BBFC News

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a 1986 US horror by Tobe Hooper.
With Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams and Jim Siedow.

Scott writes:

I've been researching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II's history with the BBFC. I've found in a book called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Companion , by Stefan Jaworzyn. Here's what I've learnt from the book:

The film was submitted to the BBFC by Columbia-Cannon-Warner (CCW) in 1986. The Board viewed the uncut film three times. Even after the third viewing, on October 23rd 1986, they still couldn't decide whether to cut heavily or outright Reject.

The distributors then submitted a pre-cut version, known as the "Northern European Cannon Cut" . The technical manager of CCW, Steve Southgate, wrote to the BBFC on October 29th to detail some of the cuts to this version:

• "The opening scene with the boys in a car, when they are attacked, now only consists of one shot of an open head wound."

• "Scene in radio station where L.G. is being hit on his head with a hammer now has been reduced to only three blows. (The scene with the girl sitting with her legs astride with Leather Face in front of her with chainsaw remains the same.)"

• "The scene with Dennis Hopper going into the underground cabin for the first time, where he discovers blood and entrails coming out of a wall has been shortened."

• "The complete scene where Leather Face uses an electric knife on L.G. removing flesh from legs, chest and face has been removed, and also Leather Face placing skin mask on girl's face has been removed."

• The scene where Leather Face has chainsaw put through his chest has been shortened to establishing shot only. The scene with Chop-Top cutting his throat has been shortened. The scene with Chop-Top slashing girls back with cutthroat razor has been reduced.

Despite the heavy pre-cuts, this still failed to get through.

By May 21st 1987, numerous cut versions had been attempted, and all had failed, yet the BBFC felt it was worth cutting further. At this point, the distributors gave up.

The unreasonable dithering by the BBFC has been widely interpreted as an unofficial ban where no amount of cuts would have actually been acceptable to the BBFC.

The distributors had to wait until James Ferman left the board before trying again. Under the stewardship of Robin Duval the film was finally passed 18 uncut in 2001.

The BBFC tweeted

Following Government advice about COVID-19, our premises will remain closed until further notice. We have activated our business continuity plans & we are currently running with a reduced capacity. Our classification work remains our highest priority & we will keep you updated.

Lost Girls is a 2020 USA mystery thriller by Liz Garbus.
Starring Amy Ryan, Thomasin McKenzie and Gabriel Byrne.

When Mari Gilbert's (Academy Award® nominee Amy Ryan) daughter disappears, police inaction drives her own investigation into the gated Long Island community where Shannan was last seen. Her search brings attention to over a dozen murdered sex workers Mari will not let the world forget. From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus, LOST GIRLS is inspired by true events detailed in Robert Kolker's "Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery."

Lost Girls is major offering from Netflix that demonstrated a major failing at the BBFC with its automated random rating generator used for Netflix ratings.

A ludicrous 12 rating was posted on the BBFC site, and people started to question it. As described by Neil

It was originally rated 12 and a few of us flagged that the system had failed because the content was above and beyond the 12 bracket (dead prostitutes, domestic abuse, over 20 instances of the word fuck (some directed and aggressively used) along with a continual menacing tone.

Funny because they had just done a press release about their new approach to classifying domestic abuse on screen at the beginning of last week!

Anyway - first thing Monday morning, some poor BBFC examiner went and re-rated it. The original 12 rating was deleted and replace d with 15 for strong language, sex references.

Here's the thread from twitter where the BBFC confesses to how their classifying system works without a BBFC examiner.

The BBFC started the conversation rolling with an ill-judged self promotional tweet implicitly boasting about the importance of its ratings:

BBFC @BBFC · Mar 13 As the weekend approaches, @NetflixUK have released lots of binge-worthy content. What will you be tuning in to watch? Whatever you choose, check the age rating on our website: http:// bbfc.co.uk

• Straight Outta Compton 36.1%

• Love Is Blind 8.2%

• Locke & Key 9.8%

• A Quiet Place 45.9%

Well Scott took them at their word and checked out their ratings for Lost Girls. He wasn't impressed:

You need to go back to actually classifying Netflix material formally, rather than getting an algorithm to do it. This is rated R Stateside for language throughout, which in your terms means frequent strong language, so definitely not a 12!:

The BBFC responded, perhaps before  realising the extent of the failing

Hi Scott, thanks for flagging, we are looking into this. Just to explain, a person at Netflix watches the content from start to end, and tags the content as they view. Everyone who is tagging content receives appropriate training so they know what to look out for.

