The Quentin Tarantino Director's Cut Almost No One Has Seen Is Finally Getting Released

Quentin Tarantino has said he will retire once he makes 10 films. Some might counter that he already has, but the director has maintained that he considers "Kill Bill: Volume 1" and "Volume 2" to be one film. He even put together a four-hour cut, "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair," that tells the whole story as a single film.

"The Whole Bloody Affair" first premiered at Cannes in 2006, and Tarantino has since screened it at the New Beverly Cinema, the Los Angeles theater he owns. However, it remains unseen by most of the viewing public. There have been plans for a theatrical release of "The Whole Bloody Affair" in the past, including in 2014, but they've fallen through ... until now.

Lionsgate has confirmed they will be releasing "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" nationwide in theaters on December 5, 2025. This edition reportedly removes the cliffhanger ending of "Vol. 1," and the recap that opens "Vol. 2" to ensure the film flows better as an uninterrupted story. There's another addition, too.

"Kill Bill: Vol. 1" includes an anime sequence, animated by legendary studio Production I.G. ("Ghost in the Shell"). The sequence chronicles the backstory of assassin/Yakuza boss O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), whom our antiheroine Beatrix "The Bride" Kiddo (Uma Thurman) fights at the climax. "The Whole Bloody Affair" expands on that sequence, with a "never-before-seen" swordfight. 

"I wrote and directed ['Kill Bill'] as one movie — and I'm so glad to give the fans the chance to see it as one movie. The best way to see 'Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair' is at a movie theater in Glorious 70mm or 35mm. Blood and guts on a big screen in all its glory!" said Tarantino in the Lionsgate press release.

If you've never even seen this bloody affair split into two parts, "Kill Bill" is a revenge epic. Tarantino's calling as an artist is pastiche, and "Kill Bill" is his homage to samurai movies, such as "Lady Snowblood" and "Shogun Assassin." 

Kiddo is a former assassin who was betrayed by her boss and lover, Bill (David Carradine), and their colleagues in the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. She's called "The Bride" because the Vipers massacred her wedding. Now, Kiddo is out for revenge to cut every head off of this snake: Bill, O-Ren, Bud (the late Michael Madsen), Vernita (Vivica A. Fox), and Elle (Daryl Hannah).

"Kill Bill: Vol. 1" premiered in October 2003, before "Vol. 2" hit theaters the following April. The swift turnaround shows how Tarantino indeed shot the script as one movie. Rather than cutting an hour or two off his movie for a commercially safer runtime, he turned it into two movies. To be fair, the split is no hacky butchery. Edited by the late Sally Menke, both "Kill Bill" films have satisfying climaxes and conclusions. They also stand apart tonally; "Vol. 1" is cooler and more focused on the style, whereas "Vol. 2" hones in on the dialogue and is more melancholic. We'll finally get to see how that tonal shift is felt across a single film.

"Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" premieres nationwide in theaters on Friday, December 5, 2025.