Over the years there has been much talk about George A. Romero’s CREEPSHOW and what was cut out of the film to get it to its current 2 hour running time from the original 2 hour and 10 minutes director’s cut. I managed to get a hold of a “work print” copy of the film which restores the ten minutes of cut footage.
In the “work print” edition I have (which is in1.33: 1 full screen aspect ratio) it is a modest version of the film. The scenes that were cut seem to be simply be re-inserted in to the film by use of “dissolves.” This version would not be an actual spliced film version, but resembles a version that someone may have just downloaded the original television version to their computer and then put the cut scenes back then and used a dissolve to hide the splices. The cut scenes are of varying degrees of quality that never match up to the rest of the film and the audio mix for these new scenes is never correct so it feels sometimes as if the film is off cue sometimes.
All these complaints to the side (since this is an unofficial release version of the film) it is very interesting to see what footage was cut from the film. Most of the scenes that were cut from the release version of the film come from the very first segment of the film “Father’s Day.” There were many scenes explaining the father’s past and how he become a mogul that add more to why Aunt Bedelia killed her father which adds to her characters motivation and current state of mind. There are also small scenes cut from “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” and “Something To Tide You Over” but these scenes don’t really add much to the film. There is nothing added for “They’re Creeping Up On You” and a small blink or you’ll miss it segment returned to “The Crate.”
None of the subsequent segments are enhanced by the added scenes and point of fact they just bog down the film, so, I’m glad they were left out of the film to begin with. CREEPSHOW was a one of the kind anthology masterpiece that defied audience expectations and reactions and went on to become one of the landmarks in the anthology genre. Only the sequences returned to “Father’s Day” had any real impact on the film but even that is inconsequential as the film works so well without them in terms of pacing.
There are plans to release a Special Edition Anniversary Edition of the film later this year which is rumored to be returning this cut footage back into the film but if you already have the previous DVD version of the film save your money (unless of course you are like me and you’ve just been curious for all these years).
In the “work print” edition I have (which is in1.33: 1 full screen aspect ratio) it is a modest version of the film. The scenes that were cut seem to be simply be re-inserted in to the film by use of “dissolves.” This version would not be an actual spliced film version, but resembles a version that someone may have just downloaded the original television version to their computer and then put the cut scenes back then and used a dissolve to hide the splices. The cut scenes are of varying degrees of quality that never match up to the rest of the film and the audio mix for these new scenes is never correct so it feels sometimes as if the film is off cue sometimes.
All these complaints to the side (since this is an unofficial release version of the film) it is very interesting to see what footage was cut from the film. Most of the scenes that were cut from the release version of the film come from the very first segment of the film “Father’s Day.” There were many scenes explaining the father’s past and how he become a mogul that add more to why Aunt Bedelia killed her father which adds to her characters motivation and current state of mind. There are also small scenes cut from “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill” and “Something To Tide You Over” but these scenes don’t really add much to the film. There is nothing added for “They’re Creeping Up On You” and a small blink or you’ll miss it segment returned to “The Crate.”
None of the subsequent segments are enhanced by the added scenes and point of fact they just bog down the film, so, I’m glad they were left out of the film to begin with. CREEPSHOW was a one of the kind anthology masterpiece that defied audience expectations and reactions and went on to become one of the landmarks in the anthology genre. Only the sequences returned to “Father’s Day” had any real impact on the film but even that is inconsequential as the film works so well without them in terms of pacing.
There are plans to release a Special Edition Anniversary Edition of the film later this year which is rumored to be returning this cut footage back into the film but if you already have the previous DVD version of the film save your money (unless of course you are like me and you’ve just been curious for all these years).
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