Movie News

An Alabama pastor has succeeded in his attempts to block the planned screening of a coming-of-age Norwegian drama film due to what he perceived as its inappropriate content.

Methodist pastor John Kearns contacted the Tuscaloosa Arts Council after seeing an advertisement for the movie Turn Me On, Dammit! , news site AL.com reports.

Affronted by the film's apparent focus on the sexual awakening of a 15-year-old girl in a small Norwegian town, he asked organizers not to show a film he complained was not in step with community standards .

In a statement the Arts Council said it had agreed to axe the screening of the film:

Due to the misunderstanding surrounding the theme and content of the film, the Arts Council and Bama Theatre have made the decision to cancel its screening, whether represented by the Council or outside entities. We hope this decision represents the wishes of all our constituents.

In what she described as a dangerous precedent , outgoing Arts Council board president Rebecca Rothman said Mayor Walt Maddox had personally contacted the council to ask it to rethink its plans to show the film. Rothman told AL.com:

The Arts Council receives city and county funding. We are in the midst of a big fund-raising effort for the new cultural arts center. We were put in a very difficult position.

Reacting to the decision not to show her film, Systad Jacobsen said it was sad that anyone would judge the film without actually having watched it:

Had they done so, they would presumably have expressed themselves differently after seeing that it actually has a Christian conservative message about waiting.

Bully , a new documentary premiering Friday, will be released with no rating, following a failed effort to have the MPAA rating changed from R to PG-13.

The movie's rating attracted national attention, thanks to a Change.org petition started by 17-year-old Katy Butler. The petition MPAA: Don't let the bullies win! Give 'Bully' a PG-13 instead of an R rating! has almost achieved its goal of gaining half a million signatures.

The film's no rating status will prevent it from being screened in certain theaters, which is a risk The Weinstein Co. decided to take.

Update: Nutters of the Parents TV Council Unimpressed

31st March 2012. See article from parentstv.org

The Parents Television Council responded to the announcement that the Weinstein Company will release the documentary Bully unrated by calling on all major theaters, including AMC, to adhere to their own policies not to exhibit unrated films. PTC warns that showing unrated content is a threat to the continued viability of the ratings system. PTC President Tim Winter said:

This move, regardless of intentions, sets a precedent that threatens to derail the entire ratings system. If a distribution company can simply decide to operate outside of the ratings system in a case like 'Bully,' nothing would prevent future filmmakers from doing precisely the same thing, with potentially much more problematic material.

It is unfortunate that the serious problem of schoolyard and online bullying is being overshadowed by a misguided and manufactured controversy over the MPAA rating. It's even more unfortunate that the MPAA ratings system, which only exists as a tool to help parents make informed viewing decisions for their own families, is being deliberately undermined by Weinstein and his colleagues in the entertainment industry, and that their efforts may well spell the demise of a system that has benefited parents and families for over forty years.

Either ratings mean something, or they don't. The MPAA's job is not to make subjective judgments about the merit of a film or the importance of the film's message. The MPAA's sole task is to take an objective measure of the adult content in a film, and apply the appropriate rating. Though the MPAA's system is not perfect, it has been remarkably consistent at least in this regard: any more than a single 'sexual expletive' (usually the 'F-word') will lead to an R-rating. 'Bully' employs multiple uses of this 'sexual expletive,' and that is why it was given an R-rating.

The Hunger Games is a 2012 US Sci-Fi action film by Gary Ross. With Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. See IMDb

A pre-cut version was further cut by 7s by the BBFC for a 12A rating for intense threat, moderate violence and occasional gory moments for:

• UK 2012 cinema release

The BBFC commented:

• The company chose to make cuts in order to achieve a 12A classification. A number of cuts were made in one scene to reduce an emphasis on blood and injury. These cuts, which were implemented by digitally removing sight of blood splashes and sight of blood on wounds and weapons, were made in accordance with BBFC Guidelines and policy.
  
  An uncut 15 classification was available.
  
  These cuts were made in addition to reductions already made following an earlier advice viewing of an incomplete version

The US release is PG-13 rated

Update: Pre-cuts Outlined

14th March 2012. See article from bbfc.co.uk

The BBFC have updated their page describing cuts to The Hunger Games. They have now outlined the pre-cuts.

The BBFC comments now more fully explain the cuts:

• This work was originally seen for advice in an unfinished form. The company was advised that the film was likely to receive a 15 certied 12A classification could be achieved by making a number of cuts and visual reductionont>

  When the finished version of the film was submitted for formal classification, cuts had been made in four scenes of violence and in one scene showing details of injuries. These reductions were implemented by a mixture of visual cuts, visual darkenings and the digital removal of sight of blood.

  In addition to the reductions already made during the advice process, the Board required further reductions in one scene following formal submission of the finished feature. A number of cuts were made in one scene to reduce an emphasis on blood and injury. These cuts, which were implemented by digitally removing sight of blood splashes and sight of blood on wounds and weapons, were made in accordance with BBFC Guidelines and policy.

  An uncut 15 classification was available.

Offsite Comment: 13-year-olds should be allowed to see splashes of blood

14th March 2012. See  F rom  blogs.telegraph.co.uk by Brendan O'Neill

And secondly, the whole point of The Hunger Games is that it is bloody and gory and gross and mental. As anyone who has spoken to a teenage fan will know, the thing that adolescents love about this trilogy of books, written by Suzanne Collins, is their violence (and also their strongly anti-state undertone).

The reason teens love these books is because, unlike Twilight (which actually has lots of blood but absolutely no personality), they are quite violent and disturbing. The trilogy's army of young fans will be able to handle seven seconds of red stuff.

Offsite: Daily Mail have been trawling Twitter and Mumsnet for comments from 'concerned parents'

27th March 2012.  See  article from  dailymail.co.uk

Some parents have complained the film scenes of murder and bloodshed were too graphic to be appropriate for children and suggested it should be rated 15.

