Batman Forever: Red Book Edition - The 15th Anniversary Enhanced Edition

This is an absolutely fascinating fan edit.

An update of the very popular Scaperat fan edit The Red Book Edition. An edit I remember thoroughly loving when it was initially released 15 years ago... wow, where has the time gone? But with the passage of time, would an updated version hold the same magic?

I can happily say YES.

What Inightmares has done here is truly interesting on a technical level. His approach was not to rebuild this edit from scratch using new HD sources, but instead used the original fan edit file and UPSCALED it to Hight Definition. He then corrected the added deleted scenes to the proper aspect ratio (even rebuilding the audio for many of these scenes) and gave the edit a new colour grading... removing much of blues and oranges, while highlighting the Reds.

The new colour scheme is immediately very engaging, and even gorgeous in many scenes. It has a very definite Sin City style vibe at times. Though on a personal level, I wish it had been a bit more visually consistent and even. An example is the Circus scene which starts out in multi-colours but then switches halfway through to a very desaturated, almost Black & White look. But this is subjective and a creative choice by editor which I can respect and does not overly detract from the enjoyment factor.

Another interesting observation, even though the main objective of this project was to create an HD version of the original fan edit, this new version has a decidedly Standard Definition look. The use of high grain, diluted colours and deleted scenes (as Topaz can only do so much, it is not a miracle worker) evokes the feel of times gone by. And this is not a negative knock. For me, it feels wholly appropriate as an love letter to the original. But if viewers are going into this edit expecting a crisp, clean, sharp, bright MODERN experience, they might be disappointed.

This was clearly a passion project for the editor and it shows in every frame.
A wonderful tribute and update of a fan edit classic.
Well worth the watch!

Thumbs Up!

Masterfully created update of a classic fanedit, one of those select few that have transcended our little niche communities and earned mainstream recognition, even from Joel Schumacher himself (even though it's unclear if he actually got to watch it). INIGHTMARES' version looks absolutely beautiful, the grainy quality and the quasi-black and white greatly enhance the narrative and make it more dreamlike, or should I say nightmarish; and the slight touches he added on his own are great aesthetic improvements. If I'm not giving this a perfect 10 overall is for the same shortcomings I find in Scaperat's original edit which don't fit my ideal vision, namely that he didn't cut much of Jim Carrey and I would have gone merciless on him. But if addressed, it wouldn't be Scaperat's edit anymore... In any case this is still a huge improvement over the theatrical version, and until the legendary Schumacher Cut is released (not holding my breath given what's happening with DC movies these days) this is one of the very best ways to watch Batman Forever, if not THE very best. Well done!

I heard about Kevin Smith screening the Schemer Cut, and so I finally decided to check out this legendary "Red Book Edition" I’ve heard about forever but never actually watched, usually due to the lower quality of the original.

I’ll usually watch fanedits on plane rides, but many suck and I don’t get through the first half hour. But goddamn this was awesome. Loved the slightly more serious tone of the film, and still hit the nostalgia moments from my childhood, when I last watched this movie.
Great work, great quality. Highly recommended.

This is hands down the best fanedit I've seen so far.
I've never hated Batman Forever, but it was never a movie I took very seriously.
This edit changes that completely. The recolouring is very severe, but I can't say it isn't stylish. Once you get used to it, it actually feels weirdly fitting for a Batman story, and the whole movie is made much quieter with some scenes using more sombre music, or no music at all, which gives the whole film a moody atmosphere and sort of counteracts the campiness and odd performances.
The inclusion of the red book storyline also elevates the film far above what was theatrically released. The original didn't feel like it had much personal stake for Batman, which I think is a big part of why it's so forgettable, but this version really challenges Batman as a character more than I ever expected.
There were one or two edits I noticed, like dialogue lines being cut short when Bruce is talking to Dick, or the TV broadcast of Two-Face's origin being cut short for no real reason imo, but mostly the edits were seamlessly done.
I did have a few visual issues with this edit, though. There was a lot of grainy noise in the picture, which was a stylistic choice, but I didn't like it much and I have to mention that it bothered me. It was also very difficult to tell what was happening during the finale in part because of the darkness and desaturation.
There were also a few issues that carried over from the original. While Val Kilmer's Bruce Wayne was monumentally improved, Jim Carry and Tommy Lee Jones' odd performance choices still stick out to a large degree. While a lot of this can't be helped, there were one or two Riddler lines that I felt could have been cut.
All in all though, the good parts of this edit far outweigh the bad. Not only in comparison to the original, but also on it's own merit. I this was released in '95 as a Batman movie exactly as it is, I have no doubt that I would absolutely love it. It definitely replaces the original for me.
A great edit and a great movie.

The music and colour grading are blended together rather nicely to create an atmospheric viewing experience with the intro immediately drawing me in with it's use of text, music and colour to the point that it almost felt like the start to a very different film and I mean that in the best possible sense, the effective use of colour throughout this edit by the editors gave the colour grading and isolation in certain scenes more meaning pertaining to the characters internal and external developments within there sub narratives and the main overarching narrative.

The placement of the deleted scene of Arkham Asylum at the narratives conception coupled with the scene of Arkham Asylum at the narratives conclusion gave the edit a nice circular bookends kind of feel and the utilisation of other deleted scenes helped to strengthen Batman & Robin's character arcs with the death of The Flying Graysons being way more dramatic than the theoretical cut thanks to some creative editing choices and well I am aware that last point has nothing to do with deleted scenes I thought I'd bring it up since it ties to start of young Grayson's character journey.

Well the bombastic campiness and overacting gets on my nerves, though that's more of a problem I have with the source material rather than this edit and I imagine reducing the large amounts of camp and overacting would prove quite tricky given how the theoretical source was produced. The eradication of small detrimental moments such as the BatButt and certain characters moments of questionable intelligence alleviate some of the campiness and overacting with the new colour grading and music certainly helping with said alleviation.

The idea of tying the colour red to the edit via Thomas Wayne's journal was genius and the small douses of red that appeared in those flashbacks gave them meaningful levels of intensity perfectly reflecting the rage and grief within young Bruce's soul, I kind of wish there was more red throughout this edit like the Cover Art heck I wouldn't have minded if the entire edit was doused in red mainly because it was so engrossing and pleasing to look at as I found myself pausing and rewinding several times just so I could engross myself in it's dark gothic beauty.

I agree with another reviewer that there was a little bit of an inconsistency with the colour visuals here and there though that's more of a nitpick from me than a major detraction as is Batman's silent mouthing around the 19:18-1919 minute marks, I get that it may have been put in place to remove/silence his exasperated ''Women'' comment but I think just cutting to the pulling of the lever would have worked better though if I am ever to watch Batman Forever again than I will gladly choose this over it's theoretical counterpart anyday.