 Starring: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack
Director: Mikael Hafstrom
Year Of Release: 2007
Plot: Mike Enslin is a writer who makes a living out of investigating paranormal occurrences, even though he doesn’t believe in them. He gets a tip to stay in Room 1408 of New York’s Dolphin Hotel, and despite the manager telling him that nobody staying in the room has ever survived, he insists on going in. However the room really is haunted and it wants Mike to become its 57th suicide victim by not letting him leave and trying to taunt him into insanity with horrifying tricks, particularly about his daughter’s tragic past. |
Rather oddly, even though I’ve had 1408 sat on my shelf for a couple of years, the first time I actually watched it, I saw it on TV. I know that’s pretty backwards, but never mind. What I didn’t realise until I watched the Director’s Cut on the DVD in preparation for this piece, is quite how different it is to the theatrical version I saw on television. Well, the ending is completely different at least (various other less important bits and pieces are also added earlier in the movie).
However that’s the problem with Director’s Cuts and other extended editions nowadays, you never know if it’s going to make much difference or not, and even if it does, whether that’s going to make for a better movie. There have been too many DVDs released promising longer and better cuts of movies, only to offer just a tiny amount of irrelevant extra footage. It means that nowadays when you see the offer of a new version of a film, it’s meaningless, because you can’t tell whether it’ll make any difference or not, or if it’s simply trying to entice you in with an offer of something it’s not really delivering on.
We tend to think of alternate versions of films as being a new phenomenon, but it’s been going on for decades, although to a much smaller extent. In 1958 there was a 171-minute long Roadshow Version of South Pacific, which trundled around America’s major cities, but for general release, about 15 minutes was cut out. 1959’s Ben-Hur lost 35 minutes on numerous cinema re-issues, although it’s generally been seen in its full 212 minute version in the last 20 years. Even the 1927 silent classic Metropolis started out at three and a half hours, before more than an hour was chopped out of it shortly afterwards.
However the modern boom in alternate DVD cuts for a vast array of movies is largely down to American Pie. That film had to cut out some raunchy bits so it didn’t get an NC-17 cinema rating in the US, which would have severely limited which theatres would have agreed to show it. However the studio reinserted the chopped bits for an ‘unrated’ DVD edition, and it sold massive quantities.
The studios soon realised that this extended cut strategy didn’t just raise the DVD sales of raunchy comedies, but all types of films, particularly horror movies, where you could add in a little extra blood and suddenly more people would buy it. However while American Pie had a decent reason to have an ‘Unrated’ DVD, most of the extended cuts that have come since were never intended for cinema release, as the idea from the very beginning was to hold back a bit of blood or boobs to encourage people the buy the DVD (in most cases, the extra footage wouldn’t have affected the rating anyway). However by cheating with most of these extended cuts and suggesting you’re going to get more than are, it’s now impossible to tell whether a Director’s or Extended cut is actually going to be meaningfully different, or if you’re just wasting your money,
It’s a shame as there are still some alternate cuts that really are quite different and worthwhile. For example 1408 offers a completely different, less happy ending. It’s not necessarily better than the theatrical version, but it’s a more logical end to the movie (there is something slightly artificial and tacked on about the conclusion of the theatrical version). Or there’s The Butterfly Effect, where some may not like the ending of the Director’s Cut and find it a bit silly, but it’s very different to the theatrical version and a fascinating and brave direction for the film to take. And again, it’s more consistent with the rest of the film than the theatrical conclusion.
There’s also the problem that even if a new cut on DVD is significantly different to what was seen in the cinema, how are you meant to know whether you’ll like it more or not? With 1408, in the UK you can only buy the Director’s Cut at the moment, but what if you’d been to the cinema or seen it on TV and loved that version, and don’t want a new edition with a tragic ending? However if you want it on DVD, you don’t have any choice but to go with the Director’s Cut.
It’s a difficult situation, because we want the best version of a film, and sadly for various reasons there’s no guarantee we’ll get that in cinemas. However altering the movie on DVD and Blu-ray risks people spending money on a disc that promises something new and better, but it doesn’t deliver.
There is no real answer, because as long as releasing different cuts of films on different formats makes money, studios are going to continue to do it. The only solution is that if there is going to be an extended cut, to offer the theatrical version as well in the same package, but for many of these movies, the studios will never do that because of the expense. As always it’s the consumer who’s left confused and not getting the best deal that they could do.
TIM ISAAC
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