BBFC News

The Shoot is a 1964 West Germany/France/Italy/Yugoslavia/Spain/US adventure by Robert Siodmak
Starring Lex Barker, Marie Versini and Ralf Wolter

According to the BBFC: There is infrequent use of very strong language ('c**t') and strong language ('f**k'), as well as milder terms such as son of a bitch, bastard, God and hell.

According to publicity blurb Eureka appear to have created new subtitles for this release. Maybe they did this with an AI tool and no-one checked the finished product?  Or maybe the BBFC were using an AI censor, or maybe a BBFC examiner was hearing things.

Summary Notes

When a villain named "the Shoot" terrorizes the constituents of Albanian country, which he rules. Heroic Kara Ben Nemsi (Lex Barker), and his sidekick are the only ones who can stop him

Versions

uncut run: 118:24s pal: 113:40s

UK: Uncut and BBFC 15 rated for very strong language: 2026 Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray (rated 27/04/2026)  The BBFC comments about the strong language: There is infrequent use of very strong language ('c**t') and strong language ('f**k'), as well as milder terms such as son of a bitch, bastard, God and hell.

The increasingly secretive censors at the BBFC have recently removed a facility to let interested users monitor recent decisions. The only database search facility remaining is to search for sepecific titles.

The BBFC responded to a query asking about this vanished recent decisions page and the BBFC responded:

With regard to the website, you are correct that the primary purpose of the site is to assist viewers, and parents in particular, in deciding whether content will be suitable. This is why the functionality has changed.

You can of course still search for classification information via the main search.

The BBFC has said that it is now using an AI censor tool which scans streaming vidoes and creates reports for humans to review. It has used the tool to classify the entire UK catalogue of HBO Max which has recently started its UK service.

TV shows including Game of Thrones and Euphoria have received age ratings for the first time in the UK using the tool. It identifies content that triggers compliance issues, such as violence, nudity and bad language . The flagged scenes are then passed over to BBFC staff for human review.

As a result, all the HBO Max titles were assigned BBFC age ratings -- with Game of Thrones and Euphoria receiving an overall rating of 18, although some individual episodes were rated 15 -- for the platforms UK launch last month.

David Austin, the BBFC chief censor, described the use of AI for HBO Max content as a major step forward in how we support families to make safe and informed viewing decisions.

The BBFC said it had completed the classification of HBO Maxs entire catalogue in six months, a process that normally would have required 1,570 working days -- or more than four years -- of viewing from a compliance officer. The organisation said the final age ratings and content advice remained the sole responsibility of BBFC staff.

Thriller: A Cruel Picture is a 1973 Sweden action thriller by Bo Arne Vibenius (as Alex Fridolinski).
Starring Christina Lindberg, Heinz Hopf and Despina Tomazani.

The Original/Festival Version including director approved hardcore inserts was banned by the Swedish films censors for cinema release and was subsequently significantly cut to obtain a cinema release. The film was also heavily cut in the US for an MPAA R rating. This US Version was banned by the BBFC from a 1974 cinema release. Heavy cuts were then made to obtain an X rated UK cinema release in 1976. The Original Version was submitted to the BBFC in 2026 but the BBFC cut the hardcore inserts for a cut 18 rated Blu-ray release. There are several other versions featuring a mix of material from the above versions.

UK: The Original Version was BBFC 18 rated for sexual violence for sexual violence after BBFC cuts:

• 2025 Screenbound Pictures Blu-ray (rated 28/07/2025)

The BBFC commented in board meeting minutes [pdf] from darkroom.bbfc.co.uk :

The Classifiers discussed Thriller: A Cruel Picture, a Swedish crime drama, from 1973, in which a woman is forced into prostitution and later seeks violent revenge against her abusers

The film was previously submitted to the BBFC, in a pre-cut version, for cinema release in 1974 and found unsuitable for classification. It was resubmitted in 1975 203 following a change in BBFC leadership 203 and classified X in 1976 after further cuts were made to scenes of violence and sexual violence. It has not previously been classified for home video release

The film has now been submitted for a video rating, in its original uncut version.

The Classifiers focused in particular on two scenes of sexual violence, which depict the protagonist participating in sex work with male and female clients while under the control of a pimp who has forcibly addicted her to heroin. The scenes include explicit images of unsimulated masturbation, vaginal and anal penetration, and ejaculation.

The BBFC supports adults' right to choose their own entertainment as long as it remains within the law and is not potentially harmful. However, where a film or video raises issues or concerns that cannot be addressed by classification at a particular category, we may require cuts or other changes as a condition of classification.

Our Classification Guidelines state that such cuts may be required to portrayals of sexual violence that make rape, other non-consensual sexually violent behaviour or sadistic violence look appealing.

The Classifiers noted that the volume and detail of the real sexual activity in Thriller: A Cruel Picture far exceeds previous, and very rare, precedents for unsimulated (or apparently unsimulated) sexual activity during scenes of sexual violence in films classified by the BBFC. They unanimously agreed that the nature and quantity of the explicit and unsimulated images, in the context of scenes of sexual violence, is such that their effect is to eroticise rape in a manner that poses a risk of harm to viewers under the Video Recordings Act 1984.

The Classifiers determined that the scenes breached the BBFC's Guidelines and policy on depictions of sexual violence, and that cuts were therefore required to remove all explicit imagery in order to make the film suitable for classification at 18.