Movie News

The latest adaptation of Stephen King's It has set box-office records around the world, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated horror of all time.

But Burger King's Russian division has filled an official government complaint to the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) demanding the film be banned from cinemas. The reason?. The villainous clown Pennywise apparently looks like Ronald McDonald from rival chain McDonald's.

Ka Bodyscapes is a 2016 India / USA gay drama by Jayan Cherian.
Starring Adhithi, Tinto Arayani and Arundhathi.

Three young people, Haris, a gay painter; Vishnu, a rural kabaddi player and their friend Sia, an activist who refuse to conform to dominant norms of femininity, struggle to find space and happiness in a conservative Indian City.

After a long battle with India's film censors of the CBFC, and with the help of a little pressure from the Kerala high court, the CBFC have finally granted Ka Bodyscapes an adults only 'A' rating, after demanding the following cuts:

• Removal of all references to the right wing nationalist political party, RSS, and the saffron flag wherever they appear in the movie.
• Additionally, the makers of the film have also been directed to delete all the visuals containing photos of the RSS founder KB Hedgewar and ideologue MS Golwalkar from the movie,
• removal of a scene with a female character that is shown masturbating.
• The supposedly objectionable and disrespectful visual of a painting depicting Lord Hanuman carrying books in his hand.

Harry Dean Stanton, the veteran American actor who ballasted generations of independent and cult films, has died aged 91. The subject of the late critic Roger Ebert's Stanton Walsh Rule -- No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad -- Stanton was famed for his ability to project his hangdog, laconic charm into minor roles, which ensured he worked continuously for over six decades. Directors who cast him include David Lynch, Sam Peckinpah, Ridley Scott, Alex Cox and Wim Wenders, but he was never nominated for an Oscar or any of the other principal acting awards.

Alex Cox's Repo Man was inspirational to this website, by cining the term 'melonfarmer' as an overdub for 'motherfucker' in a TV edit of the movie. The video clip shows Harry Dean Stanton being 'flipped' over by his boss.

The film makers have announced that a Director's cut for the box office success, IT, is on the way It will feature on home video and it's expected to include at least 15 minutes of extra footage.

Director Andrés Muschietti describes two scenes where the extra material will slot in:

[ Spoilers! hover or click text ]

• One of the main additions to the IT director's cut will be a longer version of the quarry scene. After the spitting contest it escalates into something that is completely weird and irrelevant to the scene but is so funny. Jack Grazer, who plays Eddie, does something that is completely bonkers.
• There's a great scene, it's a bit of a payoff of the Stanley Uris plot which is the bar mitzvah, where he delivers a speech against all expectations... it's basically blaming all the adults of Derry [for the town's history of deadly accidents and child disappearances], and it has a great resolution...Maybe it will be in the director's cut!

Matilda is a 2017 Russia historical biography by Aleksey Uchitel.
Starring Michalina Olszanska, Lars Eidinger and Luise Wolfram.

In the twilight of Imperial Russia, prima ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya becomes the mistress of three Grand Dukes.

Any attempts to exert pressure on cinemas over the screenings of Matilda , a movie describing the love story of last Russian emperor Nicholas II and a ballet dancer, are censorship and lawlessness, Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said on Wednesday. He told TASS:

Any intentions of 'initiators' on the ground to ban the screenings, any attempts of pressure against private or municipal cinemas are pure lawlessness and censorship, which is directly against the Russian Constitution.

The Culture Ministry allows the screenings at cinemas in line with legal procedures, Medinsky explained. The law strictly describes the grounds for any refusal. There are none of them in case with Matilda. We are guided by the law, not private tastes.

The minister called on Russian law enforcement agencies to ensure the rule of law in the situation with Matilda and curb any pressure on the state and cinema business from activists with their socially dangerous methods of imposing their views.

