Alien vs. Predator: Unrated Director's Cut

[Eric W.]

Dare I get my hopes up that all the missing footage is restored, making this a complete film finally?

I'm sure most of you know the story on this. Alien 3 style screwing around by 20th Century Fox saw this film get sliced 'n' dice considerably.

This one reviewer at Amazon was telling the truth about it, as best I can tell:

I just read a report of an interview with director Paul W.S. Anderson (director of AVP). He said quote "that all the best scenes were cut from the film." He also said that the movie was always going to be R-rated until the studio enforced a PG-13 rating 3 WEEKS before releasing the film. In addition to the violence and gore cut from the film, a sub-plot that further explained the plot was cut as well. If it had been in the film, the cut footage would have cleared up many continuity issues. For example, the sped up alien life cycle in this film is not a careless error at all; the machine that holds the alien queen captive also injects horomones and drugs in to her, speeding up the facehugger/chestburster process. The footage that was cut would have explained that and also would have given the characters more screen time. Director Paul W.S. Anderson also mentioned that the explosion at the end took up HALF of the 65 million dollar budget (which is ridiculously low for a film like this).

So when you see this film and end up hating it, dont blame the director. He made a film that, if it had been released in the original cut, would have pleased long time fans of the franchises. But instead, the studio made it PG-13 (so more people could see it) and cut out a lot of footage to make the film way too short (to fit in more screenings per day).

BUT, the changes the studio made are helping. Currently the film is making A LOT of money, mostly because of the PG-13 rating. This means that the studio will be more likely to greenlight AVP 2 or, more importantly, ALIEN 5. But try to realize that if the film had been released in the original uncut version, it probably would've only made half the money the current cut has because not as many people would have been able to see it.

Luckily, an R-rated Director's cut WILL be released on DVD sometime in the future. This edition will up all the violence and gore to an R-rated level (all the off screen deaths will now be ON-screen as originally filmed) and add in an additional sub-plot that will clear up continuity issues, give the characters more screen time, and make the plot development clearer. As a long time fan of the original 6 R rated movies, I was ECSTATIC to hear this.

Unfortunately, movies aren't made to be good anymore. They're made to make money, and AVP is doing that right now. So when you see this film, know that you aren't seeing the final version of the film. But PLEASE see it because it needs all the money it can make. And also, PLEASE buy the director's cut DVD when it comes out because its gonna kick a**.

The website that containes the link to the original report can be found here:
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news04/040819d.php

So...what's the deal on this, Andy? Are we finally going to get to see the original FULL film come November 22, 2005?

Widescreen Review 101 gives a few details about it:

2 discs, seamlessly branched, 2 hour unrated cut with commentary by Anderson, Henriksen, and Lathan, as well as extra footage, DTS and DD soundtracks.

The second disc will be loaded with behind the scenes features.

[mkaroly]

I would definitely be interested in this- with the exception of RESURRECTION, I love the ALIEN series of films and AVP was fun. Let's hope this director's cut happens....

[AndyDursin]

Interesting...but I'm not sure this is going to be what some are anticipating.

I just think AVP was always intended to be PG-13, and most of these rumors are just rumors. I recall reading someone involved in the production of the movie saying there wasn't any gore that was cut, or really anything of major substance. The whole intent was to deliver a PG-13 film for a mass audience, primarily of youngish viewers.

If all they're doing is adding the deleted scenes back into the movie -- it's not going to help. Most of it was Raul Bouva or whatever his name was moping around.

The International 2-DVD set of the movie has a bunch of additional featurettes and loads of making of sequences. Sounds to me that they're just going to be importing this over and restoring the deleted scenes section...which isn't going to do a heck of a lot.

For the record I moderately enjoyed the theatrical cut on a FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN kind of level. It's no classic but it was fun for what it was -- and the alien effects, and the climax, were terrific! That showdown with the queen on the ice surface was really well done.

[Carlson2005]

Considering the film was actually announced as a PG-13 before a frame was shot and all through production fans were bitching about the decision - and Anderson gave several interviews about it not being a copout - I can't give much credence to the idea that this was sprung on him at that late a date. It's vaguely possible that the European cut was a little longer (I think it got an 18 in the UK), but it would only be minor trims and certainly not complete scenes.