Difference in running times?


Just finished watching this via a Netflix rental (big fan of Black Christmas and read reviews that pointed me to this lesser-known holiday slashfest)... Though I almost turned it off when I saw how god-awful the transfer was, I was pleasantly surprised and ultimately won over by its solid writing and creepy atmosphere.

I have been reading the boards, notably those comparing the audio/video quality of the various DVD releases, but I'm curious to know why there are several different running times listed. The version I watched was listed at 81 minutes. Are there longer, perhaps bloodier scenes available on different releases?

Basically what I'm looking for is a rundown of the "alternate versions" that may exist of this film. Anybody well-versed enough in SN,BN to help me out???

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[deleted]

According to the versions I have collected & evaluated there are three versions of the film currently in existence on home video: An 81 minute print that appears to be a television edit with nearly all of the violence & gore removed, an 83 minute version that appears to reflect the MPAA R rated version, and then an 85 minute print that might be the actual theatrical release assembly. No examples of the 88 minute runtime cited by the IMDb have been described in the form of home video releases, and that runtime may reflect a pre-ratings assembly print that might have been withdrawn and cut to the 85 minute version, which I have actually located in two different forms: Mill Creek's "Chilling Classics" public domain DVD box set, and a Japanese VHS only release by King Video from the late 80s or early 1990s, which erroneously cites an 87 minute runtime. I've timed it however and the feature itself only runs the 85 minutes, though it does appear to have a couple of sequences intact that were cut from the print found on Mill Creek's shabby looking but very important DVD.

The most important attribute of the Japan video is actually that it was apparently sourced from an original 35mm print: ALL of the North American home video or DVD versions I have seen, including the old Paragon Films VHS from the 80s, appear to have been sourced from 16mm reduction prints which did not age well before being transferred. The 81 minute TV print based versions look somewhat better but because they are so compromised aren't worth bothering with, unless it's all you can find.

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