Violence by orthodox christians has started in anticipation of the film's release on 26th October. A number of activists including MP Natalia Poklonskaya, Crimea's former prosecutor, have launched a campaign against the film calling for its release to be cancelled and claiming that it will insult the feelings of Orthodox believers. On Monday night, two cars were set ablaze outside the office of Uchitel's lawyer, Konstantin Dobrynin, in downtown Moscow. The attorney posted photos of the charred automobiles and notes left at the scene saying Burn for Matilda on his Facebook page.

A group calling itself Christian State, Holy Russia sent nearly a thousand letters with threats to movie theater owners across Russia, urging them to drop the screening of Matilda.

Plac zabaw is a 2016 Poland thriller by Bartosz M Kowalski.
Starring Michalina Swistun, Nicolas Przygoda and Przemyslaw Balinski.

Final day of school in a small Polish town. It's the very last chance for a 12 year old Gabrysia to tell her classmate that she had fallen in love with him. She sets up a secret meeting and blackmails the boy to show up. But what was supposed to be an intimate talk spins out of control and leads to an unexpected ending.

A film has been okayed for screening at the Sydney Film Festival that depicts the murder of a toddler by 2 boys along the lines of the 1993 James Bulger murder in Liverpool.

The scene in a Polish movie called Playground has been approved for a festival showing by the Australian Classification Board. Festival director Stefan Popescu said the Board had granted an exemption to the festival to screen unclassified films - including several depicting graphic sex and violence - without asking to view any of them.

Popescu noted that Playground has no extreme close-up gore, blood spurts or manic chainsaw scenes but noted that the murder scene prompted viewers to walk out of a screening of the movie at a Spanish film festival last year.

Kuso is a 2017 USA horror drama by Flying Lotus.
Starring Hannibal Buress, George Clinton and David Firth.

Events unfold after a devastating earthquake in Los Angeles.

The Sydney Underground Film Festival will also screen Kuso , a film depicting an abortion, bodily functions, and graphic scenes of mutilation and sexual violence. Popescu noted:

It's got near every possible offensive thing in the film, so I guess there is a real chance that the censors would get up in arms about it.

Think of every potential trigger-warning and this film has it covered.

Described as the grossest movie ever made, Kuso prompted viewers to walk out when it was screened at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

A cockroach emerging from a body orifice, actors fornicating with puppets and animated characters, and scenes awash with bodily fluids - presented with deadpan humour - are among the tamer episodes in Kuso .

American Assassin is a 2017 USA action thriller by Michael Cuesta.
Starring Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton and Taylor Kitsch.

Twenty three-year-old Mitch lost his parents to a tragic car accident at the age of fourteen, and his girlfriend to a terrorist attack just as they were engaged. Seeking revenge, he is enlisted by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy as a black ops recruit. Kennedy then assigns Cold War veteran Stan Hurley to train Mitch. Together they will later on investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on military and civilian targets. The discovery of a pattern in the violence leads them to a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent to stop a mysterious operative intent on starting a world war in the Middle East.

The Hollywood thriller American Assassin has been given an adults only 'A' certificate in India. and that only after cuts.

'Motherfucker' is still a taboo term. It will always be the same, says a CBFC source referring to the word that was ordered out of IT and now American Assassin . The word 'bastard' has also been cut So has a shot of a woman's frontal nudity.

So another censorship example that dashes any hopes that India's new film censor may be more willing to treat Indian adults as adults.

For comparison

• US MPAA: Rated R uncut for strong violence throughout, some torture, language and brief nudity.
• UK BBFC: Rated 18 uncut for strong sadistic and bloody violence

It is a 2017 USA horror drama by Andrés Muschietti.
Starring Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher and Finn Wolfhard.

In the Town of Derry, the local kids are disappearing one by one, leaving behind bloody remains. In a place known as 'The Barrens', a group of seven kids are united by their horrifying and strange encounters with an evil clown and their determination to kill It.

India's new film censor has proven a breath of fresh air to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). On Tuesday, the CBFC's new chairperson, Prasoon Joshi, shocked many and surprised some when he upturned the Examining Committee's (EC) decision to come down heavily on Andres Muschietti's adaptation of Stephen King's IT .

