The album is a collection of cover versions of themes from horror films and television series, performed in a variety of different musical styles.

The Director's Cut has been praised by critics, with reviewers highlighting the album's versatility and unusual content; Patton in particular has been singled out for his performances.

Gardner admitted that the covered themes were vastly different from their original presentations, but praised the drastic divergence as the album's strength.

[11] Writing for CMJ New Music Monthly, Tom Mallon described the album as "inventive", finding that its varied approaches to the source material allowed the band members to "step out of [their] normal roles", particularly citing drummer Dave Lombardo's "jazzy" performance on "Experiment in Terror".

[12] Mallon felt that the album would not gain the group new admirers, but went "a long way toward cementing [Patton's] reputation as an artist rather than a mere noisemaker".