Comparison between the international version by Sunrise (FSK 16) and the Director's Cut by Sunfilm/Marketing (FSK 16)

Ryhuhei Kitamura's second feature film after his surprise hit VERSUS is an overlooked movie. If you thought Kitamura would have made another highspeed horror-/actionflick, you are wrong. Alive is a very calm, but stylistically well-done film with most of the action taking place in one room. There are brutal action fests every now and then, but the calm parts outweigh them.
The so-called Director's Cut isn't really one, but is merely the normal Japanese version. The version used for the international market, which was hardly released anywhere on DVD, contains many small cuts, which were supposed to make the movie quicker resp. more fast-paced for the western audience (much like with what happened to Kitamura's AZUMI). That's why the "Dir. Cut" is no must-buy considering the new scenes.
What might be interesting to mention is that the Sunrise version has some sort of blue tone and seems a little brighter here and there.
International version = 110:19 min.
Director's Cut = 119:02 min.

Longer scenes in the DC = 8:52 min.

00:00 The DC misses two logos in the beginning.
+ 9 Sec.

00:17 A black frame is a little longer in the DC.
3 Sec.

09:37 The end of a shot of convict Tenshu Yashiro, he opens his eyes and looks around a little, as well as the beginning of the next shot showing him from a little further away are both longer in the DC.
6.5 Sec.

09:58 The end of a shot after Tenshu got up, as well as the beginning of the next scene showing a close-up shot of him.
5.5 Sec.

10:11 Again, the end of a shot of Tenshu is shown a little longer, and also a part of the following camera sway through the room is slightly longer.
2 Sec.

11:03 End of a shot of Tenshu, beginning of the following shot of his cellmate Hondoh.
4,5 Sec.

11:05 You see Hondoh longer. He is agitated, saying he thought he was punished enough.
8.5 Sec.

11:57 Longer shot of Tenshu. Because of that, the next shot misses one part of the voice-over saying to the two that the world forgot them and that they didn't exist any more.
4 Sec.

16:22 The talk Hondoh and Tenshu have while they are eating is longer in the DC. The camera slowly moves from Hondoh's front behind him, so that you see Tenshu sitting on his opposite. Hondoh tells him he killed at least 9 people. Tenshu asks why he did it, and Hondoh answers you didn't need a reason to kill somebody. Then he asks Tenshu why he had killed his girlfriend. He doesn't get a response. So Hondoh continues, saying he thinks he understands him, because they were the same. He offers him his friendship.
53 Sec.

17:32 End of a take of Tenshu sitting on the ground. Subsequently, one part of the next shot is missing. Hondoh ennervedly throws the card onto the table and asks Tenshu if he wanted to make fun of him. He denies that.
17 Sec.

17:49 You see drunk Hondoh a little longer.
2 Sec.

17:52 Ditto.
5.5 Sec.

18:53 You see Tenshu a little longer and then Hondoh, who tells him he didn't give a damn about him. He thinks the scientists leave him alone if he killed Tenshu.
24.5 Sec.

23:50 The scene in which Hondoh tells Tenshu about how he killed a woman with a baseball bat is longer in the DC. Hondoh continues that he actually likes women. Before the murder, he didn't even dared to talk to women. Since this incident he seemed to be a different person and talks to every woman. If they didn't respect him, it was their own fault, he finally says. Tenshu, who is shown in the foreground, is getting more and more upset, because everything Hondoh tells him reminds him of his girlfriend. Finally, Hondoh throws his baseball against the wall.
34.5 Sec.

24:39 Beginning of a shot of Tenshu.
2 Sec.

25:43 After he has beat down Hondoh with the bottle, the end of a shot of Tenshu is missing. He stumbles back and drops on the ground.
3,5 Sec.

25:53 Some shots of the two staring at each other are missing.
16 Sec.

26:07 The scene in which Hondoh eats the glass shard and Tenshu stares at him is longer in the DC.
14.5 Sec.

26:50 As the buzzers get activated, a shot of Hondoh keeping his ears shut is missing.
3 Sec.

26:53 This time a shot of Tenshu.
2,5 Sec.

26:58 End of a shot of Tenshu, beginning of the next scene with Hondoh.
3,5 Sec.

27:04 End of a shot of Tenshu and then Hondoh again, continuing to keep his ears shut.
8 Sec.

27:07 Beginning of a shot of Tenshu.
4 Sec.

27:13 After the buzzing stopped, the following shot of the room is slightly longer in the DC. Tenshu asks Hondoh if everything was okay.
6 Sec.

27:39 You see Hondoh scream and go crazy because of the buzzing a little longer. The next shot of Tenshu is a little shorter again.
8 Sec.

28:44 End of a shot of wheeping Hondoh.
5 Sec.

29:24 End of a shot of Yurika, beginning of the next shot of Tenshu.
1,5 Sec.

29:31 Shot of Yurika and Tensho, who approaches her a little more.
4,5 Sec.

33:39 Beginning of a shot in the control center. Asuka, Yurika's sister, tells Matsuda that physical and psychic tests were perfomed on Tenshu in prison.
9 Sec.

33:55 You see Matsuda a little longer. Finally, a part of the next shot of Tenshu standing above Hondoh, who was just beat up, and turning to Yurika is missing.
10 Sec.

34:30 Beginning of a shot of Matsuda.
6 Sec.

35:20 Beginning of the birds-view shot of the control center.
4 Sec.

37:38 Tokutake, the safety adivers, warns Matsuda that he would regret it a lot if he made another mistake.
12.5 Sec.

37:42 Matsuda tells Tokutake, that they did whatever they could and that mistakes do happen. Then Tokutaker asks if the isomer could break out of the girl Yurika. Asuka says they would make it.
18 Sec.

38:23 End of a shot of Asuka.
3 Sec.

38:28 Tokutake continues to talk down Matsuda and the other scientists, because he thinks low of their experiments with the prisoners.
20.5 Sec.

48:57 Beginning of a take. Wheeping Yurika tells Tenshu that something was growing in her body (she talks about the isomer).
20 Sec.

57:42 Beginning of a shot of Yurika and Tenshu. She talks to him a little.
13 Sec.

61:01 After the isomer has spread to Tenshu, the beginning of the shot showing him and Yurika is longer. Tenshu asks what happened to him.
14 Sec.

61:28 Again, the beginning of a take is longer. Yurika tells Tenshu, that he was still human, despite the isomer, but that it took it some time to spread in his body.
9.5 Sec.

64:28 Yurika tells Tenshu about the isomer in her body and that many people had to die because of the parasite, how she calls it. She says that it nestles many years in her body now, but her body has not changed. This is why she is so valuable to the scientists.
79.5 Sec.

72:51 End of a shot of Tenshu. He looks back and you see the soldier's bodies on the ground.
19.5 Sec.

72:55 Beginning of a shot in the command center. Tokutake is overwhelemed by the isomer's abilities and takes a few steps back to sit down.
10 Sec.

74:43 Beginning of a camera take towards Yurika.
11,5 Sec.

81:56 You see Matsuda talk to Tenshu (via speakers) longer. Matsuda tries to persuade him not to listen to Yurika, because she was much too emotional. Tenshu then says he'd prefer to be like Yurika than to be as cold as Matsuda and the other scientists.
18 Sec.

97:19 End of a take of Tokutake and beginning of the next shot of Zeros.
1.5 Sec.