In a historic decision, all the recommended 12 cuts -- including some profanities -- were restored, and IT has been given an all clear, with an uncut A certificate. A source said the committee had cut out visuals of horror and many profanities, including words like 'fuck', 'pussy', 'cocks', and most shockingly, 'motherfucker, which was previously strictly forbidden. Apparently the latter has never been allowed in any Hollywood movie before.

The source says that the board now has clear instructions.  If a film gets an adults only 'A' certificate, there will be no visual or verbal cuts.

Update: On second thoughts

3rd September 2017 See  article from dnaindia.com

In a series of rapid developments, over the last week, the CBFC had restored all the cuts ordered by the Examining Committee. Then they got cold feet and revised their decision within 24 hours, asking for three muted words, 'pussy', 'motherfucker' and 'cunt'. But now the CBFC has revised its stance on the matter once again.

The film has been ordered to censor only one word 'motherfucker'. Says a source, The CBFC agreed to restore all the cuts, except the profanity.

For comparison, in the the UK, the BBFC passed the film 15 uncut for strong horror, violence, language for:

Update: Film makers censored from airing cuts negotiations in public

6th September 2017 See  article from hindustantimes.com

In a series of rapid developments, over the last week, the CBFC had restored all the cuts ordered by the Examining Committee. Then they got cold feet and revised their decision within 24 hours, asking for three muted words, 'pussy', 'motherfucker' and 'cunt'. But now the CBFC has revised its stance on the matter once again.

A DNA report claimed on Tuesday that Joshi has introduced new rules for the board, according to which, no information about suggested cuts will be shared with the filmmakers and that the certificate will be the only communication with them.

Earlier, informal communication used to help filmmakers negotiate before they received the certificate, but the new censor was clearly not impressed by the public negotiations about the censorship to Andrés Muschietti's IT so has moved to ban such discussions in the public sphere.

Update: Censors see red over tampons

10th September 2017 See review from indianexpress.com . Thanks to Artistic Monkey

It seems tha the Indian film censors are not being fully honest about there being just 1 cut to the film for strong language. The censors have also taken offence at the sight of a packet of tampons at a pharmacy. The packet was duly blurred lest it cause the downfall of civilised society in India.

India's Central Board Of Film Certification on Thursday banned a film, the first to get the treatment after Prasoon Joshi took over as the chief censor.

The offending film is titled X Zone , produced and directed by Faisal Kapadi. According to CBFC sources, scenes of sex and nudity including, apparently, a frontal nudity shot of actress Hrishita Bhatt were the cause of the ban.

This dashes recent hopes that all films, regardless of content, can be passed with an adults only 'A' rating.

Not so, says a source close to the CBFC, sleaze won't get passed. That won't change.

Blood Feast is a 2016 Germany / USA horror by Marcel Walz.
Starring Robert Rusler, Caroline Williams and Sophie Monk.

Fuad Ramses and his family have moved from the United States to France, where they run an American diner. Since business is not going too well, Fuad also works night shifts in a museum of ancient Egyptian culture. During these long, lonely nights he is repeatedly drawn to a statue representing the seductive ancient goddess ISHTAR. He becomes more and more allured by the goddess as she speaks to him in visions.

The Blood Feast remake is struggling to get an R rating from the MPAA. The producers have now submitted the film 3 times presumably with ever increasing cuts but the MPAA is still refusing an R rating. 

Director Marcel Walz told DreadCentral:

Big, big mess at the MPAA... for the third time Blood Feast didn't pass the MPAA screening. It's horrible. I think the horror fans need to know what's going on. We need an MPAA rating to make Blood Feast available to all main markets in North America. A friend made a petition , and any support will be appreciated.

Update: MPAA R rated

8th September 2017 See  article from bloody-disgusting.com

Presumably on the 4th submission, Blood Feast is now officially Rated R for strong sadistic violence and gore, language including sexual references, nudity and some drug content.

