Synopsis:

This is the second entry in the "B+ Movie Project", a series of edits that seek to improve on older films, while still maintaining the charm and narrative of the original cut. #2 happens to be another Jack Arnold film, and similarly to Creature from the Black Lagoon, this has had a lot of chaff removed. I’ve tried to strike a balance between promptly setting things up and improving the pacing, while also maintaining some of the atmosphere in the latter half of the film, where the tone starts to become more philosophical. This edit comes with two audio options: - B+ Narrative (default) – heavily trimmed narration. Anything that I felt was too pretentious or didn’t add anything is removed and rescored. - Purist Narrative – lightly trimmed narration. The original voice-over has been preserved as much as possible, with some compromise being made due to the streamlined nature of the edit.

Intentions:

My original intention going into this was to completely remove the narration and only keep the opening and closing V/O, but I soon realised that A: This wasn’t really in line with the B+ Mission statement, and B: Some of the narration added a lot more than I thought. After a suggestion from DigModiFicaTion, I decided to create two separate audio streams – one where I could be as liberal as I wanted, and with the other preserve the narration as much as the streamlined nature of the edit would allow.

Change List:

Full(ish) cutlist: Very few scenes were left untouched, sometimes as little as a single frame being chopped off. I have not kept track of every single change I made, but I’ve listed as many of the more significant ones that I can remember. - added fan edit and scribbling man branding - added new “B+” title - trimmed opening shots - trimmed exposure to radiation - trimmed feeding the cat - trimmed Louise faffing around the kitchen - trimmed medical montage - removed all narration during medical montage (trimmed version restored in purist) - rescored medical montage (not in purist) - trimmed argument after Louise tries to get an unlisted line - removed long pause between Scott shouting “look at me!” And Louise crying - removed narration over scene following visit to the doctor’s office in which cure is applied (restored in purist) - trimmed narration when Scott runs away - heavily trimmed circus scene - trimmed scenic shots of cafe - trimmed Louise getting her keys - trimmed cat entering house - trimmed Scott moping - removed narration/contemplating suicide (not that he wouldn’t, but it’s very poorly done) - trimmed cat entrance - trimmed cat scratching around - trimmed Scots reaction time - trimmed Scott opening door - trimmed Scott backing away - trimmed Scott escaping from house - cut a few dodgy shots of the cat attacking Scott - swapped out shot of Scott getting hit by cat so that he immediately lands by the lamp - heavily trimmed cat hissing at Scott - trimmed Scott’s escape - altered fade transition slightly when Louise cries over bloodied garment - cut opening news dialogue, going straight to the headline - cut narration during Scott’s return to consciousness (restored in purist) - trimmed return to consciousness - trimmed escape from box - trimmed narration during Scott calling out to Louise from bottom of stairs (restored in purist) - trimmed water discovery - trimmed narration during Scott observing his surroundings (restored in purist) - smoothed transition to Scott’s brother - trimmed Scott exploring - trimmed mousetrap encounter - trimmed Scott discovering food - trimmed running towards box - trimmed spider entrance - trimmed climb up box - trimmed exploration on top of box - trimmed narration on top of box (trimmed version restored in purist) - swapped out shot of Scott walking across paint stick - trimmed walking across paint stick - trimmed paint stick coming unstuck - trimmed Scott nearly falling - trimmed Scott climbing up ledge - trimmed Scott exploring - trimmed bird scene - cut narration after Scott shakes the cage in frustration (restored in purist) - trimmed food gathering - trimmed spider chase - trimmed spider trying to get into Matchbox - trimmed water dripping - improved Scott’s response time to water dripping - trimmed Scott getting swept away in flood - trimmed Scott’s brother and Louise entering basement - trimmed Scott crying out to them (in the original film, the audio of him crying out is looped and Scott just alternately calls out to his brother and Louise. I trimmed this and moved the audio around so he calls his brother when he steps towards him and Louise when she steps towards him) - trimmed Scott’s brother discovering flood source - trimmed draining - trimmed Scott’s brother and Louise leaving - trimmed Scott’s return to consciousness - trimmed Scott running from spider - trimmed Scott running back to Matchbox - trimmed narration as Scott prepares for a second climb - trimmed second climb - trimmed hike across paint tin - trimmed Scott walking towards web - heavily trimmed Scott trying to get attention of spider - trimmed spider chase/battle - slightly sped up spider crawling towards Scott - removed less than impressive shots of spider - trimmed Scott getting his weapon back - trimmed Scott climbing out from under spider - trimmed Scott walking towards cake - trimmed narration as Scott approaches cake (restored in purist) - the ending is awesome, so is left practically untouched.

Additional Notes:

The gist: - Improved pacing - Trimmed narration, removing some of the more pretentious and archaic lines - Reduced bad shots/cuts as much as possible (particularly during the cat and spider sequences) - No scenes or dialogue have been removed (bar some narration), but many tiny trims have been made throughout, tightening up and polishing what I already believed to be a good film.

Other Sources:

My own Scribbling Man Logo

Special Thanks:

Special thanks: To Sinbad and DigModiFicaTion, for feedback. To DigModiFicaTion, for proposing the idea of having two alternate audio streams. To jswert123456 and theryaney for their cover designs. I can be a forgetful soul, so if I've missed anyone out please accept my apologies and thanks!