The Secret Cut Of Quentin Tarantino’s Bloodiest Masterpiece Needs A Release
Most film fans are familiar with the concept of the director’s cut, wherein a filmmaker gets to retool their work without the encroaching influence of a studio, often with no regard for MPAA censorship or average runtime length. While many director’s cuts have found their home on DVD bonus discs and even streaming services, the most famous director’s cut has somehow gone two decades without a proper release. The cut in question, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, absolutely needs to see the light of day, and now is the perfect time.
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
Tarantino’s Kill Bill films, which were split into Volume 1 and Volume 2 and released in 2003 and 2004 respectively, were originally meant to be one massive adventure.
In fact, Tarantino himself still considers the Kill Bill franchise to count as one single film, as he has subsequently labelled and numbered them as his fourth movie in his catalogue. Tarantino cut together Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair shortly after Volume 2 was released, as the intended 4+ hour version of the film that he originally sought to create.
The Cut Already Exists, It Simply Needs A Wide Release
Despite Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair being the filmmaker’s preferred vision, the extra-long edit has never received a proper wide release. The Once Upon A Time In Hollywood director has taken the opportunity to screen the Whole Bloody Affair privately for friends and industry insiders since 2006, and even released an ultra-limited screening for the public in 2011.
But the iteration has never once been officially sold to streamers, nor sold to retailers on DVD or Blu-ray.
Tarantino Fans Would Buy The Cut
On one hand, this makes a lot of sense, as it would likely be difficult to inspire droves of fans to sit still for a feature of this length, especially one that’s so packed with uncut blood and gore.
On the other hand, Quentin Tarantino is one of the few directors working today who inspires such obsession from his fans, meaning he could surely make millions off the distribution of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair if he really wanted to.
For my money, it seems like the solution to this problem is extremely obvious, as Tarantino has already released extended cuts of his films in the past.
Give It The Hateful Eight Treatment
Back in 2019, Quentin Tarantino released an extended director’s cut of his 2015 outing The Hateful Eight as a mini-series on Netflix, which added roughly 25 minutes of additional footage to the 3 hour long movie, and split the excessive runtime into digestible chunks.
Both volumes of Kill Bill recently departed Netflix, rendering the classic films unavailable to stream on any major service at this time, which means now is the perfect time to drop The Whole Bloody Affair as a multi-part series on the streaming platform.
Kill Bill 3?
This seems like a no-brainer, though there may be internal factors preventing the filmmaker from going this route with his secretive director’s cut. According to the rumor mill, Tarantino is still toying with the idea of helming a third volume in the franchise, so he may just be holding out for an ultra-absurd 6 hour long version of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair before offering the project a wide release.
While it seems unlikely, Quentin Tarantino is one of those visionary artists that is impossible to pin down, so anything is truly possible.
