You probably missed A Cure For Wellness during its theatrical release, as the film sadly did not perform all that well in its February release. But with the film's Digital HD release today, it's a good time to talk about something that even fans of the film didn't get to see in theaters. As it turns out, there's an extra piece of material slated for the film's Blu-ray release, as it was cut for one of the most legendary reasons: it helped the movie move a bit faster.
The film's director, Gore Verbinski, made this admission, when I had the chance to talk to him about the film last week. Obviously, when a film is touting excised material coming to home video, there's a good story behind why the material was cut, and Verbinski didn't disappoint in that department. When asked about why he trimmed this material out of the film, he had told me the following:
Basically it was a sequence that got cut in the process. It came out of the movie in the first rough cut. It was late in the third act, and it sort of condensed that section before Lockhart's epiphany. ... You could feel the movie wanted to make that turn sooner, and the audience had the ability to intuit the information that was there.
Ultimately, the sequence that's included on the Blu-ray release of A Cure For Wellness had the potential to break the audience out of the atmosphere that the film had cultivated in all of the events that came before it. With the methodical pacing that the film engages in through its first two acts, this sequence, dubbed "Embryonic," would have definitely derailed the tracks so carefully laid in the film's first two acts. But instead of deleting the material, and losing it to obscurity, Gore Verbinski and his editors did something unique as a tribute to the fans, and these moments now removed from the film.
Most distributors would be tempted to put each one of those individual scenes back onto the Blu-ray as a "Deleted Scenes" special feature. But just as A Cure For Wellness is a unique film with a story that stands out, Gore Verbinski wanted to make something special for the fans of the film with those leftover bits. As it turns out, this deleted sequence was a combination of odds and ends cut from A Cure For Wellness, edited into a visual collage that not only provides fans with something new, but also kind of helps sell the film out of the context of the actual movie. Gore Verbinski explained as follows:
I didn't want to put together the 'missing ingredients' on the Blu-ray. I wanted to make a souffle with them for the fans, and create something.
As with any other under-appreciated film, such as A Cure For Wellness, home video is a sanctuary where folks who missed it the first time around will be able to jump into the fun. To help convince you folks that this film is worth the Digital HD purchase you can make today, we have the exclusive "deleted sequence" that basically sums up the experience of A Cure For Wellness is aiming for. Prepare for a head rush of thrilling visuals, and watch for yourself below.
If you're a fan of A Cure For Wellness, this sequence is an extra treat, baked from the bits of the mix that were trimmed from the final cut. But don't fear if you haven't seen the film yet, as the information in this clip didn't spoil anything for you, and should serve as an appetizer to the full experience. You can enjoy the experience of A Cure For Wellness, as it's currently available on Digital HD, with the Blu-ray / DVD release coming next Tuesday, June 6.
