Natural Born Killers: The Tarantino Cut

A/V Quality - 1080p, so it looks great. Only noticed slight noise because of the compression. I wouldn't mind having a higher GB uncompressed copy.

Visual Editing - Great!

Audio Editing - Minus the low audio in the courtroom scene and the choice of Tarantino music, the audio was very well done.

Narrative - I loved the faster pace and the removal of Stone's influences.

Enjoyment - Overall, I really enjoyed this cut and feel the editor completed his mission. To me, this is the definitive cut of Natural Born Killers.

Thank you TheCuddlyNinja! :]X

Furious edit of Stone’s Killers slices away all lulls, dream sequences, and moralizing. This is a blistering grinder of Tarantino’s original script (which I have not read) that hurtles ahead like the running of the bulls in Pamplona. thecuddlyninja’s version does not resemble a Stone film, nor one of Tarantino’s knockoffs. Instead, this reminds me of full bore Takashi Miike. I mean that as high praise.

Video - 720 video stream. Outstanding mix of black n white, distortion, inappropriate zooms, hard cuts, etc ... Many, many visual tricks and changes keep this film popping. Even what could have been mistakes work well and look amazing in a down n dirty, drive-in thrasher.

Audio - 2 channel, 192K AC3. Sound was very good, though suffered occasionally when original score was wiped. Dialogue not always clear. No subs.

I had a real problem with new song selection, which Neglify touched on. I dislike Tarantino, but still, every time I heard a familiar cue, I cross checked it in my memory. Reservoir Dogs - Kill Bill - Pulp Fiction - Death Proof - Pulp Fiction again ... It was distracting and yanked me straight out of cuddly’s edit, especially when I got stuck trying to recall which QT film the cue was from.

To my mind, it takes a certain amount of balls and chutzpah to reedit a film. I find it sad when a fan-editor shrinks back from displaying their own musical taste and knowledge, and instead apes Mr QT. Come on, be original with reconstruction. New tunes! That said, all of us have viewed fanedits and studio releases marred by unfortunate song selection. The line between cool and fool is a thin line. Tarantino’s idiosyncratic musical taste is easy to decipher, however. Blaxsploitation, 70s Nikkatsu, surf guitar, literally hundreds of selections are viable. If nothing else, ask fellow members for suggestions next time.

Narrative - With so much footage sheared, coherency suffers. Example: when Mickey is in Drug Zone we figure out he needs anti-snake medicine. How and when he was bitten ought to have shown. Another mystery: how did that Botango riot start? Throughout the story, I always knew what was occurring, but I think 5 minutes of bits here and there would have clarified any confusion caused by wholesale cutting.

Enjoyment - I had to think about this. I enjoyed, still enjoy, and rewatch Natural Born Killers every couple of years. cuddlyninja has studied QT’s script (Director Tarantino I view as borderline plagiarist, by the way, with few original ideas) and given NBK the Swisha House treatment - chopped and screwed - to remarkable effect. This is a delicious, in many ways authentic, companion to the original. In another world, I could envision this being included in the DVD box as the “storyboard print.”

Recommend this? Absolutely. This is pedal down, all the way.

As a teen/early 20's, I was a fan of the original NBK. Haven't watched it in some time, but I would probably rate it now, as a bit over-indulgent, hammering home it's message a bit too far and more of a music video than anything.

I never read Tarantino's script. Was surprised at the time it was written by him and of course Stone's NBK feels a world away from Tarantino's films that were all the rage at the time.

I'm so pleased to report that this is a great edit - a wonderful 'what could be'.

video/audio quality: very good, no complaints - it's apparent that some deleted scenes that are happily included here are only SD quality, but this version, which appears to be the newest suffers no problems with audio levels. Just suddenly we have a lower level of video, but it doesn't detract for me, or bring me out at all.

On the audio front - I can only reflect what Neglify said - too much use of known Tarantino music slightly detracts. It's a bit 50/50. Using known Tarantino music definitely makes it feel Tarantino-esque, especially when the photography style is so clearly not. Yet, it would have been nice to choose some other 70's style music that Tarantino might have used.

Narrative - no problems here whatsoever. Makes you realise how much Stone added in to beef this out, that wasn't really necessary.

Enjoyment factor : Loved it. I was a little alarmed that it was only 55 mins long, but the story is all here. If this does indeed follow the script, then it's fantastic.

If you hated the original NBK for all it's OTT, then this is for you. Whilst we don't have the Tarantino long dialogues and character developments(which aren't possible, due to scripting, Stone, deviations and removals), this does feel like a completely different beast. I will be recommending some of my old university buddies watch this - from a time when NBK was banned in the UK and we were desperate to watch this, this I think is a worthy alternative. It's edited well and brings us well back to what Tarantino perhaps would have delivered. I think, original NBK would probably annoy me now after having watched this.

This is what fanediting is all about.

It's been a while since I watched this but I remember it was INSTANTLY miles above the original Oliver Stone version. It's interesting how when I found out Tarantino wrote NBK I was surprised Oliver Stone made it and not QT himself. At the time Tarantino was just starting out with writing scripts so he didn't have the clout to make a movie yet-- hence why Natural Born Killers and True Romance were written by Tarantino but directed by Oliver Stone and Tony Scott respectively.

But I digress. Seeing Natural Born Killers: The Tarantino Cut was like a breath of fresh air. Whereas the Oliver Stone theatrical version was enjoyable but not much of a repeat viewing movie (read: too insane to put on again), this visual and music re-edit gives it that Tarantino funktacular style that is more stimulating to the senses, engaging, and all out fun.

Furthermore, let me just personally thank thecuddlyninja for ditching the sitcom scenes, the bizarre Indian, the wedding scene, the cartoony and demonic stuff, and all that other stupid Oliver Stone over-the-top crap that made the movie seem like it was trying a bit too hard to be insane. We get it, Oliver, it was the 90s and you were still on A LOT of drugs, but jeez. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE a bunch Oliver Stone movies like Platoon, Wall Street, JFK, and Nixon. But NBK was meant to be a Quentin Tarantino movie. Thanks to thecuddlyninja it now is!

This is a great edit. I liked the original well enough, but haven't seen it in years. This was the perfect way to rewatch it and easily replaces the original for me. I love the concept and the execution. Sure, the audio is a little wonky in spots but the movie is supposed to be a bit of a frenetic mess. No issues with the reuse of Tarantino music - it drives home the point of the edit. This is an excellent edit and I'd recommend it to all Tarantino fans.

Oh, and my favourite part? No more Rodney Dangerfield.