Event Report from the Premiere of Midnight Movie: The Killer Cut
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Sometimes things get a bit lost in the shuffle on this writer’s desk, although I’d be remiss to not finally deliver a bit of exclusive news, video, and photos from the premiere of director Jack Messitt’s Midnight Movie: The Killer Cut, which took place earlier this month in Westwood, California. Read on!
Originally released on January 6, 2009, the extended and VFX enhanced “The Killer Cut” version of Midnight Movie bows to DVD this coming June 14 via Bigfoot Entertainment, and on hand for the flick’s Bigfoot Crest Theatre red carpet premiere were cast members Brea Grant, Rebekah Brandes, Daniel Bonjour, Dinora Walcott, Ashley Black and Christopher Page, who started the night off with a pub crawl at Westwood Brew Co. Joining them in the festivities were writer and director Jack Messitt, Bigfoot Entertainment chairman Michael Gleissner, Bigfoot Entertainment’s CEO Kacy Andrews (and producer of Midnight Movie) and many more.
Messitt told us of the supernatural slasher film’s special edition (the original cut of Midnight Movie (review here) won awards for Best Feature Film and Best Cinematography at the Chicago Horror Film Festival), “The opportunity to create a director’s cut does not come along very often for movies of our size so when I was asked to put ‘The Killer Cut’ together, I jumped at the chance. I made it clear, though, that I didn’t want to just dump in a bunch of scenes that shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. I wanted to make the movie better. So I said that I would take on the project if I could really take the film to the next level.”
The director continued, “I completely revamped the edit and shot new footage to enhance the mythology of Radford (the killer at the heart of Midnight Movie) and his obsession with The Dark Beneath (the movie within Midnight Movie), and Radford’s ritual that embeds his soul into the film itself is completely different. It really kicks off the film in a whole new way – a much better way than the original version. I also did more than just add to the film – I did a lot of cutting as well. I wanted to streamline it, especially the first fifteen minutes. I wanted to get to the fun part a little faster. You won’t miss what I chopped out, but you will feel the difference.”
“Another huge improvement was the enhancement to Radford’s supernatural powers,” communicated Messitt. “Due to all the new visual effects in ‘The Killer Cut’, Radford is much more menacing. He is much closer to my original vision of his character.”
As for the disc’s supplements, “In addition to all the extras from the first DVD and Blu-Ray, we created a brand new behind-the-scenes featurette,” Messitt said. “It is a pretty extensive look into how we did things on set. I also recorded a brand new director’s commentary for ‘The Killer Cut’ – full of details from the shoot and explanations behind a lot of the changes I made.”
Dread queried the filmmaker on what horror enthusiasts can expect from him in the future.
“I have a few projects in the works,” he teased, “including a potential sequel to Midnight Movie. But getting that going all depends on how ‘The Killer Cut’ is received. So if you are looking for Radford to return, fans gotta help spread the word about ‘The Killer Cut’!”
Midnight Movie actress Brea Grant
Midnight Movie Actress Rebekah Brandes being interviewed on the red carpet
Midnight Movie: Killer Cut cast and filmmakers on the red carpet
Writer/Director Jack Messitt, Executive Producer Michael Gleissner, Bigfoot Entertainment CEO Kacy Andrews
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