Scott noted that the BBFC explanation rather makes for a self proving mistruth as there was obviously at least a step in the process that didn't have a human in the driving seat, He tweeted:

Yeah, the BBFC and the OFLC in Aus now use an automated programme for Netflix content - nobody actually sits and watches it. I get that there's lots of material to go through, but this obviously isn't the best idea. Age ratings you trust is the BBFC's tagline - the irony.

Neil adds:

This film needs reviewing with your new guidance about domestic abuse & triggers in mind. Over 20 uses of f***, some very aggressive and directed. Descriptions of violent domestic abuse (titanium plates, etc) and dead sex workers, sustained threatening tone. Certainly not a 12.

At this point it looks as if the BBFC hasn't quite grasped that their system has clearly spewed bollox and tried to justify that the system as infallible even when it is clearly badly wrong:

These tags are then processed by an algorithm that sets out the same high standards as our classification guidelines. Then, this automatically produces a BBFC age rating for the UK, which is consistent with other BBFC rated content.

Scott adds

Ah, I stand corrected - didn't realise there was a middle man who watches the content. Nevertheless, there's still nobody at the BBFC watching it, which I think is an oversight - this film in particular is a perfect example.

Next thing spotted was the erroneous 12 rating deleted and replaced by a human crafted 15 rating.

And one has to revisit he BBFC statement: processed by an algorithm that sets out the same high standards as our classification guidelines. Perhaps we should read the BBFC statement at face value and conclude that the BBFC's high standards are the same standard as the bollox 12 rating awarded to Lost Girls.

The Invisible Man is a 2020 Australia / USA Sci-Fi horror thriller by Leigh Whannell.
Starring Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

The film follows Cecilia, who receives the news of her abusive ex-boyfriend's suicide. She begins to re-build her life for the better. However, her sense of reality is put into question when she begins to suspect her deceased lover is not actually dead.

BBFC advised category cuts were required for a 15 rated cinema release in 2020. The Irish cinema releases looks to be uncut but 16 rated.

Now the uncut version was passed 18 uncut by the BBFC for VoD with the consumer advice: strong injury detail, bloody violence, domestic abuse.

The DVD and Blu-ray ratings have not yet been published but a region 0 Blu-ray release suggests that this could also be 18 uncut.

The cinema release was previously passed 15 for strong bloody violence, threat, language, domestic abuse after BBFC advised pre-cuts:

The BBFC commented:

• This film was originally seen for advice. The company was advised it was likely to be classified 18 uncut but that their preferred 15 classification could be obtained by making small changes to one scene to remove bloody injury detail during an attempted suicide. When the film was submitted for formal classification, the shots in question had been removed and the film was classified 15.

Death Ship is a 1980 UK / Canada / USA horror mystery adventure by Alvin Rakoff.
Starring George Kennedy, Richard Crenna and Nick Mancuso.

Survivors of a tragic shipping collision are rescued by a mysterious black ship which appears out of the fog. Little do they realize that the ship is actually a Nazi torture ship which has sailed the seas for years, luring unsuspecting sailors aboard and killing them off one by one.

The 1980 cinema release was X rated followed by 18 rated VHS in 1987. But the film was reduced to 15 for 2007 DVD with the consumer advice:

Contains infrequent strong nudity, moderate bloody violence and horror

The film has just been resubmitted for video release late in the year but the age rating has been raised back up to 18 for:

strong nudity, bloody images

There are variant versions of the film but I don't the differences are relevant to the age rating. The age defining scene seems to be where a naked and busty woman is showering only, for the water to turn to blood, (not her blood). The woman gets stuck in the shower by a jammed door and she is eventually killed off screen by the ghostly ship's captain.

The 15 rating surely fits the bill, and the 2007 consumer advice seems accurate. So why has it been bumped up to 18, and why has the BBFC changed the consumer advice so as to no longer mention the 'moderate' violence? It seems that the consumer advice has been phrased to justify the over exaggerated age rating rather than to provide informative advice to viewers.

Update: BBFC Response

The BBFC explained the rating increase in a tweet

We reclassified the latest version of Death Ship 18 due to extended material that included much stronger nudity and bloody images:

An interesting comment as I have never heard before that the theatrical version was cut.

Update: An uncut version

Thanks to Andy, Tim, Mark, Rob and Bendy.

The film was originally cut in the US to obtain an MPAA R rating. In the UK this Theatrical Version was passed X for 1980 cinema release, 18 rated for VHS, and 15 rated for 2007 DVD. This 2007 DVD package was released with an 18 rating due to DVD extras, presumably meaning the DVD extra titled Uncensored bloody shower scene.

