Workprint Extravaganza!

To make up for the lack of shares lately (though I've got several in the works), I'd like to direct your attention to a wonderful thread I recently discovered in the bolt.org forums: Mr. Whorse's Workprint Film Collection. A "workprint" is what they call a film that's still in some stage of editing before the final cut is... well, finalized. Workprints are rarely glowing quality, as they're basically just an editor's blueprint (and they have a tendency to get bootlegged endlessly, which caused substantial generational deterioration back in the days of VHS). But what makes them noteworthy to film buffs is they usually include footage that didn't make the final cut.


Mr. Whorse has shared a wide array of workprints in the afore-linked thread. Some only slightly deviate from the final cuts, others are radically different. "54," for example, falls into the latter category. It includes the complete love-triangle storyline between Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek and Breckin Meyer that the studio deemed too racy and demanded be removed (which completely destroyed the film's narrative). There's countless differences throughout, but around the halfway mark of this two-hour cut it becomes a completely different movie. Shame that the picture's got some really bad ghosting issues, 'cuz this version is vastly superior to the reshoot-heavy cut that was released.


"An American Werewolf in Paris" includes definitive ties to the first film, much more Julie Bowen and a scene that explains her abrupt disappearance, as well as an explanation for how Serafine cured her lycanthropy (which would have been better suited for the final cut since she gives birth to a werewolf baby at the end of the workprint!).


As Jim Henson originally intended, the Skeksis don't speak English in the workprint of "The Dark Crystal," which runs about 10 minutes longer.



The last 20 minutes of "Sliver" features a completely different plot twist and concludes leaving viewers to decide for themselves whether or not Sharon Stone was hurled into a volcano! (The final scene is a total WTF ending which was rightfully reworked!)


John Lennon's "Imagine" video-album is nearly an hour longer than the versions that were officially released and "This Is Spinal Tap" runs over 3 hours longer!


Even in instances when deleted scenes were included on DVD, many of these films feature some additional/alternate footage that never made it to disc ("American Psycho," "Freaked," "Natural Born Killers," etc.). So now you know why workprints are a big deal.


For many of the films, Mr. Whorse has denoted the exact differences between the workprints and the released versions, plus there's screen-caps for every film to give downloaders an idea of the picture quality. Currently there's workprints available for more than 100 films:

54
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
Aladdin (1992)
Alien 3
American History X
American Pie
American Psycho
An American Werewolf in Paris
Apocalypse Now
Arlington Road
The Astronaut's Wife
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
The Big Lebowski
Blade Runner
The Blair Witch Project
Boiler Room
Boogie Nights
Bride of Re-Animator
Bubba Ho-Tep
A Bug's Life
Chasing Amy
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice
Cliffhanger
Cop Land
Creepshow
The Crow (1994) - 2 versions
Cruel Intentions
The Dark Crystal
The Dark Half
Dazed and Confused
Detroit Rock City
Die Hard 2
Braum Stoker's Dracula (1992)
El Cantante
Election (1999)
Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
Fight Club
Freaked
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
Gangs of New York
Halloween (2007)
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Halloween: H20
Halloween: Resurrection
Hard Target
Heavy Metal
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
Hellraiser: Bloodline
Hostel: Part II
Idle Hands
John Lennon's Imagine (1972)
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid (1989)
A Man Apart
The Mask (1994)
Men in Black
Mimic
Murder Set Pieces
My Best Friend's Wedding
Natural Born Killers
Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Nightwatch (1997)
One Hour Photo
The Patriot
Payback
Pet Sematary 2
Phantasm II
Howard Stern's Private Parts
The Prophecy
The Punisher (1989) - 2 different versions
The Return of the Living Dead
Ricky 6 - Unreleased Film!
Robo-Cop 2
Rocky V
Scary Movie
The Silence of the Lambs
Sliver
Starship Troopers
Star Trek: Generations
Star Wars: Episode III Return of the Sith
Dee Snider's Strangeland
T2 3-D: Battle Across Time
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986)
There's Something About Mary
This is Spinal Tap
Dario Argento's Trauma
Treasure Planet
Urban Legend
Vampires (1998)
Very Bad Things
Waterworld
What Dreams May Come
Willard (2003)

So go snag these rarities while you can!

***Heads Up!***

If you're planning on downloading the "Natural Born Killers" workprint, be aware that there's some sort of error in parts 2 & 6 of the rar, so WinRar will not unpack it. 7Zip kicks back an error message as it finishes but it will fully un-rar the NBK file. This is mentioned on the bolt board and I personally dealt with the same problem/fix.

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RIP Elizabeth Taylor

Okay, so Elizabeth Taylor is dead. Hardly a surprise, she's been ill on and off for decades. Yes, she was Hollywood royalty. But you know, during my lifetime the press rarely ever ran positive Elizabeth Taylor stories like this one:

Nope, the press mostly ran sensationalistic Elizabeth Taylor stories like these...

Odd person to sport the Sinéad O'Connor look.

Fourteen years worth of living, to be precise. But only one film...


...the aptly-titled TV-Movie "These Old Broads."

If that dog's still alive, it just hit the jackpot!

If she had adopted Michael, that dog would've REALLY hit the jackpot!

Even an innocent photo-op with Rod Steiger was given a salacious slant.
(And you know the dog watched 'em do it.)

Man, that dog was everywhere.
Now we know who Paris Hilton aspires to be... as if.

In death, most of the news stories are akin to the first article... but she's still the center of a few sensationalistic headlines...

Maybe once the dust settles she'll finally be able to rest in peace.

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And in case you missed it, you can download the rare audio version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" right here!

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Wanna see something REALLY scary?

Okay, so Mickey Rooney is prattling on about elder abuse. I mean, okay, good for him cuz it's a real issue. But on the other hand, "elder abuse" can be interpreted in two different ways. I mean, it seems these poor, nubile beach babes were being abused by an elder who was exposing far too vast an amount of aged flesh.* Woof. They should sue for mental anguish.**


And speaking of mental anguish, Charlie Sheen recently flipped his lid. When last spotted, he was laughing maniacally,*** wearing a viking helmet and trying to use his tiger's blood and God-like mental powers to blow up the heads of both his soon-to-be ex-wife and former porn-star goddess, Scanners-style. #Winning!****

And have you heard the news? Whoopi leaks!***** Now it makes sense why she and Frank Langella were trying to hide a bag of adult diapers when they emerged from a sex shop in 1996. They didn't seem to care who saw the bag filled with handcuffs, whipped cream and matching John Holmes dildos.******

* No disrespect to you, Mr. Rooney.
**I wonder if he realized two of them were trannies...
***But he's clean, folks!
****"#Winning" already seems dated one week after it was coined.
*****Did I mention, ewwwwwwwww!?
******Wow, that was a really weak punchline, wasn't it?
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