By After watching the trailer, I got really psyched for The Divide. It looks dark and unpleasant(in a not-Human Centipede 2 kind of way), and it has Michael Biehn, a.k.a. World’s Most Famous “That Guy” Actor. Anchor Bay has announced that they will be releasing the full, unrated cut of the film on January 13th, 2012 in New York City, LA, Boston, Austin, Chicago, Dallas and Denver, with more to come later. The cut will include footage that has not been seen at the film’s screenings at SXSW and other festivals. Anchor Bay’s Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing Jennifer Roberts had this to say about the film and the decision to release it unrated: “Fans of director Xavier Gens’ Frontier(s) will be pleased to know that once again he has pulled no punches, and has delivered a kick-ass film that will set the bar in extreme cinema. We felt strongly that we needed to bring his full vision to the screen, and confident this is the version audiences will want to see.”
This is going to be an uphill battle for Anchor Bay. This sort of move automatically disqualifies it from playing at a lot of national theater chains, as they’re real bears about screening movies at R ratings or under. Still, if they’re supporting this movie fully, despite this handicap, it’s a good sign that they think they have something special on their hands, and I can’t wait to check it out in January.