Chris Gore is spreading the same false rumor that other people were citing. Yes, 'Drugstore Cowboy' is edited. No, Blockbuster did not do those edits themselves. Do you really think Blockbuster would hire people to do those edits when the studios are more than willing to do them themselves?

Also, they're not the "edited for television version"s, that's absurd. Blockbuster doesn't carry NC-17 or unrated movies, but they do carry R, and they require NC-17 or unrated movies to be edited down to R before they'll carry them (ironic, since they will carry movies released at R but given unrated cuts on DVD), but R-rated is hardly "edited for television". Anybody who's rented 'Re-Animator' from Blockbuster would still be getting more than if they watched in on Sci-Fi Channel.

wow! Never noticed that on any of mine!

I guess there would be web pages about it by now if they did.

Chris Gore is one of the kings of urban legends. One of the least reliable "critics" out there, sort of the early 90's version of Harry Knowles. His time has come and gone and he is now hosting TV game shows.

The above is NOT TRUE at all. You'll find the same version of DRUGSTORE COWBOY that is in any other video store.

I remember back when Film Threat was going and they were talking about this on their message boards. I attempted to set them straight but they wouldn't allow my message to post up. Only one version of the urban legend was allowed.

My roommate rented Hal Hartley's movie "The Unbelievable Truth" and it had one, which led me to believe, wrongly, that it was a Netflix exclusive. Others have said that they sometimes drop features, especially taking flipper discs and getting one-sided pressings of them.

Moviezzz ... when I responded to the Gore thing, I assumed he would've had at *least* that much right, though the rest of it was wrong. Since it seemed to be the purpose of his rant and all.

THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH was released by Anchor Bay. For a while, Netflix wasn't able to carry their films. But, I guess they came to a special arrangement and now you can get most Anchor Bay titles, many if not all of them are specially designed with Netflix logos.

As I think I mentioned earlier, this is to stop theft and reselling them online when they go out of print. Someone could "lose" the title, then end up selling it. If a title is sold, and it has a Netflix logo on it, everyone will know it is stolen.

They have the same deal with Warner and other studios. The only time it changes features is if the disc is a flipper, they will only get one side. I recently rented THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT from them and it only had the director's cut, not the theatrical cut which was on the other side.


It just seems odd that Gore would choose a title like DRUGSTORE COWBOY. A film that wasn't even that R rated. Only one version was released on video and why he thought it was edited, I have no idea. CASINO is the one he attacked in another rant of his.

My local Blockbusters here in Plano will also carry the unrated version of a movie even when there is an R-rated version available.

And they have a whole lot of direct to video horror that was never rated (and therefore "unrated").

I remember they used to have a section which was essentially direct-to-video softcore porn, it was "thriller" I believe. But, yeah, most of those were never rated.

And yeah, there are individual exceptions, but Blockbuster's corporate policy is (or was until recently, at least; I can't be sure it hasn't changed, I haven't been to a Blockbuster to rent in years) that they wouldn't carry unrated titles. The thing is, as unrated titles became a bigger source of income for distributors, distributors became less likely to follow this directive, because they were more empowered to say, "Hey, if you don't like it, your competitors will carry it and you'll lose business," and if there's one thing that trumps corporate morality, it's corporate profits.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes. First, I'm not sure if Clean Flicks was doing this at the time that they sued the DGA; they may have done this as some sort of weird CYA tactic. Plus, as you point out, they may well only be renting edited versions. Also, don't forget my mention of FamilyFlix there: they make the original discs unwatchable as per their stated policy.

DJ