R-Rated 'Inside' Story: Thanks, Blockbuster and Dimension Extreme!
Filed under: Foreign Language, Horror, New on DVD, Home Entertainment
Call this a consumer advisory. I stopped by the Blockbuster across the street from my apartment on Thursday night and rented the just-released DVD of French horror flick Inside. When it played at the Toronto fest last fall, Scott Weinberg raved about it, and I survived a memorable midnight screening at Fantastic Fest a couple of weeks later. As Scott said, it's well-crafted but incredibly brutal and violent. The Weinstein Co. picked it up and, as many of us suspected, a theatrical release was bypassed and it was sent directly to DVD, unrated, on their Dimension Extreme label. Scott's review was even quoted on the back of the box: "Unrelenting, brutal and stunningly violent."Dimension Extreme has a "rental exclusive" deal with Blockbuster. I thought I'd save a few bucks by renting instead of buying. First problem: The rental version doesn't include the comprehensive 55-minute "making of" feature that a friend had recommended. Second (and even bigger) problem: the only version available at the store where I rented is the R-rated version, cut from 83 to 75 minutes.
Blockbuster has long had a policy of "generally" not carrying films with ratings of NC-17 or X "in order to provide a wholesome environment for you and your family," as stated on their web site, but does carry some unrated films, which are designated as subject to their "Youth Restricted Viewing" policy, requiring parental consent. They did not actually cut the film, though: that comes courtesy of Dimension Extreme, which submitted an edited version to the MPAA and secured an R-rating "for strong bloody violence, gruesome and disturbing content, and language."
It's been six months since I saw the theatrical version, and I couldn't do a side by side comparison, but the R-rated cut does not appear to delete any scenes in their entirety. Instead, nearly all of the explicit penetration shots were cut, by which I mean all footage where sharp-edged weapons penetrate body parts. You don't see a woman get stabbed in the neck, for example, but you see the blood shooting out like a geyser from the wound. I lost track of how many times that happened, but it adds up to seven or eight minutes of footage carefully cut out.
What remains is still a blood-drenched affair, but anyone with a strong enough stomach to make it past the first two minutes will want the unrated version. Blockbuster Online claims to carry the unrated version, but one subscriber says it's the R-rated edition. I've learned my lesson: check the box first, accept no substitutes.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-19-2008 @ 3:34AM
Scott Weinberg said...
Ha! I was just logging in to Cine to write this story up myself, but I'm glad you got to it already. Thing is ... if it was just some gore snips, that'd hardly add up to seven minutes. There must be more missing than just the viscera. Too bad I'll never find out.
If I thought Blockbuster Inc. gave a shit about such things, I'd mention how the over-the-top bloodletting is actually integral to the piece, given the main character's situation, attitude, and general mindset.
So my advice is simple: Purchase the "real" unrated cut somewhere, and if after watching the flick you don't feel like adding it to your collection, list it on eBay as the "Blockbuster Banned Unrated Edition."
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4-20-2008 @ 8:52PM
Peter Martin said...
Good point about the timing, Scott. In addition to the viscera, it is likely that several scenes were shortened to minimize the bloodletting. The house still bleeds red, though.
And, yes, that bloodletting is essential to the piece as a whole. The edits are obvious and make the whole thing feel like a cheat.
4-19-2008 @ 3:22PM
Midnight13 said...
People still rent from Blockbuster? They have long had a reputation for carrying watered down versions of films. Whether its toned down violence, or completely cut out sex scenes in some films, they have been doing this for many years now.
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4-19-2008 @ 9:01PM
theREELaddict said...
I always assumed the Blockbuster thing was an urban myth at this point. I often tend to see movies in theatres, and sometimes re-watch them when they hit DVD, and have never noticed any discrepancies. Also, my store was actually renting "The Brown Bunny," and the original cut of "Lust, Caution." Then again, I'm in Canada, so maybe the Canadian incarnation of the BBV is more forgiving.
4-19-2008 @ 7:37PM
Craig Kennedy said...
Exclusive deal with Lackluster or not, Netflix has the unrated version.
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4-19-2008 @ 9:40PM
MCW said...
I was about to say that. Never ever praise Blockbuster or thank them in the title of your post, or I will be here to shoot it down Cinematical. Never do it.
Blockbuster "EXCLUSIVE" RENTAL DEALS ARE NOT REAL. Netflix has every movie that Blockbuster claims to exclusively own the rental rights to. Take Weinstein movies for example. Crappy they often are, they got paid off by Blockbuster to slap a stamp on their DVD's and claim exclusivity. You can rent them all at Netflix, today.
Peter Martin, you are the only human being who still walks into Blockbuster. How many scratched discs do you have to return unwatched every week, might I ask?
4-20-2008 @ 9:05PM
Peter Martin said...
MCW: I rarely rent from Blockbuster, but there are always other humans beings there when I walk in. Perhaps they fly in or materialize via transporter?
The problem of scratched disks is definitely NOT limited to Blockbuster. Just last week I had problems with a scratched copy of SMILEY FACE, which I rented from Netflix.
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4-21-2008 @ 2:16PM
Kris Zimmerman said...
This same thing happened to me...I got the itch to watch it last week, and called around town to see if someone had it to rent (I wouldn't have been able to get my Netflix copy before the weekend). Blockbuster was the only place that seemingly carried it...
Anyway, I didn't pay close attention either, figuring with the "extreme" title, AND the fact that the store had other unrated titles, this one would be unrated if it existed, right?
I got it home that night, and decided to check, and when I found out that 7-8 minutes were cut, I cursed for the equivalent of those 7-8 minutes, and went to bed, really pissed off.
Next day, I badgered the manager enough to let me swap the rental because it wasn't the movie I thought I would be getting...and then I went and bought a copy from Best Buy for $15 (the rental was 1/3 of that!) and was glad that I waited...
Upon further review...I got burned with the 13: Game of Death release from BallBuster and Dimension Extreme. Total Shit. Not even offering the choice is total shit. For those who would rent R but not unrated...let them have it I guess, but come on...I'm pretty tired of being treated like a 10 year old and being told what I should and shouldn't see...
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