[Bezulsqy]

I noticed just now that both of these last watched movies have a Twin Peaks connection.

[Bezulsqy]

It has been a while since a have last seen some J-horror.

[Bezulsqy]

New addition for the ozploitation genre.

[ScoJo]

I really liked this one, best Cage in a long while

[Bezulsqy]

I really liked this one, best Cage in a long while

True.
3,5/5 sums it up for me. Don’t need to see it again anytime soon but very happy to have watched it.

[inksb]

Watched Sinners this weekend, absolutely loved it

[Bezulsqy]

Start the day with some Aerobicide…

[static14]

Sorcerer

[static14]

The Conversation

[Bezulsqy]

Love those little things under your tv @Static.

[Bezulsqy]

Bring her Back.

Really well made. Difference in effects to Final Destination is night and day.

[inksb]

Bring her Back.

Really well made. Difference in effects to Final Destination is night and day.

i was pretty excited about Final Destination, there was a ton of very good reviews, lots of people seemed to be loving it. I thought it was just kind of entertaining but didn't deserve all the praise it got. It was really nice to see one final performance from Tony though and it was clearly a way for him to kind of say goodbye to his fans. Poor guy looked awfully sick and frail.

Bring Her Back I thought was excellent, quite difficult to watch at times through the abuse and very graphic violence. Great follow up to Talk to Me. Can't wait to see what those guys do next

[static14]

Breakdown

[ScoJo]

Dammit - I think I’m about to be back on my bullshit again, starting on a restoration that’s been in the back of my mind for decades…

Blood Simple. If you discovered this film (and Los Hermanos Coen) back in the day, when it was first released on vhs with great fanfare, you knew you had found something special. I’ve mentioned elsewhere that I always loved the UK video store release poster by Palace Pictures which used a review that name checked a bunch of great cult movies as the initial hook that got us film nerds’ full attention (Psycho, TCM, Evil Dead, Les Diaboliques, Postman Always Rings Twice etc…)
And if you saw that initial home video release, you were watching the original theatrical cut of the film. It blew me away, and I remember either buying an ex rental copy or home-duping it, so that I could rewatch over and over. A perfect film, to my young mind.

But then something happened. Every subsequent home video release, from retail vhs to dvd to current bluray and beyond, is the Coen’s ‘Director’s Cut’ which they prepared in 1998. When it came time to revisit the film, the Coen’s decided the movie needed tightening up, and shortened the film by 3mins. But not a couple of shots or scenes - they made a huge amount of small trims to shots, as well as cutting bits of dialogue and business, entirely re-editing some of the ‘action’ scenes, and replacing music cues which had become a rights-issue on home video.

The net result is that, if you’re new to the film or a casual fan, there’s not too much to really worry about as the film still plays great - better than ever, if you listen to the Coen’s themselves.

But if like me this movie is embedded in your DNA, the alterations are quite jarring and honestly? Beyond the logic of the rights-required music revisions, not only are most of the changes not really an improvement but you’re constantly side swiped by missing fun lines or character moments that you know and are expecting. It sucks!

So I’ve always had it in mind to take the latest remasted print of the director’s cut and rework it, reverse engineering it back to the theatrical version, using the original VHS as a guide and to also provide material that is missing in the DC along with reinstating all original music cues.

That sounds simple enough I suppose, but it’s going to be a ludicrous amount of work since there are literally hundreds of changes, from large to very small (like, frames here and there), plus the VHS print is unmatted full screen and will need serious grading to try and blend it with the HD widescreen material of the DC.

Well…… I guess I’m gonna do it if I’m posting here!

This is the Palace vhs which uses the review I mentioned that was prominent on the video poster, and also a link to a breakdown of the changes between the theatrical and DC.


https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=3339071

IMG_0989.png (2.91 MiB) Viewed 1988 times

[static14]

Godspeed @ScoJo! That will not be easy, or quick to do.

[ScoJo]

I’m almost halfway through, static. Yep it’s very laborious. I’m using the laserdisc for restoring missing material, as well as for the audio basis - it is the original mix of the theatrical cut. It turns out that the Coens also revised the sound mix, to the extent of moving Burwell’s score cues in places, and replacing foley with newly recorded sound effects! So even though the picture changes in the DC may be minor (though abundant), the sound mix is a complete revision.

Once I’m done with recreating the theatrical cut I’m now considing regrading the bluray picture to more closely match the original print/35mm look using the laserdisc and trailers as a guide.

