Latest Cuts: BBFC and MPA

Wicked City is a 1987 Japan anime horror sci-fi by Yoshiaki Kawajiri.
With Gregory Snegoff, Mike Reynolds and Alexandra Kenworthy.

There has been peace between the worlds of the mortals and the supernatural for centuries, but the balance is now being threatened. The Radical elements from the Supernatural world are crossing over into the mortal universe for the purpose of destroying the peace forever!

The film was cut by the BBFC for 18 rated VHS in 1993 and cinema release in 1994. The 1993 BBFC cuts were:

• A panning shot of Jin having his hand on Maki's crotch is deleted
• Close-up of Maki's crotch with Jin's hand on it, along with the subsequent shot of Maki's hair grabbing Jin, which is cut for continuity.
• The demon creature forcing its tongue to Maki's mouth, and then doing the "old in-out".
• The beginning of Maki's rape by the demons is short of a demon mauling on her breast, and the following brief rape shot.
• The rest of Maki's rape is massively reduced and cut (over 20 seconds). This includes the demons mauling and her raping her.
• Raping of Maki in the demon base has lost four close-ups - the demons squeezing her breasts, Maki getting raped from behind, a close of Maki's face, and of her chained hands.

The films has been re-released in 2020 as a double bill with Demon City Shinjuku and has been released uncut on DVD and Blu-ray. Anthony commented:

I can confirm, judging by the existing descriptions of what the BBFC cut, that this brand-new 2020 DVD and Blu-Ray release of Wicked City is uncut.

The running time stacks up with the uncut version too.

UK: BBFC details not yet published though for:

• 2020 Manga Limited Edition [Wicked City and Demon City Shinjuku] (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad
• 2020 Manga Standard Edition [Wicked City and Demon City Shinjuku] (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon
• 2020 Manga [Wicked City and Demon City Shinjuku] R2 DVD at UK Amazon

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a 1989 US comedy by Jeremiah S. Chechik.
With Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo and Juliette Lewis .

It's Christmas time and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.

The 2020 cinema release has just been passed 12A uncut for infrequent strong language, moderate sex references

The film is uncut and MPAA PG-13 rated in the US but the film has a bit of a censorship history in the UK.

BBFC category cuts were required for early PG rated cinema and VHS releases as follows:

• The dialogue: We're gonna have the hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye! lost the 'fucking' in favour of an overdubbed 'dancing'

It was later released uncut on UK Blu-ray in 2003 bearing a 12 rating, seemingly without being resubmitted to the BBFC.

In 2013 a commentary track based on the uncut version was passed 12 uncut for video. In 2014, the film itself was then passed 12 uncut for video.

This 12 rated uncut video version was not published in the BBFC's old database but appears in the BBFC's new dumbed down database.

As of 2020, all UK DVD releases still feature the cut UK version.

Possessor is a 2020 UK / Canada Sci-Fi horror thriller by Brandon Cronenberg.
Starring Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Tasya Vos is a corporate agent who uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people's bodies, driving them to commit assassinations for the benefit of the company. While she has a special gift for the work, her experiences on these jobs have caused a dramatic change in her, and in her own life she struggles to suppress violent memories and urges. As her mental strain intensifies, she begins to lose control, and soon she finds herself trapped in the mind of a man whose identity threatens to obliterate her own.

Possessor exists as a cut US R rated version and an uncut MPA Unrated Version titled Possessor Uncut. The producers were keen to differentiate between the two versions and the 'Uncut' tag is an official re-titling of the film.

A Running time of 103m suggest that it was the cut version that was passed 18 for UK cinema release. The home video version runs for 104m which matches with the Possessor Uncut version. This too was passed 18 by the BBFC. However all advance publicity trailers and posters seem to feature the Possessor Uncut artwork.

Maybe this means that viewers watch at the cinema on 27th November will get the cut version whilst viewers watch the simultaneous digital streaming release will get the uncut version. The DVD is set for release on 8th February 2021 at UK Amazon #ad

Let's hope all these releases are the uncut version as the director Brandon Cronenberg himself states that he prefers the Possessor Uncut version. See article from latimes.com

Presented stateside by distributor Neon, Possessor Uncut -- titled so to distinguish it from an R-rated version that also will be available in some markets -- is the complete version as far as director Brandon Cronenberg is concerned, replete with the uninhibited moments of sex and violence, such as the transfixing erection glimpsed in a sequence memorably bathed in electric blue, that might otherwise have earned the film an NC-17 rating. Cronenberg commented:

Generally I prefer explicit violence, and I prefer violence that is viscerally disturbing to people. I find it more unsettling if violence is very sanitized. If you have a PG-13 movie where 100 people get killed and no one bleeds, to me that's doing a disservice by trivializing the violence. So I prefer people to have that visceral response, because you should.

Jeepers Creeps is a 2001 Germany/US horror by Victor Salva.
With Gina Philips, Justin Long and Jonathan Breck.

Cut in the US for an MPAA R rating. This cut version was then distributed worldwide for all releases since.

The scene of the Creeper eating a man's tongue was shortened in the US to avoid an MPAA NC-17 rating.

UK: Previously passed 15 without BBFC cuts:

• 2020 101 Films (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 26th October 2020

Promotional Material

On a desolate country highway, two homeward-bound teens (Gina Philips, Chained and Justin Long, Drag Me to Hell ) are nearly run off the road by a maniac in a beat-up truck... and later spot him shoving what appears to be a body down a sewer pipe. But when they stop to investigate, they discover that the grisly reality at the bottom of that pipe is far worse than they could have ever suspected... and that they are now the targets of an evil far more unspeakable (and unstoppable) than they could have ever imagined!

Special Features

• Commentary with writer/director Victor Salva and stars Gina Philips and Justin Long
• Commentary with director Victor Salva
• Jeepers Creepers: Then and Now
• From Critters to Creepers An Interview with producer Barry Opper
• The Town Psychic - An Interview with actress Patricia Belcher
• Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Bonus DVD: Behind the Peepers - The Making of Jeepers Creepers

The BBFC has just reworked its website and significantly reduced the functionality of its classifications database.

Indeed the new layout is prettier than before but now the database offers significantly less information than before.

The BBFC noted this change in a rather understated tweet:

We have just relaunched our website with a more simplified search function.

In fact the BBFC have removed the following significant functionalities:

1. The database no longer provides a page listing recent BBFC decisions for upcoming releases. It takes way the transparency of being able to monitor the latest decisions.
2. The database no longer offers an advance search facility whereby users can seek films by director or cast etc.
3. The database cannot be searched via alternative titles, even when the film has been released with a different title. Only the title that the BBFC uses as its primary title can be searched upon.
4. Cuts information detailing the amount of cuts, or even if cuts have been made at all is no longer presented. On occasions that the BBFC has commented on cuts then these comments are still available but these do not detail the amount of running time cut.
5. Banned/Rejected films no longer appear in the database.
6. Film running times are now only specified to the minute rather than to the second as before.

On the plus side the database search facility provides extra links over and above the database entry. For example searching on a title reveals if the film has a case study or is mentioned in a press release.

Offsite Comment: The BBFC returns to a world of secrecy

29th October 2020. See article from reprobatepress.com

The British censorship board's website has gone from being a valuable resource to an empty vanity project that covers up their history.