Revisio-News #3: The Overpriced Hellraiser 4 Workprint
News and Criticism of Arrow's new 'Limited Edition' Box Set
The following is a summary of and commentary on recent news pertaining to revisions in the media industry: it covers recuts, reissues, dubs, and other instances of film or TV alteration.
Hellraiser: Bloodline Workprint Cut
Directed by Kevin Yagher/Alan Smithee
Release Date: October 23
Like a number of other long-running horror film franchises, Hellraiser ended up going to space.* It didn’t take long. After three fantasy horror movies filled with BDSM demons and a nonsensical though enthralling mythology revolving around mysterious supernatural puzzle boxes, the franchise wound up mixing things up with a dash of sci-fi in Hellraiser 4, aka Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996).
*This is usually taken as a sign of the series’ quality deteriorating, though I’d argue that space-set sequels can be really damn fun. Anybody here see Jason X (2001) or Leprechaun 4 (1996)? I mean, those were just ridiculous fun.
Though I am of something of a Hellraiser fan, I’ve never actually watched Bloodline because I’ve been led to believe over the years that none of the Hellraiser films after the third one were good or watchable, the amazing 2022 remake notwithstanding.* However, I’ve recently become interested in seeing the fourth installment, as I’ve become more aware of its revision history, as well as the fact that some rank it higher than Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth (1992).
*For some reason, I did see the one from Dr. Strange director Scott Derrickson, Hellraiser: Inferno (2000), which turned out to be a bad if at times promising student film.
Now, there are conflicting accounts, as to how things went exactly and I cannot find a detailed timeline that explains precisely what led to what. But, here’s what I’ve been able to piece together: director Kevin Yagher shot Hellraiser: Bloodline and turned in a cut said to be around 110 minutes. Miramax or Dimension Films executives didn’t like it and decided to have the film re-written, reshot and recut.*
*Particularly interesting is the structural change: the original movie was meant to be a three-episode anthology film, with each chapter set in a different time period and building to a larger whole. (Thus, the space setting was only confined to the final third of the picture.) By contrast, the released 85-minute theatrical cut - credited to debased fictional director Alan Smithee, no less - instead has a flashback structure that intercuts the different time periods, though reportedly in a haphazard way.
Yagher apparently did try to work with the studio and so made multiple assembly cuts of varying lengths before ultimately quitting and removing his name from the picture. He, however, was unable to fully shoot the original script he signed on for due to budget cuts and other issues. I’m not sure if he participated in any reshoots but it is established that at at some point, Miramax brought in another director, Joe Chappelle, to oversee the filming of new and alternate scenes.*
*Fun fact: Joe Chapelle had directed Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), which famously had an alternate ‘Producer’s Cut’ that was seen via bootleg circulation on video. Eventually, awareness of and interest in the cut led to the production of a restored and polished high-def version of the Producer’s Cut, which was then released on Blu-Ray as part of a larger Halloween movie collection before getting a standalone release.
Over the years, information about the revision of the movie had trickled out, creating interest in a director’s cut of Bloodline. Then, at some point, low-quality copies of the early assembly versions Yagher had worked on apparently leaked onto the Internet.* Naturally, this served to further generate interest in a potential Yagher cut.
*An 80-minute Workprint assembly cut is available on a famous archival website where it can be easily streamed without any ads. Also, using one of these leaked assemblies alongside HD footage of the theatrical cut, a fan went so far as to make a “Reconstruction Work-print“ Fan Edit that he then uploaded to a super-popular and regularly used video platform in 2013. I want to avoid direct links as these are illicit releases, so I’m being a little cryptic. But really, you can find them easily just by google searching “hellraiser bloodline workprint.”
All this has led up to Arrow Video, a boutique UK BluRay and DVD distributor famous for creating special edition releases in this day and image, to finally include one of the Workprint Versions of Bloodline as part of the 4-film ‘limited edition’ box set called Quartet of Torment.* Scheduled for Oct. 23, the set will be available in 3 different formats: Blu-Ray, 4k, and 4k Ultra-HD (already sold out).
*The ‘limited edition’ label means the set can be priced higher due to imposed scarcity. As in, Arrow intentionally didn’t really produce that many copies of it, so you have to get yours now before it’s sold out, and pay extra for the privilege. And it will cost at least $63.
Issues with the release
Still though, I think I’m going to sit out this release for a couple of reasons.
