Why do so many companies leave scenes out of the various releases?

[JohnL]

While I was looking up the IMDB entries for Humanoids from the Deep, I found the following under alternate versions for the original;

"Both the UK pre-cert VHS version & the current US DVD version are missing a small scene during the carnival massacre where a man has his head torn off."

Why do they do this? Read through the IMDB and check out the films which have an alternate versions link and they have stuff like (I made these up because I'm too lazy to track down actual examples right now);

Current DVD release omits the scene where Lisa finds the empty beer bottles.

Jim's line about "looking for something" is cut on the current DVD version.

US DVD is missing the scene of all the characters running past the store.

WHY??? I've mentioned this before, but it seems like virtually no two releases of a movie are ever the same. Scenes that were in the theater aren't included when it plays on the pay channels, and that version is different than the version released on video, which is different from the DVD release...

[Chadzilla]

Movies are cut for time, for ratings, and even for local censoring boards (which is why so many different versions of I Drink Your Blood exist).  Oft times, in the days before compression and what not, deleted scenes that were cut from the theatrical release for whatever reasons (they slowed down the movie, added nothing to the plot, etc.) are 'restored' for TV to fit it into an expanded time slot (i.e. Jaws 2 and The Swarm both had previously cut footage added to pad them for a three hour time slot).  Some movies need to shoot alternate scenes for cultural reasons (but I have no examples of that).  Some movies (like Earthquake and Two Minute Warning and even Halloween) have additional footage shot expressly for TV airing to pad it for an expanded showing (i.e. Earthquake) or the subject matter is believed too intense for the format (i.e. the random sniper plot was thought 'too disturbing' for television, so a fake jewelry heist sub-plot was grafted in for Two Minute Warning) or the censored version runs too short for network airing (as was the case with Halloween).

Movie making is not an exact science and movies are constantly reformatted (or altered) for variety reasons.  Sadly, due to differences of opinion, no true 'perfect' cut of a movie exists, there are always things that are missing or never shot or whatever.

[Fearless Freep]

George Lucas has said "movies are never finished, just abandoned"

[wuggles451]

then why couldnt he just abandon us with the original trilogy?

[JohnL]

>Movies are cut for time, for ratings, and even for local censoring boards

I'm not talking about any of those things. I'm talking about formats where movies are supposed to be uncut: pay channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz), video and DVD. I'm talking about scenes where part of a line is omitted, or a shot is left out for no apparent reason. Stuff that isn't offensive and which really has no effect on the plot, but which someone, somewhere felt the need to tamper with. I can't find many examples now that I WANT to, but I know I've seen quite a few of them. Here's one;

Scream 2
In the Special Edition DVD, two scenes were either altered or deleted altogether: One involves Derrick, Hallie and Mickey in Sid's room discussing their schedules in order to keep an eye on her; the other is an alternate version on the "sequel" discussion in the class room - Sarah Michelle Gellar is replaced by a black student and the classroom is different.

In the theatrical release, Ellie's (Elise Neal) death was longer and gorier: we actually saw the killer stabbing her, while in the video version, we see Sid gasp grabbing her face and hear Ellie getting stabbed.

[Chadzilla]

JohnL wrote:

>  
> Scream 2
> In the Special Edition DVD, two scenes were either altered or
> deleted altogether: One involves Derrick, Hallie and Mickey in
> Sid's room discussing their schedules in order to keep an eye
> on her; the other is an alternate version on the "sequel"
> discussion in the class room - Sarah Michelle Gellar is
> replaced by a black student and the classroom is different.
>
> In the theatrical release, Ellie's (Elise Neal) death was
> longer and gorier: we actually saw the killer stabbing her,
> while in the video version, we see Sid gasp grabbing her face
> and hear Ellie getting stabbed.

Perharps this Wes Craven's cut of the movie?  Or, if it was toned down a bit, the studio or producer edit.  Scenes are often shot differently (camera angles, setting, pace, etc) because a director or producer does not know how a scripted scene will play out and then they can decide in the editing room (dialog is trimmed because it slows the movie down, but sometimes there is harsh disagreement about the 'final cut').  Take a look at how the trimming off a few scenes from Session 9 changed the entire movie.  American History X had a vicious editing cycle, with the director wanting to recut the movie, the studio happy with what they had, and star Edward Norton getting a chance to do his cut of the movie.  No one was happy.  Sometimes a director will change a scene or two when remastering the movie because the producers or studio or star forced him (or her) to make changes they did not agree with.  Also, many prints may have snippets of scenes or frames missing because the print used has those missing because of damage and it is the best print the studio has, or it might be the only one the distributor gets access to.  This is not uncommon either.

[Neville]

In the case of the "deleted scenes" offered as a DVD extra, they use to include a commentary that explains why they were cut. Main reasons are a) they are slowing down the movie b) they needed more time and effort to make them work so they were abandoned c) they wanted the movie to reach certain MPAA category (or foreign equivalent) or d) The movie ran too long.

Reason d is probably the reason why scenes with no special reason to be omitted were actually deleted.

[Fearless Freep]

Reason d is probably the reason why scenes with no special reason to be omitted were actually deleted.

I remember the commentary on the deleted scenes from The Phantom Meance (only having a VCR, I don't get a lot...)  Most of the scenes were cut because they pushed up the running time and didn't really add a lot, plot wise, that wasn't revealed elsewhere

[Chadzilla]

Fearless Freep wrote:

> Reason d is probably the reason why scenes with no special
> reason to be omitted were actually deleted.
>
> I remember the commentary on the deleted scenes from The
> Phantom Meance (only having a VCR, I don't get a lot...)  Most
> of the scenes were cut because they pushed up the running time
> and didn't really add a lot, plot wise, that wasn't revealed
> elsewhere
>

Lucas offered the same reasoning for the deleted scenes in Episode II.  I can't say that I didn't disagree with him, all the cuts were justified.

There is a little snippet of dialogue cut from Jaws 2, where the chunky red headed guy shouts out "Tell them there's a big shark out here!"...From the blocking of the actors in the shot, it appears to have been trimmed from the helicopter scene, just prior to when Bruce gnoshes it.  It was in the movie's trailer and some commercials, but not in the film itself.  Too bad, I liked it.

[Fearless Freep]

I can't say that I didn't disagree with him,

Whahuh?

[Chadzilla]

Fearless Freep wrote:

> I can't say that I didn't disagree with him,
>
> Whahuh?
>
>

Fancy talk for...I agreed with his decisions in regards to what he cut from the movie.  While he may not be the greatest writer or director, Lucas does understand story flow on some levels.

[The Burgomaster]

Back in the 1970s, most European horror movies were cut (for sex and violence) when they were released in the U.S.

Part of the reason was because European audiences were more receptive to extreme gore and explicit sex than American audiences. This seems to be especially true of lesbian scenes. (Many Euro horror DVDs seem to include "full length lesbian scenes that were cut from the original U.S. prints.")

Another part of the reason was to reduce running times so that they could squeeze 3 horror movies into a drive-in triple feature. So, they'd shave them down to be between 75 and 90 minutes each. This often involved cutting out the sex scenes, which had no real effect on the plot.

Nowadays, I think it has a lot to do with marketability in different areas. I think that U.S. audiences have relatively short attention spans, so movies have to be cut for the U.S. market.