Scenes that have upset some parents include one where a girl screams for her life as she stung to death by killer wasps, another when a young child is skewered with a spear, another battered with a brick and scenes were piles of bodies lay fallen after bloody battles between the combatants. The film's star, Jennifer Lawrence has defended the film's content

Some took to social networking sites such as Mumsnet and Twitter to voice their concern.

One mother said: It is really good, but I thought it was really stretching the 12 rating. [My 12-year-old] was so distressed at one particular part, not long before the end that we had to leave the cinema.

Another added: You don't see much gore but it's implied and some death scenes are quite shocking. You see a lot of dead faces and it's very realistic. There's one bit where the whole cinema rocked back in its seats and went "aaargh" together.

Others suggested it should have been rated 15 to avoid the risk of younger children being brought to see it by parents unfamiliar with the content.

...Read the full article

Offsite: Daily Mail find a couple of experts to whinge at The Hunger Games

28th March 2012.  See  article from  dailymail.co.uk

Geoffrey Beattie, professor of psychology at Manchester University, says watching teens killing each other will have a stronger effect on young people than adult battle scenes. He said:

If you identify with the characters then it is going to seem more familiar and ... the things that happen will feel more visceral and have a stronger emotional impact on you.

There is a danger that there is so much death or violence that teens become desensitised.

Writing about the film on her website, best-selling author and paediatrician Dr Meg Meeker said:

Kids process images they construct in their minds from written words differently than they process large, hyper-real images on a screen. Starlets: The film which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth grossed ?5million in the UK in its opening weekend

During the preteen and teen years, children's minds are mentally pliable. They are being hard-wired... So, when an image comes into a teen's brain it melds into that wiring and sticks.

Offsite: But Support from the Telegraph

30th March 2012.  See article from telegraph.co.uk by Robbie Collin

The BBFC have got the 12A rating spot on. There's nothing in The Hunger Games that a 12-year-old shouldn't see, but more importantly, there's a lot that they should.

...Read the full article

The Weinstein Company was not well pleased by the MPAA R Rating for the film Bully (aka The Bully Project ) for the amount of strong language.

After the failed appeal against the rating, the Weinstein co initially threatened to pull out of the MPAA and then suggested that they would release the film unrated.

These suggestions seem to have wound up the theatre owners and others in the industry leading to a press release from the Weinstein Co stating their position:

National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) President & CEO John Fithian sent Harvey Weinstein a letter dated February 24 on behalf of NATO stating that they may urge theater owners to treat BULLY as an NC-17 rated film. With an NC-17 rating, children under the age of 18 will not be permitted to see the movie even with a parent or guardian present. The NC-17 threat comes in response to The Weinstein Company's (TWC) suggestion to release BULLY, which has the sole purpose of educating children and highlighting how bullying has become a national crisis, in theaters unrated after the MPAA failed to lower the R rating given for some language.

As a company we have the utmost respect for the National Association of Theatre Owners, but to suggest that the film BULLY could ever be treated like an NC-17 film is completely unconscionable, not to mention unreasonable. In light of the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Ohio, we feel now is the time for the bullying epidemic to take center stage, we need to demand our community takes action.

Update: Just Six Expletives

5th March 2012. From  arabtimesonline.com

It seems that all the fuss about the R Rating of the Bully is down to just 6 expletives.

John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, wrote to Harvey Weinstein, explaining that 'rules is rules' and that it would not be a good idea for Weinstein to try and release the movies unrated:

Grateful As a father of a 9-year-old child, I am personally grateful that (the Weinstein Co.) has addressed the important issue of bullying in such a powerful documentary. Yet were the MPAA and NATO to waive the ratings rules whenever we believed that a particular movie had merit, or was somehow more important than other movies, we would no longer be neutral parties applying consistent standards, but rather censors of content based on personal mores.

That leaves the makers of Bully with the question of whether to edit or bleep the expletives, which are part of the antagonistic behavior documented between kids in the film. Right now, director Lee Hirsch is declining to do that, and has the backing of Weinstein. The director says such editing would minimize the harsh realities of bullying.

To cut around it or bleep it out, it really absolutely does lessen the impact and takes away from what the honest moment was, and what a terrifying feeling it can be (to be bullied), says Hirsch: I feel a responsibility as a filmmaker, as the person entrusted to tell (these kids') stories, to not water them down.

Update: Passed PG in Canada

9th March 2012. See article from hollywoodreporter.com

Bully has been rated PG by British Columbia film censors. Parental guidance is advised for the documentary in the western Canadian province, and the film comes with a warning of coarse language; theme of bullying.

Director Lee Hirsch, who has been campaigning against the restrictive R Rating awarded by the US film censor, said:

Last night, I learned of the B.C. board's decision to grant Bully a PG-rating. I am thrilled that kids of all ages can now join their parents, teachers, social work advocates and leaders to bring about change for this deeply important cause.

Meanwhile in the US a petition with 200,000 Signatures will be delivered to the MPAA calling for a PG-13 rating.

Update: Nutters praise the censors but seem a bit confused about public opinion

10th March 2012. See article from hollywoodreporter.com

The Parents Television Council has praised the MPAA for maintaining the R rating for Bully despite pressure from the public and the film's distributors to lower it to PG-13.

The group says its position is based on the language reportedly used in the film. The MPAA also cited language as the reason for the rating.

The council also called for increased public involvement in the ratings process. [...er... the same public that's campaigning for the lower rating?]

Update: Another PG in Canada and Support from Congress

13th March 2012.  See  article from  hollywoodreporter.com

Conservative Alberta became the second Canadian province to give the Lee Hirsch documentary about an epidemic of U.S. school bullying a PG-rating. The Alberta censors included a parental guidance warning, indicating themes or content in Bully may not be suitable for all children.

Meanwhile, the advocacy tools website Change.org has announced that 20 members of the US Congress have signed on to a petition asking the MPAA to lower the R rating it gave to director Lee Hirsch's documentary Bully .

