THE PLAGUE: DIRECTOR’S CUT

The as-yet-unreleased cut of THE PLAGUE is the closest representation of the intended creative vision of the film’s writers and director. A dramatically altered version — not approved or supported by the film’s writers, director, cinematographer or cast — was released by Sony Screen Gems in 2006.

We are currently working on getting the rights and permissions to officially release a 20th Anniversary Director’s Cut (until now, the Director’s Cut has only been available in a work print form – please contact Hal directly for more information or to arrange a viewing).

The behind-the-scenes events surrounding THE PLAGUE are a direct inspiration for the creation and formation of Off Leash Films. THE PLAGUE, originally produced and intended as an homage to the socially-relevant B-horror films of the 1970’s that offered audiences an entertaining, visceral and thought-provoking experience, unfortunately fell into the hands of those for whom such desires and intentions were either of no interest or too daunting to see through to completion. The film was eventually released with our names attached, but our story butchered and our cinematic vision and storytelling structure altered to such a shocking degree that it became precisely the type of film it had originally been created as an alternative to. The film no longer appealed to nor engaged its intended audience, but instead resembled so many other indistinguishable films that were already out there in disproportionate abundance.

The tale of what happened to THE PLAGUE, however, is not a new or unique one. Consider the advice and impression of one of the single most successful film producers of all time, Irving Thalberg. Thalberg was made head of production at MGM in 1925 and in just three short years turned MGM into one of the most successful studios in Hollywood history. He remained in that position for 12 years until his early death at age 37. His insights and observations are as relevant today as they were over 90 years ago:

“The producer beating a new path for himself through the wilderness is going to do the thing ‘differently,’ of course. But after a while, he looks about him. The territory is unfamiliar, the forest ahead forbidding. Just how ‘different’ dare he be? He looks at his resources, and then at the established successes of the past. He suddenly realizes he must play safe, be sure. The unknown is a gamble; the known isn’t—at least comparatively. The safest plan, obviously, is to follow the trailblazers. So he produces an imitation of one of the current successes. Usually it is a mediocre imitation.”  –Irving Thalberg

What makes the story behind the making of THE PLAGUE all the more dispiriting is that THE PLAGUE was never intended to be a particularly daring or courageous film. If anything, it was a return to form. A character-driven B-horror film filled with many familiar genre tropes, albeit with subtle twists, a strategically measured pace and deliberate social commentary. Unfortunately, even that proved to be too great a task. As film reviewer Scott Weinberg called it, “a fine little horror tale that wanted to trade in a little character, depth and ambiguity — and then got absolutely screwed for it.”

Ironically, the social message of THE PLAGUE: DIRECTOR’S CUT – with its themes of kids and violence and the propagandistic social conditioning that often edifies violence as a means to an end, has become even more culturally and politically relevant today than when the film was made. Its message still resonates.

Director’s Cut synopsis:

James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek, CSI Cyber), Dee Wallace (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Cujo) and Ivana Milicevic (Casino Royale, Banshee) star in this supernatural thriller about a world on the edge of extinction. In one horrifying and unexpected moment, all children across the globe — those under the age of nine and all those born from that day forward — fall into a deep catatonic state. Tom Russell (Van Der Beek) returns home to a small New Hampshire town after 11 years in prison to find the world he left behind and the people he once knew changed. What proves to be a difficult homecoming soon turns terrifying as the children of the world, after a ten-year incubation period, suddenly return to consciousness. And with them they bring an incomprehensible and violent fury for which Tom, and a handful or townspeople cut off from the rest of the world, must not only fight to understand, but to survive.

Shot by award-winning cinematographer Bill Butler, ASC (Jaws, The Conversation, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Grease, Frailty).

Go HERE to read the dozens of international articles and reviews written about THE PLAGUE: DIRECTOR’S CUT and the cautionary tale that is its backstory.

To see the unreleased Director’s Cut, please contact Hal Masonberg at: hal@offleashfilms.com

The following is the trailer for a short documentary called SPREADING THE PLAGUE that we put together back in 2007 containing original interviews with some of the film’s actors, writer/director Hal Masonberg, as well as with select film critics and authors about the differences between the producers’ cut of THE PLAGUE (misleadingly released as CLIVE BARKER’S THE PLAGUE) and the Director’s Cut. If you are interested in seeing the full 1-hour documentary, you can watch it here.