The Hateful Eight extended cut is now on Netflix as a four-part miniseries

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Quentin Tarantino held nothing back with his Agatha Christie-style Western THE HATEFUL EIGHT, delivering a movie that, when screened for general audiences, clocked in at close to three hours. That’s a lot of conversations on carriages and over bitter coffee for you, and the roadshow version of the movie Tarantino screened in 70 MM is even longer, though most people have never seen this version. Now that can all be changed, as Netflix has officially released the extended cut of the movie on their platform, albeit with one catch: Instead of it being one long movie, it has been split up into a four-part miniseries, presumably so you can feel like you’re getting your binging steps in for the day

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Netflix released the version of HATEFUL EIGHT – subtitled “The Extended Cut” – onto their service yesterday, and the setup has the Oscar-winning movie starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth and more cut into four “episodes.” The titles for the first three are “Last Stage to Red Rock”, “Minnie’s Haberdashery”, “Domergue’s Got A Secret”, and “The Last Chapter.” The first three chapters are taken straight from the movie itself while “The Last Chapter” is a combination of the final two in the movie, “The Four Passengers” and “Black Man, White Hell.”

Each chapter runs between 50-56 minutes, and when added all together totals a whopping 210 minutes, way up from the 168 minutes of the original cut. But pump the brakes, because while fans may think they’re in for a vastly different movie with this extended cut, the chapters are treated like any episode of any other series. That means each one has about four minutes of end credits, with the latter three episodes also having a small recap and opening credits. That means about 6-8 minutes can be shaved off each chapter, which brings the runtime of the actual movie to the 187-minute mark of the actual roadshow. Much like all the math involved, you’re not wrong for thinking this whole execution seems…pointless.

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This does beg the question as to why Netflix would handle it this way, and if Tarantino had any say or involvement. I assume it’s so casual viewers could more easily digest the dramatic Western epic, but that would be illogical given that the original cut – which is also available on Netflix – is only 20 minutes shorter. Plus, it goes without saying the chopping ruins the flow of the movie. Adding recaps and credits doth not a series make, and this was in no way how this movie should be watched.

The benefit is of course that we, at least in some form, get to see the longer cut Tarantino took on the road some years ago, but it's a shame we have to do so in such a convoluted and unnecessary way. The more reasonable side of me thinks it was all done simply for ease of watching for new viewers, while the more cynical side just wishes everything would burn down because clearly, we can't have anything nice. 

Anyway, Tarantino's latest ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD is in theaters July 26.