EXCLUSIVE: Lost Cliffhanger (1993) Footage

Here is some footage that you’ll be hard pressed to find these days, a full 21 years after the movie was released.  It’s footage from the cut of Cliffhanger originally presented by Renny Harlin to the studio.  While the theatrical cut was 112 minutes, the original NC-17 cut was 132 minutes.

First of all, be warned, the quality of this footage is horrible.  Most of the time, you can’t make shit out.  It is what it is, so take it or leave it.  It’s from a very old VHS bootleg after all.  The main problem is the swirling effect that is unique to poorly copied VHS tapes.  Can it be fixed?  If the original VHS surfaces, yes – what’s needed is a piece of hardware called a time based corrector.  This creates a steady picture.  After that software takes over.  I’m not sure whether or not it’s possible by transferring the movie back to VHS and using a TBC or not.

Or maybe the studio could just release the thing.

Anyway.  While this is most of the footage, it isn’t all of it.  Sitting through and sifting out all scenes, then editing/removing them is a long and tedious process.  So a lot of the footage is included here but not all.  As stated above, most of the footage was cut for being too violent.  There are other useless scenes though.  Another cool difference is the usage of the Predator soundtrack.  During the full hijacking scene, it really does add to the thrill.

Anyway, here it is.