Dead Silence 4K UHD (2007) from Scream Factory

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by ricklg10

Ordered collectors set directly from shout, every single item arrived damaged, both slips look like they’ve been stomped on, case broke, discs loose and have some deep scratches, posters crinkled and shout is absolutely refusing to send any replacements. I’ve been out of the hobby for years but I’ve never had problems them when requesting replacements. Unbelievable. The movie and slip were freely moving around the box with no packing paper.

Just as a counterpoint I also ordered from shout literally everything came in perfect condition, both slips,.discs, etc - except I didn't look at the posters so they might be jacked up. They should offer you a return if it's damaged otherwise you could file a charge back with your credit card company or PayPal

[ricklg10]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Just as a counterpoint I also ordered from shout literally everything came in perfect condition, both slips,.discs, etc - except I didn't look at the posters so they might be jacked up. They should offer you a return if it's damaged otherwise you could file a charge back with your credit card company or PayPal

After providing plenty of photo evidence they only offered to replace the theatrical slip and the case, stating it was against policy to replace my poster and collectors slip. And get this… they wanted ME to pay for the return. After constant back and forth I just accepted the replacement slip and case and told them to shove it. Worst customer support experience I’ve ever had. It’s sad cause i once considered myself a loyal shout customer.

[Cortiz]

Originally Posted by Ruined

I explained this in another thread - every option is another opportunity for a f*** up. It also requires extra QC, and it cost more money to author the disc.

In a case like this where the unrated cut is basically useless, I support shouts decision not to include it at all on the 4K. If it were a case like waterworld where the Ulysses cut was not included such as in the new Arrow 4K set for Waterworld that's a different story because that's a useful cut of the film.

I mean they didn't include the censored TV cut of dead silence either, are you also upset about that cuz that's about as useful as the unrated cut

Useless or not it should have been included. But it's all good. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

[Zombie Dude]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Actually the alternate ending is a seperate thing from the unrated cut. It was included as an extra on the old unrated cut Blu ray.

The unrated cut sucks and the filmmaker promotes the theatrical cut, if you want the inferior unrated cut it's on a Blu ray in the package. I agree with the above post I wouldn't want 1 byte of space of the 4K disc wasted on the unrated cut.

The additions to the unrated cut are not explained and make no sense, and it is not any more gory than the theatrical cut; there is even a scene it is missing a line of dialogue that is fairly important to the plot. It was likely thrown together by Universal's home video department to trick people into thinking they were getting a gorier version on home video, as studios have done numerous times in the past with "unrated" cuts.

Really? It has the same ending as the theatrical cut? That's a shame.

[bilbofett]

Originally Posted by Zombie Dude

Really? It has the same ending as the theatrical cut? That's a shame.

that alt end on yt is workprint quality and unfinished and not part of the unrated cut

[Zombie Dude]

Originally Posted by bilbofett

that alt end on yt is workprint quality and unfinished and not part of the unrated cut

What's the point then? The ending is one of the most disappointing parts for me.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Zombie Dude

What's the point then? The ending is one of the most disappointing parts for me.

So from reading the interviews and production of this movie it was basically a shitshow. It started off with one of the filmmakers just having a basically an idea they wrote on a napkin and then they were given a budget by Universal because of previous successes.

After that the initial draft of the film was going to take place entirely in vaudeville so the small clips from the TC where Mary Shaw set in vaudeville were the original entire movie. Presumably the studio interfered here and said this would not be appealing to mainstream audiences so the filmmakers had to ditch this vision. This is a shame because from the small clips we can see it appears they were going to make a Texas chainsaw massacre esque film set in vaudeville, with Mary Shaw being Leatherface who reanimates people as puppets. Would have been great!

Then they scrapped that and decided they wanted to just have people as puppets in modern day be the main drive of the movie and that was potentially where some of the stuff from the unrated cut and the work print alternate ending came from but then that was coming along poorly as well so that also was scrapped, based on the available material, probably because it was very cheesy.

So then they finally settled on the footage as you see in the theatrical cut as the most coherent telling of the story and something that would approach an entertaining movie. There is apparently a lot of studio interference as well because of the lack of definition from the creators and the studio wanting to put out a mainstream film, presumably having an entire film set in vaudeville was not that appealing to the studio

Since the movie got bad reviews Universal probably felt inclined to put out a different twist on it for the home video release and that's where the unrated cut came from. It integrates some things that don't really make any sense with the main plot line and presumably were from one of the previous several failed iterations of the movie, but it's different enough that Universal can market it as an unrated cut. In truth though it's just an inferior cut that was never submitted to the MPAA because they submitted the theatrical cut instead.

So given all of this when shout was putting this together they consulted with James wan who did numerous interviews for this disc and the theatrical cut was the preferred cut to do in 4k (altho he's not happy with any of the final cuts, presumably the vaudeville movie was the one he wanted to make, and it sounds like he disagreed with the CG added even for the TC). The unrated cut was likely just a marketing gimmick from Universal home video (effective as people are still arguing for it today) and not something that James approves of so while that still included on BD it was not prioritized and I agree with this decision given the history of the film

[MinionGuy]

Originally Posted by Jacques Souvenir

Just off the top of my head: The recent Bubba Ho-Tep, The recent Child's Play 4K, The original Child's Play release from a few years ago, My Bloody Valentine, Night of the Creeps...I'm sure I missed one or two...

