MovieChat Forums > The Exorcist III (1990) Discussion > Scream Factory blu-ray

Scream Factory blu-ray

posted 8 years ago by DarlesChickens
6 replies | jump to latest

Well, it’s finally here: the original cut of The Exorcist that we’ve all spent years ruminating on with like-minded horror fans and across online forums. Obviously there will be two schools of thought on the matter regarding which cut is better, with most people likely opting to side with Blatty on his director’s cut. But if you ask me, tacked-on ending aside, the theatrical cut remains superior. As good as Dourif is during the director’s cut, he’s even better in the theatrical, and having Jason Miller reprise his role to bring some humanity and familiarity to this undervalued sequel has made it a stronger effort. Shout! has pulled out all the stops and resurrected something that most people wrote off long ago as never coming out for legit release. The massive supplements and improved PQ from the previous blu-ray alone make this an easy purchase, but finally having close to Blatty’s cut is the real selling point, regardless of how you feel about it. http://www.cutprintfilm.com/blu/exorcist-3/

[–] JP_Shay 8 years ago

The biggest downfall is the quality not matching up. That is going to be a huge factor on which version people prefer.

👉 "Ayyyyye" 👈

[–] DreTam2000 8 years ago

I highly doubt this.

That doesn't make sense to me at all.

People have waited years for the Director's Cut because they wanted to know how the story and film differed in the narrative and directorial regards. Most us expected the additional footage to vary in quality due to our knowledge that the original reels had been "lost."

If they're going to prefer one version for the reason you mentioned, then they might as well vow now for the record that they only prefer the theatrical cut before they even view the alternate version. They know ahead of time that the quality will drop in places throughout the Director's Cut.

I really don't think it will be a "huge factor."

I'm not a control freak, I just like things my way

[–] JP_Shay 8 years ago

Okay maybe not a huge factor but most of the negative reviews I read on it complained somewhere about the quality. Like they could have downgraded the quality of the theatrical to match the footage to keep the same tone throughout and not cause a distraction.

👉 "Ayyyyye" 👈

[–] TheSolarSailor 8 years ago

I highly doubt this.

That doesn't make sense to me at all.

I don't doubt it and it makes perfect sense. Plenty of folks will simply watch the film's director's cut because they hear about it on the web or from others, and they won't be the actual fans who have waited years for this to finally see the light of day. These general viewers will absolutely gripe about the quality and rate it as a distraction, while only actual fans will be willing to overlook it because they understand WHY it is this way. It'll be a huge factor because a lot of reviews will come from people who had nothing invested in seeing a director's cut to start with.

- - - - - - -
I am not a fan. I just happen to enjoy movies. Fans are embarrassing.

[–] DreTam2000 8 years ago

Even so, I think those viewers outside of the usual fans will be split down the middle, between those who are interested in directorial and narrative qualities over film stock issues, versus those who will be too distracted by film stock issues to care much about directing and acting and story.

So on the one side you have half the viewers, which makes up us fans. Then you have the other half, which in itself is split into two more groups, or subgroups within that group.

Reviewers might make mention of the variation in film quality, but I don't ever remember reading a review that complained about a film not having the grade of quality footage it preferred; at least not enough to disturb the overall rating in the review.

I'm not a control freak, I just like things my way

[–] TheSolarSailor 8 years ago

You may be right! We'll see what happens now that the street date release has passed and more people outside of the fanbase start reviewing it.

I remember when Richard Donner's cut of Superman II came out, many gave it bad reviews for things like using old test screen footage to fill in for lost scenes, or the reuse of the time travel sequence taken from Superman The Movie. The problem was that these people were not fans and didn't really understand what all was going on with the presentation of the Donner Cut. They were watching the film out of context in a way, and rating it low because they weren't grasping what the presentation was intended to represent. We were simply being given a glimpse of what might have been had the original plan unfolded with Donner directing both pictures. It was never meant to be the definitive complete new version of the film.

Much like William Peter Blatty...his version has been lost. We get scenes of VHS quality, credits featuring Jason Miller who is not in the film, etc. They did the best they could, but some folks just won't be in the loop when judging the final product.

Oh well, people will be people! 

- - - - - - -
I am not a fan. I just happen to enjoy movies. Fans are embarrassing.