The bipartisan group, led by Representative Mike Honda wrote:

We are writing to express our sincere disappointment in the MPAA's decision to issue an 'R' rating for the soon-to-be-released documentary Bully. This important project shows the real life anguish of many teenagers in this country who are tormented, harassed, and bullied by their peers. This truth should be shared with as wide an audience as is appropriate and possible. We believe an R-rating excludes the very audience for whom this film is desperately important.

The petition started by high school student Katy Butler, has garnered over 275,000 signatures, helped by public support from Ellen Degeneres and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

Update: More PGs in Canada

14th March 2012.  See  article from  hollywoodreporter.com

Manitoba and Ontario are the latest provinces to give the Lee Hirsch documentary about school bullying a PG-rating.

Movie classification boards in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta last week gave Bully PG-ratings ahead of its theatrical release.

Update: The Hunger Games vs. Bully

23rd March 2012. From kansascity.com

Lawmakers, parents' advocates, filmmakers and teenagers are complaining that language and sex are scrutinized while violence gets a pass ( Bully received an R because it contains scenes of teens hurling profanities). Critics also say that the system of five alpha and alphanumeric characters are blunt tools rather than nuanced instruments and that the overall process is too secretive and rigid.

Michigan Representative Hansen Clarke said:

The hypocrisy is that the very movies that contribute to violence can be seen by teenagers because they get a PG-13, [referring to The Hunger Games]. And the one film ('Bully') that actually teaches them to respect others is given an R.

Dan Isett, public policy director of the nutter group, Parents Television Council, agrees a rethinking is necessary. Like Clarke, he believes movies such as The Hunger Games - and a lot of other films that are approved for teen viewing - merit R ratings:

Certain movies will never get an R no matter what's in them. That's the problem when the ones policing the system have an economic incentive to give films a certain rating.

Yet some legislators, such as California's Representative Linda T. Sanchez, say the rating panels are thinking too narrowly by counting swear words and body parts while ignoring the larger context. It seems like the MPAA missed an opportunity here, she said of Bully, arguing that raters should have taken into account the movie's message.

The MPAA says that making its system more flexible would require raters who can offer value judgments. And that, the group's chief, former U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, says, takes it into a messy thicket. Who am I going to hire to do that? Writers? Critics? Dodd said in his office last week as the Bully controversy was building. That's not a business we want to be in.

A joke about the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America was cut from Jean Dujardin's, Les Infideles , new film so he could win an Oscar, it has emerged.

The French star of the silent comedy The Artist won the Best Actor Oscar. But what many of the Americans voting for him did not know was that he produced and acted in a potentially devastating sketch in Les Infideles, which he is currently promoting in France.

A source close to the makers of Les Infideles confirmed that Dujardin played a love cheat French businessman in one of the scenes cut out of the film. In the removed extract, the Frenchman had travelled to New York to conduct an affair, while telling his wife that he was working hard in an office in Manhattan.

As he is about to seduce his lover in a hotel room, the businessman receives a phone call from his wife and tells her: Yes, yes, my darling, everything is fine. Meanwhile, the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001 can be seen starting outside the window behind him, as a passenger plane flies in to the World Trade Centre. Original news footage was used in the sketch.

The source said: Yes, the scene was considered too much for America. It would have been provocative, especially in the run-up to the Oscars and other awards.

The film has previously come in for a bit of nutter stick. Posters for Les Infideles were taken down in Paris in response to whinges from the politically correct

The MPAA has given an NC-17 rating to William Friedkin's crime drama Killer Joe , prompting Liddell Entertainment to announce it will appeal the ruling.

The film stars Matthew McConaughey and Emile Hirsch and is due for its U.S. premiere at SXSW in March and a domestic launch this summer.

Hirsch portrays a 22-year-old drug dealer who has his stash stolen by his mother and has to come up with $6,000 quick or he's dead. Desperate, he turns to Killer Joe (McConaughey) when he finds out that his mother's life insurance policy is worth $50,000.

Update: Appeal turned down

15th March 2012.From  deadline.com

The Classification and Rating Appeals Board has upheld the NC-17 rating given to the movie Killer Joe .

The Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) had assigned the movie the NC-17 rating for graphic aberrant content involving violence and sexuality, and a scene of brutality.

In the appeal brought by LD Entertainment, the Appeals Board heard statements on behalf of Killer Joe from David Dinerstein, President of LD Entertainment, and Tracy Letts, Pulitzer Prizewinner, Playwright and Screenwriter.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower has now been downgraded from R to PG-13 by the Classification and Rating Appeals Board of the MPAA.

Erik Feig, president of production at Lionsgate Motion Picture Group and Stephen Chbosky, the director, screenwriter and author of the novel on which the movie was based, appeared before the board to make their case for the lower rating.

Originally, the Classification and Rating Administration assigned the movie an R rating for teen drug and alcohol use, and some sexual references.

However the booking of Emma Watson, of Harry Potter fame, suggested that the producers had a younger audience in mind. The movie is about 15-year-old high school freshman who is taken under the wings of two seniors while he copes with his first love, played by Watson, the suicide of his best friend and his own mental illness.

TLA introduce their awards as follows

Here, at TLA Cult, we sell the best and worst of Cult, Horror and Exploitation Cinema on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD. Translation, click around to find the movies your mother warned you about. Movies where heads explode, movies where clothing comes off, movies with lots of blood, but not necessarily lots of money in the budget. We don't care if the movie's budget was $100 or $10,000,000 dollars so long as it's awesome.

Anyway, that's what we do. So why'd we create these awards? We looked around and saw a whole world of movies (our world of movies to be precise) getting totally ignored by pretty much every award-giving institution on Earth. Make a movie about a fat silent comedian and his dog, and these snooty bastards love you. But, make a movie that features a giant spider sexually assaulting a naked woman and you may as well not exist. Well, those movies do exist. And we're going to honor the fuck out of them.

Voting is open to everyone. There is no limit on the number of votes you may cast. Voting will close at 11:59PM ET on Sunday March 31st, 2012. Award winners will be announced April 15th.

