Highlander On Blu-Ray

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by ShellBeacher

But props to whoever assembled the UK trailer...they actually made it look - er, at least sound - like a real movie!
YouTube

Not to mention it makes the cover song they had for Prince Of The Universe actually sound good.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Originally Posted by ShellBeacher

That said, I actually love George Kallis' score for this movie! That leaked way ahead of time, too, and I was listening to it months before we even saw the movie!

Aye, Kallis' website was easy to "hack" into at the time and get access to practically all the soundfiles associated with The Source score. It was, literally, the best thing about the movie. I still ended up getting the limited edition of the DVD with the score CD though.

I had no love whatsoever for the pop/rock soundtrack that swapped a lot of it out.

[TheWildWhelk]

The Russian version of The Source is one of the most bizarrely edited film's i have ever seen; was Director Brett Leonard on the Colombian marching powder or something during post production? The constant whirling camera work and amped up and choppy editing makes the film almost unintelligible. Glad the Producers saw sense and pulled back on the more 'psychedelic' moments in the edit.

I see that Chad Stahelski has also given an update on the development of the Highlander remake...

https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/...lander-reboot/

[EvilNed]

Originally Posted by LexInHD

Fun Fact: The SE version is incomplete. The restoration team ran out of money before they could complete the work because the project was financed by Panzer-Davis and it was a total loss for them, which led to the company going under.

Why would someone bankroll a Highlander 2 restoration project? From a business perspective that's gotta be a complete write off.

[Lionel Horsepackage]

Originally Posted by EvilNed

Why would someone bankroll a Highlander 2 restoration project? From a business perspective that's gotta be a complete write off.

Because it's still the highest-grossing Highlander film of all time, features a beloved movie-star (Sean Connery), and has been extremely profitable on home video and television rebroadcasts ever since its original release, with a visible money-trail behind it. It's still a very marketable movie at the end of the day.

[EvilNed]

Originally Posted by Lionel Horsepackage

Because it's still the highest-grossing Highlander film of all time, features a beloved movie-star (Sean Connery), and has been extremely profitable on home video and television rebroadcasts ever since its original release, with a visible money-trail behind it. It's still a very marketable movie at the end of the day.

Well... Apparently that didn't save them. Although I'm still thankful they did the effort.

[LexInHD]

Originally Posted by EvilNed

Why would someone bankroll a Highlander 2 restoration project? From a business perspective that's gotta be a complete write off.

It was part of a planned Highlander resurgence, to reinvigorate the brand. DP blew their finances on it, The Source, and the Anime OVA, which caused them to go under.

[drush9999]

The initial Highlander 2 Renegade Cut came out while the TV series and franchise was at the height of it's popularity. The later version came out when it had all died down somewhat.

[HippieDalek]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

For Highlander 3? Yeah the Aussie and The Japanese BD is a weird one. It's actually a hybrid of the U.S. theatrical cut and the international cut.

I'm in the UK so I'm most familiar with "The Sorcerer" version of Highlander 3. I've also got the Japanese laserdisc which features the Director's Cut version of "The Final Dimension" with the added CGI shots.

I've never owned any of the US "Final Dimension" DVDs, but I was under the impression that the Japanese Blu Ray was the US Theatrical Cut, just with the extended sex scenes that were cut in US Theatres. What makes the Japanese version a hybrid?

I own both the Japanese and German Blu Rays (which features the International Cut), and the Japanese one is certainly far superior. Though for some reason the bar scene between Alex and the detective on the Japanese Blu Ray uses the exact same master as the German Blu.

[HippieDalek]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

Highlander 2:
European Version: Only released on Hong Kong Laserdisc

Also the European Theatrical Cut of Highlander 2 is easily obtainable on many DVDs (in various states of censorship) but they are all dubbed, only the Hong Kong laserdisc features the original English language soundtrack.

[The Fallen Deity]

Originally Posted by HippieDalek

I'm in the UK so I'm most familiar with "The Sorcerer" version of Highlander 3. I've also got the Japanese laserdisc which features the Director's Cut version of "The Final Dimension" with the added CGI shots.

I've never owned any of the US "Final Dimension" DVDs, but I was under the impression that the Japanese Blu Ray was the US Theatrical Cut, just with the extended sex scenes that were cut in US Theatres. What makes the Japanese version a hybrid?

I own both the Japanese and German Blu Rays (which features the International Cut), and the Japanese one is certainly far superior. Though for some reason the bar scene between Alex and the detective on the Japanese Blu Ray uses the exact same master as the German Blu.

The Japanese BD is mainly the international (The Sorcerer) cut, but it includes some of the alternate dialogue and music from the U.S. (The Final Dimension) cut.

[HippieDalek]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

The Japanese BD is mainly the international (The Sorcerer) cut, but it includes some of the alternate dialogue and music from the U.S. (The Final Dimension) cut.

What is missing/changed on the Japanese BD to make it a hybrid cut though? As I said I've never actually seen the US Theatrical Cut but from what I've read it lines up with the Japanese BD:

• "The Final Dimension" title card

• "400 years" instead of "All those years"

• "God Took a Picture" instead of "Bonnie Portmore" at the end.

The only other changes I'm aware of is the violence and sex censorship in the US version, so is the Japanese BD just an uncensored version of the US Cut?

I've heard some people swear they saw the CGI scenes from the Director's Cut in US Theatres but most places I can find online seem to agree that they were only added for the home release.

For some reason whenever I try to research the different versions of Highlander 3 the information is always much more confused than for the other films. I still see the myth of the 100+ minute version reported as fact in many places even though it originated from a typo on a DVD case.