[inksb]

I had no idea this was done. On the surface it sounds so minimal. Looking forward to see this once it's completed. I'm not sure when the first time was that I watched it but I do know my next viewing was spaced so far from it that I never would have noticed the changes


In other news, I watched The Shrouds this weekend. It didn't quite work for me. It's an interesting idea and seeing Cronenberg work through some of his thoughts on death is interesting in concept, in execution I found parts of it fairly dull. Cassel's performance was an odd choice, my wife thought he was a bad actor and I had to explain to her it was very deliberate choice by him and Cronenberg to portray that character in that way. I enjoyed the previous film much more than this one, I think this one falls right in the middle of his work for the last 20 years, he's had worse and had better

[ScoJo]

As with most of my crazy projects, @inks, there will be literally a handful of people who would notice, and even less who actually give a crap 😅

Here is a perfect example of why the DC chaffs for me - they cut the back half of a scene featuring the great character of the black barman Maurice, when he is schooling a yokel at the jukebox. He explains that he is from ‘Detroit, which is a big city with tall buildings…’ before shaking his head and punching in a Four Tops song to illustrate. I’ve randomly and regularly quoted this line my whole life whenever the situation calls for it, it’s just a cool line…. and they cut it out! 🤷🏻

[Bezulsqy]

I am waiting on the ScoJo cut before I revisit Blood Simple again. I believe I have only seen this on TV or VHS back in the day. It is a movie I know about. A movie I know I really liked then. And a movie that every time I hear it mentioned (which is very often) I want to rewatch. But I never got around to it.

[ScoJo]

Good move Bez!

It’s completed, just bouncing the finished project in 1080p Pro Res and then I’ll go through and check all of my edits to make sure they’re seemless before making a smaller .mp4 version for sharing via my drive.

Incidentally, turns out most of the scene trims/dialogue cuts are all those involving my guy Maurice the bartender! And they are all great scenes, weird. I wonder if the Coens were not that happy with Sam Art Williams performance, or their own writing (he is quite ‘funky’ for a Coen’s character!) or perhaps just that it gave too much emphasis to what is a peripheral part of the story. Well, I love both the character and the performance so it’s all back in baby!!

I’ve kept the original end credits from the laserdisc because the updated DC credits are different, and I’ve also taken it upon myself to recreate the opening quotes from Hammett and Hitchcock which were apparently part of some original 35mm prints, though I’ve never seen them myself - I used a best guess on style and format based on the titles at the start/end, identifying the typeface used etc. No expense spared! This is truly a unique version.

I’m really excited that I’ve (hopefully) pulled this off - while the laserdisc copy is great and has a more ‘grindhouse/vhs era’ vibe, this is going to be a real treat having the original cut of the film which I fell in love with, 95% of it in HD.

And one last thing: here is the original ‘Investor Trailer’ that the Coen’s shot in 35mm to raise the budget, much like their buddies Raimi & co with Evil Dead - and boy does it have an ED/Raimi vibe! To the extent that they got Bruce Campbell involved as one of the stand-in actors, since the actual roles were not yet cast - he’s playing Marty, the Dan Hedaya role…

https://vimeo.com/168989950?p=0l

[EvanCampbell]

Scott you have tapped into thoughts about this film that I have not thought about for so long! I was Lucky enough to see Blood Simple at the movies when I was a young kid and it left such a powerful impression. I still have faint memories of the sounds of the gun shots at the end when Walsh is stuck in the bathroom. Even as a young kid of 11 or 12 the film made me understand the style at work from the directors and that incredible dark tone created. Blood Simple, along with No Country for Old Man are my favorites from them, being the realistic tone they kept and the quirky obseravtional stuff was kept not too intrusive. Now if I am not mistaken during the scene where he is cleaning up the blood at the bar in the film didn't they originally used the song "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees. I remeber that fitting so well I could almost imagine the scene being created around that song. Then a few years later when the vhs came out they removed the song and changed it. The scene never worked as well to me after the song change. I still think about it not working as well whenever I see Blood Simple. I remember back in the day trying to locate a different vhs to try and find that original version. Scott is my memory incorrect?

[ScoJo]

Evaroo - you actually do have it a bit jumbled amigo, easily done!

The original theatrical release used the Four Tops/Same Old Song throughout the film, including when Maurice uses the customers dime for the juke box, during the cleanup scene (in the b/ground again on the juke box) and at the end of the film/credits. But rights issues prevented it’s use for the first vhs release and it was replaced by Neil Diamond’s original version of ‘Im a Believer’ (The Monkees version is a cover). The rights were cleared up and later home video releases had the Four Tops reinstated. But confusingly, when the Coens made their Director’s Cut, they did change the instrumental country song playing in the bar when Ray asks Maurice if Marty is in the office, for a vocal version of Sweet Dreams.

I’m currently grading my restoration of the Theatrical Cut and it’s all lookin’ sweeeet 😎 I’m almost as excited about using the original sound mix as I am reinstating the bits of missing dialogue - like you, those original gunshot fx (which they redid for the DC) are etched forever in my mind!

Congrats on seeing it in the theatre man, what an experience. I saw the reissue in the theatre about ten years ago and it was great, although I was already aware of how much they had forever altered the cut so it was a bit frustrating/bitter sweet.

[ScoJo]

Have been going through all the related stuff around the film (I’ll be revisiting the legendary joke commentary tonight, hilariously scripted by the Coens and performed by actor Jim Piddock as historian ‘Kenneth Loring’) and am blown away by the synth music in this original trailer from 1984! I thought it was a modern fan-trailer at first as the music is so great, but I’m guessing it was actually contributed by Carter Burwell. Give me an extended version!!

https://youtu.be/5bQ8VdbFLCc?feature=shared

[Bezulsqy]

This will do for a nice morning watch.

[ScoJo]

Filth