Synopsis:

This is the story of two groups of survivors of an apocalyptic event and the ensuing showdown between them. Narratively, this edit doesn't change that much from the original. In fact, I tried really hard to maintain the narrative as much as possible. I didn't want to alter the story, just to tighten it up and make it a single-sitting affair. I did add some stylistic changes and shifted around the timeline a little to cause tiny changes in peripheral events.

Intentions:

The Stand is a fantastic miniseries. And often unfairly maligned because of the poor visual effects (true) and terribly literal "Hand of God" finale (also true). Despite it's flaws, I have enjoyed this behemoth every time I have watched it. But one thing I could rarely do? Watch it all in a single day. And certianly never in a single night. It runs around 6 hours and 40 minutes. My goal was simple: Cut back the miniseries into a single-sitting feature-length film. I decided that the final product could be no longer than The Godfather Part II, which clocks-in at 3 hours and 21 minutes. I originally did this edit with a DVD source and it came out okay-ish, but there were both narrative and quality problems. Once I heard that there would be a BluRay release I got very excited to try again. This Cinematic Cut of The Stand clocks in at a comparatively svelte 3 hours and 5 minutes. And also makes heavy use of popular music for it's soundtrack. Everything from Procol Harem to The Police to Pink Floyd. I think this came out very well and I am excited to share it with you. Please enjoy, and your feedback is very welcome.

Change List:

My goal was to cut this entire thing basically in half. So I had to cut scenes and sequences ruthlessly in order to leave as many character moments as possible. I also made the conscious choice to use rock music as the primary soundtrack and give the whole movie a stylized vibe.

Additional Notes:

What follows is a list of all the major, noticable edits in the film. Every frame was tweaked or updated in some way. All-new opening sequence. 26 new pop/rock songs featured throughout. Colour-graded many scenes and sequences. 5 new composite shots Cropped to 16:9 (and lovingly pan-and-scanned throughout) I broke the miniseries down into 131 unique sequences. 91 of were not removed entirely, of that group, only the following were not trimmed or tightened in some way: - Nadine’s Gone - Mother Abigail’s Prayer of Repentance - Fran’s Dream (for now) - Tom is Identified - Nadine Runs Out of Gas - Stu Has the Flu? - Glen v. Flagg (best scene) - Stu’s Struggle - The End of Vegas Cut the Project Blue outbreak scene. Cut the Fly Buddy commercial. Cut the Police Check-in. Cut the first meeting with Larry. Cut Vic’s death. Cut Nick’s dream. Cut the Times Square Chaos. Cut Nick setting off for Nebraska. Cut the insert of the Monster Shouter (both of them). Cut Flagg killing the deer. Cut the convoy to Colorado. Cut the appendix operation. Cut the funeral of the appendix operation guy. Cut Stu and Fran telling Harold about their relationship. Cut turning on the power. Removed two of the spies - Judge and Dana. Cut Nadine and Flagg’s drive to Vegas. Cut Tom sneaking past the guards. Cut everything after the bomb goes off in Vegas.

Other Sources:

(Pronounced 'L?h-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd) - Lynyrd Skynyrd Abbey Road - The Beatles Abraxas - Santana American - America Beggars Banquet - Sympathy for the Devil Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen Days of Future Passed - The Moody Blues The Doors - The Doors Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix Experience Endless Wire - The Who Full Moon Fever - Tom Petty Heart Shaped World - Chris Isaak Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin Magic Christian Music - Badfinger Music from Big Pink - The Band Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid - Bob Dylan Point of Know Return - Kansas Procol Harem - Procol Harem Relics - Pink Floyd Stealing Fire - Bruce Cockburn Synchronicity - The Police That's Where I Went Wrong - The Poppy Family Up To Here - The Tragically Hip Wheels of Fire - Cream.

Special Thanks: