Movie News

Hammer has announced on its blog:

The world premiere of our restored THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN will take place at the CATH/DMU Hammer event in Leicester on Saturday 14th July

For the first time in many years, the film will be screened in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 aka Academy .

The film will also include the eyeball scene --- restored from a reel of a print housed at the BFI then integrated into the main restoration, which was scanned from a Warner Bros. I/P --- though not the head in acid bath scene, which despite our best efforts appears no longer to exist.

For those of you who can't make it, we hope to announce the UK Blu-ray release date at the event.

CLICK: You opted to not fight the NC-17 rating, why?

William Friedkin : Because they're full of shit! No the rating's correct too. I don't target 13 year olds or 16 year olds to see this movie. I don't think the ratings incorrect. Its draconian, it limits you and limits your audience but it's not an incorrect rating.

This should be an 18 plus which it is over here and throughout Europe and in the rest of the world.

The ratings board is extremely problematical in that they don't have a rule book that's as thick as this [holds up a sheet of paper]. There's nothing that you can read that says: if you do this or that thing you will get an NC-17.

With the ratings board, we don't know how they got there. We know it was political. But their judgements have no legal standing, they're a self-governing body of the MPAA and they will not give an NC-17 to a member company of that group. There will be little concessions made to them -- a few frames here and there...

You might have asked -- did you ever think you'd get an NC-17 and did you have to change it? And I can answer you honestly no I didn't change a frame of it because I'm too old to bow down before this anonymous board of censors.

Christians have reacted with 'fury' to the news that Dutch director Paul Veerhoeven is planning to make a film which depicts Jesus as the product of rape by a Roman soldier rather than a child of immaculate conception via God.

Paul Verhoeven has written a book, Jesus of Nazereth, that features his controversial take on the nativity and now plans are afoot to film the story.

According to RadarOnline, Dan Gainor, of the Culture and Media Institute whined:

Hollywood isn't anti-Christian, we are constantly told, yet the evidence keeps piling up that it is precisely that way.

This isn't accidental. Christians and Christian faith have been under decades of attack by hedonist Hollywood that is desperate to rationalize a culture of immorality.

In The Daily Mail, a representative for Verhoeven said it was too early for moral outrage as no script had been written, stating:

There is as yet no script on the subject, and until there is, there's nothing to discuss.

For some the whole concept may be a step too far, with many religious figures only too happy to step up to the call and criticise flippancy about their religious beliefs. Others will argue that the Christians angered by the film need not go and see it, and that any protests could actually backfire as they generate free publicity for Verhoeven.

The Knot is a 2012 UK comedy romance by Jesse Lawrence. With Noel Clarke, Mena Suvari and Matthew McNulty. See IMDb

It was passed 15 for strong language, sex references and sexualised nudity after BBFC category cuts for:

• UK 2012 cinema release

The BBFC commented:

• Distributor chose to reduce a focus on sexualised female nudity in a strip club scene in order to achieve a 15 classification. Cuts made in accordance with BBFC Guidelines and policy. An uncut 18 classification was available.

Update: Re-knotted

26th June 2012. Thanks to Mark

In fact the BBFC had already passed The Knot with an uncut 18 certificate and consumer advice: Contains strong sexualised nudity.

It's only in the last few days that the certificate has been changed to 15 and the film cut but, strangely, all mention to the previous 18 certificate has been deleted from the BBFC database.

Chinese film censors have blocked the latest film by Lu Chuan, one of China's rising directors.

Lu was hoping to release The Last Supper , a costume drama about two warring generals starring Liu Ye, Daniel Wu and Taiwanese thesp Chang Chen, next month. He told a forum at the Shanghai Film Festival the project had been delayed by the Film Bureau:

We need a fair, relaxed and comfortable environment to be creative, like Hollywood. Their movies can have aliens attacking Los Angeles, even flooding the White House. Film should not just be a propaganda tool.

Other directors joined the compaint about how censorship was making it difficult to make movies. Producer Qin Hong said he hoped the forum would encourage the Film Bureau to change its mind.

The London Indian film festival is showcasing controversial new movies that are winning international acclaim but offending the establishment by exposing hypocrisies at home.

The festival opened on Wednesday with Gangs of Wasseypur , a two-part epic about criminal dynasties who control a mining town in the lawless state of Jharkand. With its raw potrayal of a reality that never appears in the glossy utopia of Bollywood, it heralds a movement towards exposing the hypocrisies of Indian society about sex, drugs, development and injustice.

The film has the audacity to reflect the folk bawdiness of Indian life, with song lyrics that have been translated as: You'll know my name when I fuck you dry ... Ain't I nice, I just fucked you twice. You can almost taste the salt as the sweaty lovers frolic to the score.

Also showing at the London festival is Gandu (variously translated as Arsehole, Wanker and Loser ), a thrash-metal rap musical about a young dopehead and his lust for fame and sex that, despite being banned in India, has become one of the country's most talked about films, with its explicit opium smoking, foul language and masturbation.

The confusion of a society in thrall to its own ancient morals while increasingly experiencing the wider world is acutely captured in Gandu, whose eponymous hero is an angst-ridden skinhead who yearns to rap with Asian Dub Foundation while loafing and getting high on the streets of Calcutta. Shot in black and white, it features a kung-fu-kicking rickshaw-wallah sidekick and an explicit blowjob scene performed by the director's girlfriend, followed by her squatting brazenly on the young man's face. The movie is a surreal Bengali mix of Jim Jarmusch kookiness and the raw sexuality of Nagisa Oshima, and is absolutely nothing like any Indian film I've ever seen. Gandu Gandu, a thrash-rap musical. was banned in India.

Leaked on the internet, Gandu has been downloaded more than a million times and hawkers openly sell the DVDs. It is now getting government exemptions to be shown on the Indian festival circuit and has opened a serious debate on censorship.

Actress Susan Tyrrell died on June 16, 2012). She was an American actress, known for her Supporting Actress Academy Award-nominated performance as Oma in Fat City , and for her role as Ramona Rickettes in the John Waters film Cry-Baby .

She played a starring role in one of the Video Nasties, Nightmare Maker . This was better known as Night Warning or Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker.

