MasterofDVD

I'm bummed that the long documentary "probably" won't be on there but I'm happy to have a newer and possibly better release.

critterdvd

I'll be in the doghouse for this one, but: does the world really need a director's cut of "The Frighteners"?

MasterofDVD

We get alternate cuts of stuff with like 1 minute or so of new footage and nothing else new and people buy it up.

Then we get 12 more minutes for a film released ages ago when the format was still in its infant stage with possibly better sounds and picture......and people have an issue with it?

I'm stumped.

We all know that this release is only coming out now to promote King Kong but I really could care less. I'm hoping for better sound and picture quality but the extra footage has already sold me on this new version.

Josh Z

I think his point is that The Frighteners was a terrible movie in its theatrical cut, and adding 12 minutes of extra footage is not going to solve its problems.

I liked Lord of the Rings as much as the next guy, but not everything Jackson touched before that turned to gold.

mzupeman2

This is a great movie and highly under-rated. I'm definitely getting this, love this film.

milo bloom

Well maybe not gold, but if my wife enjoyed the cut of The Frighteners that SciFi shows, and she is nowhere near a horror fan, then I would say it has an audience.

I'm curiuos too about the documentary, I'm still amazed that Universal didn't release it during the LOTR phase of PJ's popularity.

mzupeman2

Yeah, you do have a small group of people out there who appreciate it since Jackson had a little to do with it but, I was actually one of the fortunate ones to see this movie in theaters. I thought it was a pretty fun film.

Giles

aparently the laserdisc folk weren't complaining. The R-rated grue should be cool to finally see.

TylerDurden_73

I've been waiting for a nice release.Glad I never got around to buying the first release.

Geofferson

Great news -- hope the doc is included!

ThatGuamGuy

Wow, so reviewers are allowed to threadcrap? I had no idea. I figured that they could express their opinions within their reviews and wouldn't need to crap into threads.

Beyond that, from everything I've heard, the extended cut *does* make it easier to follow, but that's really beside the point; if you don't like a movie, there are plenty of places on the site to criticize it (especially as a reviewer). This forum is not supposed to be one of them.

ThatGuamGuy

To put it into context, he's been saying that since 'The Frighteners' came out; he has friends shoot behind the scenes footage constantly, and he always "intends" to release it; as smebody else said, it was only because he was so stalled on 'King Kong' pre-production that he was able to put together the one for "The Frighteners" (and I bet if he'd had more time, it would've been shorter, based on the history of 'Braindead' and 'Heavenly Creatures').

Incidentally, he's also said that he intends to release feature length documentaries exclusively covering the making of 'Lord of the Rings', with no "talking heads" cut in, once he (you guessed it) goes through the countless hours of footage. Completely seperate from the, what, 20 hours of documentary footage already released?

I love Peter Jackson, but I'll believe those things when I see them in release. And, in the mean time, I'll buy 'The Frighteners' even if it doesn't have the doc that I'd really like it to have.

It'll have the commentary track, right?

[PS: I don't even like 'Bad Taste' very much, but the half hour doc that's on that disc is one of my favorite making of docs ever, and I'd reccommend the limited edition DVD just for that.]

MasterofDVD

I just figured he was doing a mini review of the movie for those who had never seen it. I'm sure glad I don't listen to reviews at all.

When this movie first came out on VHS I rented it and watched it with my girlfriend. I LOVED the movie and she hated it so much she was reconsidering the relationship she had gotten herself into. We got married a few years later I can safely say she realized it was just a movie and didn't matter that much. So you can see I'm well aware that there are people who hate this film.....I just never thought we'd hear so much from them in this thread.

dsa_shea

My wife hates Clerks but we're still happily married.

Cornelius1047

That's cool, cuz I hate your wife.

I seriously can't even remember if I saw this in the theatre. But I did own the P&S VHS and then the widescreen one. I'll most likely pick it up, depending on price, features and sound.

K

mdc3000

I've been bugging Universal for a new edition of the Frighteners constantly for the last two years...glad to see something come down the pipeline, but I really was hoping for the big doc to be included and at least a 2 disc set...but beggars can't be choosers...

