Stand (The Cinematic Cut), The

Updated
Stand (The Cinematic Cut), The
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1994
Original Running Time:
400
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
185
Time Cut:
215
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
This is the story of two groups of survivors of an apocalyptic event and the ensuing showdown between them.

Narratively, this edit doesn't change that much from the original. In fact, I tried really hard to maintain the narrative as much as possible. I didn't want to alter the story, just to tighten it up and make it a single-sitting affair. I did add some stylistic changes and shifted around the timeline a little to cause tiny changes in peripheral events.
Intention:
The Stand is a fantastic miniseries. And often unfairly maligned because of the poor visual effects (true) and terribly literal "Hand of God" finale (also true). Despite it's flaws, I have enjoyed this behemoth every time I have watched it. But one thing I could rarely do? Watch it all in a single day. And certianly never in a single night. It runs around 6 hours and 40 minutes.

My goal was simple: Cut back the miniseries into a single-sitting feature-length film. I decided that the final product could be no longer than The Godfather Part II, which clocks-in at 3 hours and 21 minutes. I originally did this edit with a DVD source and it came out okay-ish, but there were both narrative and quality problems. Once I heard that there would be a BluRay release I got very excited to try again.

This Cinematic Cut of The Stand clocks in at a comparatively svelte 3 hours and 5 minutes. And also makes heavy use of popular music for it's soundtrack. Everything from Procol Harem to The Police to Pink Floyd. I think this came out very well and I am excited to share it with you.

Please enjoy, and your feedback is very welcome.
Other Sources:
(Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Abbey Road - The Beatles
Abraxas - Santana
American - America
Beggars Banquet - Sympathy for the Devil
Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen
Days of Future Passed - The Moody Blues
The Doors - The Doors
Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Experience
Endless Wire - The Who
Full Moon Fever - Tom Petty
Heart Shaped World - Chris Isaak
Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin
Magic Christian Music - Badfinger
Music from Big Pink - The Band
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid - Bob Dylan
Point of Know Return - Kansas
Procol Harem - Procol Harem
Relics - Pink Floyd
Stealing Fire - Bruce Cockburn
Synchronicity - The Police
That's Where I Went Wrong - The Poppy Family
Up To Here - The Tragically Hip
Wheels of Fire - Cream
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
My goal was to cut this entire thing basically in half. So I had to cut scenes and sequences ruthlessly in order to leave as many character moments as possible. I also made the conscious choice to use rock music as the primary soundtrack and give the whole movie a stylized vibe.
Cuts and Additions:
What follows is a list of all the major, noticable edits in the film. Every frame was tweaked or updated in some way.

All-new opening sequence.
26 new pop/rock songs featured throughout.
Colour-graded many scenes and sequences.
5 new composite shots
Cropped to 16:9 (and lovingly pan-and-scanned throughout)
I broke the miniseries down into 131 unique sequences. 91 of were not removed entirely, of that group, only the following were not trimmed or tightened in some way:
- Nadine’s Gone
- Mother Abigail’s Prayer of Repentance
- Fran’s Dream (for now)
- Tom is Identified
- Nadine Runs Out of Gas
- Stu Has the Flu?
- Glen v. Flagg (best scene)
- Stu’s Struggle
- The End of Vegas
Cut the Project Blue outbreak scene.
Cut the Fly Buddy commercial.
Cut the Police Check-in.
Cut the first meeting with Larry.
Cut Vic’s death.
Cut Nick’s dream.
Cut the Times Square Chaos.
Cut Nick setting off for Nebraska.
Cut the insert of the Monster Shouter (both of them).
Cut Flagg killing the deer.
Cut the convoy to Colorado.
Cut the appendix operation.
Cut the funeral of the appendix operation guy.
Cut Stu and Fran telling Harold about their relationship.
Cut turning on the power.
Removed two of the spies - Judge and Dana.
Cut Nadine and Flagg’s drive to Vegas.
Cut Tom sneaking past the guards.
Cut everything after the bomb goes off in Vegas.
Poster by Conrad MacIntyre


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User reviews

3 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0(3)
Audio Editing
 
10.0(3)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(3)
Narrative
 
9.0(3)
Enjoyment
 
10.0(3)
(Updated: March 17, 2022)
Overall rating
 
8.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
7.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Let me start this review by saying I could not give this a rating of 10 across the board.

Why would I do that?

Even though it's sourced from Blu-ray, the quality of the video source leaves a lot to be desired. It's far too blurry for being from a Blu-Ray. I lay 100% of the blame on the studio for doing such a bad transfer. And because the source is so poor, cropping it to 16x9 makes it even worse. I understand Conrad was trying to give the viewer a more thematic experience, however the way the TV Miniseries was filmed doesn't really allow for proper 16x9 cropping. If this fan edit was also available in the original aspect ratio, I would be more pleased with it. Nevertheless, Conrad could do nothing about the video source. He did an excellent job cropping it to 16x9 and his use of panning and scanning is spot on.

Starting with the opening of this fan edit, I've got to say I love it. Conrad truncated the original opening and this fan edit is all the better for it. The original footage was completely unnecessary to get the ball rolling and Conrad's choice to eliminate footage and move the story along works extremely well here and throughout the entire fan edit. His edits are well thought out and executed perfectly.

His narrative choices and judicious editing of unnecessary material makes the movie flow much better than the original miniseries. I really appreciate his transitions between scenes and how he seamlessly guides the viewer with his choices. I'd also like to commend Conrad for choosing to update the music. He kept just the right songs while removing ones that didn't work and adding other great music.

Conrad has only released one other edit besides this one, which is also very good. I'd like to see what he could do with other miniseries out there or whole television seasons. He's extremely talented.

Overall, I really like this edit. It's top on my list of fan edits for this title. Don't let my lower score deter you from watching this fan edit. Like I said, the lower rating is based solely on the source material. Even the greatest editor can do only so much with poor video source, bad writing, and poor acting.

Great job Conrad... I highly suggest you check out this edit.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Taking everything I loved about The Stand, that is the characters and world building, Conrad has eliminated any of the long winded moments that dragged out the original version. Stephen King would be proud.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
J
2 reviews
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
As ususal taking out some of the parts that seem to make a Stephen King movie or tv series kinda bog down. Tightened up and very enjoyable to watch. The soundtrack is great waiting for other titles to emerge. Thanks for the hard work. I know its a short review but I am not one to pick things apart bit by bit as long as I enjoy what I am watching is all that matters to me. And I very much enjoied this title.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Owner's reply June 28, 2020

Thanks Gil.

Really appreciate the feedback. Glad you enjoyed it!

Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 2 0