Nominations for Best Horror DVD:

TLA introduce their awards as follows

Here, at TLA Cult, we sell the best and worst of Cult, Horror and Exploitation Cinema on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD. Translation, click around to find the movies your mother warned you about. Movies where heads explode, movies where clothing comes off, movies with lots of blood, but not necessarily lots of money in the budget. We don't care if the movie's budget was $100 or $10,000,000 dollars so long as it's awesome.

Anyway, that's what we do. So why'd we create these awards? We looked around and saw a whole world of movies (our world of movies to be precise) getting totally ignored by pretty much every award-giving institution on Earth. Make a movie about a fat silent comedian and his dog, and these snooty bastards love you. But, make a movie that features a giant spider sexually assaulting a naked woman and you may as well not exist. Well, those movies do exist. And we're going to honor the fuck out of them.

Voting is open to everyone. There is no limit on the number of votes you may cast. Voting will close at 11:59PM ET on Sunday March 31st, 2012. Award winners will be announced April 15th.

Nominations for Best Cult DVD:

Hindu extremists in India have protested against the shooting of a film by director Kathryn Bigelow on the grounds that the film-makers were portraying Pakistan on Indian soil.

The film, with the working title Zero Dark Thirty , is about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

The film-makers were denied permission to film in Pakistan so they converted parts of the Indian city of Chandigarh to look like the Pakistani city of Lahore.

Billboards with Urdu signs were put up on shops in a market in the north Indian city and auto-rickshaws were running with Lahore number plates. Burqa-clad women and men dressed in traditional Pakistani clothes roamed the streets.

But for right-wing Hindus, the use of India to portray sworn enemy Pakistan was too much.

The small group of protesters shouted slogans and some of them were seen arguing with cast and crew members. Vijay Bhardwaj, a leader of the radical Vishva Hindu Parishad group said:

We strongly oppose this and we will not let them put Pakistani flags here and we will not let them shoot for the film.

The beautiful Lina Romay died today from cancer aged 57.

She was born Rosa Maria Almirall Martinez in Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain on 23 June 1954. She often appeared in films directed by her long-time companion Jesus Franco.

Lina Romay began appearing in Jesus Franco's films from the time they met in 1971, and she has since appeared in over 100 feature films, most of them directed by Franco. The majority of their films together were in the adult porn genre, but she has also starred in many horror, comedy and action/adventure films as well. Among the most famous of her cult horror movies are The Bare Breasted Countess (aka Female Vampire ), Jack the Ripper, Exorcisms and Black Masses and Barbed Wire Dolls . Lina Romay has admitted to being an exhibitionist in interviews and many of her x-rated films involved oral sex and lesbianism.

A few of her films from horror related genres:

• Tender Flesh (1997)
• Shatter Dead (1994)
• Faceless (1988)
• The Treasure of the White Goddess (1983)
• Revenge in the House of Usher (1982)
• Mansion Of The Living Dead (1982)
• Macumba Sexual (1981)
• Mondo Cannibale (1981)
• Man Hunter (1980)
• Greta The Mad Butcher (1977)
• Jack the Ripper (1976)
• Doriana Grey (1976)
• Night of the Skull (1976) aka Night of the Killers
• Women Behind Bars (1975)
• Caged Women (1975)
• Barbed Wire Dolls (1975)
• Exorcism (1975) aka Exorcisms and Black Masses
• The Bare Breasted Countess / aka Female Vampire (1973)
•  Daughter of Dracula (1972)
• The Erotic Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1972)

Hammer Films writes:

Here's a list of lost scenes that we'd love to restore if we are able to source materials. Anyone who knows the whereabouts of such, please email us [See  article for email address].

The Reptile

• An extended knife in neck/snake bite scene (this is thought to exist, but no known evidence).

The Curse of Frankenstein

• The eyeball scene (this footage definitely exists somewhere).
• The head in acid bath scene (this scene may not have been filmed, though stills exist).

The Mummy

• The under-dressed maidens in the flashback procession (this scene may not have been filmed, though stills exist).
• The tongue-cutting and/or the tongue wriggling (these are thought to exist, but no known evidence).

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell

• An extended glass-in-throat (apparently exists on a Dutch laser disc).
• An extended body falling into grave (apparently exists on a Dutch laser disc).

Rasputin the Mad Monk

• An extended fight scene (definitely filmed, but no known surviving materials).

Viking Queen

• An extended more explicit version (some evidence, but nothing definite).

A new piece of research has received press attention as it links drinking with movie watching. The research was published in the medical journal BMJ Open.

The information about the research doesn't seem to try and differentiate between those watching movies featuring drinking and movies without drinking. I would guess that just watching a lot of movies regardless of drink or not, is enough to explain the figures found below, as this is enough to differentiate between different lifestyles.

From a UK perspective

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport told Associated Press:  Alcohol in films is an issue that is covered in the classification guidelines used by the British Board of Film Classification, and the promotion or glamourisation of drinking is something that is taken into account in classification decisions.

Comparing media and family predictors of alcohol use: a cohort study of US adolescents

By Mike Stoolmiller, Thomas A Wills, Auden C McClure. Susanne E Tanski, Keilah A Worth, Meg Gerrard and James D Sargent of Dartmouth College, USA

Abstract

Objective To compare media/marketing exposures and family factors in predicting adolescent alcohol use.

Setting

Confidential telephone survey of adolescents in their homes.

Participants

Representative sample of 6522 US adolescents, aged 10--14 years at baseline and surveyed four times over 2 years.

Aims

Time to alcohol onset and progression to binge drinking were assessed with two survival models. Predictors were movie alcohol exposure (MAE), ownership of alcohol-branded merchandise and characteristics of the family (parental alcohol use, home availability of alcohol and parenting). Covariates included sociodemographics, peer drinking and personality factors.

Results

Over the 2 year study period, the prevalence of adolescent using alcohol at least once increased from 11% to 25% and binge drinking  and from 4% to 13%.

• The median estimated movie alcohol exposure from 532 movies was 4.5 hour

• 11% owned alcohol-branded merchandise.

• parental alcohol use (weekly or more) was reported by 23%

• 29% of adolescents could obtain alcohol from home.