I think The Frighteners is one of PJ's best movies and is absolutely under-rated...a GREAT movie.

MATT

ThatGuamGuy

This made me think (off-topic) of my roommate's ex-girlfriend ... he got her to watch 'Evil Dead 2' once, and, when it was done, not only did she hate it, but *he* came out of his room saying, "You know, 'Evil Dead 2' really isn't that good." My other roommate and I had to hold ourselves back from saying "Dump her, now," but we did smack him around a bit for the blasphemy.

So I'm glad that you not only made up your own mind, but didn't hurt your marriage by doing so.

The thing is, I can see why people don't like it ... I mean, I certainly don't cite it as a great movie ... it's better than 'Bad Taste' or 'Meet the Feebles', but, to me, it's the third-worst PJ movie ... but it's so damned interesting and unique. It packs so much into such a short movie ... I mean, there are at least three major premises within the movie, any one of which could be the premise for a whole movie, and then there are all sorts of minor things (like, for instance, Jeffrey Combs). It probably has too many reversals (which is why the extended cut works better, from what I hear ... it gives it a little breathing room)... but I'd rather have a movie that tries too many things and maybe fails at a few of them than a movie that plays it safe, even if the safe movie succeeds more. So, yeah, I can understand not being a fan, I just can't understand why somebody who's not a fan would bother to open the thread.

They should really piss people off and release two different versions on the same day, the one-disc director's cut and the two/three disc director's cut with unneccessarily-long-doc edition. And the sticker on the box could say, "Well, if you get right down to it, does the world really *need* any DVDs at all?"

wewantflair

Come, now. Meet the Feebles is a legitimate work of genius - PJ's only one. I like the Frighteners, but I'd rather see a Dead Alive or Meet the Feebles SE. Does anyone know if there is any extra footage from Feebles? Knowing the story of its production, any kind of extra footage would be fascinating. Either way, this Frighteners release seems like a no-brainer, especially since the old release is OOP.

ThatGuamGuy

I disagree with both parts of this, but that's as may be.

I do concede gladly that the sodomy song and the Vietnam sequence are both legitimate works of genius, so let's not argue...

I'm fairly certain that there is no extra footage from 'Feebles', inasmuch as it was originally shot for television length and was padded out to feature length (in fact, I believe Jackson himself once said it wound up too long, but don't hold me to that), but there might be. I'm fairly sure there are many, many hours of behind the scenes footage, and I'd imagine it this would make the most interesting making-of documentary of any of his movies.

'Braindead'/'Dead Alive' and 'Meet the Feebles' aren't owned by Universal, and Universal is releasing this now (with, assumably, no new input from Jackson) because they're finally working together again, on 'King Kong'. So it's not a big Peter Jackson push or anything. That said, there was a 'Feebles' SE that was supposed to come out last year from Anchor Bay, but they subsequently stopped listing it on their website. And I've, unfortunately, never heard of a SE release for 'Braindead'/'Dead Alive' (which I'd personally cite as Jackson's greatest acheivement).

dadaluholla

I LOVE the Frighteners but I still have YET to watch the dvd I got for christmas about 2 years ago (the one with the bad cover), so I don't think I need to double dip.

movielib

I have both the LD box set and the DTS LD (theatrical cut).

I can't see getting this DVD unless it has everything that is in the box set or a DTS track for the director's cut (both would be great but it doesn't look promising).

I quite agree.

scott shelton

Some might say it's his worst film, and borderline unwatchable. A 5-minute idea stretched to ungodly lengths.

Dutin

Frighteners rocks! Glad its finally gettin a good dvd release. Been debating on buying a old LD for movies like this.

ThatGuamGuy

It should be said that, as always with Peter Jackson, this should technically be called the "extended cut", not the "director's cut". As with the doc, he put the cut together for fun because he had a lot of free time [the LD liner notes apparently call it the "director's fun cut" but stress that he stands by the theatrical cut]. Apparently, on the commentary, he specifically says that one scene got cut because he felt it had gone too far, so "director's cut" has certain implications which aren't true in this case.

movielib

No argument but I called it the "director's cut" because that's what it's called on the LD box (not just in the liner notes).