Synopsis:

The End of Days seen through the eyes of an ex-cop who has lost everything: wife, daughter, and faith.

Intentions:

Apart from just simply wanting to tighten up the pacing, I felt that the story worked more effectively when revealed via Jericho’s experiences. Rather than have the entire back-story spelled out to us in the first ten minutes, we learn what is going on as Jericho learns it. I also wanted to heighten the focus on Jericho’s spiritual journey, such as it is. Also, by removing the early Cult scenes, the film deceptively starts off as a more typical Arnold Schwarzenegger action film, only to transform into a supernatural thriller as we progress.

Change List:

Edits include, but not limited to… - Several pieces of new score added to skew towards an action movie “sound” instead of the choral horror scoring of the film proper. - Removed opening credits. - Removed the early scenes involving the Cult. - Moved the scene of “The Man” being possessed to later in the film so that when Jericho is protecting him at the beginning, he is still just a regular guy. Why would Satan need to hire Schwarzenegger as a bodyguard? At one point, Father Kovack mentions that the “man” (the person that Satan was to inhabit) was destined just as Christine was, so the theory stands that Thomas Aquinas was trying to kill the vessel before he was taken over. Otherwise, what’s with thinking he could just stop Satan with a bullet? Also made trims to the possession sequence, specifically removing the transparent “Creature” skating around town. -Removed Jericho eating his mega-shake. The film opens on Cane and his team protecting someone important. - Removed The Albino completely. - Removed Jericho being out until Bobby reveals his bullet-proof vest to the audience. - Removed the fake scare of the cat in the refrigerator. - Removed all scenes involving Christine up until Jericho and Chicago locate her. - Removed most of the moments of supposed levity involving The Man (The bus hitting the kid, “Don’t fuck up the coat.” et cetera.) and several of his early scenes setting up events that Jericho will encounter soon. - Removed Christine’s apple having little demons in it. - Removed The Man pissing his flammable-oil-demon-piss. We’ve already seen him blow up a restaurant at will (unless we’re supposed to think that he hosed the restaurant down while we weren’t watching?), so why the need for this ridiculousness? Also removed shots of Chicago either in or next to van before the explosion. When he shows up at Jericho’s apartment later, it should be believable that he survived, which it isn’t in the theatrical cut. - Cut out Mabel beating the shit out of Jericho. (And erased her from one shot that couldn’t be cut.) Is she supposed to be a demon or something? If she is, it’s oddly out of context with the rest of the film. And if she isn’t, what’s the deal with her claws and Arnie-bashing abilities? Also removed The Man finishing her off. - Removed The Man showing off the healing of his wounds to Jericho. If he can do that, why does his body become so damaged later on? - Removed Guns N’ Roses playing during the Cult’s congregation. - Removed some fire stunt shots with a less-than-convincing mask, and the shot where Jericho and Christine outrun an explosion. - Flipped several shots during the subway sequence that were originally the wrong way around. Also painted out some guide-wires on the train during a model shot, and reversed the shot of Jericho and Christine when the train crashes. (The original shot had them being flung in the wrong direction.) - Removed the torn-in-half Man yelling out to taunt Jericho before vacating his ruined body. - Removed on-screen time from Times Square shot and added an easter egg. Lenny Nero from Strange Days (also about the end of 1999) can now be seen on one of the big screens. - Removed the phony countdown drama during the climax. How exactly is Satan supposed to impregnate Christine in the three seconds before the so-called Millennium is over? By making it so that there is still plenty of time to “do the deed”, it makes Jericho’s sacrifice actually mean something, as it’s truly his only way to stop the End of Days. - Extended the sword in one shot where it was much shorter for some reason. - Substituted a new song for the end credits. - Fixed credits to have correct cast and songs listing for this edit.

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

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