In 2018 Scorpion Releasing in the US issued a Blu-ray with a restored and extended version it refers to as the Original Longer Cut. It seems that this version included the Uncensored bloody shower scene and is now set for UK release on Nucleus Blu-ray with an increased BBFC 18 rating.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is changing the way it highlights domestic abuse in ratings info for films and episodic content, after working with Women's Aid and Respect on new research.

The research - which focused on both female and male survivors of domestic abuse, experts and the general public - showed that the BBFC is getting it right when it comes to classification decisions in both films and episodic content featuring domestic abuse. The regulator already takes domestic abuse portrayals seriously, and the respondents agreed that the BBFC rightly classifies these issues at a higher category.

The research showed that less is more, and going into too much detail in the ratings info is a minefield as people's sensitivities and triggers are complex - this is already taken into account in the classification decision. It was highlighted that the widely understood catch-all term of domestic abuse was much better placed to describe such scenes, as it is considered broad enough to include psychological and economic abuse, gaslighting and non sexual abuse of children.

Therefore, the BBFC will now use domestic abuse instead of domestic violence in the ratings info it issues to accompany its ratings. The BBFC will also stop using the term themes of, which the research showed people felt trivialised the issue.

The research flagged that survivors can be triggered by scenes of domestic abuse, especially if it is unexpected. This can be traumatising, and can lead to people avoiding certain types of content. Responding to these findings, the BBFC will now flag domestic abuse in every case, even if the scenes are not category defining.

David Austin, Chief Executive of the BBFC, said:

This timely and important research is shining a light on people's attitudes towards domestic abuse, and it's important that our classifications reflect what people think. It's very encouraging to see that we're getting our classification decisions right when it comes to domestic abuse, which already can be category defining. But what it has shown, is that we should bring our ratings info more in line with what people expect and understand, which is exactly what we're going to be doing. These changes will give people the information they need to choose content well. Most particularly in this case, the ratings info will highlight the issues to those that have been personally affected by domestic abuse, so they are forewarned of content which could trigger distress.

While there were few factors that would reduce the impact of watching a scene of domestic abuse, a series of aggravating factors among survivors were flagged, including: the sound of a key turning in a lock; the silence before an attack; the sound of a slap or a punch; and seeing fear in someone's face or eyes.

Adina Claire, Acting co-Chief Executive of Women's Aid, said:

This research has given an important insight into what survivors, experts and the general public think about depictions of domestic abuse in films and episodic content. We're pleased that the BBFC have responded to the report, and have reflected the attitudes in their classification policies - meaning that anyone affected by domestic abuse will now have the clear and consistent information they need about what triggers content may contain.

The research also found that the term child abuse was widely associated with sexual abuse, rather than domestic abuse, and having a child present in a scene depicting domestic abuse often meant that the scene was more triggering for audiences. Therefore, the BBFC will limit the use of child abuse to scenes where child sexual abuse is depicted only, with non sexual child abuse also described as domestic abuse.

People agreed it's very important to educate audiences about the issue and to encourage awareness and discussion. As such, the research strongly underpins the BBFC's policy of being less restrictive on public information campaigns than on commercial trailers and ads, rating them at the lowest reasonable classification.

The Invisible Man is a 2020 Australia / USA Sci-Fi horror thriller by Leigh Whannell.
Starring Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

The film follows Cecilia, who receives the news of her abusive ex-boyfriend's suicide. She begins to re-build her life for the better. However, her sense of reality is put into question when she begins to suspect her deceased lover is not actually dead.

BBFC advised category cuts were required for a 15 rated cinema release in 2020. The Irish cinema releases looks to be uncut bit 16 rated.

Versions

uncut run: 124:21s pal: 119:23s	Ireland	Ireland : Passed 16 uncut for " Strong psychological threat and violence. Scene of self-harm " 2020 cinema release The Irish cinema is 3s longer and references the cut scene in the consumer advice so it seems likely that this is the uncut version.
advised category cuts  cut: 3s run: 124:18s pal: 119:20s		UK: Passed 15 for strong bloody violence, threat, language, domestic abuse after BBFC advised pre-cuts: 2020 cinema release The BBFC commented: This film was originally seen for advice. The company was advised it was likely to be classified 18 uncut but that their preferred 15 classification could be obtained by making small changes to one scene to remove bloody injury detail during an attempted suicide. When the film was submitted for formal classification, the shots in question had been removed and the film was classified 15.

The Prince of Tides is a 1991 USA drama by Barbra Streisand.
Starring Barbra Streisand, Nick Nolte and Blythe Danner.

