MovieChat Forums > Xtro (1983) Discussion > Questions from Russia to Mr Harry B.-D.

Questions from Russia to Mr Harry B.-D.

posted 19 years ago by AndreiPavlov
3 replies | jump to latest

Dear Mr Harry Bromley-Davenport,
much was said - I support the good reviews as well. I watched "Xtro" at 13 or something (I went to cinema twice) and I put it on the same level as "Alien" and "Poltergeist" at once. It even has the rights to be in top 1000 of all time (place No.999, for instance).

I myself purchased a German double DVD with 3 (!) versions of "Xtro". I have not compared them thoroughly yet, but the ending is very different in at least 2 of them.

Were these other versions filmed at the same period of time or much later (especially the one where the woman encounters "clones" of her stolen son)? Why were those other versions filmed at all? Besides, upon the DVDs I have, it is also not explained why some parts of the movie go in German (not English). One moment the characters are talking English and suddenly - sie sprechen Deutsch! Weird stuff...

Anyhow, the version with the "clones" at the end is also spooky (and maybe even more tragic, than the notorious "the hatched bloody hand into the face"). All the rest is in my review.

Thank you for attention.

Regards,
Andrei Pavlov
Archangel, Russia

[–] Harry323-1 19 years ago

Hi Andrei,

Thanks so much for your online comments.

I am astonished that you place it as high as 999/1000 in your hall of fame.

Unfortunately I had no control over the dubbing or the foreign releases of this little picture, and I am distressed to hear that your copy is partly English and partly German - but perhaps that gives it a "collectible" quality ...?

About the endings: the original ending had the lead actress going into a room where she encounters dozens of clones of her own son.

Then, AFTER the film had opened in the US, the New York office of New Line cinema called up to say that the picture was doing well but that they wanted a more spectacular ending. So we got hold of the Special Effects guys and told them to some up with something truly disgusting - and that's where the ending comes from when she walks into a white room and sees a refridgerator lying on its back on the floor and takes out an egg and it explodes in her face. Door slams. The End.

I'm afraid it's pretty artless, but we were all young people excited to be making a film and we wanted to reach as large an audience as possible.

I know the film doesn't make much sense, but we didn't care at the time - Ah! the hubris of youth.

I agree with you that the "clones" ending is spookier. But film distributors are not known for their subtlety ... and our primary financier was the US film distibutor NewLine Cinema. And I remain grateful to Bob Shaye of NewLine for being a prime motivator in getting ther picture made - for bad or good.

Again, thank you for paying any attention at all to our little effort which was made - my God - about 25 years ago.

Best wishes,

Harry

(Harry Bromley-Davenport - Director)

[–] maldor_industrial 19 years ago

Yep! About 25 years ago and this movie is still remembered by us! It tops 20 in my Hall of Fame(I'm a huge fan of obscure b-movies). I have Xtro on VHS, still waiting for it to come out on DVD here in Portugal.
Mr. Davenport you did a great job with Xtro IMHO.

-Randall

"I gave him life..." - Herbert West Re-Animator --]===-

[–] 19 years ago

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