't think I've seen any evidence that Kubrick and the rest of the creative team for Eyes Wide Shut wanted to be deliberately offensive by having a recording of chanting of a sacred text during that sequence. I would say that all video versions have been changed out of shame and embarrassment, not "censored".

 

[Anders Englund]

I don't think I've seen any evidence that Kubrick and the rest of the creative team for Eyes Wide Shut wanted to be deliberately offensive by having a recording of chanting of a sacred text during that sequence.

Except maybe the fact that he made it that way.

--Anders

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Except maybe the fact that he made it that way.

Unless my memory is playing horrible tricks on me, Kubrick did not write the music for Eyes Wide Shut, and the person who did (Jocelyn Pook?) was embarrassed and mortified to find out the meaning and significance of the text they had lifted for the chant.

If it is the composer's error, how does this express Kubrick's intent? Further, does anyone have any idea as to what Kubrick's motivation would be to offend a certain segment of the audience in a way unrelated to the meaning of the film? Or can anyone relate this to the meaning of the film?

 

[Matt Pelham]

Just out of curiosity, what is the sacred text spoken in this scene?

 

[Mark Zimmer]

The Bhagavad Gita. I can't believe that Kubrick, meticulous as he was, made no inquiry as to what the lyrics of the piece were.

 

[Jeff Pryor]

I'm not familiar with this chant, though I thought it played well in Eyes Wide Shut. What are the lyrics?

 

[JJR512]

I've never heard of it, either, so I looked it up:

The Bhagavad- Gita is considered by eastern and western scholars alike to be among the greatest spiritual books the world has ever known. In a very clear and wonderful way the Supreme Lord Krishna describes the science of self-realization and the exact process by which a human being can establish their eternal relationship with God. In terms of pure, spiritual knowledge the Bhagavad- Gita is incomparable. Its intrinsic beauty is that its knowledge applies to all human beings and does not postulate any sectarian idealogy or secular view. It is appproachable from the sanctified realms of all religions and is glorified as the epitome of all spiritual teachings. This is because proficiency in the Bhagavad- Gita reveals the eternal principles which are fundamental and essential for spiritual life from all perspectives and allows one to perfectly understand the esoteric truths hidden within all religious scriptures. Many great thinkers from our times such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Schweizer as well as Madhvacarya, Sankara and Ramanuja from bygone ages have all contemplated and deliberarted upon its timeless message. The primary purpose of the Bhagavad- Gita is to illuminate for all of humanity the realization of the true nature of divinity; for the highest spiritual conception and the greatest material perfection is to attain love of God!

From http://www.bhagavad-gita.org/
(I hope this doesn't get censored as a disallowed religious conversation. It's a fact that this is part of the movie, aparently, and I'm just relating what, exactly, it is, so that anyone else who, as myself, is ignorant as to what, exactly, it is, can find out. This should in no way be interpreted as me making a commentary in any way, either pro or against, any religion, whatsoever.)

 

[Matt Pelham]

Shame and embarrassment??!! That doesn't make any sense, why would anyone feel ashamed of chanting? And since this "Bhagavad-Gita" isn't a religion and doesn't apply to any one particular group, I highly doubt anyone would be offended. It was probably changed because Kubrick couldn't get the rights to it.

 

[JJR512]

No, it's not a religion, any more than the Bible or the Koran is a religion. But, from the limited amount I have read about it, it seems to be just as important to the Krishna religion as the other books are to their respective religions. I didn't say that the Bhagavad-Gita was a religion, just that talking about it might be misinterpreted by some as having a religious discussion.

 

[Jeff Pryor]

I think the best uncut movie for DVD is Caligula, but the video transer could have been better.

 

[DeanR]

The thing is Jeff the uncut DVD of Caligula is not uncut. I distinctly remember one particular sex scene that I saw in the theater that was not on this dvd. Maybe it is in the supplements, I haven't had a chance to view them.

 

[Nicholas Vargo]

I have a movie on the tip of my head that appears UNCUT as it has been since 1995 and that film is Steven Spielberg's "1941". I saw the theatrical cut when I was about 4 on HBO and at the time, I didn't know it was a Spielberg film because I never thought about that. I always had that image of the ending always stuck in my head. The director's cut, which I first saw on DVD, improves so much on the original version and adds depth to the character of Wally, who was always my favorite character in the theatrical version. Even though it makes the movie a little overlong, the scenes it adds make the film just a bit more fun and a little less chaotic than the original 2-hour cut.

BTW, if you think the original cut is long gone, you're wrong. Everytime the film plays on one of the HBO channels, it appears in its original thatrical cut.

 

[Veli-Matti Reitti]

Total Recall - almost every violent scene was heavily cut

I thought that the SE(the so called "baboons ass") was an uncut version of Total Recall.

 

[Damin J Toell]

I thought that the SE(the so called "baboons ass") was an uncut version of Total Recall.

No. The SE DVD is the standard R-Rated version. I don't believe the uncut version has ever been released.

DJ

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Standard R-rated version? Verhoeven trimmed it down for some foreign markets (including Australia) but kept all the violence (and some variant, gorier takes) for the American R-rated release. If you compare the Australian M-rated version to the American R-rated one, the Stateside variant is much more violent, and a lot gorier. Maybe the workprint had some additional gory stuff in it again (not unsual for any director) but did Verhoeven do a final mix on that lengthier version, have it scored and complete the post on it? Not from what I've heard. In this instance, I think that extra-extra-long 'uncut version' would have had to exist in its entirety before fans could justifiably mourn its absence. Every TOTAL RECALL censorship story I've heard has revolved around Verhoeven toning the film down for the British and Australian theatrical releases. I've always felt that the R-rated edition was the full deal, but if others have info that indicates differently, feel free to add it.