Susan Tyrrell also played Solly, a tough, foul-mouthed lesbian, in both 1980s cult-films Angel and Avenging Angel . In the first film she sparred with co-star Dick Shawn over a game of cribbage, and in the sequel, Solly acted as den-mother to a group of transvestite prostitutes and raised an abandoned baby.

See Richard Lynch from en.wikipedia.org

Richard Hugh Lynch was an American actor best known for portraying villains in films and television. He often appeared in science fiction productions, including Battlestar Galactica (as Wolfe), and its sequel series Galactica 1980 (as Commander Xaviar),. He also appeared in such shows as Starsky and Hutch, T. J. Hooker, The A-Team, Charmed and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He died on 19th June 2012.

Richard Lynch featured in many films listed on Melon Farmers. He always contributed a fine strong presence even to some of the lesser films on the list.

Filmography

Scarecrow (1973), The Seven-Ups (1973), The Happy Hooker (1975), God Told Me To (1976), Battlestar Galactica episode Gun on Ice Planet Zero (1978), Deathsport (1978), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), Charlie's Angels, Angels on the Street (1979), Vampire (1979), Galactica 1980 (1980), The Formula (1980), The Ninth Configuration (1980), The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse (1984), Blue Thunder (TV series), (1984), Airwolf (TV series), Episode The Horn of Plenty (1985), Savage Dawn (1985), Invasion U.S.A. (1985), Nightforce (1987), The Barbarians (1987), Bad Dreams (1988), Little Nikita (1988), Hunter (U.S. TV series), Episode The Legion (1989), The Forbidden Dance (1990), Super Force (1991), Alligator II: The Mutation (1991), Trancers II (1991), Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991), Maximum Force (1992), Inside Edge (1992), Merlin (1992), Double Threat (1993), Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Gambit (1993), Cyborg 3: The Recycler (1994), Scanner Cop (1994), Highlander: The Series (1995), Terminal Virus (1995), Werewolf (1996), Vendetta (1996), Total Force (1997), Ground Rules (1997), Breaking the Silence (1999), Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming (1999), Death Game (2001), Crime and Punishment (2002), Final Combat (2003), Curse of the Forty-Niner (2003), The Great Wall of Magellon (2005), Wedding Slashers (2006), Halloween (2007), Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy (2007), Gun of the Black Sun (2011), The Lords of Salem (2012)

Sacrifice is a 2012 China historical drama by Kaige Chen. With You Ge, Xueqi Wang and Xiaoming Huang. See IMDb

Passed 15 for strong battle violence after 32s of BBFC cuts for:

• UK 2012 High Fliers R2 DVD at UK Amazon released on 24th September 2012

The BBFC commented:

Cuts required to remove sight of animal cruelty, in this case including horses being tripped and made to fall dangerously.

Prometheus has been released in the US as an R-rating. In the UK it is a 15 certificate.

The film is violent and tense but director Ridley Scott insists he cut as much he could to open the film to a wider audience.

It has to be be about the movie, so I've made concessions. There's a moment where you don't want to harm the movie.

But he acknowledges its a case of simple economics and getting an 18 certificate could be the difference of $80m or more.

...Read the full article

Follow up articles suggest that there is no hope of a future 'Unrated' version.

Extract: Director's Cut

12th June 2012. See article from collider.com by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub

With Prometheus now playing, 20th Century Fox held a massive press junket in London last week where I was able to interview most of the cast and director Ridley Scott.

During my on-camera interview with Scott we talked about how much fun he had making Prometheus and his desire to do the sequel, the difficulty in tackling serious issues when a movie costs so much, what will be on the eventual Blu-ray/DVD, director's cuts, and more. In addition, Scott talks about a possible scene from the Blade Runner sequel and reveals the Prometheus Blu-ray might have 20 to 30 minutes of deleted scenes and describes one of them.

Scott says that his first cut of Prometheus was 2 hrs. 27 minutes. He was asked: Is the version in theaters his directors cut or will the home video release be the director's cut. He answers by alluding to how he regrets not releasing the longer version of Kingdom of Heaven as his directors cut.

...Read the full article

Offsite: Producers were seriously considering a child's version after all

14th June 2012. See article from herocomplex.latimes.com which contains serious spoilers

A five-member panel of the Classification Review Board has unanimously determined that the films Prometheus (2D & 3D) are classified M (Mature) with the consumer advice moderate science fiction violence and a medical procedure .

The Classification Guidelines provide that the treatment of themes may have a moderate sense of threat or menace if justified by context and moderate violence is permitted if justified by context. In the Classification Review Board's opinion Prometheus (2D & 3D) warrants an M classification because the treatment of themes and the depictions of violence in the films are moderate in impact.

The overall impact of the classifiable elements in both versions of Prometheus was no higher than moderate.

The M classification is not recommended for persons under 15 years of age. Consumer advice is additional information about the main content of a film which is intended to help consumers decide if they want to view this type of material.

The Classification Review Board convened in response to an application from the original applicant, 20th Century Fox Film Distributors to review the decision made by the Classification Board on 24 May 2012 to classify Prometheus (2D & 3D) MA 15+ (Mature Accompanied).

Update: Sensitive Stomach

11th June 2012. See  article from  dailytelegraph.com.au

Surgery scenes in new sci-fi movie Prometheus resulted in a 15 year old boy being rushed to hospital after suffering a seizure yesterday. The boy's condition is now reported as stable.

The boy's collapse raised nutter questions about whether the film was given too low a rating.

The film was was given an M rating in Australia, an advisory 15 rating. The Australian Classification Board originally classified Prometheus as MA15+, meaning under 15s needed to be accompanied by a guardian. But that was dropped to M on appeal by distributor Fox to the Australian Classification Review Board so it could be seen by younger viewers without an accompanying adult.

Either way, the lad would have been allowed to see the film anyway.

It's taken a while but the New Zealand film censors at the OFLC have just banned the DVD release of A Serbian Film as 'objectionable'.

The submitted running time of 95:23s suggests that the New Zealand distributors had submitted the cut UK DVD version (95:20s) which had already lost 4:12s of footage.

The OFLC summarised its reasons for the ban:

The feature is an example of extreme cinema from Serbia. The film is about a retired porn star who accepts a role starring in an "art-porn" film. Once shooting begins he is tricked, manipulated and finally drugged into taking part in a catalogue of atrocities which include extreme and brutal acts of sexual violence and violence in association with sexual conduct. Other atrocities he witnesses or takes part in include cruelty, torture, sexual conduct with children and young persons, necrophilia and bestiality.

There is a high likelihood that viewers would be greatly shocked and disturbed by the extreme sexual violence and violence in association with sexual conduct, along with sexual conduct with children and young persons, regardless of age. The publication's sexual violence and violence in association with sexual conduct is concerning in a different way. Research has repeatedly shown that such depictions are likely to reinforce negative attitudes towards women in a number of ways. They have been shown to desensitise viewers to real-life violence, to reduce empathy with victims of sexual violence amongst both men and women, to increase rape myth acceptance, and to increase women's fear of sexual assault. In the current publication this material is so extensive and extreme that these injuries to the public good are likely to occur regardless of the age of the viewer. The publication is characterised by a significant level of dispute over its claims to merit, value and importance.

While the classification places a restriction on the freedom of expression as contained in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, it is a restriction consistent with Parliament's intention that publications containing such a high extent and degree of sexual violence and violence in association with sexual conduct, along with sexual conduct with children and young persons, be classified as "objectionable" to prevent the likelihood of injury to the public good.

The Killing Games is too violent for the Edmonton International Film Festival says Chairman Michael Hamm.

Director Barry J. Gillis invited reps from his own city to a Private Screening of his movie on May 18th at the historic Garneau Theatre in Edmonton. Hamm and another rep Kerrie Long showed up. Hamm and Long watched the entire movie from beginning to end on a big screen. However, on May 29th 2012, Gillis was informed in a telephone conversation by Festival Chairman Hamm that The Killing Games was too violent for the Edmonton International Film Festival.

The Killing Games is about a man who's wife is dying of a mysterious illness. He contemplates taking the law into his own hands, after his daughter witnesses a double homicide and narrowly escapes the grasp of two serial killers. The movie was shot in Wabuman, Lac St. Anne, Alberta Beach and Edmonton, Alberta. Gillis is against censorship, and believes that he is getting shafted by the Edmonton Film Festival. It was alright for them to watch the entire movie, but they don't want you to see the movie. He continues, I feel like David Cronenberg when he first started out in Toronto, it was the same kind of thing, a never ending struggle because of a little violence in a Canadian movie.

A letter from Indian animal activist Maneka Gandhi to the Minister Of Information & Broadcasting Ms Ambika Soni has set of a flurry of activity in official quarters of the government.

The letter alleges that Bollywood film producers are making a fool of the Animal Welfare Board Of India (AWBI) and the censor board.

In the letter Maneka Gandhi says:

They (the producers) send a script but will not mention animal activity in India or will give wrong activity.Then when the film is shot they send the CD for approval to the AWBI without the schemes involving animals in it. The AWBI gives the NOC (No Objection Certificate) on the basis of the CD.

The producer then reinstates the scenes and goes to the censor board with the NOC. These scenes are usually very violent. The censor board instead of questioning these scenes which are blatantly cruel, simply take it for granted that they have an NOC and pass the film.

The letter goes on to give the example of Sajid Nadiadwala's Housefull 2 where Akshay Kumar is seen wrestling crocodiles and a python .

Gandhi also accuses some regional officers of the CBFC of blatantly ignoring the rules. She cites the example of the Tamil film Adukulam where the rooster fights that were the film's mainstay had not been approved of by the AWBI.

The letter seems to have triggered a response from the censor board. A source from the censor board says there are radical changes coming regarding the censorship process with respect to animals in Hindi films.

Egypt's film censor has halted production of a film for allegedly promoting the normalisation of relations with Israel, Al-Ahram Arabic has reported.

Mohamed Kenawy who wrote the film, Regheef Aish (Loaf of Bread) , denied the accusation and said the film promotes peace and cooperation among all people regardless of sex, race and religion.

The story revolves around an Egyptian, a Palestinian and an Israeli, and examines life in the Arab region and the world.

The film had been under production for two months before filming was halted.

It is reported that the US distributor,  Invincible Pictures, will be releasing an uncut Limited Edition DVD of A Serbian Film. This will be the first uncut release featuring an English language friendly version.

Some reports suggest that the release will be DVD only but the Invincible Pictures website also lists a Blu-ray version.

US: Uncut and MPAA Unrated for:

• US 2012 Invincible Pictures R1 DVD at US Amazon released on 22nd May 2012 but only just in stock

The Three Stooges is a 2012 US comedy by Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly. With Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos and Will Sasso. See IMDb ,

In the US the film received an uncut MPAA PG Rating. But in the UK it had to be cut to receive its BBFC PG rating for the upcoming cinema release.

The BBFC explained:

This work was originally seen for advice. The company was advised that the film was likely to receive a 12A certificate but that their preferred PG classification could be achieved by making cuts in five sequences. These were to remove four sequences showing everyday objects being used in a potentially dangerous manner that young children may copy:

• a vegetable peeler used on a man's head,
• a cheese grater used on a man's foot,
• hair tongs used on a woman's tongue and
• a man's head in a microwave and
• a line of dialogue about teaching children to play with matches.

When the finished version of the film was submitted for formal classification, the recommended cuts had been made and the film was classified PG .

LD Entertainment will release William Friedkin's Killer Joe with an NC-17 rating, opting not to edit it for a more commercial R Rating..

David Dinerstein president of LD Entertainment said:

As we support the artistic integrity of our filmmakers [...] 'Killer Joe' will be released in theaters on July 27th in its original version as an NC-17 film.

The film has played to enthusiastic crowds at the Venice, Toronto and South-by-Southwest Film Festivals where many critics have noted this is Matthew McConaughey's best performance to date. As our initial LD Entertainment release, we are excited to bring this very entertaining, funny and provocative film to audiences this summer.

The last major film to bow with an NC-17 ratings was Shame, which earned the vast majority of its grosses overseas.

Update: 18 Uncut

27th May 2012. From bbfc.co.uk

The BBFC have now passed the film 18 uncut for strong bloody and sadistic violence and sexual threat for:

• UK 2012 cinema  release

A Russian ban on smoking in public places may soon turn into law, warns the Russian Health Ministry.

A draft law has been submitted for MPs' consideration. If passed, the bill will be tougher on smokers than legislation in most European countries.

The bill includes the clause that cigarettes and smoking in children's movies will be subject to censorship.

Cannes Film Festival has banned a controversial comedy by French comedian/provocateur Dieudonne. L'antisEmite (The Anti-Semite) was scheduled to play not in the official festival but in the Cannes Film Market, but 'outrage' over its content, including mockery of Auschwitz and Dieudonne in Nazi dress, led the organization to scrap screenings.

Produced by the Iranian Documentary and Experimental Film Center, The Anti-Semite stars Dieudonne, who has been charged numerous times for violating European laws with his controversial statements and performances.

The Cannes Film Market's Jerome Paillard explained the ban:  

Our general conditions ban the presence of all films threatening public order or religious convictions, as well as pornographic films or those inciting violence

Paramount released Sacha Baron Cohen's latest comedy, The Dictator, worldwide on Wednesday, but one country has decided to ban the film. The Central Asian state Tajikistan has opted to ban the film.

A Tajik film distributor told the Kyrgyz blog Kloop.kg that the real reason that the film is being banned is because of its content, even though other former Soviet republics in the region will be showing the film. It's wrong to compare us with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and with other countries, Daler Davlatov told the site, reports The Guardian.

It's incorrect because we have a different mentality. We're not going to give Dictator a premiere because of these considerations, Davlatov explained.

AFP reports that the repressive Turkmenistan is also likely to ban The Dictator.

Update: Uzbekistan Recommends...

26th May 2012. From uznews.net

Sasha Baron Cohen's political spoof The Dictator has been censored for Uzbek cinemas: a number of episodes that have not appealed to the Uzbek authorities have been cut off from the film.

Uzbekistan made 12 minutes of cuts to reduce the 83-minute long film to 71 minutes.

Presumablly the scenes that failed to pass state censorship were those that resonated with the dictatorial Uzbeki government.

The previous films starring Sasha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and Bruno have not been showed in Uzbek cinemas at all.

The appearance of The Dictator in Uzbekistan contrasts with other post-Soviet authoritarian countries, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, that have already banned the filmm before its global premiere.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a 2011 UK comedy drama by Lasse Hallström . With Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Amr Waked. See IMDb .

It was originally submitted to the BBFC for a cinema certificate and it was passed 12A without BBFC cuts for one use of strong language and moderate sex references.

It was then resubmitted in a version shorter by 35s. This time it was passed 12A without BBFC cuts for infrequent strong language and moderate sex references. The BBFC noted the resubmitted version contained dialogue changes.

The Airline Version, pre-cut by 1:23s, was passed 12 without BBFC cuts for implied strong language and moderate sex references for British Airways VOD

The Angels' Share is a 2012 UK drama by Ken Loach.

The film has just been passed 15 for very strong language and strong violence after BBFC category cuts for:

• UK 2012 cinema release

The BBFC commented:

• Company chose to reduce the number of uses of very strong language (in this case 'cunt') in order to obtain a 15 classification. An uncut 18 classification was available.

Comment: Beyond Absurd

And as goatboy said on the Melon Farmers Forum:

Beyond Absurd! We must protect the 16 and 17 year olds from a word they probably hear every day!

Update: Ken Loach has some strong words for the BBFC

23rd May 2012. Based on article from  minivannews.com

Film director Ken Loach has criticised British film censors for asking him to remove swear words from his new film, The Angel's Share , in order to qualify for a 15 certificate.

The Scotland-set comedy tells the story of young, unemployed father to be who discovers a talent for whisky tasting.

Speaking at Cannes, the director said:

We were allowed seven 'cunts' but only two of them could be aggressive 'cunts'.

You get into the realm of surrealism here in terms of language. The British middle class is obsessed with what they call 'bad language.'

But the manipulative and deceitful language of politics is accepted. I'd call those bad words. Embracing the ancient swear words that have gone back for centuries and words we all enjoy should be embraced.

The film's producer Rebecca O'Brien said the film's script represented natural language spoken by young people:

If they're looking for diversity in Britain they should look no further than this film and Glasgow and see that there are different ways of speaking and see that that should be acceptable to all and sundry and should not be censored.

theflickcast.com writes:

For all of you who have been buying into the drama surrounding Prometheus ' ultimate rating, we have some good news for you. Fox has confirmed that the moody, dark and probably terrifying sci-fi film will indeed be rated R for sci-fi violence including intense images, and brief language.

Many people never believed that a PG-13 rating was possible for the subject matter, so when it took this long to get a confirmed rating people were getting nervous. It also didn't help that Ridley Scott has been telling people conflicted things about the movie, the process and the rating for months now.

...Read the full article

Update: BBFC 15 Rated

10th May 2012. See  article from  entertainmentcocktail.com

The BBFC have rated Prometheus a 15 uncut for Intense images and brief strong language .

This was confirmed by Fox studio execs at a press conference, they said:

Fox confirms there will be no edit to Prometheus to secure a lower rating, it will be a 15.

Update: BBFC 15 Officially Conformed

11th May 2012. See  article from  bbfc.co.uk

The BBFC have now officially rated Prometheus as 15 uncut for 'strong violence, gore, threat and horror' for:

• UK 2012 cinema release in 2D and 3D

Update: BBFC Extended Classification Information

 23rd May 2012. See  article from  bbfc.co.uk

The BBFC have now released its Extended Classification Information. The general tone is that the 15 rating is compared against the possibility of a 12/12A rating but that it is pretty firmly a 15. Maybe a few spoilers for purists but it doesn't seem to give too much away:

PROMETHEUS is a science fiction horror film which was classified 15 for strong violence, gore, threat and horror.

The film contains a number of scenes of strong violence that feature heavy blows and bloody detail. For example, in one scene a character's arm is broken, revealing blood and bone, and in another scene a character's head is smashed against the floor, resulting in a large spurt of blood. This emphasis on bloody detail exceeds the terms of the BBFC's Guidelines at 12A/'12 and is more appropriately classified at 15 where the Guidelines state Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury . There are also some scenes featuring gory detail, both when dead bodies are seen and when people are injured. One scene features some gory surgical detail that exceeds the type of occasional gory moments that may be permitted at 12A .

The Guidelines at 12A'/'12 also state Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained . The second half of the film in particular features a sense of threat towards the central characters that is both frequent and sustained.

PROMETHEUS also includes one use of strong language and one implied use of strong language, when a remark is broken up by static. It also includes some undetailed verbal sex references and a brief scene in which a couple start to have sex, without any nudity or other detail.

Jaws is a 1975 US thriller by Steven Spielberg. With Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss. See IMDb .

The film is set for a re-release as part of the celebration for the 100th Anniversary of Universal.

But as if to celebrate a modern age of extreme child protection, the BBFC have upped the age rating to a 12A for cinema release.

Previously the BBFC have rated the film as PG (known as 'A' when the film was first released) from 1975 until the 25th Anniversary DVD released in 2000. The same version was released without BBFC input in 2005.

But now its 12A rated for moderate threat and occasional gory moments.

No doubt the BBFC will point out that had a 12 rating existed in 1975 then Jaws would have been rated as 12 all along.

Summer blockbusters are seldom rated 15 -- they get a 12A, ensuring that the movie is accessible to the masses -- so Prometheus is a rarity. Yet even this relatively adult rating has caused disapproval among sci-fi die-hards who feel that anything less than an 18 certificate is a cop-out by the director.

They are sanguine about this at the BBFC. If we rated Alien now, says Cooke, it would be a 15. For a film to get an 18 certificate today it has to be either utterly terrifying throughout or there would have to be a level of sadistic violence. It seems that over the past 30 years or so we have become far more tolerant of blood, guts and gore, not to mention bad language. [In fact the BBFC have rated Alien as 15 since 2003] .

The examiners will watch a film under natural conditions so that it feels as if we are actually going to the cinema , he says. We always view it straight through, though obviously at the end we can go back and look at stuff. There is a cinema at the BBFC headquarters in central London, where examiners watch about three films a day. But sometimes -- as with Prometheus -- they go to the film company to watch the movie, to ensure its security.

That film has been passed with no cuts. But even if it had been censored , you'd barely be able to tell. When we make cuts, people think in terms of 'snip-snip', says senior examiner Craig Lapper, but these days, with digital, there are so many other ways you can make a film more acceptable. You can suggest soundtrack changes and things like colour darkening, putting shadows in to obscure the more gory elements of a scene. So in The Woman in Black, the adaptation of Susan Hill's ghost story starring Daniel Radcliffe, we didn't hear the crack of the woman's neck as she hung from a noose -- and, thanks to the cunning use of shadows, neither did we see her face.

I won't say what the film was, continues Lapper, but there's a forthcoming British movie that was a little bit too gory to get a 15 certificate. So I nipped round to the place where they were editing it and they [the film-makers] increased the shadows so that you could no longer see someone's jaw hanging off.

...Read the full interview

The producer of the Vietnamese movie Bay Cap 3 also announced its release on May 18 complete with a prominent publicity campaign. However, information about this film on websites of big cinemas like MegaStar, Galaxy and BHD Star were removed on May 8.

A member of the National Movie Censorship Council said that movie was not approved because its content is illogical, non-educational and its technical quality is unqualified.

The official decision is going to be announced this week.

The movie producer, Tran Trong Dan, told VNExpress newswire that violence and sex in Bay Cap 3 does not exceed many Vietnamese and American movies that were released in Vietnam before. It is a horror movie about a group of high-school students who experience a nightmare during their tour to Da Lat city. Each of them is gradually killed by a mysterious killer. They are trapped by unexpected and dangerous methods.

For a long time US DVDs and Blu-rays have included a 10s warning from the FBI about not copying disks. And of course no matter how many times you have read it, you cannot skip it or fast forward through it.

Well unfortunately the annoyance is doubling. DVDs and Blu-rays from six major studios will now carry two unskippable, 10-second warnings. Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit, now want their share of the opportunity to annoy viewers.

It seems that they want to encourage viewers to seek out pirate copies where the wasteful 20s has been thankfully removed.

The New Zealand film censor at the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). Has banned Tom Six's Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence).

The film was banned as 'objectionable' on 4th April 2012.

The OFLC summarised its reasons for the ban:

The publication is a DVD containing a sequel to a well-known horror film and a number of extra components relating to its development and marketing.

The availability of the publication is likely to he injurious to the public good.

The feature is an unsubtle portrait of a sexually deranged man who tortures a group of largely anonymous victims in extreme, unflinching detail. Despite the occasional flashes of humour and a degree of sub-textural irony, these elements are overwhelmed by the feature's sustained, gratuitous focus on victims' torture, mutilation, forced defecation, rape and murder. These images are linked by a threadbare plot that provides limited narrative justification.

While the feature does not promote or support this material, the likely injury to the public good is one of inuring people more generally to cruel, violent and degrading material through its presentation as entertaining, and of eroding the viewer's ability to empathise with others. This material would disturb and shock most people.

Consideration was given to offering excisions in order to remove the strongest images, however due to the pervasiveness of this material excisions were not deemed practical.

While the classification is an absolute restriction on the freedom of expression as contained in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, it is a restriction consistent with Parliament's intention that publications containing such a high extent and degree of torture, violence, cruelty, sexual violence and strongly degrading, dehumanising and demeaning material can be classified as objectionable to prevent the likelihood of injury to the public good.

Brave from the makers of Toy Story and Finding Nemo is getting a lot of attention in Scotland in the hope of a tourism boost from a hit film.

But American censors have dealt cinema giants Disney and Pixar a box office blow after imposing a PG rating on their eagerly-awaited fantasy set in the Highlands.

Scenes of kilted characters lifting up the traditional Scottish garb are thought to have earned the film the rating, with an MPAA warning: contains rude humour.

