Shivers

[David M.]

Regardless, I'm glad you went ahead and did so for the upcoming Rabid. The difference in AV for that one compared to its DVD releases is going to be even more staggering, I'd imagine.

It is a thing of beauty

[MichaelB]

I'm curious, Michael. Is it not standard practice, at least for the label's you've worked with, to compare the version of the film you're releasing to a known uncut release, where possible?

Normally, yes. However, in this case Arrow was dealing with a restoration that had been approved and apparently personally supervised by the director, so it seemed a reasonably (indeed, explicitly) safe bet that it would be exactly as he wanted it.

Also note that the kind of side-by-side comparison that I described is only possible if I have access to a NTSC DVD or similar 24fps version, which of course isn't always the case. Otherwise, I do a comparison of the running time of the master with a reliable reference to an alternative running time (the BBFC website and the Monthly Film Bulletin are good for this, since they give physical length in feet, allowing precise calculation of the theatrical speed), but this can be inexact because of differing lengths of distributor logos. In other words, a difference of ten seconds or more would be investigated, but one of four or five might not be - especially in a case like this when the master should be completely bona fide.

(And of course it's worth stressing that the removal of the footage might have been wholly intentional, either voluntarily on Cronenberg's part or reluctantly because of excessively damaged source materials. At this stage, we simply don't know.)

[Adam X]

All of which is completely understandable, and justifiable. Thanks for the detailed answer, as always.
And, as you say, I've no doubt there's a completely plausible explanation for its absence, given the source of the master you were dealing with, and hasn't stopped me from happily ordering a copy, even potentially with a small moment lost to the aether.
Even though Shivers is one of my favourite films from one of my favourite directors, I actually haven't watched it more than several times, and know I'd never have noticed anything amiss if not for the internet. Very much looking forward to seeing what appears to be a very beautiful release.

It is a thing of beauty

I've no doubt. Now, even less so.

[MichaelB]

Arrow has released an official statement:

SHIVERS Update

We are currently looking into this issue and hope to have an update very soon. Just to clarify, our release of Shivers contains a new restoration personally supervised and approved by Director David Cronenberg and which was produced by Tiff Cinematheque Quebec at Technicolor in 2013.

We are unsure as to the reasons why part of Shivers appears to have been shortened except that it doesn't appear to be the results of any conscious act of censorship, as many similar scenes would have been removed as well if that were the case. It may have been Cronenberg's decision to excise this material due to damage to the original materials used, but at this point that's only speculation on our part.

Unlike Zombie Flesh Eaters, this isn't the result of an authoring or encoding error. Unlike many of our releases, we weren't in any way involved with the restoration of this film, so we're having to direct our questions to those who oversaw it. Just to reiterate, we are making enquiries to all the parties involved and hope to have a definitive answer to this very soon.

Best
Arrow Video

[tenia]

Well, Wait & see, I guess. Good to see such an official statement being issued so quickly after the first posts on the subject. Arrow CS and QC has really become impressive.

[EddieLarkin]

There's a comment on Arrow's FB that describes a few more small cuts to the Shivers transfer not detailed by the Blu-ray.com user who first brought the issue to light. His description matches the cuts that were made to a VHS release described here. If that is the case then this sounds more like there were always two cuts out there and it is the shorter one that has been restored (mistakenly or intentionally, who knows?). That is, unless these scenes were being cut due to damage all the way back in the VHS era. It's too bad because even though it is likely Arrow will provide an explanation that exonerates them (not that I ever suspected this was their mistake anyway), I highly doubt we'll see a replacement program (despite how many customers on the FB seem to think it's pretty much guaranteed). It's not like Arrow have access to the film elements, and if these scenes only exist in SD at the moment, I don't see Arrow wanting to cut them back in. Which is perfectly understandable, but the disc will always be a bit of a disappointment now unfortunately.

[Anthony Thorne]

Kind of a shame and I've been collecting the Arrow steelbooks up until now, but I have no need for a cut version of the movie. Plenty of other Arrow titles to move up the queue then I guess.

[chatterjees]

Is anybody still waiting for Shivers (regular edition, not steelbook) to arrive directly from Arrow? I ordered mine directly from them almost 3 weeks ago. Its still pending. This is weird, they usually ships item one or two weeks ahead of street dates. To my email query, I didn't received a solid response, but they mentioned that they are overwhelmed by the amount of ordered they received for this item. I honestly don't get it. So, they don't have it in stock, but other UK retailers are selling it! The email reply also didn't mention anything about a probable ship date.