Lipstick Under My Burkha is a 2016 India drama by Alankrita Shrivastava.
Starring Shashank Arora, Plabita Borthakur and Sonal Jha.

Set in the crowded by-lanes of small town India, Lipstick Under My Burkha chronicles the secret lives of four women in search of a little freedom. Though stifled and trapped in their worlds, these four women claim their desires through small acts of courage and stealthy rebellion.

The award-winning film Lipstick Under My Burkha , which was originally banned in India by film censors opens in U.S. theaters this Friday. It will open in six theaters in California.

Writer and director Alankrita Shrivastava's movie, a dramatic comedy, focuses on four Bhopal women rebelling against long held taboos, many of them sexual, in their tiny conservative town. The independent film came under scrutiny from India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which kept it from being released in January of this year, citing issues with its sexual nature. In its decision, the CBFC faulted the film for being lady oriented. Shrivastava explained during a panel discussion:

They did what they could in their power to stop the film from being exhibited. But what I think is interesting is that when this decision became public, the women of India really stood up. For the first time, I felt that Indian mainstream media was discussing things like the male gaze and how the portrayal of women has been controlled by men.

After appealing the ban, Shrivastava compromised with the CBFC, volunteering more than 16 cuts to the film. After then being approved for release, the controversy helped the movie and it became a super hit, recovering its production costs four days after its initial release.

  Irish film censors at IFCO have just released their Annual Report covering 2016. It says very little but mentions that it only received 14 complaints about its classification decisions:

During the year, IFCO received 14 complaints from the public relating specifically to classifications awarded. The largest number was in relation to JASON BOURNE, which was classified 12A with the accompanying consumer advice Strong weapons and hand to hand combat action consistent with previous films in this franchise.

The correspondence related to the level of violence portrayed and while we felt it was consistent with decisions in other cases, it does highlight a trend which we are aware of and continue to monitor. This trend was the subject of a research project carried out by Assistant Classifier David Power entitled Ratings Creep & Violence in Films for Young Teens which was presented by him at the International Classifiers Conference held in Dublin Castle in October.

See more about the trivial complaints in article from irishmirror.ie

The Orpheum Theater in Memphis has cancelled its traditional annual screening of Gone With the Wind , apparently in response to the anti-all-things-Confederate sentiment that's seizing the US.

It's the story of Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, and her evolution from sheltered plantation owner's daughter to impoverished war casualty to scrappy Reconstruction-era survivor and hard-headed businesswoman. It's also a love triangle between Scarlett, Rhett Butler and Ashley Wilkes. It's set against the backdrop of the Civil War but it's not supposed to be about the war, or slavery.

No, it is not a realistic depiction of the institution of slavery. Yes, the black characters in it are mostly stereotypes. It was published in 1936 and filmed in 1939. Gone With the Wind is dismissed by its critics as romanticizing the Confederacy and the Old South, when on the contrary, if you look past all the melodrama and hoop skirts and fiddle-dee-dees you can find a strong anti-Confederacy statement.

Gone With the Wind contains strong black characters and staunchly anti-slavery white characters, most notably the character of Ashley Wilkes. My takeaway has always been that it's a scathing indictment of the Confederacy and the hubris of Confederates who believed they could prevail against the economic and military might of the United States government. Admittedly all this comes across more in the book, but it's there in the film too.

Artistic works of decades past should be viewed in the context of the time in which they were created, not censored. It's unfair to hold them to present-day standards.

Instead of being banned, it could be presented in an educational forum discussing the issues surrounding it and how society has changed since the 1930s in its perception of them.

Read the full  article from chicagonow.com

Tobe Hooper has died aged 74. He was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work in the horror film genre; his most recognized films include The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist . Stuart Heritage of The Guardian described The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as one of the most influential films ever made

Filmography

• Eggshells (1969)
• The Song Is Love (1969)
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
• Eaten Alive (1977)
• The Funhouse (1981)
• Poltergeist (1982)
• Lifeforce (1985)
• Invaders from Mars (1986)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
• Spontaneous Combustion (1990)
• Night Terrors (1993)
• Body Bags (1993)
• The Mangler (1995)
• The Apartment Complex (1999)
• Crocodile (2000)
• Toolbox Murders (2004)
• Mortuary (2006)
• Djinn (2013)

Toofan Singh is a 2017 India action film by Baghal Singh and Gurcharan Virk.
Starring Ranjit Bawa, Avtar Gill and Raza Murad.

The journey of a Punjabi Sikh boy who grew up during the chaotic, violent 1980s revolving around his chase for survival, equality and justice in order to protect and shield society and fight against brutality, crime and corruption.

India's new chief film censor hasn't got off to a very good start as he has already banned his first film.

Even as Prasoon Joshi stepped into the chairman's role at the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), reports have emerged of the new regime's first edict: banning the Punjabi film, Toofan Singh , on grounds of supposed excessive violence.

Poster of Punjabi film Toofan Singh.

Toofan Singh, directed by Baghal Singh and starring Ranjit Bawa in the title role, tells the story of a man who adopts terrorist-like tactics in order to fight corruption in Indian politics and bureaucracy.

A source from the CBFC reportedly said:

The film is brutal and anarchic. We couldn't empathise with its message of brute power, let alone grant it a censor certificate

In the UK, the film was passed 18 uncut for strong bloody violence, scenes of torture

Annabelle 2 is a 2017 USA horror mystery thriller by David F Sandberg.
Starring Miranda Otto, Philippa Coulthard and Stephanie Sigman.

Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker's possessed creation, Annabelle.

The new horror film Annabelle 2: Creation was scheduled to debut in Lebanon this past weekend but authorities decided to pull the film from theaters because clergy found it offensive to the Christian faith.

According to Lebanese daily Annahar, movie theaters throughout the country were asked to hold off on running the film for further deliberation because Christian leaders took issue with some of its scenes. Cinemacity, however, confirmer that the film was definitely blocked and will in fact not be screened in the country at all.

The movie was reportedly screened for the General Security's Censorship Bureau earlier in the month and then was passed on to the censorship committee. Annahar reported that Catholic Priests Fr. Abdu Abu Kasm and Fr. Athanasius Shahwan were both present at the censorship committee's screening. Father Shahwan had the final word and he demanded that the film be blocked over scenes that are considered offensive to Christian faith.

The specific scenes in question were not mentioned but many believe the objection comes from the fact that nuns are the ones being victimized in the movie's plot.

Two digital outdoor ads displayed on large screens in two stations in central London, for the film Alien: Covenant, seen in early May 2017:

a. The first ad began with a spacecraft approaching a planet followed by scenes on the planet. In one scene a man in a dark room shined a torch on an alien egg, the top of which began to slowly open. A close-up showed an alien-like mouth suddenly exploding from it, towards the camera. A woman in distress was then shown running down a corridor, being chase by an arachnid-like alien, followed by a close-up of her screaming. An arachnid-like alien was then shown running towards the camera. The final shot showed a woman hiding from an alien which was just on the other side of a door frame.

b. The second ad featured large on-screen text which stated in turn: RUN, HIDE, SCREAM and PRAY. The text appeared next to brief clips from the film, including the scene with the woman in distress running down a corridor being chased by an alien, the alien egg slowly opening, the close-up of the woman screaming, a woman looking panicked and shouting through the glass window in a closed door, the close-up of the alien-like mouth suddenly exploding towards the camera, and the final shot of a woman hiding from an alien which was just on the other side of a door frame.

Three complainants, one of whose children had seen the ads, challenged whether the ads were likely to cause fear or distress, and whether they were suitable to be shown in an untargeted medium.

ASA Assessment: Complaints upheld

The ASA understood the film was rated as a 15 by the BBFC and considered that the advertiser should therefore have taken particular care to ensure that scenes included in the ads would be suitable to be shown in a public space where children were likely to be present.