Peer drinking, movie alcohol exposure, alcohol-branded merchandise, age and rebelliousness were associated with both alcohol onset and progression to binge drinking.

The ratio for alcohol onset for high versus low movie alcohol exposure exposure were 2.13 +/- 0.44. Movie alcohol exposure accounted for 28% of this transition.

The ratio for binge drinking for high versus low movie alcohol exposure exposure were 1.63 +/- 0.43. Movie alcohol exposure accounted for 20% of this transition.

Characteristics of the family were associated with alcohol onset but not with progression.

Conclusion

The results suggest that family focused interventions would have a larger impact on alcohol onset while limiting media and marketing exposure could help prevent both onset and progression.

David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo features scenes of violence, rape, torture, nudity. All a bit too much for Vietnamese sensibilities.The film now will not be shown in Vietnam, after the film's distributor withdrew it. This was confirmed by the National Film Board.

However there seems a little doubt as to whether the film was banned due to the film censor's demands, or else just banned in anticipation of the film censor's demands.

Tuoitre news reported that:

The film was to be released on March 2, but its international distributor, Sony Pictures, decided not to release it in Vietnam since the National Film Board requires the studio cut sensitive scenes from the movie.

However VietNam Net Bridge reported that:

The withdrawal has no connection to the Vietnamese censorship because the film had not been submitted to the national film censorship board yet.

Either way it is banned due to local film censorship rules.

Hammer at the Vault
10-26th February 2012
At the Old Vic Tunnels, London

The flicker club has formed an unholy alliance with the mighty Hammer, Britain's legendary house of horror.

We will be resurrecting bloody classics like The Reptile , Frankenstein Created Woman and The Vampire Lovers and bringing them face to face with their 21st century counterparts: Wake Wood, Let Me In and the eagerly awaited The Woman in Black , starring Daniel Radcliffe.

Also Twins of Evil, Vampire Circus, Hands of the Ripper, Hound of the Baskervilles, The Lost Continent, Dracula, Quatermass and the Pit, The Reptile, Plague of Zombies, The Witches, Dracula Prince Of Darkness, Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell.

Restoration of the Japanese footage to Dracula

See  article from  blog.hammerfilms.com

We have reviewed the restoration of the Japanese footage to Dracula . It was incredibly exciting to see the two long-lost moments in the context of the BFI's restoration.

Molinare have done a superb job restoring this footage, considering the state of the reels (you'll be able to compare and contrast on the eventual Blu-ray; we're going to release all four surviving Japanese reels unrestored as a single extra).

The moment where the Count leans-in over Mina is full of transgressive threat and erotic charge (one can easily see how this moment had to be cut in 1958) though the footage does not actually include a bite (contrary to wishful thinking in some quarters).

The face-clawing scene is truly magnificent and sits perfectly within the last few seconds of the film. T

The world premiere screening of the definitive restored Dracula is at the Vault on 18th February 2012

The Owner (El propietario) is a 2008 Argentina horror thriller by Valentín Javier Diment and Luis Ziembrowski. With Jimena Anganuzzi, Carla Crespo and Mario Das Arias. See IMDb .

It was passed 18 after 1:22s of BBFC cuts for:

• UK 2012 4Digital/Redemption R2 DVD

The BBFC commented about their cuts:

• Company was required to make cuts to remove eroticised nudity from a sequence of sexual violence in which an unconscious woman is sexually assaulted.

Promotional material for the film reads:

This is a truly disturbing and perverse horror movie that oozes depravity from each and every frame.

The Owner, of the title is a sex-obsessed landlord (Luis Ziembrowski) who hides cameras all over the apartments he rents out, and in particular the apartment of an up-and coming lesbian actress (Jimena Anganuzi), whose every move and exposed flash he drools over, watching her body on playback again and again. Slowly his obsession becomes a twisted one-sided relationship in his mind that the actress only becomes aware of when its too late...

Film viewers in India were in for some bad when Sony Pictures announced that the keenly-awaited The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo , had been banned. An official Sony statement read:

The Censor Board (of India) has adjudged the film unsuitable for public viewing in its unaltered form. And while we are committed to maintaining and protecting the vision of the director, we will, as always, respect the guidelines set by the board.

News of the ban has not just disappointed viewers, it has also shocked the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) who rather expected Sony to accept their long and unacceptable list of suggested cuts. CBFC CEO Pankaja Thakur said:

We are disturbed at the bad press it has generated, especially internationally. If they were unhappy with the decision, they should have brought it to the notice of the senior officers. We did not hear from Sony Pictures, nothing was brought to our notice, till we read about it in the papers.

The CBFC's proposed cuts for Dragon Tattoo include two graphic lovemaking scenes between journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Mara), a lesbian sex scene between Lisbeth and a barfly, a rape sequence and a scene in which she tortures her rapist, with a video of her being assaulted playing in the background. Thakur says the film was issued an A certificate, after extensive cuts, on December 19, 2011.

Sony didn't follow up the option of going to the revising committee to appeal against the cuts either, again to the annoyance of the film censors. Thakur ranted:

CBFC functions like a quasi-judicial organisation. From the lower court you go to the High Court and Supreme Court. So if they had a problem, the producers should have taken it to the next level. Filmmakers have a chance to be heard, cuts are discussed with them. They have lost so much time by not bringing it to our notice.

But Sony's spokesperson took a further dig at the squirming film censor and quickly dismissed the option as useless:

No appeal ever works.

Another issue irking the CBFC is that Dragon Tattoo had faced similar censorship problems in Malaysia and the Gulf countries. Japan rejected the original film too and okayed a revised version with pixellated scenes. Thakur lamented:

If they have accepted that in Japan, then why take such a stand in India?

He may have triumphed over the world's greatest criminal masterminds, but in his early days James Bond suffered countless defeats at the hands of Britain's film censors.

Producers of the 007 movies had to cut scenes, redub dialogue and rewrite scripts because the British Board of Film Classification objected to some of the spy's more risque exploits.

