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two different versions of the movie (spoilers)

posted 18 years ago by andrewshor
6 replies | jump to latest

I have seen two different versions of An American Werewolf in Paris. The first version was on television and the second version is on the R4 DVD.

The second version has an added scene in the church where Claude explains the history of werewolves to Andy. In the 13th century there were as many as 30,000 werewolves. Then the werewolves were nearly driven to extinction. But one survived, crossing the English channel where he lived for many years before being shot by simple farmers after attacking a traveler. The traveler survived but was eventually killed in London. His daughter was born in Paris. Andy the realizes that he's talking about Serafine.

In the first version Claude asks Andy to join his gang and Andy replies that it's a big decision and he needs time to think. Claude says "sure". This is where the scene ends in the first version. In the second version, the scene continues and Claude says "I give you ten seconds". Andy looks around nervously and says "Sure, why not. Sounds like fun".

The endings of the two versions are completely different.
In the first version, Serafine is in the ambulance and seems to be hallucinating that Andy is there with her. Then "Several Full Moons Later", Andy and Serafine are about to bungee jump off the Statue of Liberty on their wedding day. After the ring is accidentally dropped off the tower, Andy and Serafine bungee jump to catch it and this time Serafine saves Andy's life. This ending makes it clear that Serafine is still a werewolf.

In the second version, Serafine is in the ambulance and is preparing to pull out the tube that's keeping her alive. Her step-father appears and says "don't even think about". He then explains that he's invented a permanent cure, a serum that will last a lifetime. He's holding some papers that have instructions on how to make the serum. In both versions the ambulance guy says "My name is Bruno but I'm easy". Then "Several Full Moons Later" Andy comes to visit Serafine in the hospital. Serafine's baby is brought in and Andy screams when he sees the baby but then says he was just kidding. Then the baby opens its eyes and it has werewolf eyes.

This second ending I don't understand. Did Serafine's father really give her the cure or was she just hallucinating? Was he undead? How could he invent a cure if he was undead? How could he give those papers to Serafine if he was undead? How could he be undead if he died while in a coma and not directly after being mauled by a werewolf? Is Serafine still a werewolf?

[–] fulhous1 18 years ago

Where can this second version be found?

Be cunning, full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed
-Watership Down

[–] andrewshor 18 years ago

In Australia. It's the Region 4 DVD.

[–] fulhous1 18 years ago

Ah man, my DVD player only plays Region 1. Thanks anyway.

Be cunning, full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed
-Watership Down

[–] andrewshor 18 years ago

Now that I've seen the longer version of the scene where Claude makes his "We have a mission Andy" speech" in the church, I can see that the regular version has been heavily edited and not in a good way. Before opening the trapdoor, Claude talks about the history of werewolves. The trapdoor is then opened and this is where Claude begins his "We have a mission" speech. However, in the regular version the part with him talking about the history of werewolves has been entirely removed and his words "We have a mission Andy, to purify the world" is turned into a voice-over that begins just as they get out of the car and then continues as a voice-over after they enter the church. This doesn't make chronological sense because there's a distance between the point where they get out of the car and the entrance of the church and there's also a distance between the entrance of the church and the trapdoor, so Claude's speech would've been disjointed, with very long pauses if he really did begin the speech as soon as they got out of the car. This editing technique using voice-overs just seems silly and unnecessary to me and I don't know why they didn't include the part about the history of werewolves. It is important to the movie and provides the only connection between this movie and AAWiL. It's not like the movie was too long or something.

The ambulance scene in the longer version is not an alternate take as I initially thought. The regular version simply removed the bit with Serafine trying to pull out the tube and the bit with her father talking. Her final words are "Daddy, you're wonderful, I love you, je t'aime". The regular version keeps these words even though they don't make any sense now that her father has been cut out. I think the word "Daddy" may have been slightly redubbed to make it sound more like "Andy" but I'm not sure because she says it very faintly. Either way it doesn't make sense.

[–] dnhjr 18 years ago

I have this DVD also. I only bought it because the US region 1 DVD was not 16x9 and this one was. When I did watch it I was like blown away that this was a different version and a better version. I'm really glad I got this DVD.

[–] 18 years ago

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