Cell, The - Scary as Hell Edition

I really enjoyed this edit and I agree with most of the comments above that it could have been even better, with more drastic cuts. I don’t think that the plots were too separate at the beginning. It leaves the audience wondering “where is the connection?” but then again...

I DID guess beforehand that Carl would end up in a coma (I didn’t read up on the storyline), since there is so much coma doctor stuff going on right from the beginning.
Perhaps cutting out Catherine until after Carl is in a coma would work. Why not? His going into coma would come more of a suprise. Plus, we don’t really need to see the pretty landscape of Edwars’s mind at great length. It slows things down too much.
Only the interrupted Edward mind scene would be enough and we see the FBI there when she comes out of it.

I also would cut out Carl being abused as a child. I would cut out child Carl as much as possible. The reason being is that without seeing his being abused, he becomes more of a monster and more evil. The only mention of his abuse would be adult Carl telling us in the bathtub scene, before Catherine demands to know where Julia(?) is, but even that may be unnecessary. If that can be cut, what the heck, cut that too.
Not even knowing at all that he was abused would be fantastic.

After all, what made Halloween such a great movie? We knew NOTHING about the killer’s motives… and it makes him that much more scarier. A little mystery can go a long way.

Bottom line is, diluted evil is NOT scary enough. Pure evil is where it’s at.
A tortured soul is not nearly as scary as a soul-less torturer.

Also, at the end, a “reversal” is mentioned but we never know what it is and we also don’t know Carl’s fate. To solve that, I would leave that scene as it is but then, before the end credits, we see an abbreviated version of the “reversal” and Carl’s fate.
A nice stabbing and seeing a close up of Carl’s demon face just before the fade to black would leave the viewer with a strong, lasting impression.

The only thing that is not fixable is the fact that the missing girl could have been found quickly just by following up on the weird logo right from the beginning. I could not help thinking the whole way through the movie that the girl will be found through investigating real estate ownership and this whole ordeal would be pointless. I wasn’t that far off, unfortuneatly.

Hmmm… that makes me think of another cut to fix that. By cutting those close ups of that logo early in the movie would have at least made me less distracted, so I would cut that too.

I also vote for a version 2. Since I really did enjoy this ALOT.

Highly recommended!

8/10

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Many thanks for your take on “The Cell”. I am delighted that this film survived so many cuts (no pun intended, i assure). From a writing standpoint, it’s quite amazing that the romantic story thread could be stripped down so much and yet imho succeed in tempting us, the audience, with the ever elusive “what might have been”. Sometimes less can be more. Also, the additional Carl scenes easily heighten the tormented world of our antagonist. Finally, the question that begs to be asked is whether the main story thread has been truly satisfied?

At the film’s end, the scene between Catherine and Peter at the car is a little uncomfortable, but with good reason. In this edit, they opened up a little after she first resurfaced from Carl’s mind. Catherine clearly values honesty, sensitivity, and valiance, which Peter displayed to her. Then, the two share this strange, very personal experience in Carl’s mind. Both succumb to raw temptation in a landscape ruled not by intellect or logic but by emotion, possession. Having saved each other and returned to the real world, it makes sense that they would retain some of that desire; yet, considering where this desire had been born, the two characters must settle for an awkward hand shake. A kiss would have been absurd, having such little intimacy between them; and yet a simple professional handshake would not do either in light of their experience together. Would I dare to go so far as suggest the addition of very brief flirtatious look between them early when they first meet. Even a look shared by both may suggest to us they are remotely attracted to each other so as to give a little more weight to that tempted kiss and the inevitable handshake.

The additional Carl scenes easily heighten the tormented world of our antagonist, which increases our concern for our protagonists’ safety. If we are not absolutely horrified by Carl, then his threats to Catherine are empty. However, Catherine spends most of the film a victim. At some point, the power must be given back to those who are powerless (victimized). Crossbows are unnecessary.

What is to be done about Carl? His fate is tied into the main storyline. On one hand, Peter’s goal (and by association, Catherine’s as well) is to capture Carl and discover the whereabouts of Julia. This is accomplished. Catherine’s greater goal is for Edward to make progress in his treatement so he can resurface from his inner hiding place, which we get the inkling of at the film’s close. However, a secondary storyline is initiated by Catherine and Peter three quarters of the way through, which is Catherine’s promise to “young Carl” that she will come back for him. With this edit, that rescue plan is left at the moment of it’s introduction. I absolutely agree with the choice of cutting the final showdown with Carl in Catherine’s mind. The focus going back on Julia’s rescue is necessary after Peter’s revelation, and the re-edited sequence is very tight. My question is can Catherine’s promise be satisfied? If not, is the introduction of Catherine’s promise necessary in this edit? If the intention of the editor was to leave Carl’s fate up in the air, then this was realized. With Peter, Julia, Catherine, and Edward’s storylines wrapped up, this does leave something to be desired from the odd man out.

Thank you for your time and craft. The “Scary As Hell” brand is becoming quite synonymous with quality. Well done.

And here we have another nice edit by 3Raz0r. Overall a great improvement. Although some things still bothered me that I think could have easily been remedied. I’ll try to break things down a bit

Video:
Very nice. The video was quite crisp. Perhaps a tiny stutter on some motion, but never distracting. I would still give this a 5 of 5

Audio:
Again, quite nice. I noticed no cuts, and it flowed and sounded great. 5 of 5 here

DVD:
great menus and design. truly artistic. a nice completion to the edit, and I always appreciate this extra care. 5 of 5 easy

Storytelling:
This is where I can not give this edit a 5. I will give it a 4 (generously) Granted this is a big improvement, but I saw areas where 3Raz0r could have fixed some more things to make this a really good movie. The Cell will always have a place for me because it is so cool visually, and I know it could have been a great film. 3Raz0r missed a couple opportunities to get closer to great. To start, I felt the plots were way to separated in the beginning. We are introduced to the world of the mind and Catherines story. Then we see the police and the crime plot. Yet we forget all about Catherine until the two plots convene akwardly. It seemed choppy and unnatural. The movie is like this too, but I felt that 3Raz0r could have shown more bits of Catherine and Edward during the police drama to keep us rooted to this fantastic thrilling part of the story. When the two plots do converge it seems odd.

The things that are cut, and the things that are added are great moves, and wise choices. However, some things could have been rearranged to make the story flow. I loved the cutting of the romantic pieces between Catherine and Peter. That was totally not necessary for this film, and was fake and forced. However, the cuts didnt go far enough. At the end where Catherine visits, there is still an odd romantic feeling that doesnt quite fit. The scene is fitting, however some of the emotion could have been trimmed a bit i think.

For all of this, I do not want to sound like I am coming down on the edit. It was a great improvement IMO. Great polishing of a turd that had potential. I highly recommend this edit to all. I do think some of the things I mentioned are quite do-able, and perhaps 3Raz0r will take a 2nd crack at it? who knows.

so great edit. I give it a 4 (a strong 4). Thank you so much 3Raz0r for an enjoyable edit. :)