Hey thank you for letting me know. Sorry it took me so long to respond. Those are small good movies.

[Jacques Souvenir]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Mine looked resealed, too.

That's exactly how mine looked - with that wavy lines on the plastic cover. Why would they be re wraps, though? They couldn't possibly be returns.

[jess1581]

Never saw the theatrical cut before, but I must say I agree that it is indeed better than the unrated. The cgi tongue was always stupid, but I thought it was always there. Nope. So no big loss with the 4k, TC is spot on.

[LanceL]

Hmm, I'm usually not very CG friendly, but for some reason the CG tongue really creeps me out, and I prefer it. I remember watching the rated version once and was wondering where it was. That was when I got the DVD back in the day, and realized I had watched the unrated cut first. I can't live without the CG tongue, I'm afraid. I think it's neat.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by LanceL

Hmm, I'm usually not very CG friendly, but for some reason the CG tongue really creeps me out, and I prefer it. I remember watching the rated version once and was wondering where it was. That was when I got the DVD back in the day, and realized I had watched the unrated cut first. I can't live without the CG tongue, I'm afraid. I think it's neat.

For me, it makes Mary Shaw more like an odd creature instead of a vengeful ghost. I prefer the classic ghost.

[LanceL]

Originally Posted by jess1581

For me, it makes Mary Shaw more like an odd creature instead of a vengeful ghost. I prefer the classic ghost.

Well, I can go with both. Her ghost was so ghastly that she becomes a demon...?

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by jess1581

For me, it makes Mary Shaw more like an odd creature instead of a vengeful ghost. I prefer the classic ghost.

Originally Posted by LanceL

Well, I can go with both. Her ghost was so ghastly that she becomes a demon...?

Aside from bad CG, the above inability to explain those scenes is one of the massive problems with the tongue scenes. If you are going to do something that weird, multiple times no less, there needs to be some sort of explanation for why exactly its happening for it to make sense. And the unrated cut entirely lacks that, so it just ends up being weird.

BTW, from the interviews I gather in the original cut of the movie which wasn't completed, Mary Shaw is alive and is more of like a Leatherface character in disguise, who holds puppet shows for kids. The plot revolved entirely around her secretly abducting kids that attend her puppet shows and turning them into human puppet abominations. (There is a 2min glimpse of this cut in the existing version ) None of the modern day scenes with Donnie Wahlberg etc that make up nearly all of Dead Silence's runtime were in the movie; it also seems the creepy puppet may have not even been possessed in that cut, but rather it was just about Mary Shaw being a real life psycho butcher / serial killer of kids. That would have been a far better movie than what this turned out to be after the studio interference! But maybe was a little too much for Universal to stomach so they thought a chucky-esque film was safer.

[LanceL]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Aside from bad CG, the above inability to explain those scenes is one of the massive problems with the tongue scenes. If you are going to do something that weird, multiple times no less, there needs to be some sort of explanation for why exactly its happening for it to make sense. And the unrated cut entirely lacks that, so it just ends up being weird.

BTW, from the interviews I gather in the original cut of the movie which wasn't completed, Mary Shaw is alive and is more of like a Leatherface character in disguise, who holds puppet shows for kids. The plot revolved entirely around her secretly abducting kids that attend her puppet shows and turning them into human puppet abominations. (There is a 2min glimpse of this cut in the existing version ) None of the modern day scenes with Donnie Wahlberg etc that make up nearly all of Dead Silence's runtime were in the movie; it also seems the creepy puppet may have not even been possessed in that cut, but rather it was just about Mary Shaw being a real life psycho butcher / serial killer of kids. That would have been a far better movie than what this turned out to be after the studio interference! But maybe was a little too much for Universal to stomach so they thought a chucky-esque film was safer.

I love weird, so it works for me. A Leatherface Mary Shaw? How is that going to work? Leatherface isn't intelligent enough to put on a show like that. Not trying to discriminate against those with that kind of affliction.

[RyanMatthew]

Originally Posted by jess1581

Never saw the theatrical cut before, but I must say I agree that it is indeed better than the unrated. The cgi tongue was always stupid, but I thought it was always there. Nope. So no big loss with the 4k, TC is spot on.

Exactly.

[unberechenbar]

The site review is up. 4.5 for PQ and AQ.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by LanceL

I love weird, so it works for me. A Leatherface Mary Shaw? How is that going to work? Leatherface isn't intelligent enough to put on a show like that. Not trying to discriminate against those with that kind of affliction.

Well maybe not Leatherface in that regard but more if you recall the Texas chainsaw Massacre scene where the disfigured family is eating around the dinner table, it's that same moribund vibe they were going for. Mary Shaw puts on puppet shows and selects unruly children from the audience who she later abducts and disfigures with amateur surgery to look like human puppets to add to her "puppet family." She is like Leatherface in that she is the "recruiter" for the "family."

So basically in the original concept that was never completed due to studio interference, Mary Shaw was alive and a demented child serial killer / mutilator, who fronted as a vantriloquist during the vaudeville days to identify her victims. And, conversely the puppet was not alive, just the creepy prop she used - but maybe she was crazy enough to think it was alive.

[Talal86]

Sounds like a better movie

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Talal86

Sounds like a better movie

For sure . Most likely studio execs felt it was too extreme and thought a chucky-esque reboot was a better idea. Oh well