For thoes who had the pleasure of attending Monster Mania Con X (MMCX), in Cherry Hill NJ last weekend; as promotion for the upcoming AVP-R Rated and Unrated DVDs, free AVP-R DVD posters were distributed to fans, and the Unrated verson of AVP-R was shown on the big screen. I was just now able to get to a computer, about 24 hours after I had seen the Unrated AVP-R, so please bare with me as my memory might be a little shakey.
Be aware, spoilers ahead.
Action
This was probubly the biggest disapointment, for me, in the Unrated cut. There are no new fight scenes. There were no cut action sequences reinstated into the Unrated verson. What you see in the Theatrical cut is what you get in the Unrated cut. Not a suprise to some I suppose.
Gore/Blood
Unlike the last Unrated AVP film, the Unrated cut of AVP-R actually delivers what the DVD cover says. There is plenty of blood edited back into the Unrated cut. Most notable is the Child-Bursting scene. Many disliked the fact that, despite controversy, the filmmakers bitched out when not showing the Chest Burster and Child in the same frame. This changes.
Story
The story still stays remotly the same. One question on alot of fan's minds was actually answered, in the Unrated cut of AVP-R, much to my surprise. The reason for the Predator's sending only The Wolf Predator is answered, somewhat.
In the Theatrical cut, The Wolf Predator gets the distress signal, and after viewing the information sent to him, he instantly knows everything about the situation. Predator ship crashed, Predalien got loose, face huggers also roam free. All hell will break loose unless the Predator's stop the situation before it gets any larger or more dangerous.
In the Unrated cut, however, the Predator motivation for sending only The Wolf Predator is much much different. After getting the Predator's distress signal, The Wolf views the information sent to him, which is the fact that a Predator ship has crashed on earth. But that's all he knows. He doesn't get the information about the Predalien, or the escaped face huggers. All he, or any of the offscreen Predatos know, is that a Predator ship has crashed on earth. It makes sense that only the Wolf would be sent, to scout the area and see what exactly is going on, then to get backup later. Kind of like sending in a swat team before sending in the army. The film then proceeds as usual, up until the scene in which The Wolf Predator enters the crashed Predator ship. Just like the scene description in which everyone has heard, the Wolf Predator removes his mask, then looks at the recorded information on one of the fallen Predator's masks. It is then he realizes what is going on. Face Huggers and a Predalien got loose and they are reproducing. Only, being the cocky son of a bitch that he is, The Wolf Predator doesn't send for backup, but proceeds to take control of the situation before it gets to much for him to handle. Remember, at this point in the film, the Predalien and Aliens have only spread in the woods and in small parts of the sewer. Obviously not too much for him to handle. It's only when the Aliens and Predalien spread into the town, that the Wolf Predator begins to realize he is in over his head. And that's when he begins making mistakes (destrorying the town generator, getting attacked by an alien, loseing his gun, wasting his whole vial of dissolving liquid on one alien) One good point in the script was the suddle character development of The Wolf Predator and his mission. Not too many people seemed to notice it.
Characters
There are small snipits of character development added back into the Unrated cut of AVP-R. Mostly just reminding the audience that Dallas cares about Ricky, Kelly is worried Molly doesn't love her, and Jeese is really f*ckin cute. If you weren't a fan of the character development for AVP-R, don't get your hopes up for the Unrated verson, as it isn't much of a step up.
Audio
Score owns. Plain and simple. The only change I noticed in the Unrated cut, regarding the score, is it was re-edited to fit around the new, slower paced opening. Definitly an improvement.
Video
I know the picture has been the biggest debate among AVP fans, as to weather or not the video is too dark too see anything, during the fight scenes. I wish I could comment on this, but they were playing the DVD on a seemingly old projector, and with me sitting up relativly close, I couldn't quite get a good look at everything. I realized two things. 1) The darkness in the fights scenes is still there, though it never bothered me in the first place, so I'm not complaining. 2) I did not notice the color changes the directors did, for the Unrated Cut. To me, it looked identical to the Theatrical Cut. Again, I might not have noticed any color changes due to the means used to play the DVD. I'm sure on a regular TV you may be able to see a difference.
Overal
If you disliked the Theatrical Cut of AVP-R, you most likely won't enjoy the Unrated Cut. Since I enjoyed the Theatrical Cut of AVP-R, the Unrated Cut is like the cherry on a sundae. But who knows, maybe that extra gore, slower paced opening, and an extra Predator face reveal is enough to bring you into the fandom of AVP-R.
By the way, I also got a chance to see the main DVD menu for the AVP-R Unrated DVD. Very Alien-ish.
Now, as much as I can remember, here is a list of the newly added scenes.
1. The main Predator mothership gets further into space, just passing Saturn, before the smaller scout ship detaches off.
2. The opening is re-edited slightly. Scar's chest bursting happens right away. We don't see the shots of the Predator's carrying the Face Hugger tubes until after the scout ship separates from the mothership.
3. The molting shot of the Predalien is extended.
4. Dallas and Sheriff Morales share more dialoug in their first car ride.
5. The Child Bursting scene is extended
6. Kelly and her husband have more dialoug, regarding their daughter
7. Kelly, her husband, and Molly eating at the same diner Dallas is at while he is looking for a job. Kelly and Dallas exhange an odd glance.
8. The Wolf's scene in the crashed Predator ship is extended, with him looking at the recorded footage of a fallen Predator's mask.
9. The fight scene in the power plant is slightly extended, with a worker seeing his friend's dead body (headbitten by an Alien) then being scared away by the Wolf Predator.
10. The Graveyard scene is edited back into the film.
11. We actually see Carrie's stomach burst happen.
I could be missing a few more snipits, but for the most part, this is the meat of the Unrated footage.