In one scene featured in Brave trailers, one character is seen lifting his kilt and loudly declaring: Feast your eyes.

Pixar's teaser, said to promote a new product by Ruff McLauren , states:

What makes a man feel like a man, is it tossing logs, is it fighting bears, or is it freedom -- the freedom a man feels when he is wearing a small plaid skirt?

One film blogger, John Young, said: It's definitely worth a laugh, but for me, the movie's advertising campaign is starting to raise some concerns. I feel like Disney's trailers and ads have emphasised the rude humour aspect.

A spokeswoman for VisitScotland, which is spearheading a £ 7 million campaign to promote Brave, said:

The Scots are very good at laughing at themselves and we think the film captures our sense of humour perfectly. It all looks harmless fun.

Some sad news as director James Isaac has passed away at age 51.

Isaac was heavily influenced by David Cronenberg (note Cronenberg's appearance in Jason X) and also did special effects work for eXistenz.

James Isaac directed his first film, The Horror Show , in the late 1980s. He then concentrated on being a visual and special effects supervisor and did not direct another film until 2001. This film was the 10th installment in the Friday The 13th franchise, entitled Jason X which was a small box-office success but panned by critics. He later created two more films in the 2000s: Skinwalkers and Pig Hunt.

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

UK: Passed 15 Uncut for:

• UK 2012 Technicolor/Momentum video

The BBFC commented:

The film was originally classified 12A for cinema release and 12 for video release after visual cuts, visual darkening and sound reductions were made in a number of scenes. This is the uncut version of the film, restoring the cuts and reductions originally made, and has been classified 15 for strong supernatural threat and horror.

It is not yet clear what versions are planned for the UK 18th June release

A Ben Stiller comedy has been given a new title to avoid it being linked to the controversial shooting of an unarmed teenager in Florida.

Neighborhood Watch had already had promotional material pulled following the death of Trayvon Martin, who was killed by a Neighborhood Watch volunteer.

The film will now be called The Watch.

The distributors have emphasised that the film is in not connected with the Trayvon Martin killing, it in fact features a group of fathers that band together to fight extra-terrestrials.

The distributor had requested a 15 rating But the examiners' reports show that they had concerns about scenes of violence at this category. They also recommended against cuts to a film expertly and technically executed . Examiners considered the impact on the audience of the combination of action and violence as well as the likely appeal of the film to teenagers. But ultimately the Examiners concluded that the levels of punchy and upfront violence would best be represented by an 18 certificate.

...read the full article

The filmmaker and distributor behind Chained , a thriller about a serial killer have had their rating appeal rejected by the MPAA. The movie, which was directed by Jennifer Lynch ( Boxing Helena , and daughter of David Lynch) and distributed by Anchor Bay Entertainment, was given an NC-17 for some explicit violence.

It marks a rare instance of an NC-17 rating being given because of violence alone; usually NC-17 is more associated with sexual content.

It is not yet clear whether the films connections will stick with the NC-17, or else cut the film for an R rating.

Update: Chained, Lynched and Cut

4th May 2012. See  article from  latimesblogs.latimes.com

Director Jennifer Lynch has told 24 Frames she will recut the offending scene, a graphic depiction of a woman having her throat slit open, that landed the movie the MPAA's NC-17 rating. But she didn't sound like a filmmaker who understood, or was happy about, the censors' decision. She said:

The one thing they [the appeals board] kept citing was context, that violence in a lot of other films doesn't feel as intense, she said. I have a lot of compassion for what [the MPAA] does. And they were all very nice and warm in the room. But it doesn't seem fair to me. I feel like we are being punished because the film was done the way it was set out to be done, which was authentically.

The film's distributor, Anchor Bay Entertainment, said it has yet to decide whether it will also release an unrated version to theaters (presumably after the rated version has finished its run, per MPAA rules) or, possibly, release the unrated version on DVD. The film has not yet been dated for release.

Lynch said she knew that the stigma of the NC-17 was too great to risk a commercial release with that rating. But she hopes film-goers check out her uncut version of Chained , if only for comparison's sake. Horror fans will see it and be stunned at the NC-17, she said: They've seen much worse.

Egypt's Islamist-dominated Religious Affairs Committee is considering a new film censorship law. It will be aimed at repressing local producers, distributors of film content deemed harmful to society .

According to committee head Sayed Askar, the law, if passed, would not differentiate between old and new films, and would be applied to any sexually-explicit content deemed harmful to society. The proposed legislation, he clarified, would penalise the producers and distributors of such content, and not actors.

When asked whether the law would only prohibit nudity or would also extend to hugs and kisses on film, Askar declined to provide details but stressed that the law would have the last word regarding censorship issues.

Article 1 of the bill reportedly calls for the establishment of an independent, 15-member Supreme Council for Audio and Visual Broadcasts. Council members would be appointed by the prime minister and include both Muslim and Christian representatives.

The law's second article, meanwhile, lays down the council's responsibilities and authorities. It also lists proscribed content, including scenes of a sexual nature, both verbal and visual; scenes depicting the use of drugs, alcohol or gambling; and scenes deemed insulting to particular professions, races, genders or religions.

Ridley Scott's highly anticipated Prometheus is set for cinema release in a month or so. The issue of whether it will be PG-13 or R has been providing some goo publicity for the film.

A year ago Ridley Scott said he would be shooting the sci-fi film both in PG-13 and R-rated versions. Then at the end of March, he said that the movie should be rated R.

Fox boss Tom Rothman says, either way it will be Ridley's vision:

I can assure the fans---I'm very aware of their concern---absolutely they can take it that the film will not be compromised either way. So if that means that the film is R, then it'll be an R. If it's PG-13, then it'll be a PG-13, but it will not be compromised.

heyuguys.co.uk asks:

The big question is, will Fox really gamble on an R rating for a genre that typically is a hard sell, with a cast led by a host of names that for most moviegoers are a complete mystery? Or, has Ridley Scott been able to deliver the movie he wants within the constricts of a PG-13 rating?

Autonomy Pictures has presented the first of four teaser posters for the upcoming US release of Adam Rehmeier's relentless horror film The Bunny Game , along with the trailer and first hi-res imagery.