The ads contained scenes of characters who were clearly in distress, as well as images of an alien mouth suddenly exploding from an egg out towards the viewer, and a woman being chased by an alien. We considered those scenes were likely to frighten and cause distress to some children and that the ads were likely to catch their attention, particularly as they were shown on large screens. We concluded the ads were not suitable to be shown in an untargeted public medium and therefore breached the Code.

The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told Twentieth Century Fox Film Company Ltd to target their ads more carefully in future to avoid the risk of causing undue fear and distress to children.

Shakespeare Must Die is a 2012 Thailand horror drama by Ing Kanjanavanit.
Starring Pirun Anusuriya, Sudhisak Bamrungtrakun and Minta Bhanaparin.

Thailand's Administrative Court has rejected a petition by the producer and director of a feature film against a ban imposed by the Film and Video Censorship Committee five years ago.

Shakespeare Must Die was banned from being screened in Thailand on the grounds that the movie's political content might cause divisiveness among people in the country. 

The film, directed by Smanrat Ing K Kanjanavanich and produced by Manit Sriwanichpoom, is an adaptation of Macbeth , a tragedy by English writer William Shakespeare. It depicted both an ambitious general who becomes king through murder, and another world in which the country's leader believes in superstitious, megalomaniac and murderous dictatorship. He is known only as Dear Leader and has a scary, high-society wife. The movie clearly alluded to prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was popular with working people but alienated the Thai elite.

The Administrative Court ruled that even though the story is fictional, the movie's content might cause disunity among people. It contains scenes based on a photograph from Bangkok's 1976 student uprising and violent scenes from red-shirt demonstrations.

Manit said the filmmakers would appeal the court's verdict. I feel like we didn't get justice, he said.

Charlize Theron and Sofia Boutella's lesbian sex scene from their new film, Atomic Blonde, has been totally cut by Indian film censors at the CBFC.  The list of CBFC cuts says:

Delete the visual of the hand touching the bare breast in bed of two ladies, and delete the entire love-making (having sex).

In addition to the sex scene, shots of Theron's bare butt in the bathtub have been asked to be removed. Shots of her nipples visible under a sweater, and a separate scene in which she is topless, have also been ordered out. Words like cunt, cock, balls, bitchh, prick , and cocksuker have been asked to be removed from the subtitles, but not from the soundtrack.

The Cable Guy is a 1996 USA comedy thriller by Ben Stiller.
Starring Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick and Leslie Mann.

An upcoming video release has just been passed 12 uncut for moderate sex references, violence with previous BBFC cuts waived.

UK Censorship History

BBFC category cuts were required for a 12 rated 1996 cinema release and the subsequent VHS releases. The BBFC cuts were waived for 12 rated 2017 home video. The film is uncut and PG-13 rated in the US.

From IMDb. Previously a single 4 sec cut was made to this black comedy, in order to secure a required 12 cert.

• The cut occurs towards the end, when Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick, are fighting on top of the TV satellite. A couple of shots of Carrey headbutting Broderick and an ear clap have been removed.

Complaints to the BBFC have been  outlined in the BBFC Annual Report covering 2016:

The film Deadpool generated the largest amount of public feedback in2016, with 51 complaints.

Some viewers were concerned about the level of violence in the film. The BBFC responded that the violence is strong and frequently bloody, this often occurs during fast-paced action sequences with little focus on detail. There is also a comic tone to the violence, and the film's fantastical setting further distances it from reality.

The BBFC also received complaints about sex references and strong language in Deadpool. The BBFC responded that though strong sex references do occur throughout the film, most of these are in the form of comic verbal quips or innuendo. Deadpool contains frequent use of strong language ('fuck', 'motherfucker'). However, there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language at 15.The sex references and language are therefore acceptable at the classification.

The BBFC received 30 complaints about Suicide Squad .

Most of the feedback was from children under the age of fifteen, or their parents, who had hoped that the film would achieve a lower classification. The sustained threat and moderate violence in Suicide Squad were too strong to warrant a 12A.

