Comparison between the censored Thai VCD from Happy Home Entertainment and the uncut UK DVD (BBFC 18)


Thai VCD: 63:47 min. w/o end credits (67:35 min. w/ end credits)
UK-DVD (2D version): 75:35 min. w/o end credits (79:08 min. w/ end credits)

- 16cuts + 6 blurs
- Total length of cuts: 677.5 secs. (= 11:17 min.)

The additional runtime difference is a result of the missing logos in the Thai VCD version

The movie

The slasher movie Scar, first released in 2007 (not to be confused with the much more harmless movie from 2005 of the same name), combines elements of both slasher and torture movies a more or less successfully. The latter is a frequent element, so the critics might make heavy use of the good old annoying 'Torture Porn' buzzword.
The part which distinguishes this movie from the other flicks of this genre is that it was the first feature film shot entirely in HD-3D format and that 3D was already used some time before My Bloody Valentine 3D to present splatter scenes to the audience in quite a different way.

It's about Joan who pays a visit to her good old place of origin because of her niece Olympia's graduation. However, she has to struggle with childhood memories. Via flashbacks, the viewer learns that she once got kidnapped and only could avoid her being tortured by issuing an order for the murder of her friend who had been kidnapped, too. This is being repeated, or reenacted, by a guy who jumped on the bandwagon and is decimating Olympia's circle of friends by comparable perverted games.


The movie itself is not over-the-top, the actors deliver nothing special, and surprises are little to no existing in this thin plot. Angela Bettis, however, delivers quite a prominent name to the cast and she establishes a merciless and dirty mood, with a decent amount of violence. Further, the 3D effect has its certain charm, too.

The versions

Although the movie hasn't been released yet in some countries (as for example Germany), it has been released uncut in England in March, 2009. Two versions are included on the DVD, so you can watch the movie in 3D as well as in a 2D version. This really makes sense as the colours and reflections which occur without the goggles are terrible to watch and the goggles might be too wearisome to wear for one or the other.
So far, so good, MBV 3D, too, has both version available - with Scar, however, the producers made the effort to adapt the material itself. In the 2D version, some scenes were slightly cut (this adds up to this version being 2 minutes shorter) as some shots were left out that seem to having been intended for the 3D version only. Not a mistake at all, as there is no danger of showing scenes being unintentionally awkward for audiences without 3D goggles like for example an actor walking stupidly towards the camera.


This report takes care of another version, too. In Thailand, the only release was of a heavily cut version which might be similar to possible cut releases for other countries.
The most gruesome scenes had to be heavily cut. Some alterations are rather strange. Two somewhat longer cuts were apparently made to keep from the audience that the protagonists are smoking marijuana. In some countries, this is not an issue at all. Shortly after that, in every shot of a naked woman her breasts were blurred (those are the only nude scenes of the movie).

We even have a Thai version of the movie, courtesy of our member Dr. Phibes, for this report, which was released there on VCD (which, in Thailand, still is a common form of legal releases that can be found in every 7/11 stores) and can time and again be found on eBay there.
Subject of this report is 'only' the 2D version of the movie which sort of puts the title 'Scar 3D' on the cover ad absurdum.
This is strange in some other respect, too: some scenes depicted don't even occur in the movie (not even the uncut version)!



The runtimes given are in the order
Thai VCD / UK-DVD

As the movie was split among two VCDs, the runtimes given for the Thai version start over at 0:00 and refer to the respective disc.
At the start of disc 1 there are some trailers shown, which is the cause for the additional runtime difference (the movie starts at 8:28 min. - this was already subtracted for the runtime given in the introduction).

Disc 1

Credits
08:28 / 00:00-00:31

The logos are missing in the Thai VCD version.
(Not included in the total of cuts / runtime of cuts)

31 secs.

14:16 / 06:19-07:11

In the Thai version the introducing dialog between young Joan and her friend Susie in the flashback is missing.
They smoke weed (which probably is the cause for removal) and Joan talks Susie into going to Bishop's house and watching him.

