25th Anniversay of Predator 2

[Corporal Hicks]

If anything I think films have got worse for gore over the years!

The original cut of Predator 2 was rated as NC17 which was higher than an R. They trimmed it down to R. I think it's talked about in our trivia page: http://www.avpgalaxy.net/predator-movies/predator-2/trivia/

[HuDaFuK]

Haven't seen it for a few years and I was genuinely a little shocked at just how much gore and violence there is! I didn't bat an eyelid 25 years ago but somehow it seems quite extreme to me compared to what is about these days.

I don't know if it's me that's changed or modern films?

While you can get away with a lot more in a PG-13 now than you could in the past, in general films are probably less violent today. The era of the mainstream R-rated action movie is long passed.

Personally, I actually think the first Predator is far more gruesome than the sequel.

By the way Hicks & HuDa, what's the uncut version?

The film was heavily censored for violence by the MPAA before release. Supposedly quite a bit of claret was trimmed throughout. It also had a fair amount of plot-based scenes taken out; among other things, there was more sub-plot regarding Leona's pregnancy, we saw Danny's funeral after he is killed by the Predator, and Deputy Chief Heinemann (Robert Davi) originally had a bigger role - he just kinda vanishes around the end of the first act in the finished film.

I've listed some details about the deleted scenes I know of here, but to be honest info's pretty thin on the ground on what exactly was taken out.

[Perfect-Organism]

I remember when this was coming out.  My friends and I were hugely into the Aliens, Predator, and AVP comics from Dark Horse.  There were some rumors circulated by Dark Horse that an Alien head would be in the film so we were all very excited about what was going to happen in the movie.  I got the comics (which I wish would some day be combined into one volume) and was super excited about the film.  But it was ok.  And it hasn't gotten much better for me over the years.  I may rewatch it.  I think the AVP films actually killed the whole AVP idea for me to the extent that I prefer to keep my predators out of my Aliens stories.

[THE CITY HUNTER]

P2 started the AVP concept in movies and in 1991 a script was being taken

[Perfect-Organism]

P2 started the AVP concept in movies and in 1991 a script was being taken

Yes but ultimately the AVP comics started the AVP concept..

[CthulhuQueen]

While you can get away with a lot more in a PG-13 now than you could in the past, in general films are probably less violent today. The era of the mainstream R-rated action movie is long passed.

Yes, I think that hits the nail on the head for me. I mean it was a big, blockbuster action film. It's not like you'd get that level of gore and glorious cursing in, say, the new Star Wars, or even the Bond films, or really anything blockbuster-ey these days. Maybe anything that Quentin Tarantino does, but then he's almost a parody of himself now. Reservoir Dogs was shocking though at the time. Such casual violence.

Maybe they will release a complete version to coincide when the new Predator film comes out. I'd love to see those cut scenes, more plot and more predator can only be a good thing as far as I'm concerned!

[Corporal Hicks]

P2 started the AVP concept in movies and in 1991 a script was being taken

Yes but ultimately the AVP comics started the AVP concept..

Indeed. The comics came before Predator 2. That skull was put in there as a tip of the hat to the comics.