[BNex99]

Originally Posted by HippieDalek

For some reason whenever I try to research the different versions of Highlander 3 the information is always much more confused than for the other films. I still see the myth of the 100+ minute version reported as fact in many places even though it originated from a typo on a DVD case.

I think the more versions of a movie that have been put out there, the greater the chance there is of elements getting mixed up at some point.

For example, there are essentially three official versions of Conan the Barbarian. But the version that's on the Movies Anywhere app (and currently playing on Starz) is the US theatrical cut, picture-wise, but it contains the epilogue voiceover from the international version. I can almost guarantee that it's because someone tried to conform one of the remixes for the international cut to the US cut and simply missed that bit at the end.

It could be that different elements for Highlander 3 got cross-pollinated at some point and no one noticed.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

"Good Took a Picture" was never part of the theatrical cut, only the DC, and never ever part of the European Sorcerer cut. The fact that it does include the sex scene also make it not the theatrical. There is also the issue of the final beheading reportedly being shortened in the theatrical cut which isn't the case with the Japanese BD. It is not any of the previously known cuts, ergo a hybrid.

Unless we have a copy of the US theatrical we have no real way of knowing whether Kane gave the "all those years" or the "400 years" line in that.

[HippieDalek]

Originally Posted by TheOneWithThePrize

"Good Took a Picture" was never part of the theatrical cut, only the DC, and never ever part of the European Sorcerer cut. The fact that it does include the sex scene also make it not the theatrical. There is also the issue of the final beheading reportedly being shortened in the theatrical cut which isn't the case with the Japanese BD. It is not any of the previously known cuts, ergo a hybrid.

Unless we have a copy of the US theatrical we have no real way of knowing whether Kane gave the "all those years" or the "400 years" line in that.

I see, thanks. I was always under the impression that "God Took a Picture" was in all "Final Dimension" versions.

By the way, I picked up the French DVD of "The Sorcerer" after you recommended it. I noticed that it has different music on the English track when Kane visits the prostitute. Oddly the French track plays the music found in all other versions.

[BNex99]

Originally Posted by HippieDalek

I've heard some people swear they saw the CGI scenes from the Director's Cut in US Theatres but most places I can find online seem to agree that they were only added for the home release.

I didn't see H3 at the theater (and probably wouldn't remember after all this time, anyway), but here's a TV spot for the US theatrical release that shows the CGI shot of Kane arriving in New York:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT6UmPNSxho

I also looked at the version that's currently on Cinemax, and it seems to be this "hybrid" cut. What's interesting is that although the scene of Kane arriving in New York is the non-CGI version, the sound effects for the CGI are there. This is also the case with the version that's on that 5-movie DVD collection (along with the US theatrical cut of Endgame).

I wonder if whoever was preparing this master took the European theatrical version for the picture, inserted the "Final Dimension" title card, and used the soundtrack from the longer US version without realizing it (which might explain the "400 years" line and "God Took a Picture" on the end credits). Like I said, sometimes elements get mixed up and no one in charge knows enough to notice.

I actually don't know this movie that well myself. What are some of the other added CGI shots in the US version?

[HippieDalek]

Originally Posted by BNex99

I didn't see H3 at the theater (and probably wouldn't remember after all this time, anyway), but here's a TV spot for the US theatrical release that shows the CGI shot of Kane arriving in New York:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT6UmPNSxho

Nice find! The Japanese Blu Ray also features a Highlander Trilogy retrospective hosted by Leonard Nimoy that features some of the CGI clips. He seems to keep switching between talking about Highlander 3 in the future and past tense so I've no idea if it was before or after the Theatrical run.

Originally Posted by BNex99

What's interesting is that although the scene of Kane arriving in New York is the non-CGI version, the sound effects for the CGI are there.

...

I wonder if whoever was preparing this master took the European theatrical version for the picture, inserted the "Final Dimension" title card, and used the soundtrack from the longer US version without realizing it

It's possible, but the CGI version of the dock scene is longer than the non-CGI version, so they've have to trim the audio a bit.

Originally Posted by BNex99

I actually don't know this movie that well myself. What are some of the other added CGI shots in the US version?

Here's a breakdown of the added CGI sequences:

https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1298

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Interesting, thanks for the video. Seems the US movie company did a bunch of additional work already for the theatrical which might mean that most of the difference between that and the DC DVD is the sex scene and a bit of violence added to it judging by what we know. I really would like to have a release of the US theatrical added to my collection now.

Originally Posted by BNex99

I actually don't know this movie that well myself. What are some of the other added CGI shots in the US version?

The scene where Kane knicks the street hustlers glasses both the Sorcerer cut and the US DC has CGI but they are different to one another. I once uploaded some comparisons to the old HL board but they're lost to time now.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

Originally Posted by HippieDalek

I see, thanks. I was always under the impression that "God Took a Picture" was in all "Final Dimension" versions.

By the way, I picked up the French DVD of "The Sorcerer" after you recommended it. I noticed that it has different music on the English track when Kane visits the prostitute. Oddly the French track plays the music found in all other versions.

On the '98 US DVD the addition of the Suze DeMarchi track is an addendum to the end credits after they've run it's course and just before the added visual effects credits. As I recall, some of the music listed in the credits are not present in the DC at all but are in the Sorcerer cut.

I think I've found there are three varations of end credit music, four if we add this hybrid to the mix based on the versions of the movie that's out there so far.

[TheOneWithThePrize]

On another note, I recently came across a fan restoration of the US theatrical cut of the first Highlander. Makes my cropped laserdisc and French-only widescreen DVD obsolote.