The film was recently banned in England but will see an Uncut, Uncensored North America limited theatrical (in states that will permit it) and DVD/Blu-ray release in July.

See the trailer from player.vimeo.com

Now is Good is a 2012 UK drama by Ol Parker. With Dakota Fanning, Kaya Scodelario and Jeremy Irvine. See IMDb .

Passed 12A for strong language, drug use, sex references & terminal illness theme after BBFC suggested cuts were implemented for:

• UK 2012 cinema release

The BBFC commented:

The BBFC was given a draft script before the film was produced and advised the company that a film of the script would be likely to receive a 15 classification. In order to achieve the company's preferred 12A classification, the BBFC advised that:

• some visual and verbal sex references should be removed,

• that sight of potentially harmful behaviour should be removed,

• that use of strong language should be reduced, and

• that a scene in which drugs are prepared and taken should be substantially reduced.

When the film was submitted for classification, the changes recommended at the script stage had been made and the film was classified 12A.

Director Steve McQueen has stopped his film on sex addiction Shame being shown in Singapore after a row over censorship.

Singapore censors ordered a threesome between the main character and two women to be shortened, and even then, rated it suitable only for viewers over 21 years old.

However a spokeswoman for distributor Cathay-Keris Films told AFP:

Mr McQueen feels that it is important for his work to be seen in the way it was intended and hence was... not agreeable to have his film be cut in any way. We respect his decision and as such this film will not be able to be released in Singapore theatrically.

Censors of the Media Development Authority told Straits Times newspaper:

We are of the view that the prolonged and explicit threesome sex sequence has exceeded our classification guidelines.

Before the film's formal UK classification, Lionsgate, the UK distributor of The Hunger Games, approached the BBFC for classification advice. Lionsgate made clear that they were looking for a 12A classification which would enable many children who had read and enjoyed the book to see the film. However, it was clear that the film shown to us at this early stage went some way beyond the BBFC's Guidelines at 12A. The level of detail of some of the violence and gore, such as the tending of bloody wounds, required the 15 category.

We also considered at this early stage whether the theme and overall tone of the film were appropriate for 12-year-olds. Although the concept of children and young people being forced to fight and kill one another is potentially disturbing, we concluded that the futuristic and fantastical nature of the setting distanced the sense of threat from reality. The film is also alive to ethical questions and we believed young teenagers were likely to understand that the film, like the novel, is a critique of violence and of media manipulation. Indeed, it vividly invites its viewers to use and develop their media literacy skills.

The story has some similarities to The Lord of the Flies, which is taught in schools to the same age group. If anything, the latter takes a bleaker view of human nature.

Having concluded that the issues of theme and tone were appropriate for 12-year-olds, we suggested how the distributor might be able to secure the desired 12A classification by reducing the level of violence, blood and gore. Lionsgate returned with another version of the film for advice, which took account of some of our suggestions. However it was still some way off the 12A criteria. Scenes with emphasis on injuries and blood remained, going against what the public, through our research and consultations, have told us is acceptable at this relatively junior category. We again offered advice as to what Lionsgate should remove for the film to be contained at the 12A category.

When the film was finally submitted for formal classification we required a further seven seconds of cuts to the most violent and bloody sequence, which takes place as the game begins, as well as the digital removal of some bloody effects.

In all, Lionsgate removed around 20 seconds of the most violent, threatening and gory content and digitally removed other bloody effects. This was their choice. The BBFC did not require Lionsgate to make any cuts at all. We offered a 15 classification without cuts.

...Read the full article

Elfie Hopkins is a 2012 UK horror thriller by Ryan Andrews. With Ray Winstone, Jaime Winstone and Kimberley Nixon. See IMDb

UK: Passed 15 for strong violence, language and soft drug use after 6s of BBFC cuts for category for:

• UK 2012 cinema release

The BBFC commented:

Company chose to make reductions in two scenes of bloody violence in order to achieve a 15 classification:

• A man being stabbed repeatedly with a knife (the number of stabs was significantly reduced)

• In one scene a man is shot in the head, resulting in a brief explosion of blood and gore. (the shot in question is extremely fleeting, having been reduced by cuts)

An uncut 18 classification was available.

Promotional Material:

Elfie Hopkins, a 22 year-old animal-loving slacker, stoner, and wannabe detective, lives in a sleepy hunting village. Haunted by the death of her mother, Elfie seeks solace and inspiration from the old school detectives in The Maltese Falcon and Chinatown. She entertains herself, along with her geeky best friend, Dylan, by investigating the villagers and upsetting everyone with their imaginative allegations. Things get serious however with the arrival of a family of trendy city dwellers, the Gammons, who weave seductive tales of adventure and entice the villagers with offers of exotic hunting holidays around the world. Despite not being immune to the Gammons charms, Elfie soon smells a rat, and snaps into full detective mode. Her mundane existence is about to be blown apart. Blood quickly starts to spill in the village, and it s no longer just the blood of animals. Elfie discovers the villagers are not making those flights and when she finally uncovers the truth, it s darker than she could ever have imagined...

A new Thai film based on William Shakespeare's, Macbeth , has been banned by censors on the grounds that its content may cause disunity among the people.

Shakespeare Tong Tai , or Shakespeare Must Die , is directed by Ing K and Manit Sriwanichpoom.

The film is the first Thai rendition of Macbeth, a bloodstained tragedy in which a Scottish general, with the help of his insidious wife, assassinates a king to pave his way to the throne.

The film includes a contemporary allegory about a fictitious nation where a popular politician rises up the echelons of power.

A document from the Ministry of Culture's Office of Film and Video says that since the film undermines the unity of people in the country , the censorship committee refuses to give permission to screen it in Thailand. The committee that banned the film was chaired by Police Major General Anek Samplang.

The film-makers will appeal against the decision.

Shakespeare Must Die runs for 178 minutes and was partly funded by the Ministry of Culture under the 2010 Thai Khem Khaeng stimulus scheme.

Update: Macbeth not quite historical enough

6th April 2012. From  dailyrecord.com

Thailand's film censors have banned an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, claiming it could inflame political passions in the country where it is taboo to criticize the monarchy.