[PfR73]

Has there been any update on the missing footage from the restoration?

[MichaelB]

Has there been any update on the missing footage from the restoration?

It will be posted in this thread the very millisecond that there's an announcement. Fingers crossed there'll be one soon, but for obvious reasons Arrow doesn't want to say anything until all the relevant parties are happy.

[tenia]

Following the many theories discussed on blu-ray.com as to what Arrow will do if they can solve this, I can only wish you good luck with that, because it looks as if it's not going to be an easy and cheap replacement program.

[PfR73]

Thanks, Michael! Sounds hopeful! I figured that might be the case, but was just checking up since the wording of original announcement had given me the impression that there was going to be news sooner.

[Graham]

Any news on a replacement programme?

[MichaelB]

As I said earlier, as soon as there's any news, it will be all over social media - very much including this thread.

Arrow is as keen to get this situation resolved as anyone - rather keener than most, in fact, for obvious reasons! - but it's out of their hands right now.

[Graham]

Thanks. I figured it was worth checking in after two months with no news.

[MichaelB]

Arrow has just posted this on their Facebook page:

We’ve receive a fair few queries about the progress of this. First up, we can only apologise that it is taking far longer than we originally anticipated. We were very much hoping the situation would be resolved by the New Year but sadly this was not the case.
So, the good news is we will be running a replacement programme for this one so if you have purchased a copy of our release do keep hold of those proof of purchases!

The bad news is, we don’t have an exact timeline for this and at present it does look like this will be a bit of a way off. Unfortunately we're in the hands of TIFF who have their own schedule and Shivers isn't a priority for them at present. We are doing all we can to apply pressure and try and speed things up but sadly there isn't too much we can do. We believe that they are scanning another element of equal quality to the restoration they initially performed so this is what we are waiting for.

We could have cut in the SD elements we have - we have tested that and it looks fine - but knowing that higher quality work is underway, has made it very difficult to simply settle for SD inserts. If we'd know we'd all be waiting 5 months maybe we would have stuck with the SD option however we really want our Shivers release to be the best release possible and not simply a quick fix.

As mentioned we are working hard to keep things moving and we really appreciate all of your patience and support whilst we try and reach a suitable solution. As soon as we have a concrete update on the situation we will widely publish this so do keep checking back!

[Graham]

Great. Thanks for posting.

[kekid]

Any update on this?

[MichaelB]

The second there's any news, it will be posted here.

But I'm afraid the timetable of this isn't under Arrow's control.

[nolanoe]

Still waiting with my buy until this happens. This is one of two Cronenberg's I am yet looking forward to see I haven't seen yet (not looking forward to Fast Company, really).

[Adam X]

You don't know what you're missing.

Fast Company's actually pretty enjoyable, even if it's reasonably unlike any of Cronenberg's other films (though it did let him tackle his love of car racing). Plus, you get an early acting role by Tom Savini, as, well, Tom Savini. John Saxon too.

[swo17]

Even if you don't care for the film, Cronenberg's commentary for it is fascinating.

[Banasa]

Since everyone can't stop plopping all over the Shivers disc, I have my copy and I was quite impressed with everything else involved. None of the extras are flubs with perhaps the possible exception of Joe Blasco's interviews he seems to be specifically interested in self-promotion. As a fellow Canadian, it's quite enjoyable to see old episodes of Canadian tv shows focusing on the production on the film on the disc as well. They have these terrible "made-in-canada" intros and the shows websites in their intro which now re-direct to what appears to be a site to order perfume.

[nolanoe]

You don't know what you're missing.

I don't - the third of the bunch is RABID.

Fast Company's actually pretty enjoyable, even if it's reasonably unlike any of Cronenberg's other films (though it did let him tackle his love of car racing). Plus, you get an early acting role by Tom Savini, as, well, Tom Savini. John Saxon too.

I heard decent things about it recently, too. It seems he managed to cram in a LOT of personality after all, even if only in montage and miss en scene, but hey... that's a whole lot!

I wonder how his career would have gone if, after Fast Company, he'd become a gun for hire. A bit like somebody like Fulci - with films that were indicative of his style, but much more of B-pictures a la Scanners. Imagine him doing Total Recall after all.

Or, what if he's been fooling us and done B-Pictures exclusively, since? eXistenZ'd be his Total Recall, then (which, really, it is).

[cinemartin]

He was a gun for hire on many pictures, like The Dead Zone and the Fly. That can give you an indication.