[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Boo Radley

Every time 88 release a film the most asked question by a mile is. "Is it uncut?" This is asked more than any other question time and time again. Not "What extra's?" not "What's the picture quality?" but how uncut is the version being put out. This is because the British public, who have had to endure many years of censorship, have been burned too many times and to them, it is THE most important factor. Now, I guess that it must get a bit tiresome and an easy way around it is when they announce a title just say, "The full uncut version of..." and voila, 98 questions disappear from their facebook page.



The only problem would be if 88 are releasing a butchered version of a film, and then lie to their fans, like Bloodsucking Pharaohs of Pittsburg, in which to the inevitable question they replied "Yes" on their FB page when they were putting out the slaughtered R rated version instead. That tends to then piss people off if they have been told it is the full uncut version. Funny, that!



I always want an uncut version of a film even if I find the material questionable or repugnant to my moral code, ie, Cannibal Holocaust, Ferox, etc but I also understand that sometimes this is just not possible, like the Friday 13th films. (Although in this case I keep seeing Fan Made copies of uncut F/13 films and one day I might just have to have a look!)



In this particular case I believe the missing footage is sub-standard, dodgy, VHS quality and is in too bad a shape to add to the release. Fair enough, in my opinion but at least let the people who buy the releases and therefore pay their wages, know about this before they spend their hard earned so that they aren't left feeling Vipco-ed and ripped off. Although it is probably very difficult to sell a movie after saying, "Almost half the gore and FX cut out!"



88 should be upfront and honest with their fan base and say from the announcement what version they are putting out. Apparently this won't hurt their sales as horror fans only make up 5% of sales and the other 95% are from casual buyers in shops and Amazon. Also it will stop the legion of "Is it uncut" collectors cluttering up their Facebook page.

To be fair, they didn't lie about Bloodsucking Pharoahs. As far as they're concerned, and most people (except the rabid few crying foul on Facebook), it is "uncut". Apart from a dodgy Japanese vhs, the film has always been R-rated. Paramount picked it up for release, and demanded the R, so the gore scenes were removed before the intial release. It's like complaining about the F13 films snd their R -rated versions. You'll never see unrated versions of these, just as you'll never see Pharoahs in HD with the scenes restored.