Susie says: 'When I die, I wanna be buried under this tree.'
Joan comments with a smirk: 'Freak! Hand it over.'
Susie, laughing: 'Joan. Shit!'
Joan: 'Susie, where's the joint?'
She hands it over, but it falls on the ground; 'It fell in the grass. No, Joan, it's right under your nose.'
Joan picks it up, takes a pull on it, then they see light in the house nearby.
Joan: 'Hey, look, it's Bishop. We should go spy on him!'
Susie: 'Mm... No, not the best idea.'
Joan: 'Oh, come on. Maybe we'll catch him whacking off or something. Come on.'
She leads on and Susie has to follow her, of course, after a short 'I hate you...'

51.9 secs.

19:04 / 11:59-12:50

Paul and Olympia smoke weed behind a tree at the party, the others notice that and start mooching a bit.

Paul lights the pipe for her, she coughs a bit and says: 'Shit, that's rough!'
Paul immediately starts pulling some tricks: 'Hey, can I borrow your cell phone?'
Olympia: 'Sure.'
She wants to dig it out, but Paul already has it in his hand.
Olympia: 'How did you...?'
Paul: 'It's easy. Look. Watch the phone.'
He slightly bumps her: 'Bump. See?'
Olympia: 'Cool.'
Sandra can be heard from the background: 'See? I told you I smelled pot.'
Immediately some of them are around and Howard's girlfriend April reaches for the pipe: 'Finally somebody has some shit.'
She takes a pull on it and Olympia smiles at Paul.
April says to Howard: 'Let's go to the lake now. It will be romantic.'
Howard is reluctant, but gets dragged away: 'But...'
The others laugh and Sandra's boyfriend Brian says: 'The lake? You're finally gonna baptize your girlfriend?'
You can hear Howard from the background: 'Ha! Very funny. Cut it out.'

51.5 secs.

Blur
22:59-23:04 / 16:45-16:50

April's breasts were blurred.

No runtime difference

Thai VCD	UK DVD

Blur
23:07-23:10 / 16:53-16:56

Same here.

No runtime difference

Thai VCD	UK DVD

Blur
23:13-23:18 / 16:59-17:04

Once again.

No runtime difference

Thai VCD	UK DVD

Blur
23:22-23:23 / 17:08-17:09

On it goes.

No runtime difference

Thai VCD	UK DVD

Blur
23:25-23:26 / 17:11-17:12

One last time before she has turned around angry.

No runtime difference

Thai VCD	UK DVD

Blur
26:20-26:24 / 20:06-20:10

When April's body turns up in the water, her breasts have been blurred again, of course.

No runtime difference

Thai VCD	UK DVD

27:24 / 21:10-21:28

Joan is being worked on with the scalpel a bit in the flashback.

She screams 'No, I can't do that! I can't!' and Bishop applies the scalpel.
Joan keeps on screaming and Susie watches, shocked.
Bishop comments on her squirming: 'It's only gonna get worse!'

18.6 secs.

36:22 / 30:26-30:54

The shot gets cut off earlier here. Joan's belly being stapled is missing.
Susie, still tied up, can only watch helplessly.

28.1 secs.

36:58 / 31:30-31:55

In the Thai version, the scene of Bishop abusing Susie is missing entirely. He rams the scalpel into her mouth and thus cuts her vocal cords, and now Joan is watching helplessly.

Bishop comments: 'You know, I read in the paper that you have a magnificent singing voice, Susie. Sing us something!'
Susie spits blood and Bishop yells at Joan: 'Have you had enough?'

24.8 secs.

38:13 / 33:10-33:28

Olympia can be seen a bit longer, interrupted by some camera movements along the dead body of Howard – a giant puddle of blood around his genital area.

17.8 secs.

41:34 / 36:49-36:57

The light from Joan's flashlight reveals still more blood around the body and then shows the face once again.

7.8 secs.

41:41 / 37:04-38:42

A long cut after the fast fade at the beginning of Joan's flashback. In the Thai version, the viewer gets no idea that Susie dies and Joan was (being forced to it) partly responsible.

Susie's severed tongue falls on the floor.
Bishop: 'Say it!'
Joan: 'What...?'
Bishop: 'Say the words! Let me put her out of her goddamn misery!'
Joan begs: 'No, I can't!'
Bishop: 'Look at her! Look at her! Look at what you're doing to her! OK. Then an eye for an eye and a tongue for a tongue!'
He applies the scalpel (you see this from an inside her mouth POV) and Joan screams: 'OK...'
Bishop: 'OK what?'
She once again looks at Susie, breathless, and you can see her once again, too, and Joan whimpers: 'Do it.'
Bishop is not satisfied with that, of course: 'Do what?'
Joan whimpers: 'Kill her...just kill her.'