There are no cuts  issues with this release. The film was rated 15 uncut for 1991 cinema release, and for the follow up home video releases in 1992 and 1995.

A commentary track version was resubmitted in 2020 for Blu-ray extras and the BBFC decided that film would now be 18 rated, should it be submitted in feature format. The BBFC tweeted:

We changed our guidelines on sexual violence at 15 in 2019. The scene of sexual violence in Prince of Tides is no longer permissible at 15. Therefore the rating has been raised to 18. We have not recently been asked to view the film, only the audio commentary version.

The most immediately interesting point is that the BBFC has elected not to promote the research that they commissioned and not to publish it on their website. Maybe this simply reflects that the BBFC no longer has the job of internet porn censor. The job looks set to be handed over to Ofcom as part of the government's upcoming online harms bill.

The study by Revealing Reality combined a statistically representative survey of secondary school-age children with in-depth interviews and focus groups with parents. It found that adult material was a prominent feature in British childhood. Almost half of teenagers aged 16 and 17 said they had recently seen pornography, with the researchers believing this figure is substantially lower than the true figure because of respondents' awkwardness when faced with the question.

While 75% of parents did not believe their children would have watched pornography, the majority of these parents' children told the researchers that they had viewed adult material.

The report also found that while parents thought their sons would watch pornography for sexual pleasure, many erroneously believed their daughters would primarily see pornography by accident. It said: This is contrary to the qualitative research findings showing that many girls were also using pornography for sexual pleasure.

The researchers said that one side effect of early exposure to online pornography is that gay, lesbian or bisexual respondents often understood their sexuality at a younger age. It was common for these respondents to start by watching heterosexual pornography, only to realise that they did not find this sexually gratifying and then gradually move to homosexual pornography.

The research very much affirms the government campaign to seek restrictions on porn access for children and notes that such measures as age verification requirements are unsurprisingly supported by parents.

However the research includes a very interesting section on the thoughts of 16 and 17 year olds who have passed the age of consent and unsurprisingly use porn on just about the same way as adults who have nominally passed the official, but not the biological and hormonal, age of maturity.

The report uses the term 'young people' to mean 16 - 18 year olds (included in the survey as speaking about their views and experiences as 16 and 17 year olds). The report notes:

While recognising the benefits of preventing younger children accessing pornography, young people had some concerns about age-verification restrictions. For example, some young people were worried that, in the absence of other adequate sources of sex education, they would struggle to find ways to learn about sex without pornography.

This was felt particularly strongly by LGB respondents in the qualitative research, who believed that pornography had helped them to understand their sexuality and learn about different types of sexual behaviours that they weren't taught in school.

Some young people also felt that the difference in the age of consent for having sex20416204and the age at which age-verification is targeted20418204was contradictory. They also struggled to understand why, for instance, they could serve in the armed forces and have a family and yet be blocked from watching pornography.

Young people also seemed well versed in knowing methods of working around age verification and website blocking:

The majority of parents and young people (aged 16 to 18) interviewed in the qualitative research felt that older children would be able to circumvent age-verification by a range of potential online workarounds. Additionally, many 16- to 18-year-olds interviewed in the qualitative work who could not identify a workaround at present felt they would be able to find a potential method for circumventing age-verification if required.

Some of the most commonly known workarounds that older children thought may potentially negate
age-verification included:

• Using a VPN to appear as if you are accessing adult content from elsewhere in the world
• Torrenting files by downloading the data in chunks
• Using Tor (the ‘onion’ router) to disguise the user’s location
• By accessing the dark web
• By using proxy websites

Maybe the missed another obvious workaround, sharing porn amongst themselves via internet messaging or memory sticks.

Mystery Men is a 1999 USA action comedy fantasy by Kinka Usher.
Starring Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo and William H Macy.

Uncut and PG rated for 1999 cinema release but cut and PG rated for all UK home video releases until a12 rated uncut Blu-ray in 2020. Uncut and MPAA PG-13 rated in the US.

 

Cutting Edge Quick Trims

Quick Trims 21: Mystery Men on YouTube.
See more from Cutting Edge

Summary Notes

In order to generate more endorsement revenue, Champion City's resident superhero Captain Amazing arranges for the release of supervillain Casanova Frankenstein, only to be captured by him. The city's fate rests in the hands of seven loser superhero wannabes: the spoon-flinging Blue Rajah, the shovel-wielding Shoveler, the possessed bowling ball-hurling Bowler, the flatulent Spleen, the only-when-nobody's-looking Invisible Boy, the mysterious Sphinx, and the perpetually-angry Mr. Furious.