...Read the full article

Zalman King, the producer, director and screenwriter of numerous erotic films, died this morning after a six-year battle with cancer. He was 70 years old.

King's credits include 9 1/2 Weeks, Wild Orchid and the well-known Red Shoe Diaries for Showtime, which spawned many sequels and became a staple of erotic late-night cable TV.

King is perhaps best known for his collaboration with director Adrian Lyne on the film 9 1/2 Weeks , which featured an incendiary sex scene between Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. The scene has long been considered the hottest sex scene in a mainstream Hollywood film.

King was praised for his work by the Los Angeles Times, which said, Zalman King is the reigning auteur of erotic fantasy. Premiere Magazine called him the high priest of erotic filmmaking.

Film posters for a new French film, Les Infideles, about adultery have been taken down in Paris because they are supposedly too provocative.

The adverts show Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche implying sexual positions which campaigners have claimed degrade women.

On poster showing a girl with her head at the groin of a guy on a phone is captioned It's going to cut out, I'm just entering a tunnel

In the other advert a woman's legs are in the air and are being held by Dujardin. It says underneath I'm just going into a meeting .

ARPP, the French advert censor, has ordered that the billboards be taken down. Stephane Martin, who works for the censor, told French newspaper Le Parisien:

We already feel that this campaign is against the rules, even if it relates to the subject of the film, a comedy about adultery.As a preventative measure, we've already counseled JC Decaux, who are in charge of the billboards, to take them down.

From promotional material:

Nazisploitation! examines past intersections of National Socialism and popular cinema and the recent reemergence of this imagery in contemporary visual culture. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, films such as Love Camp 7 and Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS introduced and reinforced the image of Nazis as master paradigms of evil in what film theorists deem the sleaze film.

More recently, Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds , as well as video games such as Call of Duty: World at War , have reinvented this iconography for new audiences. In these works, the violent Nazi becomes the hyperbolic caricature of the monstrous feminine or the masculine sadist. Power-hungry scientists seek to clone the Fuhrer, and Nazi zombies rise from the grave.

The history, aesthetic strategies, and political implications of such translations of National Socialism into the realm of commercial, low brow, and sleaze visual culture are the focus of this book. The contributors examine when and why the Nazisploitation genre emerged as it did, how it establishes and violates taboos, and why this iconography resonates with contemporary audiences.

 See  review from  irishtimes.com , Jan 2012

A key question is how exactly did a society as sexually repressive as Nazi Germany become a signifier of far-out sex and erotic adventurism?

Although this book ultimately struggles to provide a definitive answer, perhaps because the question is unanswerable, it does, over the course of some 300 pages, prove how potent and enduing the conventions of Nazisploitation have become.

Like the Nazi zombie monsters of the recent Norwegian opus Dead Snow, it is a phenomenon that has proved itself all-but unkillable.

Visions of Ecstasy is a 1989 UK erotic short by Nigel Wingrove. With Louise Downie, Elisha Scott and Dan Fox. See IMDb

It was originally banned by the BBFC for a 1989 Axel VHS . It was the only film banned in the UK solely on grounds of blasphemy.

The BBFC decision was subsequently appealed to the Video Appeals Committee, who upheld the ban. Then director Nigel Wingrove then took his case to the European Court of Human Rights , but again lost his case.

In 2008, section 79 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel. And now the film has been passed 18 uncut for a 2012 4Digital home video release.

But don't expect too much. Director Nigel Wingrove was a bit defensive when talking to the BBFC :

If I made the film now I would make it very differently, I was exploring areas of dark eroticism, but I had worked chiefly in prints, not films.

People say I should put it out, but on a personal level I have reservations. If I did release it, I would need to put it into context and perhaps release a documentary to accompany it.

The film has now been passed 18 uncut for nudity and sex involving religious images for:

• UK 2012 4DigitalRedemption R2 DVD at UK Amazon for release 26th March 2012

The BBFC have explained their decision to unban the film in a press release :

Visions of Ecstasy is a 19 minute short film, featuring a sequence in which a figure representing St Teresa of Avila interacts sexually with a figure representing the crucified Christ. When the film was originally submitted to the BBFC in 1989, for video classification only, the Board refused to issue a classification certificate. This decision was taken on the grounds that the publication of the film, which the issue of a BBFC certificate would permit, might constitute an offence under the common law test of blasphemous libel.

The Board is required, as part of the terms of its designation under the Video Recordings Act 1984, to seek to avoid classifying any work that might infringe the criminal law. Therefore, the Board had no alternative at the time but to refuse a classification. The Board's decision to refuse a classification to the film was subsequently upheld by the independent Video Appeals Committee.

In 2008, section 79 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act abolished the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel. This means that the BBFC is no longer entitled to consider whether the publication of the film might comprise a blasphemous libel.

The BBFC has carefully considered Visions of Ecstasy in terms of its current classification Guidelines. These reflect both the requirements of UK law and the wishes of the UK public, as expressed through regular large scale consultation exercises. With the abolition of the offence of blasphemy, the Board does not consider that the film is in breach of any other UK law that is currently in force. Nor does the Board regard the film as likely to cause harm to viewers in the terms envisioned by the Video Recordings Act.

The Board recognises that the content of the film may be deeply offensive to some viewers. However, the Board's Guidelines reflect the clear view of the public that adults should have the right to choose their own viewing, provided that the material in question is neither illegal nor harmful. In the absence of any breach of UK law and the lack of any credible risk of harm, as opposed to mere offensiveness, the Board has no sustainable grounds on which to refuse a classification to Visions of Ecstasy in 2012. Therefore the film has been classified for video release at 18 without cuts.

Two movie-goers had to be treated by paramedics after they experienced adverse and shocking reactions to graphic scenes in a new horror film at the world-renowned Sundance Film Festival.

One viewer was watching a midnight screening of V/H/S last week when he ran from the cinema screen, collapsed and began to suffer seizures, according to the film's co-writer Simon Barrett. He explained that while very funny in parts, the film is also quite intense and gory.

