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B+ movie edit #3 is here, and this time it's an obscure sci-fi/horror/buddy cop movie from 1987.
(Forbidden planet was originally planned to be the next edit, but this will be briefly delayed due to the fact that I don't currently have enough space on my hard drive to do another HD edit alongside my Source Code HD rework and consecution project. Forbidden planet will commence as soon as I either purchase another hard drive, or finish one of those projects. Either way, it shouldn't be too long, since I'm itching to get my paws on it.)
In the meantime, "The Hidden" is a good movie that falls just short of being great. It is a B-movie, but it's a B-movie that hits higher than the usual standard and is let down only by some dated (but cool) effects, bad acting from smaller cast members, and some potty humour.
As is the aim of the B+ series, I will trim down those elements and streamline the film to as high a standard as possible, without making any drastic changes to the narrative or robbing it of its 80s charm.
The two largest changes I'm considering making, which I would appreciate feedback on, are:
1. Cutting short the alien reveal - one of the coolest, but also most dated parts of the movie (see clip below).
2. Re-scoring some of the action scenes.
Here's a scene I've just been working on, which includes the alien reveal:
Cutlist:
Here's the original for comparison:
In regards to rescoring, this is mainly due to the excessive and distracting orchestra hits during the "tense" sequences. I found them incredibly distracting, and they completely took me out the movie. There aren't any readily available examples of this that I can find, but here is a sample of the soundtrack (around 30:00):
Just picture that over the top of a "suspenseful scene" and hopefully you'll get what I mean. It also sounds a lot more compressed on the actual film. I think the film was initially released in mono, which could have something to do with it. Maybe they just didn't even try with the mix for home release.
The centre channel isn't even remotely clean either, and so I would have to completely replace sound effects et cetera. I think it's doable though, and am willing to give it a go at least...
(Forbidden planet was originally planned to be the next edit, but this will be briefly delayed due to the fact that I don't currently have enough space on my hard drive to do another HD edit alongside my Source Code HD rework and consecution project. Forbidden planet will commence as soon as I either purchase another hard drive, or finish one of those projects. Either way, it shouldn't be too long, since I'm itching to get my paws on it.)
In the meantime, "The Hidden" is a good movie that falls just short of being great. It is a B-movie, but it's a B-movie that hits higher than the usual standard and is let down only by some dated (but cool) effects, bad acting from smaller cast members, and some potty humour.
As is the aim of the B+ series, I will trim down those elements and streamline the film to as high a standard as possible, without making any drastic changes to the narrative or robbing it of its 80s charm.
The two largest changes I'm considering making, which I would appreciate feedback on, are:
1. Cutting short the alien reveal - one of the coolest, but also most dated parts of the movie (see clip below).
2. Re-scoring some of the action scenes.
Here's a scene I've just been working on, which includes the alien reveal:
– Trimmed man opening eyes
– cut weird eye darts (and added birds eye shot to cover gap)
– trimmed man sitting up
– trimmed alien coming out of mouth, for subtlety (and to strengthen reveal during climax of film)
– improved timing of cut to defibrillator
- trimmed exchange between nurse and doctor (they can't act)
- swapped out bad audio of nurse saying "doctor" for a better take
– approximately 30 seconds cut in total.
– cut weird eye darts (and added birds eye shot to cover gap)
– trimmed man sitting up
– trimmed alien coming out of mouth, for subtlety (and to strengthen reveal during climax of film)
– improved timing of cut to defibrillator
- trimmed exchange between nurse and doctor (they can't act)
- swapped out bad audio of nurse saying "doctor" for a better take
– approximately 30 seconds cut in total.
Here's the original for comparison:
The centre channel isn't even remotely clean either, and so I would have to completely replace sound effects et cetera. I think it's doable though, and am willing to give it a go at least...