Wednesday, December 15, 2010

STRAIGHT TO HELL RETURNS

There was once a version of STRAIGHT TO HELL (1987) which was five or six minutes longer. At the eleventh hour, the producer, the editor and I (Alex Cox) cut out half a dozen scenes, in a misguided flight of cutting room madness, thinking that by making the film shorter we were making it better, by making it go a bit faster we were making it funnier...


We were wrong. Now, fortunately, the UCLA Film and TV Archive has rescued the original Interpositive of the uncut version, the missing scenes are restored, and a new HD master has been created, Dan Wool has recovered the missing audio, Richard Beggs has whipped the picture into aural shape, Tom Richmond and Beau Leon have created a new visual strategy - heavy on the yellows and deep blacks - and Webster Colcord has animated some additional skeletons.

All to be in theaters again in October and November 2010, and on DVD and download on December 14, 2010. This - along with Microcinema's release of Searchers 2.0 - must be the perfect stocking-filler. Oh! And did I mention all the digital violence by Collateral Image, and the dolly tracks, and the new shot of George's shoes?

5 comments:

  1. Sorry, but I'd rather he cut out MORE of the film! I thought this film was a terrible mess and no amount of restoration is going to help it out.

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  2. The only thing I liked was the use of the "Chino" set and seeing downtown Almeria during the opening bank heist. Otherwise the jokes fell flat and most of the actors were annoying.

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  3. Yeah, I found the film unwatchable. Perhaps I need to revisit it...but I doubt it. On a side note, what is the deal the the Spaghetti Western Film Festival in March? Are there more details?

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  4. Here's the link. Sorry, For some reason the icon is not connecting to the web page.

    http://swf.vafiades.net/

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  5. This movie is total crap! Checkout the director's commentary - Self congratulating, indulgent nonsense.

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