While he was being treated, his girlfriend also ran into the lobby and began to vomit. The night before, another woman reportedly left in tears because she could not stand the suspense.

The lurid accounts of movie-goers passing out will no doubt lead some to suspect that this may have been an attempt to court publicity - but the film's production team insist what happened was real.

The film features a group of misfits hired by an unknown third party to burgle a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape. The supernatural footage they find proves a bit scary.

Fox has made cuts to its new movie offering This Means War. The Studio has now cut out a few sex jokes from actress Chelsea Handler, according to a source close to the project.

The cuts were to avoid the R Rating handed down by the US film censors and obtain a PG-13 instead.

Before making cuts Fox did in fact try to appeal against the R Rating but the appeal was turned down.

This Means War is directed by McG and stars Chris Pine, Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon. Pine and Hardy play best friend CIA operatives who fall for the same woman.

David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo features scenes of violence, rape, torture, nudity. All a bit too much for India's film censors have have banned it.

India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) decided that the movie contained too much nudity - five scenes to be exact. Now, according to Variety, distribution has been cancelled entirely because David Fincher refuses to cut the film.

A spokesperson for Columbia Pictures in India said, The Censor Board has adjudged the film unsuitable for public viewing in its unaltered form and, while we are committed to maintaining and protecting the vision of the director, we will, as always, respect the guidelines set by the board. The trade says that normally nude scenes are simply blurred out, but the Censor Board specifically asked that scenes be cut out.

No doubt Indians will now find a way to watch it just as the director intended.

Hungary as added its own little contribution to the hype juggernaut following Steve McQueen's movie Shame .

The Hungarian cinema poster has unsurprisingly found a little resistance to its distribution. Or is it all just hype?

A film trailer by the makers of Wallace and Gromit has been criticised for poking fun at people with leprosy.

The scene shows the arrival of the Pirate Captain on board a captive ship, demanding gold.  Afraid we don't have any gold old man, this is a leper-boat, explains a crew member. See, he adds as his arm falls off.

Essex-based Lepra Health in Action has expressed disbelief at the scene in Aardman Animation's The Pirates! Adventures with Scientists.

Lepra's president Sir Christian Bonington said:

It might make you laugh but leprosy stigma not only hurts, it is still forcing people to live a life on the fringes of society.

Not only is the dropping off of body parts a total misnomer we have to ask ourselves, as we watch it uncomfortably, is it acceptable for us to be laughing at the millions of people who are disabled by leprosy? '

A spokesman for Bristol-based Aardman said it took criticism like this seriously and was reviewing the matter.

Update: Potential for offence disarmed

25th January 2012. See  article from  independent.co.uk

The creator of Wallace & Gromit, Aardman Animations, has bowed to international pressure after being accused of poking fun at leprosy sufferers in its latest blockbuster film.

Aardman have announced that the offending leper scene in The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists , set for release in March, will be changed out of respect and sensitivity after being convinced that the scene could increase stigma and discrimination for millions of leprosy sufferers.

The scene showed the main pirate character landing on a so called leper ship looking for gold, but is then clearly aghast when the leper's arm falls off. It has already been seen on the film's trailer by hundreds of thousands of people on You Tube and in cinemas worldwide, but Aardman will now remove all offensive references to leprosy.

Chief executive of LEPRA, Sarah Nancollas, said:

We are genuinely delighted that Aardman and Sony Pictures have made this decision, though obviously we will have to wait to see the final film to see it was dealt with.

Hopefully this publicity will help to reduce the damage that has already been done with the use of this trailer across the world.

The Woman in Black is a 2012 UK/Canada/Sweden ghost story by James Watkins.
With Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer and Ciarán Hinds. See IMDb .

The film has been passed 12A after 6s of BBFC category cuts for intense supernatural threat and horror for:

• UK 2012 cinema release

The BBFC commented:

Distributor chose to reduce moments of strong violence / horror in order to achieve a 12A classification. Cuts made in line with BBFC Guidelines and policy. A 15 classification without cuts was available.

Update: More

24th January 2012. See  article from  huffingtonpost.co.uk

The Huffington Post adds a little more detail without explaining:

Substitutions were also made by darkening some shots and by reducing the sound levels on others.

Update: Confirmed

24th January 2012.

Thanks to Gavin Salkeld who confirmed that from the BBFC:

In addition to the 6 seconds of visual cuts, substitutions were also made by darkening some shots and by reducing the sound levels on others.

 

The Expendables was an R Rated tough guy actioner with no shortage of strong language and arterial blood spurts.

It turns out that The Expendables 2 won't repeat the rating of its predecessor, and will instead be rated a more tame PG-13.

Chuck Norris explained in an interview for Gazeta:

In 'Expendables 2', there was a lot of vulgar dialogue in the screenplay. For this reason, many young people wouldn't be able to watch this. But I don't play in movies like this. Due to that, I said I wouldn't be a part of that if the hardcore language is not erased. Producers accepted my conditions and the movie will be classified in the category of PG-13.

Sylvester Stallone has also confirmed that the sequel will indeed be knocked down a ratings peg:

The PG13 is true, but before your readers pass judgement, trust me when I say this film is LARGE in every way and delivers on every level. This movie touches on many emotions which we want to share with the broadest audience possible, BUT, fear not, this Barbeque of Grand scale Ass Bashing will not leave anyone hungry

Eldordo is a new UK comedy horror by Richard Driscoll with Steven Craine, Darren Morgan, Peter O'Toole, Steve Guttenberg, Daryl Hannah

The publicity material reads:

The evening was going to be a normal Blues Brothers tribute show for Oliver and Stanley Rosenblum, The Jews Brothers till their agent JJ decides to send them to a mythical western town called Eldorado. With Cannibals, music and dancing this is not what Oliver and Stanley expected, especially when they find out that they are the main course of the day.

Intriguingly Richard Driscoll notes on the movie's Facebook page:

Due to an ongoing battle with the BBFC for an 18 certification, Eldorado's initial release on Jan 30th will be in 2D only. We have also decided to postpone the premiere until the 25th June, the date of the exclusive Blu-ray 3D release, as we feel that the premiere should be enjoyed in 3D.

