Lost Souls at the BBFC…Robin Cooke talks about 100 years of film censorship at the BBFC

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See article from bbc.co.uk

As the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) celebrates its 100th year, its director David Cooke reflects on some of the films that have challenged the censor over the decades. One of the best examples is 1932′s Island of Lost Souls, the first non-silent screen adaptation of HG Wells’ Island of Dr Moreau, starring Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi. Scene from Island of Lost Souls Island of Lost Souls was first rejected by the British censor in the 1930s Originally rejected in 1933 – and again in 1957 – the film was eventually classified with an X certificate with cuts in 1958. In 1996 these cuts were restored and the film gained a 12 certificate. In 2011, it was resubmitted for a new DVD/Blu-ray release and was passed as a PG – making it viewable by children, though it carries the warning: Contains mild violence and scary scenes. When we had to classify it again last year, we went for PG on the basis of the comparison with the Doctor Whos and the Harry Potters, explains BBFC director David Cooke.

Finally the Full Sequence…The uncut version of Human Centipede 2 has been released online by Bounty Films

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See trailer from youtube.com

The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) is a 2011 Netherlands/UK horror by Tom Six. With Laurence R Harvey and Ashlynn Yennie. See IMDb The Uncut Version is now finally available online for: 2011 Bounty Rental Streaming at Bounty Films 2011 Bounty Download to Own at Bounty Films Cut Releases UK: Temporarily banned Banned by the BBFC in June 2011. Unbanned by the BBFC in October 2011 after 2:37s of BBFC cuts Australia: Temporarily banned Originally passed R18+ uncut by the Classification Board Banned on appeal by the Review Board in November 2011. The appeal was requested by NSW Attorney General, Greg Smith Unbanned by the Classification Board after 30s of cuts in December 2011 US: A pre-cut version is missing the barbed wire rape of the last girl in the chain. This is the version that has been available online for sometime now. Summary Review: Sick Fantasy Inspired by the fictional Dr. Heiter, disturbed loner Martin dreams of creating a 12-person centipede and sets out to realize his sick fantasy. This is the type of movie you will either like or hate, I doubt there will be much in between. The film is quite shocking, but not the most outrageous of the genre. Actor Laurence R Harvey is masterful as Martin yet doesn’t utter a single word of dialogue.

Morality in Revenge…Adam Rehmeier speaks of the reception so far to The Bunny game

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See interview from brutalashell.com

Brutal as hell have interviewed Adam Rehmeier on the progress of his BBFC banned film, The Bunny Game Brutal as hell: Can you tell me your reaction to the BBFC decision to ban your film outright? Adam Rehmeier: I think the BBFC decision to ban the film is quite harsh. Of course, they will let remakes of films like I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left pass uncut. Hollywood remakes, nonetheless, that capitalize on the notoriety of rape and revenge of the original films and do absolutely nothing to further the genre. I guess unremitting rape and callous behavior is okay with the BBFC as long as the victim exacts revenge on the tormentor, which, in reality, is never the case. The Bunny Game is a journey through several days in the life of a prostitute and is grounded in reality. It is grim and, as with most abductions, the ending is far from happy. The BBFC seems to think that we are eroticising the torture in the film, encouraging the viewer to join in on the abductor’s pleasure. Did they even watch the film? Out of all the screenings we have had in the past year, not a single person has ever expressed that same thought. …Read the full interview

Disappointing, Worrying and Sad…Distributors, Trinity X, comment on the BBFC ban of The Bunny Game

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From Trinity X press release

The Bunny Game is a 2010 US horror by Adam Rehmeier. See IMDb. The film has just been banned by the BBFC for: UK 2011 Trinity DVD The distributors, Trinity X have now issued their comments on the ban in a press release: Trinity X saddened by BBFC decision to ban The Bunny Game Trinity X, the recently formed DVD genre distribution arm of UK-based film distributor Trinity, described the BBFC’s decision to ban The Bunny Game as disappointing, worrying and sad. Mark Sandell, co-director of Trinity, who acquired the film during Cannes this year, went on to say: We knew the film was challenging and confrontational, but also felt, as a independent filmmaker, Adam Rehmeir (the director), had a highly original filmic eye and had elicited powerful performances from the cast. We did imagine that the BBFC might ask for cuts but an outright ban gives the film a twisted notoriety that, quite frankly, it doesn’t warrant. Adam Rehmeier, the director commented : Rodleen and I didn’t make ‘The Bunny Game’ to glamorise prostitution. It is far from an erotic film. It is a modern cautionary tale grounded in reality. Trinity is currently considering its options

The Bunny Game Banned…Unremitting sexual and physical abuse of a helpless woman

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See article from bbfc.co.uk See trailer from youtube.com

