Extended cuts that are better/worse than the theatrical cut

Oh, I forgot to also include the extended cut of Ghostbusters 2016. Tons of changes, including many Deleted Roles such as Justin Kirk, Elizabeth Perkins, Brian Baumgartner, Chris Gethard, among a couple others being added back in, and a couple more scenes with Rowan, some alternate jokes among a couple of other changes.

The changes are too extensive to list them all, but regardless I’ll try to. First off are the scenes with Phil Hudson and Phyllis Adler. I do feel like they added some characterization to Erin’s character, but in the first one with Phyllis, I loved how insecure as hell Erin was being (even more blatant, but not as funny in the deleted scene bonus feature version.) I liked the idea of the scene where Phil confronts Erin and she gives him a “The Reason You Suck” speech, but I feel like Abby and Patty joking about how they think he dances for 45 seconds really wasn’t needed, neither was Holtzmann pulling Erin’s leg in front of Phil by jerking the car forward whenever Erin tres to get in. Shouldn’t she be supportive? It can be saved by a bit of trimming however.

Also wasn’t a big fan of the scene of Erin telling the Real Estate Agent “Fuck you!” Not what she said, just wasn’t a fan of how everything is edited there. Though to be honest, the entire film, as much as I did kinda enjoy it, the film from start to finish was pretty poorly edited together. Tons of cuts where a character is suddenly is a different position from the previous shot. No idea what’s up with that, like if it’s a different filming technique, so do fill me in if anyone knows better than I do, I guess it’s just not my cup of tea.

I did however, enjoy the additional scene where Rowan speaks to Mrs. Potter and discovers some vile ghostly parasite named “Earl” leeching out of her back. Pretty ominous and well done! Not a big fan of the Deleted Scene DVD version though.

Now I wasn’t a fan of the scene where Erin and Abby recreated their high school dance… or so the one as it’s portrayed in the extended cut. It just feels too quick and I feel like a lot of context is lost given it was trimmed from it’s original version before it’s inclusion here. On the other hand, this and the prior deleted scene “Backstories” were genuinely great! The alternate takes with Erin bringing up her past trauma is better acted, it’s a bit progressive and gradual, and the scene where they dance together really feels like it’s given time to breathe properly. I feel like a really great scene was lost on the cutting room floor, and the only part I would have removed would be when Kevin was throwing around the grenade. That was a wise omission.

Now for the most significant addition, the Chris Gethard scene. This one is… a mixed bag, to say the least. On the one hand, I do like how it helped explain the jump from them being escorted out of the Mercado to Erin suddenly being in her Darkest Hour moment. It feels a little more natural here. But on the other hand, the scene where she punched Gethard in the face was… weird? Like it feels like it was supposed to be Played For Laughs, and yet it wasn’t depicted that way at all. Just a bit conflicting. I do prefer the earlier alternate version of this deleted scene where Erin instead tries to get rehired back into Columbia University only for Fillmore to kick her out and she has a falling out with Abby. That scenes removal genuinely made for a worse film, even if I still enjoyed the movie as is.

Wasn’t a big fan of the extended scene where Rowan’s disembodied voice gives his motive to Abby from the off as he gradually Possesses her and slime oozes out of all her orifices, until she starts puking. Nothing wrong with the majority of it, I just didn’t like the slime projectile effect, it looked pretty bad.

And finally, the “Crossing the Streams” subplot. Mixed feelings on this one, did help to make it feel like more was going on in the climax, but I can see why it was cut, since it was admittedly a bit Anti-climactic.

#ReleaseTheFeigCut?