Studios really need to stop ruining a director’s vision. Directors like Wes Craven, sadly, are victims of meddling that cause their films to become lesser products. With Zack Snyder’s Justice League showcasing an example of how different a studio cut can be from the director’s cut, horror fans are begging for similar treatments.
Movies such as Nightbreed and Alien 3 feature much better alternate cuts. However, there are so many other horror movies out there that have suffered from poor cuts. Fans are begging and clamoring for certain horror films to get the director’s cut, with some films becoming quite infamous for it.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
Despite a welcome performance by Jackie Earle Haley as the child-killing Freddy Krueger and some interesting ideas, the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street sadly did not match him in quality. Part of that may have to do with the many reshot, alternate, and cut scenes that made the final product less than stellar.
The most famous is an entirely different final encounter with Freddy Krueger in his human form that showed a different side of Krueger’s character. Others include different openings, more scenes of Freddy taking the form of Kris, and an alternate stinger ending with Quentin instead of Nancy. If a director’s cut of this remake was made, perhaps the Jackie Earle Haley version of Krueger would be better received.
Disturbing Behavior (1998)
Disturbing Behavior was one of many additions to the young adult horror fad. It had an interesting concept of the high-school version of The Stepford Wives but unfortunately, director David Nutter’s original vision was taken away. Due to a few negative responses at test screenings, MGM had Disturbing Behavior be cut down to be a more streamlined horror film.
Originally, there was going to be a bit more story and development of the characters and why the parents are allowing their children to be put through the treatment. Instead, it was left more ambiguous and a lot of the story seems to go nowhere. Even the ending was changed which can be viewed on YouTube.
Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
Even before the film was shot, Bob Weinstein caused problems for this fourth film in the Hellraiser franchise. Almost all of the horror legend Clive Barker and director David Yagher’s vision was destroyed but the director did his best with what he had but even that wasn’t enough to please Weinstein and Dimension Films.
Hellraiser: Bloodline was then put through post-production torture with more cuts that resulted in a disappointing fourth film that was originally supposed to be the grand finale. Fortunately, this is a time when there is actual confirmation of the director’s cut existing. Even though it wouldn’t be exactly what was originally written by Barker and Peter Atkins, it still likely would have been an improvement.
The Keep (1983)
One of Michael Mann’s first films was a World War II horror film known as The Keep. To give an idea as to how much was cut, Michael Mann’s original film was supposed to be three hours long, as reported by DenOfGeek. The Keep ended up being 96 minutes long in the final product.
Much like the Justice League movie, this means that there was a lot of important plot left out, leaving a disjointed mess. The monstrous villain Molasar is a highlight and shows Michael Mann’s ambition but that ambition was sadly squandered due to overbudget and poor test screenings.
Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
Most will remember the 2016 Blair Witch as the official sequel to The Blair Witch Project but it wasn’t the first attempt at a sequel. Many horror fans will attest that Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is an incoherent mess and it’s due to the studio tampering with the film.
The director John Berlinger wanted more psychological horror but according to BloodyDisgusting, rewrites and reshoots were mandated. As a result, Book Of Shadows was given more of an overhaul to try to make it a more traditional horror film but ended up becoming a confusing and convoluted experience. Berlinger’s cut deserves to be seen since it sounded like he had an interesting idea.
The Invasion (2007)
The Invasion suffered from an abysmal production. Originally, The Invasion was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel who filmed and delivered his cut of the film. However, the film would become a mixture of multiple directors’ ideas.
V For Vendetta director James McTeigue was brought in to shoot new scenes written by The Wachowskis. It led to a rushed editing process that left The Invasion into an okay attempt to remake a classic at best that lost a lot of money. More than likely Hirschbiegel’s original cut would have cost the studio less money.
The Predator (2018)
Fred Dekker has gone on record stating that the final version of The Predator was not the original plan. So much of the original movie was cut out, including an entire subplot featuring humans allying with emissaries of the Yautja Hunter race AKA Predators to hunt the rogue Yautja. Instead, the entire last half of The Predator was reshot to appeal to all audiences as a popcorn flick. In an ironic twist, it appealed to almost no one.
There were even plans to bring in Arnold Schwarzenegger for that final stinger but that was scrapped and a now-famous cameo of Newt from the Alien franchise was filmed but never used. Instead, The Predator ended with an Iron Man-esque suit that showcased that the studio was capitalizing on superhero films. Since it was all filmed, Shane Black’s original cut deserves to be seen, even if it’s not the best sequel.
The Thing (2011)
For those unaware, originally the 2011 prequel to The Thing was filmed using practical monster and gore effects much like the John Carpenter classic. The plan was to use practical effects with a few digital enhancements. Unfortunately, the studio thought the practical effects looked too fake, so they had nearly all of the practical effects digitally removed and replaced with CGI.
This has become one of the most famous alternate designs for horror characters. While the final product is lessened by the CGI, there is a solid prequel to be found. It would only be enhanced by what fans are calling the Practical Cut; many fans of the horror series would love to see the original scenes using the practical effects and the prequel would be a welcome first chapter of The Thing.
Event Horizon (1998)
Sadly, it has been said that all of the footage that would allow for the true vision of Event Horizon is lost. That still doesn’t stop fans from hoping that Paul W.S. Anderson is able to release his cut of the sci-fi horror film one day. Even ShoutFactory is hoping and willing to bring the director’s cut to life.
According to SlashFilm, Event Horizon was going to be 130 minutes long and much more graphic than it already was. Audiences were supposed to see more of the Hell-like dimension that turned the Event Horizon ship into a living organism with imagery that was cut because it was too disturbing to viewers.
Cursed (2005)
Studios have never been kind to the late great Wes Craven. The most infamous example is 2005’s Cursed, which was shot and completed only for Bob Weinstein to once again ruin a movie. Wes Craven was forced to scrap nearly everything of his first version and reshoot an entirely different movie. Then that version was declined, forcing some more changes until Cursed was no longer Craven’s product.
Originally, Wes Craven wanted to reinvent the werewolf genre while bringing back horror legends from Scream and A Nightmare On Elm Street. Sadly, only a tiny percentage of that vision made it into the final product while the rest was a generic werewolf horror-comedy. This has led fans to follow in the footseps of Zack Snyder’s Justice League with #ReleaseTheCravenCut since the original footage still exists.