121:16s

UK: Passed 12 uncut for moderate violence, brief gore, sex references, implied strong language: 2020 88 Films Limited video

Birds of Prey is a 2020 USA action crime adventure by Cathy Yan.
Starring Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ewan McGregor.

The upcoming cinema release was passed 15 uncut for strong violence, injury detail, language, sexual threat.

The BBFC noted that this was the first film rated using new technology at the BBFC, explaining:

The first film to be classified using the BBFC's brand new, world leading classification platform has officially received its age rating certificate.

Birds of Prey is the first cinema release to be submitted and classified using the BBFC's new client portal and tagging platform. The BBFC has been classifying content since 1912, and this is the biggest technology transformation the organisation has seen.

The transformation project, known as Project Horizon is cloud based, and has been developed by a group of cutting edge technology partners including Amazon Web Services, Vidispine, Guidesmiths, NMR Consultancy Ltd and 100 Shapes.

Dave Barrett, Deputy CEO of the BBFC, said:

This is a radical shift in the way that we work with our clients to classify content. Along with our consultants, Remodus, who worked with us on the development of the platform, we have been working in close partnership with the film and home entertainment industries and our technology partners to design and build a flexible system that makes our classification process even more efficient and much easier for everyone involved.

Everything submitted to the BBFC will still be seen by our highly trained team of compliance officers, it's simply the tools that we use as a business which are changing. This is a move towards greater transparency between regulator and client - and we're looking forward to migrating all our clients to the new system by summer 2020

The key differences between the old system and the new platform include; a flexible and intuitive client portal for all submissions; a content tagging and data enrichment platform where classification is carried out; and reduces risk.

The new client portal offers all clients choice over dates and price structure, and greater control over their account management.

Anne Frank: Parallel Stories (aka #AnneFrank. Parallel Stories) is a 2019 Italy documentary by Sabina Fedeli and Anna Migotto.
Starring Anne Frank, Martina Gatti and Helen Mirren.

The 2020 BBFC cinema rating was reduced from 15 to 12A after a formal distributor request for a reconsideration was agreed.

Summary Notes

One single Anne Frank moves us more than the countless others who suffered just as she did but whose faces have remained in the shadows-Primo Levi. The Oscar®-winning Helen Mirren will introduce audiences to Anne Frank's story through the words in her diary. The set will be her room in the secret refuge in Amsterdam, reconstructed in every detail by set designers from the Piccolo Theatre in Milan. Anne Frank this year would have been 90 years old. Anne's story is intertwined with that of five Holocaust survivors, teenage girls just like her.

94:59s

UK: Passed 12A uncut for Holocaust images, references to violence: 2020 cinema release The BBFC commented on a reduction of rating from 15 to 12A: This work was originally classified 15 without cuts on 19 December 2019. This determination was formally reconsidered by the BBFC at the request of the submitting company. The BBFC carefully considered the arguments put forward by the submitting company, looked again at the relevant submitted material, and concluded that a revision to the original determination was appropriate. UK: Passed 15 uncut for Holocaust images: 2020 cinema release

I was just wondering if the ICO's Age Appropriate Design documentation had been published anywhere on the parliamentary website and spotted this official document marking the end of the BBFC's tenure as the UK's porn censor.

Matt Warman, a minister at the DCMS, signed the revocation of the BBFC's internet censorship powers on 31st October 2019. The notice reads:

Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport

NOTICE TO REVOKE DESIGNATION OF AGE-VERIFICATION REGULATOR UNDER DIGITAL ECONOMY ACT 2017

The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport hereby revokes, in exercise of the power in section 16(3)(a) of the Digital Economy Act 2017 ("the 2017 Act"), the designation of the British Board of Film Classification as the age verification regulator made under section 16(1) of the 2017 Act on 21 February 2018 for the purposes of the following functions:

• a. section 18 (regulator's power to require information);

• b. section 19(2) and (11) (enforcement by regulator of section 14);

• c. section 21 (notice by regulator to payment-services providers and ancillary service providers);

• d. section 23 (regulator's power to require internet service providers to block access to material), subject to section 24 (no power to give notice under section 23(1) where detrimental to national security etc);

• e. section 25 (guidance to be published by regulator);

• f. section 26 (exercise of functions by regulator); and

• g. section 28 (requirements for notices given by regulator under this Part) (to the extent that this applies in relation to the giving of notices by the British Board of Film Classification under the provisions listed in this paragraph).

Matt Warman
Minister for Digital and Broadband on behalf of the Secretary of State
#1st October 2019.