Tom Sizemore
Review

Natural Born Killers - The Directors Cut - A Review


Released on home video in two casettes in America in July 1997, the “Natural Born Killers Director’s Cut” is an even better film than it’s original, and the amount of extra footage and interviews in the tape is remarkable. A warning to those who hasn’t seen the director’s cut, this review will explain the cut scenes in detail, and I receommend strongly to watch it.
The “Natural Born Killers Director’s Cut” package comes with two tapes. The first tape is the director’s cut of “NBK.” There’s nothing different and no new distinguishing scenes. It’s just a lot more blood and gore. In fact, all this adds seven minutes to the film! The newly restored scenes include a point of view shot from the wound in Robert Downey Jr.’s hand, Scagnetti’s demise is shown a bit more graphically, and ever wonder what really happened to McClusky? (Tommy Lee Jones) Well, the inmates cut his head off and placed it on top of a stick, waving it in the air as a sign of victory. The scenes are more shocking and gruesome and definitely not for the squeamish!
The real treat is the second tape, which features over 25 minutes of additional scenes and an introduction by Oliver Stone as to why he left the scenes out. First off, the scene with Mickey and Mallory in the desert after their car ran out of gas was shot differently. In the original cut, Mallory begins to question Mickey’s motives and starts shooting at him. The Old Indian appears and a goat chases after Mickey. Nothing too important. The next cut scene is, as right after Scagnetti strangles the prostitute in his hotel room, he dumps her body in an abandoned car lot. Little does he know that he’s right by Mickey and Mallory, who are experiencing the snake bites at a drive-in. That scene is followed by the infamous Drug Store scene, where Scagnetti catches Mickey and Mallory. The next cut scene, however, is the real treasure.
An eleven-minute courtroom scene was originally shot beginning with Mickey and Mallory arriving at the trial. However, arriving just before was the prosecution’s key witness and one of the survivors of the Knox’s rampage, Grace Mulberry. (played by Ashley Judd, who worked with Sizemore later in “Heat.”) The scene shows Grace on the witness stand as Mickey, acting as his own attorney (bringing up shades of Colin Ferguson, who defended himself after killing six people on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993) questioning Grace. The scene ends in shocking fashion, as after Grace spits on Mickey, he responds by stabbing her in the heart with a pencil. The crowd goes ballistic and the cops, including Sizemore, hold Mickey back as he laughs “No further questions, your honor!” Oliver’s reason for not putting it in was because he felt it was leading Mickey and Mallory to a wrong direction, and it was a bit long. I disagree and felt that the scene should’ve been kept in, especially for Ashley’s performance.
Also making a small appearance is Denis Leary, giving his famous monologues that was supposed to be put in during right after Wayne cuts to commercial during the interview. A very funny monologue that has nothing to do with the rest of the film, but it’s still good. Wayne’s status as a bloodsucking media mongrel is shown more as his interview with movie stars Simon and Norman Hun, played by Peter and David Paul. (the Barbarian brothers) In an overacted but very funny scene, the two brothers, without legs, say they admire Mickey and Mallory, even though they were the ones who cut their legs off. They were putting chainsaws to their legs when they realized who they were, and Mickey says to them that he’s their biggest fan. They left and apologized.
Now, the ending of “Natural Born Killers” showed Mickey and Mallory kill Wayne, saying he’s the last one they kill, and it goes to a media montage. However, an alternate ending was shot, and it answers the question, “What happened to Owen?” Owen, (played with a wonderful silence by Arliss Howard) if you recall, was the man who appeared quickly in the first scene, then helped them escape from prison. You see him leave, but you don’t hear anything about them. Well, in the alternate ending, taking place right after Wayne was killed, the couple go back into the “American Maniacs” van and Owen is in the back, telling them how he enjoyed letting them out of prison. Mallory has plans of going to Mexico, and Mickey agrees. Owen tells them that he’d like to go, but Mickey refuses, telling him they’ll drop him off at the next town. Owen, a crazy admirer of them, asks for one request which pisses Mickey off and he pulls over. As he turns over to Owen, Owen fires a shotgun right at Mickey’s face. The demented fan then turns his attention to Mallory and the scene cuts to black, with the sound of a rifle firing. I found this ending to be more fitting, and if it would’ve been in the original movie, people would’ve understood it more. It showed that although Mickey and Mallory became media darlings and superstars, it was a product of that media spotlight that brought to their ultimate demise.
The second tape also features the Nine Inch Nails video “Burn” and a half hour documentary on the making of “Natural Born Killers” with interviews by Oliver Stone, Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr, Tommy Lee Jones, and, of course, Tom Sizemore. Oliver has a lot of great things to say about Tom and Tom’s interview is the funniest.
The “Natural Born Killers Director’s Cut” is a must and is available for sale everywhere at the cost of around $24.99.

Many thanks to Scagnetti's U.S. representative Scott Perry for this review!


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