Bournemouth Film Censors…A Serbian Film leaves Bournemouth with censorial legacy

Read more UK News at MelonFarmers.co.uk

Based on article from bournemouthecho.co.uk

Licensing officers will double up as film censors following the row about plans to show A Serbian Film in Bournemouth. The town’s Pier Theatre is volunteering to have its licence amended so it cannot show films that have not been rated by the BBFC unless they have been shown to the local council. The decision means licensing officers will have to vet any such films, including the low-budget and student movies that have been the backbone of other festivals at the venue. If officers have concerns about a film, they will refer to councillors on the borough’s licensing board. The row was sparked after organisers of the British Horror Film Festival planned to screen the movie A Serbian Film in an uncut version which had not been passed by the BBFC. The film was pulled from the event, but officers did vet several unrated short films and succeeded in getting another 17-minute movie dropped.

A Nasty Phenomenon…Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide, new on DVD

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The uncut region 2 DVD is now released at UK Amazon

The first 5,000 copies are strictly limited edition, individually numbered with a set of art postcards. When they’re gone, these will be replaced with a non numbered limited edition without the card set. From promotional material: Prepare to be corrupted and depraved once more as Nucleus Films releases the definitive guide to the Video Nasties phenomenon – one of the most extraordinary and scandalous eras in the history of British film. For the first time ever on DVD, TRAILERS to all 72 films that fell foul of the Director of Public Prosecutions are featured with specially filmed intros for each title in a lavish three-disc collector s edition box-set, alongside a brand new documentary – VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP AND VIDEOTAPE. Disc One presents the 39 titles which were successfully prosecuted in UK courts and deemed liable to deprave and corrupt. Disc Two presents the 33 titles that were initially banned, but then subsequently acquitted and removed from the DPP’s list. Disc Three This era-defining documentary features interviews with filmmakers Ruggero Deodato ( Cannibal Holocaust ) Neil Marshall ( The Descent , Doomsday ), Christopher Smith ( Severance , Black Death ) and MP Graham Bright as well as rare archive footage featuring James Ferman (director of the BBFC 1975-1999) & Mary Whitehouse. Taking in the explosion of home video, the erosion of civil liberties, the introduction of draconian censorship measures, hysterical press campaigns and the birth of many careers born in blood and videotape, West s documentary also reflects on the influence this peculiar era still exerts on us today. Extras include a gallery of original video company idents and extensive gallery of lurid cover art for every video nasty. Offsite Review: To Avoid Moral Panic See article from cultmovieforums.com See also trailer from youtube.com Even the best part of three decade’s on talk of the Video Nasties scare still evokes nostalgia amongst those old enough to remember it all and fascinated disbelief amongst those who weren’t. Therefore there was much excitement within the realm of the horror and exploitation fan community when UK based independent label Nucleus Films announced the release of a bumper 3-Disc DVD set entitled Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide which it is hoped will be the final word on both the early eighties Nasty panic and indeed the films themselves which started it all. With expectations high will Nucleus’s release turn out to be nothing more than a glorified three disc trailer reel.? Or as promised will it be the definitive chronicle of the Video Nasty era? Read on my friends and find out… …Read the full article

Adult Duty…Call of Duty: Black Ops passed 18 uncut in the UK

Read more Latest UK Cuts at MelonFarmers.co.uk

Based on article from bbfc.co.uk

Call of Duty: Black Ops hit the news after censors announced cuts for German players. In the UK the game has been passed 18 uncut with the consumer advice: Contains strong bloody violence and strong language. The BBFC’s Extended Classification Information provides more details: Call of Duty: Black Ops is a military first-person shooter in which the player takes the role of a member of an elite C.I.A. covert action team operating during the Cold War and attempting to stop the threat of a Soviet chemical weapons project. The game was classified 18 for strong bloody violence and strong language. The violence takes the form of the player’s involvement in gun battles with various enemies in which an array of contemporary weapons such as automatic rifles, pistols, grenades and other types of explosive ammunition are available, along with larger weapons such as missile launchers which are carried on ships, helicopters and road vehicles. The player can also access bladed weapons for stealth attacks and hand-to-hand combat. The battles are intense and conducted from a first-person perspective with impacts registering as blood spurts which vary in strength depending on the weapon and the range at which it is used. More powerful weapons can also cause dismemberment with resultant gory detail and enemies can be set on fire. Although dead bodies can sometimes be used as shields against enemy attacks there is no opportunity to inflict post-mortem damage on downed victims. Whilst most of the intense fighting action, in which the player encounters hordes of enemies, does not linger on injuries or carry a personalised edge, some stealth attacks in which a knife is used to slit an enemy’s throat contain more of a focus on the damage inflicted and some of the non-interactive cutscenes contain stronger bloodshed, for example, in the assassination of a political leader where the action plays out in slow-motion. It was these stronger, more focussed moments of bloody violence accumulating through the course of the gameplay that went beyond what may be permitted by the BBFC’s Guidelines at 15, which state that Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, and which determined the 18 category. The game also contains uses of strong language which would not have been an issue at 15 where the Guidelines state that There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). Milder language in the game includes uses of bastard, shit and bitch.