First of all, the workprint version of Bloodline is just that: a workprint. This means it’s a rough, unfinished, in-progress version of a movie that hasn’t gone through post-production. There is no finished ‘director’s cut’ available. What we get is at best an idea of what could’ve been. And it’s in pretty bad shape when it comes to audiovisual quality. The Arrow Product page doesn’t specify but according to Bloody-Disgusting:
“"We’ve been told, “The workprint version of Hellraiser: Bloodline features temporary music and sound effects, and was assembled sometime after Kevin Yagher’s departure from the film. This version, which has a different plot structure and some alternate material compared to the final ‘Alan Smithee’ cut, is presented from a timecoded VHS, the best material available.”
In other words, the folks at Arrow couldn’t locate a high-quality celluloid source, like a Negative or Interpositive, and went with a time-coded VHS tape. This usually means muddy, low-resolution video quality possibly with distracting numbers playing above or below the image, assuming they haven’t been removed for the disc.
While that might’ve been acceptable in the pre-DVD days on our boxy analogue TVs, it looks really bad on a modern High-definition flatscreen TV. Look, I’m all for formerly pirated cuts getting official releases. But they’re hard to enjoy when there’s a huge gap between them and the hardware they’re presented on. I’ve seen some workprints before - and they are a CHORE to sit through.
In and of itself, this might not be an issue but then there’s also the fact that Arrow Video is not giving Bloodline a standalone release alongside the box set, meaning one can only purchase it alongside the first three movies. Imo, this is a disservice to the fans of the series that Arrow is targeting, as most of them have probably purchased the previous movies already, some more than once.
I speak from experience. I’ve already bought a really nice Hellraiser trilogy box set twice: a Region 2 DVD “Puzzle Box” set back in the 2000s, and then Arrow’s ‘Scarlet Box‘ BluRay set in 2016. The latter had some brand new extensive feature-length BTS documentaries and unearthed rare deleted footage, which made it worth repurchasing for me.* Though the new Quartet includes what sound like cool new supplements for the first three movies, its true selling point is clearly the alternate cut of Bloodline.
*The new set, weirdly enough, actually OMITS some of the cool new features from Arrow’s previous 2015 Scarlet Box release, including the unearthed deleted Surgeon scene from Hellraiser 2 and the Leviathan documentaries. That might be a deliberate move meant to incentivize collectors to repurchase the first three pictures. As in, if you got the previous set, you can get new extras. In turn though, if you’re purchasing these films on modern home video for the first time, you’re not going to get a truly definitive collection.
This means any fan that already has the first three movies and just wants to get the two cuts of Bloodline is out of luck. I’m thinking that a cheaper standalone disc release will happen some time down the line because that just makes economic sense, so it might not be a bad idea to hold on to your money for now.
Who knows? It’s not impossible that better source material for Bloodline will have been found in the future, leading to an even ‘better’ edition of the movie with a fully-restored higher quality workprint and/or new Yagher cut.
Sources and Recommended ReadingsFor more detailed accounts of the picture’s revision history, I recommend reading these articles from Fangoria and Bloody-Disgusting.
A pretty cool 2021 interview with Peter Atkins, the writer of Bloodline, who details the behind-the-scenes problems on the movie and explains why he thinks a true director’s cut of it cannot be made.
An extended article about the existence of a Yagher director’s cut by Rob Ridenour of the Clive Barker Podcast. It features clips from the workprint and a link to a 2018 video interview with Yagher about the movie and its reworking.
A Leaked Workprint review by Rob Ridenour of the Clive Barker Podcast.
A Reconstruction Workprint review by The Movie Sleuth
Readers, what do you think?
Anybody here like the 'Hellraiser' films? Have you any interest in seeing the alternate cut of 'Bloodline'?
Have you ever watched a workprint or in-progress version of a movie?
Also, do you ever purchase successive special editions of your favorite movies? If so, then what makes them worth repurchasing? Is it a new transfer, bonus features, etc.??Please consider sharing or forwarding this post to help the publication get more views.
Love this kind of discussion. I've never seen a Hellraiser film (and don't specifically plan on doing so), but I think it's increasingly rare to see discussions about releases - about how a blu-ray version is missing a bunch of commentaries from a prior DVD release; how the source of various releases of the same content differs; finding old Dr Who episodes, or animating them with the remaining audio when no video exists; that piece by David Simon about the SD vs HD cuts of The Wire. Unless it's a hyper specialized collector's edition I suppose. I can't tell you how long it took me to figure out which version of the Deadwood Blu-rays to pick up so I wouldn't lost the commentary tracks.