The BBFC received 20 complaints regarding Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Some members of the public believed the film to be too scary for a 12A classification. Te BBFC responded that scenes of horror in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children involve some monster characters known as Hollows which feast on eyeballs. These scenes are infrequent and the fantasy setting of the film as a whole reduces the intensity of these moments.

Nineteen members of the public wrote to the BBFC regarding the level of violence in Jason Bourne , classified 12A.

Some complaints focussed on the term moderate violence and argued that this did not reflect the level of detail depicted. The BBFC responded that although there are some heavy blows, little is shown in terms of injury detail, with the focus instead placed on action.

Sausage Party attracted 19 complaints.

Some of the feedback concerned the film's sex references. A scene in Sausage Party shows food products taking part in an orgy, during which various sexual activities are depicted, but in an unrealistic manner. Given the animated nature of the film and the comic context, this scene is acceptable at 15.

Some members of the public complained about the film's three uses of very strong language ('cunt'). The comic and non aggressive delivery of the very strong language in Sausage Party means that it is acceptable at 15.

Other complaints about Sausage Party focussed on drug use. Drug references in the film are either unrealistic (for example, food products smoking joints) or involve non-existent drugs (for example, bath salts). As such, they are permissible at 15, where drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

Eighteen members of the public wrote to the BBFC about the violence in 10 Cloverfield Lane (12A).

There is a scene where a character is shot; however, this takes place off screen, and no impact or detail is shown. Another scene shows the antagonist being injured by a barrel of acid, his face visibly burnt. However, there is no significant focus on the injury detail. There are several scenes of moderate threat in the film which create a dark tone that the BBFC recognised as being at the upper end of the 12A level. At 12A,moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted as long as horror sequences are not too frequent or sustained, and the overall tone is not disturbing.

The BBFC received ten complaints about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice regarding threat, violence and the dark tone of the film.

Moments of threat include characters being held at gunpoint, and some nightmarish dream sequences. The BBFC responded that the violence and tone sit within a known fantasy context consistent with both BBFC Classification Guidelines and past instalments of the Batman series at the 12A classification. There is limited detail of injury in the film and, in the few moments where injury is seen, there is no emphasis on either injuries or blood.

George A (for Andrew) Romero has dies aged 77. He was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer and editor, best known for his series of gruesome and satirical horror films about an imagined zombie apocalypse, beginning with Night of the Living Dead (1968), which is often considered a progenitor of the fictional zombie of modern culture. Other films in the series include D awn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).

Aside from the Dead series, his works include The Crazies (1973), Martin (1978), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988) and The Dark Half (1993).

Romero is often noted as an influential pioneer of the horror film genre, and has been called an icon and the Father of the Zombie Film.

Filmography
 

1968	Night of the Living Dead [II]
1971	There's Always Vanilla [II]
1973	Season of the Witch [II]
1973	The Crazies
1978	Martin
1978	Dawn of the Dead
1981	Knightriders
1982	Creepshow
1985	Day of the Dead
1988	Monkey Shines
1990	Two Evil Eyes
1993	The Dark Half [I]
2000	Bruiser
2005	Land of the Dead
2007	Diary of the Dead [I]
2009	Survival of the Dead

India's film censors have ordered that a documentary about the economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen be altered to remove words including 'Hindu' 'India' and 'cow', the director has said.

Suman Ghosh said he was told by censor board officials that his one-hour documentary about Sen, a Harvard professor and essayist, could be released only if certain words were bleeped out. Those words reportedly included cow, Hindu India, Hindutva, a reference to the religious nationalist ideology of India's ruling party, and Gujarat, the home state of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi .

I was quite shaken, Ghosh said of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) decision, against which he said he would be appealing. I was shocked but I thought, I have to argue.

In the documentary, named after his book of essays The Argumentative Indian, Sen criticises what he sees as the restricted vision of India espoused by Modi's rightwing nationalist party.  In one reportedly censored scene, Sen lauds the value of vigorous argument and debate, in contrast to chastising people for having mistreated a cow or some such thing.