Bishop gets up: 'Attagirl. That wasn't so tough, was it?'
Joan and Susie slook at each other a short while and Joan whimpers 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!'
Bishop breaks Susie's neck and Joan screams.
The camera moves from Susie's head up to Bishop. When you can only see him any more, the Thai version sets in again.

A total of 97.5 secs.

Disc 2

07:33 / 47:48-48:16

A somewhat longer cut at Jeff's death: first you see the cut at his throat once again in a close-up, then Joan kneels down and you see several additional shots of Jeff.

28.2 secs.

13:52 / 54:35-54:51

Joan walks towards the table and discovers dead Melvin Gray under the sheet with the knife in his throat.

15.4 secs.

15:32 / 56:31-56:50

Blood and grease are running into the container. Bishop tries to defend himself..

19.3 secs.

22:56 / 64:14-65:14

In the Thai version, the part where Paul is working on Olympia's feet is missing entirely.

As Olympia doesn't react to his wave towards Sandra, he reaches for his gloves: 'OK, let's see.'
Paul picks up a razor blade and moves it along Olympia's legs towards her feet: 'This little piggy... went to market.'
He cuts the flesh, Olympia screams, and Joan says: 'Get your fucking hands off of her!'
Paul doesn't react, of course, and continues cutting after the words 'This little piggy... stayed home'.
You can see shocked Joan once again, then Olympia yells 'Please stop!'
Paul: 'Oh, baby...we could go on with this all night.'
Joan once again, and he continues: 'This little piggy had roast beef. And this little piggy had none!'

60 secs.

23:13 / 65:31-69:03

Giant cut: More than 3.5 minutes in one piece are missing and thus entirely how Sandra is first being extensively tortured and then killed.

Paul presses his hand on Sandra's mouth in the same shot and says: 'Do you remember our first day of freshman year? My first day of high school in this hick town. I wasn't allowed in your little clique. I was too quiet. What did you say to me? Ah, yes, you said 'What, are you fucking mute? Go play your little computer games.''
He grabs her hair and continues: 'I wanted to hurt all of you so fucking bad!'
He tears some hair from her head and throws it on the floor while Sandra (of course) is screaming accordingly.
He throws away something else and puts on his gloves before turning to Olympia: 'Olympia. Look at your friend. You gotta do it to her.'

Sandra wants to be relieved from the torture herself: 'It's OK, Olympia. Please just say it. God, just say it.'
Olympia of course hesitates and Paul says: 'See. Even she agrees with me.'
Joan talks back: 'Don't do it. Please!'
Paul: 'It's your call.'
To get her to decide a bit quicker, he cuts across her forehead with the scalpel.
Olympia screams of pain and eventually says: 'OK. Do it.'
Paul: 'Do...what?'
Olympia: 'Sandra.'
Sandra is shown once again, but Paul is more keen on torturing Olympia a bit more: 'I'm sorry. I guess I'm not quite understanding what you want me to do.'
Olympia: 'Kill her! God, just kill her!'
Joan is suffering alongside her niece who says to Sandra: 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry!'
Joan: 'It's not your fault, baby! It's not your fault!'

Paul dispenses some liquid glue over Sandra's face.
Joan is trying it once again: 'Don't do it, Paul!'
Paul: 'Joan, you know the rules. I thought that you'd been through something like this when you were a kid. You know what they say: History, it repeats itself.'
In the meantime, he takes off one glove and presses it on the glue around Sandra's mouth: 'Takes about ten seconds to set.'
Sandra suffocates in agony.

A total of 211.8 secs.




26:04 / 71:54-72:23

When Paul bends over Olympia, Joan's freeing herself in the meantime - by cutting off her thumb - is missing in the Thai version.

During the shots of the cutting, you hear Paul: 'I think we can do this without anesthesia. Now, let's take a look at those pearly whites. Too bad we won't be together for the holidays. 'Cause I'd know what to get you. Come on, it's not that hard, Olympia. You can do it. You know the game!'

29.4 secs.

26:56 / 73:15-73:20

Olympia is sawing into Paul's head a bit longer and in a gorier fashion.

4.7 secs.

26:59 / 73:23-73:34

A couple more extremely gory shots of the head after Joan has lifted it up..

10.7 secs.