Comparison between the 4K theatrical version and the 4K uncut version, both included on the UHD Blu-ray from Warner / Universal

- 4 cuts
- Difference: 8.8 sec

Censorship history of Wes Craven's NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

The many parts of Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street that were created in the 80s have one thing in common from our point of view: in addition to the many purely German FSK cuts, at least some parts of the series were internationally notorious even then for their alternative cuts.

In Freddy Krueger's case, in addition to the rather exotic alternative version of Freddy's Dead, there was, on the one hand, the unrated version of Nightmare 5 - The Dream Child that appeared on VHS in the USA, Great Britain and France, and, on the other hand, the unrated version of Nightmare on Elm Street that could be discovered on VHS in Germany in particular.

As is well known, the MPAA objected to both parts, and only after censorship of a few violent scenes the R-rating (targeted by the studio in the USA for theatrical release) was possible. Curiously, however, the uncut version did reach some other countries via export. More specifically, in the case of the first part, which is relevant here, these were Germany, the UK, France and Japan. There were still a few laserdisc releases with marginally better picture quality than on VHS, but since the advent of DVDs (in the US for the first time in 1999, in Europe a little later and in different versions), the same shorter cut has been used worldwide.

It presumably corresponds to the original R-rated theatrical version in the USA, and thus this was a step backwards for those European countries that were previously familiar with a longer version in (home) cinema. In the audio commentary for Part 1, it was also clearly confirmed that the scene in which Tina falls from the ceiling onto the bed, causing a big splash of blood, was a victim of the censorship at the time. For the HD release that first came out in 2010, Warner ignored the requests from many fans for the uncut version, and so all Blu-rays contain the identical, presumed US theatrical version.

4K premiere with uncut version, but only in English / original audio

With the 4K premiere, available from October 2024 (in the USA/UK a few days earlier than in Germany), there was an unexpected surprise, because with the new medium you actually finally get the complete unrated or “uncut version”. The quality is quite respectable, actually there is no real difference to the rest of the movie. For the time being, only part 1 is released, but that gives hope for the much more heavily censored part 5. Industry insiders in the US have already hinted that a similar edition can be expected here in the future. However, in the absence of more precise confirmation, we are refraining from providing a corresponding link for the time being.

As with the Rocky editions in 4K, however, one can only marvel at the unclear information policy of Warner / Universal regarding these catalog titles, as well as, unfortunately, the rather half-hearted implementation. Inquiries from us and a few other portals went unanswered and the uncut version was never really a marketing aspect on the part of the studios. The only way to figure out the minor sensation that the DVD included an “uncut version” in addition to the familiar theatrical cut as a bonus was to look at back cover scans, the Irish home cinema rating document and other posts by insiders.

In Germany (and presumably also other EU countries), the information situation was particularly poor and it was possible to speculate early on why this was the case: for this bonus, the back cover scan revealed that although many subtitle languages are available, this version only offers English audio. And that's how it turned out on the globally identical 4K Blu-ray: Despite a difference of only a few seconds and the implementation with playlists (so to speak seamless branching), all foreign languages are deactivated when the “uncut version” is selected. As commendable as the addition of this long-awaited cut in true 4K is, for foreign fans it's a bit sobering and, above all, difficult to understand. After all, it is not a fundamentally different cut version and there is only a mini dialoge of 2 sec, for which, as a fan experienced in this regard, one would probably have accepted even a short subtitle section - although these word fragments are included in the German soundtrack anyway, as they are on DVD and Blu-ray. But more details on this below.

Theatrical version in 4K more heavily censored than on DVD and Blu-ray

The second disappointment comes with the 4K main version or “theatrical version” and this is the actual reason for this report. In addition to the mini-censors at Tina's bloody death in bed, which were already documented at the time (as a comparison between German VHS and internationally identical DVD), it surprisingly shows two more differences.

On the one hand, there is a completely harmless moment in the shot of children playing just before the credits roll, right before Marge is pushed through the window by Krueger. It looks like a reconstructed master error. On the other hand, the last shot of the huge fountain of blood in the second half of the film, right before the mother of Johnny Depp's character opens the door, is missing. Several similar shots directly before this are included, so that this tastes less clearly of censorship than Tina's death. Nevertheless, it is a clear intervention in a violent scene that viewers of the 4K main version, which has been dubbed worldwide, may find annoying. But what is the story behind this: Was the cut version known from DVD and Blu-ray possibly not the correct R-rated theatrical cut, but a kind of hybrid, like the Blu-ray of Mad Max II - The Road Warrior?

Thanks to the support of e.g. our user Thaddäus Tentakel, among others, we were able to go on a historical search and include some older releases for comparison. In any case, several old DVDs, the 1996 US laserdisc from Elite (R-rated) and the previous Blu-ray had this shot in its uncut version. Unfortunately, we were unable to check the even earlier VHS or laserdisc releases in the US from the 80s. It is possible that the moment was missing there and was only added again from 1996 onwards. Old (German) TV masters provide a small clue here. Depending on the case, it would now be at least a correct reconstruction of the theatrical version in 4K. The audio transfer in some older releases, also documented below with audio samples, at least suggests that something may have been missing here back in the days. If we can finally clarify this, an update will of course follow. Since most people should be familiar with the version known from DVD and Blu-ray, the additional cut is at least worthy of discussion.

The runtimes are organized according to the scheme
Theatrical cut on UHD Blu-ray in 23.976 fps / Uncut version on UHD Blu-ray in 23.976 fps

Update: In the meantime, we were also able to get an original copy of the US VHS by Media Home Entertainment, which was released in the 80s, for comparison. Interestingly, it was confirmed that the scene with the blood fountain was missing exactly the same shot here and the weird moment in the finale was cut here as well. This supports the assumption that the “theatrical version” now released in 4K is virtually correct, while the DVD/Blu-ray (and the previous laserdisc) contained a kind of hybrid version in which not all of the censorship for the American R-rating was present.