One of the film's main characters is a dictator named Dear Leader, who resembles former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster in a 2006 coup sparked years of political turmoil between his supporters and critics.

Ing K., the film's director, said the censorship committee objected to anti-monarchy overtones in the film as well as politically charged content, including a scene based on an iconic photo from Bangkok's 1976 student uprising showing a demonstrator being lynched.

The committee questioned why we wanted to bring back violent pain from the past to make people angry, Ing K. said in an interview. The censors also disliked the attire of a murderer in the film, who wore a bright red hooded cloak, the same color worn by the pro-Thaksin demonstrators known as the Red Shirts.

The director called the ruling absurd and a reflection of the fear in Thai society. She said the character resembling Thaksin could represent any leader accused of corruption and abuse of power: When Cambodians watch this they'll think it's Hun Sen. When Libyans watch it they would think it's Gadhafi.

Ing K. said she plans to appeal the ban.

Offsite: An interview with the director

18th April 2012. From  bangkokpost.com

Why do you think the film has been banned?

It's the climate of fear. Most of us are not fanatics, but we're trapped between fanatics of all stripes and we live in fear. That's why we were banned.

The original 126 minute version of Nightbreed was cut down to 102 minutes by distributor 20th Century Fox. They felt that this cut was too long and rather too explicit for an R-rated release.

Also, Barker shot additional scenes with David Cronenberg's Decker character to flesh out his mentality. The excised footage consisted of some very graphic gore during the climax, disturbing images in the monsters' lair and quite a bit of "unnecessary" character development. There were also some strange sexual themes between the monsters and Boone that wound up on the cutting room floor.

The CABAL Cut:

This petition's purpose is to gather signatures of anyone who would like to see & own a new release of Clive Barker's Nightbreed as a restored, extended cut, in DVD or Blu-Ray.

Clive Barker's team at Seraphim Films has assembled a composite cut from several workprints that is the most complete version of the film that has ever been shown.

The composite cut of Nightbreed was screened recently at the Mad Monster Party in North Carolina, on the 24th of March 2012. This was baptized the CABAL cut, and it ran at 2h35 minutes.

...Sign the petition
 

Update: Cabal Cut Set for Release

20th May 2012. See article from movie-censorship.com

In June 2012, there will be the premiere of a 145 minute-long extended cut of Nightbreed, called The Cabal Cut in Los Angeles. As of yet, there's no information regarding a future DVD/BD release

Chinese film censors have been spouting about ludicrous reasons for cutting Titanic 3D.

Kate Winslet's famous bare-breasted life drawing scene has been censored in a bid to supposedly promote a harmonious ethical social environment , according to China's State of Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) classification board. A SARFT official told Offbeat China:

Considering the vivid 3D effects, we fear that viewers may reach out their hands for a touch and thus interrupt other people's viewing. To avoid potential conflicts between viewers and out of consideration of building a harmonious ethical social environment, we've decided to cut off the nudity scenes.

The nude scene was fully intact in the original Chinese screenings of the film in 1998.

The Weinstein Company has announced that it had reached an agreement with the MPAA to cut its unrated documentary Bully for a PG-13 rating. The movie will now go out with that rating when it opens in about 115 new theaters next weekend.

The new cut of the Lee Hirsch film makes some concessions to the MPAA: It removes a 'fuck' in an early scene in the film, along with two others quickly uttered. Audio will be dropped out in all three instances.

But the new cut leaves intact a controversial scene on a school bus in which three 'fucks' are used against a bullied child.

The case now represents an exception to the MPAA's rules; the group typically imposes an R rating on any film with more than two 'fucks'.

The unexpurgated version of the movie will remain for the current restricted release, with the PG-13 print replacing all versions when the movie widens April 13.

The distributor of the documentary Bully , which is hitting theaters this weekend unrated, is now considering making cuts to secure a PG-13 rating, sources told the Los Angeles Times.

Two Weinstein Company sources, who requested anonymity, said the PG-13 version of Bully would cut profanity from a controversial scene, in which a student is threatened on a school bus.

The edited version would be available to theaters when Bully opens in wider release on April 13, the sources said. It opened Friday in limited release in New York and Los Angeles.

In most cases, the MPAA does not allow differently rated versions of the same film to be in release at the same time, requiring a 90-day "withdrawal period" between releases. But it can make exceptions.

Stephen Bruno, head of marketing for The Weinstein Company, has denied that the company planned to edit Bully, telling the Los Angeles Times:

At this time, there are no plans to change the film for a PG-13. We are in constant conversation with the MPAA and hope a compromise can be reached.

Meanwhile the nutters of the Parents Television Council is calling on all major theaters, including AMC, to adhere to their own policies not to exhibit unrated films. PTC President Tim Winter claimed:

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.

Portrayals of kick-ass women in the media are being blamed for an increase the number of women involved in violent offending.

Two New Zealand researchers believe the glorification of females in roles showing women exhibiting physically aggressive and violent behaviour are having a negative impact on young women.

The most recent figures from Statistics New Zealand recorded 162 more females were apprehended for violent crimes in 2010 than in 2009. This included apprehensions for assaults, intimidation and threats.

University of Canterbury Criminologist Professor Greg Newbold said more women were going out and committing crimes that were traditionally the preserve of men.

Professor Newbold said the type of female imagery available to women and young girls created an increased likelihood of violent offending among females.

It seems to be driven by images in the media of kick-ass women.

The media is full of women who are incredibly sexy and good-looking, and who are mentally and physically tough. The constant exposure of young girls and women to this type of image creates an association between being beautiful and powerful, and being at the top.

Female youth violence researcher Donna Swift said there were more cases of girls fighting and put footage of themselves on the internet and Facebook. Dr Swift is head researcher of Girls Project - a two-year study of 3500 Year 10 students that is investigating the reasons behind violent behaviour amongst girls. She said that in her experience, many young women turned to violence because it was normalised in their own homes and communities.

Girl fighting often is highly sexualised by the media and males themselves, she said.

One of the most startling we found amongst New Zealand female youths was the change in behaviour exhibited by girls when they reached the ages of 15 and 16 years."