Update: Hype

25th January 2012.

The latest Facebook entry by Richard Driscoll reads:

Great news...after much deliberation the BBFC have given Eldorado a 15 certificate with no cuts! However the time taken to reach a decision has meant that the scheduled release will be delayed by a week.

The major Bollywood film, Ghost , has received the full censorial treatment. Supposedly excessive gore-content offended India's film censor who made severe cuts.

Director Puja Jatinder Bedi says that some of the cuts have been unjustified. The censor board cut one of the most important scenes in my film. It's a scene where the ghost gets crucified like Jesus Christ. The scene was very pivotal for the screenplay, said Bedi.

The censor board felt that the crucifixion would hurt religious sentiments of the Christian community. Also, the brutality was being perpetrated on a woman. The blood and gore content is high enough for Ghost to be rated as the most violent film ever. So, the censors have toned down all the murder sequences, she added.

However, when contacted, J.P. Singh, the censor board's regional officer at Mumbai, said that the crucifixion sequence had only been reduced, not removed.

That scene is still there in the film. Only its length has been shortened to reduce the impact of the extreme brutality shown on a girl. The examining committee has given five-six cuts. All of them were extremely brutal. There was a scene showing a dead body's legs being cut. Another excessively violent scene showed a girl being beaten for a very long time by many people, said Singh.

Distributors Lionsgate have got their heart set of a PG-13 rating for the children's horror The Possession.

The film was originally given an R Rating but Lionsgate appealed. The appeal was turned down by the MPAA in November 2011 and so the R Rating stood.

Now Lionsgate have cut down the movie to obtain the required PG-13 rating.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan stars in The Possession, formerly titled Dibbuk Box , with Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert producing, and Ole Bornedal directing. The movie follows a divorced father whose youngest daughter becomes strangely connected to an antique wooden box she purchased at a yard sale.

The film will open at the end of August 2012.

The BBFC have rated Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar as 17 for infrequent strong language.

The decision is explained in the Extended Classification Information:

J. EDGAR is a biopic of J.Edgar Hoover, the founder and head of the FBI. It was classified 15 for infrequent strong language.

The BBFC's Guidelines at 12A/12 state The use of strong language (for example, 'fuck') must be infrequent. The film contains only one use of 'f***ing', which would have been permissible at 12A. However, it also contains two uses of cruder language (in this case 'c***sucker') that were more appropriately classified at 15 where the Guidelines state There may be frequent use of strong language. None of the language is personally directed or accompanied by violence, but is spoken in a derogatory manner about political opponents who are not present at the time.

The film also contains some moderate violence during shootouts between police and mobsters. However, the violence is almost always bloodless and lacking in injury detail.

...

The film also contains some mild bad language, such as damn and Jesus Christ . There are a couple of uses of the term negro , although the term is not used in a pejorative sense, simply reflecting the common terminology of the period in which the film is set. The historical nature of the term and the lack of intent to offend is reinforced by sight of Martin Luther King using it himself in a televised speech.

Seems a bit harsh, but the US film censors seemed to agree that J. Edgar went beyond PG-13 and rated the film as R.

Interesting to note the inconsistent use of asterisks in the BBFC piece. It let one 'fuck' through but censored the next. Is this the BBFC keeping the page itself down to a 12 rating?

The distributor of Steve McQueen's new film Shame has lashed out at Australia's classification board, saying the internationally acclaimed film doesn't deserve an R18+ rating.

Transmission Films general manager Courtney Botfield says she is disappointed the Australian Classification Board has stamped Shame with the rating, which restricts marketing and tends to dent box office takings.

The classification is harsh, she claims, given the film's level of explicit content and the absence of violence:

We were disappointed, we don't think the film is that terribly explicit to deserve an R rating.

Given that it was rated in a similar classification bracket in the US it was on the cards, but we were pretty confident it wouldn't get one.

In fact the film was rated adults only in both the UK (18 rating), and the US (NC-17 rating).

Botfield says some people will miss out seeing an important film because of restrictions on marketing. She explained:

Mainly it's the trailering. The trailer is automatically rated R and can only play with other R-rated films, of which there are none, so that key marketing tool just disappears.

Sensible Decision

The Human Centipede II (full sequence) has recently been sent back to the Film Classification Review Board after its original R18+ classification was disputed. In this case it seems that technical skill (I'm not sure acting comes into it) has not just been squandered, but misdirected into something that brings no light to anyone, only darkness.

A good film can be a source of wonder, and not just because of the special effects. When a good director and team bring the technical marvels together with the essential elements of good acting and a good script, some very special films can result. The talents of many people are needed to bring this about, as ever-lengthening lists of credits show.

Not every film can be special and the relentless demand for product in our consumer society inevitably effects quality. All the same, it is sometimes a cause of regret when I think of the talent that is squandered in making a mediocre film, to say nothing of a really bad one, like The Human Centipede II.

The film was initially banned in Britain, a rare occurrence, but was subsequently released after cuts were made. These featured what the British Board of Film Classification described as scenes of sexual and sexualised violence, sadistic violence and humiliation , as well as a scene of a child presented in an abusive and violent context .

The description of the deleted scenes does not make easy reading. They included graphic sight of a man's teeth being removed with a hammer; graphic sight of lips being stapled to naked buttocks; graphic sight of forced defecation into and around other people's mouths , a woman being raped with barbed wire; and a newborn baby being killed.

The plot, such as it is, focuses strongly on the link between sexual arousal and sexual violence and a clear association between pain, perversity and sexual pleasure . Not the sort of film you'd hope your neighbour watches.

The review of its classification in Australia came after an application from the federal Minister for Justice, Brendan O'Connor. On 28 November the review board announced a unanimous decision to refuse the film classification, meaning it cannot be sold or shown in Australia.

Congratulations to the board and the minister on this outcome. Predictably, a few on the margins are bleating about censorship . But most Australians will see the decision as a win for common decency and common sense.