The Bunny Game is a 2010 US horror by Adam Rehmeier. See IMDb. The film has just been banned by the BBFC for: UK 2011 Trinity DVD The BBFC explained in a press release: The BBFC has rejected the sexually violent DVD The Bunny Game. The film follows a female prostitute who hitches a lift with a truck driver. The truck driver kidnaps the woman, restrains and forcibly strips her, and proceeds to physically and sexually abuse and humiliate her. The abuse of the kidnapped woman takes up the greater part of the film. The Board’s Guidelines state A strict policy on sexual violence and rape is applied. Content which might eroticise or endorse sexual violence may require cuts at any classification level. This is more likely with video works than film because of the potential for replaying scenes out of context. Any association of sex with non-consensual restraint, pain or humiliation may be cut. The principal focus of The Bunny Game is the unremitting sexual and physical abuse of a helpless woman, as well as the sadistic and sexual pleasure the man derives from this. The emphasis on the woman’s nudity tends to eroticise what is shown, while aspects of the work such as the lack of explanation of the events depicted, and the stylistic treatment, may encourage some viewers to enjoy and share in the man’s callousness and the pleasure he takes in the woman’s pain and humiliation. David Cooke, Director of the BBFC said: It is the Board’s carefully considered view that to issue a certificate to this work, even if confined to adults, would be inconsistent with the Board’s Guidelines, would risk potential harm within the terms of the Video Recordings Act, and would accordingly be unacceptable to the public. The Board considered whether its concerns could be dealt with through cuts. However, the pervasiveness of the abuse makes it very difficult to deal with The Bunny Game by means of cuts. If the company would like to attempt to cut this work in order to submit it in a reduced form, they are entitled to do so, but the Board can offer no assurances that such re-editing would be successful. The decision to reject The Bunny Game was taken by the Director, David Cooke and the Presidential Team of Sir Quentin Thomas, Alison Hastings and Gerard Lemos. The decision means that the film cannot be legally supplied anywhere in the UK.

Season of the Banned…Friday night double bills of banned films on the Horror Channel in November

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Season of the Banned The Horror Channel (Sky & cable) Friday Nights in November 2011. The Horror Channel on Sky and cable has picked up eight films to be shown in its Season of the Banned. The films will be aired in a weekly double bill on Friday nights in November. The season will kick off with: Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape, a well received documentary about the moral panic of the video nasties The feature films, which will be shown uncut are: The Evil Dead: banned as a video nasty The Exterminator: never banned, but suffered extensive BBFC cuts The Beyond: banned as a video nasty Island of Death: banned as a video nasty City of the Dead: never banned, but suffered extensive BBFC cuts The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: banned by the BBFC Tenebrae: banned as a video nasty

Britain Stitched Up…Human Centipede 2 premieres in Texas

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See article from metro.co.uk

The first poster for The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) has been unveiled. And the banned in Britain movie has made its debut at the Fantastic Fest film festival in Texas. The poster depicts a centipede-like outline made up from 40 people apparently sewn together. The film will go on US cinema release from 7th October, but the MPAA Unrated version will limit the amount of cinema’s partaking in the release. And as for the first reactions from Fantastic Fest. It seems that the BBFC are doing a far better job of recommending the film than any of the early critics.

Censor Fodder…New UK 40th Anniversary Blu-ray of Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs

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UK 2011 Freemantlemedia 40th Anniversary Blu-ray at UK Amazon for release on 24th October 2011

Straw Dogs is a 1971 UK drama by Sam Peckinpah. See IMDb Passed 18 uncut for: UK 2011 Freemantlemedia 40th Anniversary Blu-ray at UK Amazon for release on 24th October 2011 UK 2004 Prism R2 DVD UK 2002 Pearson Television/Freemantlemedia R2 DVD at UK Amazon UK 2002 Pearson Television/Freemantlemedia VHS Previously the cut US R Rated Version was banned by the BBFC for: UK 1999 VCI VHS UK 1999 Total Home Entertainment VHS After an inordinate delay for procrastination, the BBFC commented: The BBFC offered a list of cuts to the video’s distributor but because their period of rights had elapsed, they were unable to consider making the requested cuts. After the politically correct empowerment of the BBFC on the back of the Video Recordings Act, the video version became verbatim. The grass roots examiners of the BBFC continually recommended a relaxation of the ban yet the politicians of the Board  could never confirm their views. The cause of the problems for the BBFC is that the first rape scene has Susan George’s character initially being forcibly assaulted but then she seemingly starts to enjoy it.

Starting to Take Shape…First trailer showing footage from Human Centipede Part 2

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See trailer from youtube.com

The first trailer has appeared showing actual footage from Human Centipede Part 2 (Full Sequence). The trailer starts with a reprise from the first part but begins with the new material when the lights come on in the disused building.

Crawling On…The date of the appeal against the BBFC ban of Human Centipede Part 2 has yet to be set

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The BBFC have kindly confirmed that the appeal against the ban on Human Centipede Part 2 has yet to be fixed. An interview by Tom Six gave the impression that formal appeal had already been heard and lost twice… and that Tom Six was already looking to the High Court for satisfaction. Presumably in the following except from his interview, Six was using the word ‘appeal’ in an informal sense, meaning that he had just asked the BBFC (rather than the Video Appeals Committee) to think again. Here is the original Tom Six wording again: Offsite: Interview with Tom Six re the BBFC Appeal 31st August 2011. Thanks to Mark. See interview from horror-movies.ca See also Tom Six, The BBFC and The Human Centipede 2 Censorship Debacle from bleedingcool.com Q: Have you got anything to say to the BBFC? Tom Six: Oh, I’ve got lots of things to say, you can imagine. When I first heard it I wanted to thank them so much for their incredible publicity, but now I’m getting really annoyed. They didn’t agree with our appeal, so it’s looking not good, and I’m really angry now, because how can they say to adults you can’t watch this film? It’s incredible, and I’m really sad because the UK is the country that gave the world the black humour of Monty Python and Little Britain, and in my film; part 1 and part 2, there’s a lot of black humour. I’m so disappointed they’re so humourless. … Q: Do you see the BBFC ban being lifted any time soon? Tom Six: Well, they have rejected our second appeal, so now the distributor has to go to a barrister or court, I’m not sure how that works, so it looks not very good. The film is not obscene, a lawyer said that and we have to get a barrister saying that. We have to find a way, I’m fighting my ass off with the distributor to find a way to show the film in the UK. …Read the full interview