Danny Elfman and Tim Burton – the dynamic duo of film. Ever since 1985, when Burton made his directorial debut on Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (yes, you read that right), Danny Elfman has been there to bring his movies to life. Since then, Elfman has scored every single movie Burton has directed, save three. Arguably though, two of their most well-known ventures together were 1989’s Batman and its follow-up, 1992’s Batman Returns.
Speaking on his composition process for the latter film, Elfman stated that he wanted to write it “like a silent film.” With this information, filmmaker and writer Andrew Ihla took this idea and hit the ground running. Back in 2014, he created a cut of Batman Returns – entitled The Bat-Man Returns – that was actually a silent film. Yes, with the text cards and everything.
This cut of the film takes Burton’s sequel and shows it off in a way almost entirely new, and the effort that has been put into it is immediately clear. Despite this however, Ihla doesn’t own the rights to any of the footage, so naturally when this film does surface online, it can’t be there for long. Thankfully, it has appeared briefly over the last three Decembers to spread some holiday cheer, with the link appearing on Ihla’s Twitter page over the weekend, which fans can check out below.
Whether you’re a fan of Burton’s work or not, Ihla has done an amazing job of breathing new life into this “classic” Batman movie. His fan-film differs from the others in the sense that it actually uses footage from the movie in a new and exciting way. The clever editing, old-school filters and hours of devotion make The Bat-Man Returns stand out from the others not as the film we need, but as the film we deserve.
Remember when I re-cut BATMAN RETURNS as a silent film for Christmas a couple years ago? It's back! https://t.co/OzgTLCMMtT pic.twitter.com/j02mBxjVAq
— Andrew Ihla (@AndrewIhla) December 3, 2016
