Japanese Movie Grotesque Banned in UK

[Bucky]

I would think with this publicity that it will get more demand.

Britain's film board banned the sale of a Japanese horror DVD, saying Wednesday its violence is so extreme that it could cause psychological harm to audiences.
The film "Grotesque" devoted most of its running time to the sexual assault and torture of its two main characters, the British Board of Film Classification said.
"'Grotesque' features minimal narrative or character development and presents the audience with little more than an unrelenting and escalating scenario of humiliation, brutality and sadism," the board said in a statement.
The board has refused to classify the film, meaning it cannot be legally sold or supplied anywhere in Britain.
The board said the movie's nonstop scenes of torture - including amputation, eye-gouging, castration and evisceration - make it impossible to edit the film in a way which would make it acceptable for British viewers.
The board, which rates about 10,000 films for DVD release each year, said the ban was "very rare."

The last movie turned down by the board was 2004 film "Murder-Set-Pieces," which was rejected in early 2008. In 2005, it refused "Terrorists, Killers And Other Wackos" - a film that carried clips of real torture and execution.

Official Website: http://www.grotesque-movie.jp/
Trailer can be see here.

[AssKissinger]

Britain's film board banned the sale of a Japanese horror DVD, saying Wednesday its violence is so extreme that it could cause psychological harm to audiences

I assume everybody's check is in the mail.

[Coligny]

Isn't that the country who also banned canibal holocaust ?

Grotesque is an amateur/light video movie with really little to show... Real sadism is not aboot cutting peepee parts with a smile. Everything happening to the couple make you think "hey might be difficult to live without that part..." then you go "who gives a fuck they're going to die anyway". Nothing that's being done is awefull by itself... just because of it's possible consequences, which will never be allowed to happen... In that respect it's a complete failure. Also the fact that as soon as you see the couple you whish an horrible death to the inbred who play the boyfriend is not helping.

You need a little moar talent and maturity than your average japanese filmmaker to get it right.

Try Martyrs for better example. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029234/)

[sublight]

The board said the movie's nonstop scenes of torture - including amputation, eye-gouging, castration and evisceration - make it impossible to edit the film in a way which would make it acceptable for British viewers.

[Coligny]

Well... actually they make sense... It would be like removing the scene with naked people from a japanese porno movie. Even for a 2 hours DVD you'd end up with 45 seconds of footage from that scene where they dropped the cam by accident but didn't cut it in post production.

Grotesque is the same. No story to confuse people... But the english have it easy. If they want gratuitous over the top violence they just need to look at a chav for more than 10 second...

[Midwinter]

Try Martyrs for better example. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029234/)

That movie was pretty fucked up. It got off to a real slow start and I was wondering what all the fuss was about, but the last 30 minutes left me feeling all sorts of uncomfortable. Honestly, the whole thing could have done with a little more explanation though I'm willing to admit that maybe some of the details were left out of the translation.

[Coligny]

That movie was pretty fucked up. It got off to a real slow start and I was wondering what all the fuss was about, but the last 30 minutes left me feeling all sorts of uncomfortable. Honestly, the whole thing could have done with a little more explanation though I'm willing to admit that maybe some of the details were left out of the translation.

Lack of explanation in these movies have 2 purpose.

For the good movies (like Martyrs) it help you feel ill at ease. No real way to rationnalise the actions in your own paradigm. You would have to switch to their way of thinking to get closer to a better understanding. And it's not something you want to do.

But also for clusterfuck like evangelion it serve the purpose of trying to hide the fact that the writer had no fracking clue on how to end or even continue the story arc. So they let it not really end in hope that letting everybody come up with his own bullshit about the what and why of the untold story will make it become a legendary masterpiece... It works with bored otakus... And you can sell more DVD everytime you come up with a minor tweak in the storyline while adding a shitload of pedoporn in the mix.

[hundefar]

That movie was pretty fucked up. It got off to a real slow start and I was wondering what all the fuss was about, but the last 30 minutes left me feeling all sorts of uncomfortable. Honestly, the whole thing could have done with a little more explanation though I'm willing to admit that maybe some of the details were left out of the translation.

I liked it, except for the ending which was a bit crap. Still, the rest of the movie was so good that I'd still recommend that people watch it.

[Midwinter]

I liked it, except for the ending which was a bit crap. Still, the rest of the movie was so good that I'd still recommend that people watch it.

See, it was the ending that made it for me. The way that group justified their actions through curiousity of what lays beyond I thought was interesting and made the journey that far somewhat worthwhile, it was the lack of information concerning the group and their idiologies that left me truly wanting. Honestly, and I know I'll probably cop flak for this, but I enjoyed the Hostel movies much, MUCH more. The violence and brutality raised some interesting questions, and the films weren't afraid to really dig around in the moral subject matter either.

[Hokgwai]

thank the maker, finally some taste for a change.

[6810]

The violence and brutality raised some interesting questions, and the films weren't afraid to really dig around in the moral subject matter either.

Really, like what?

[Midwinter]

Really, like what?

I'm not going to go into it in length as I simply don't have the time now and anyway, it's all open to personal interpretations. You may have seen a gorefest, I saw a moral question of pleasure and excitement, namely the numbness of having it all, and the lengths people may go to to continue the thrill. The second tried to draw viewers in with a more sympathetic character who had been talked into joining the "club" so to speak. This humanized the villianary more so than the first, and gave viewers an opportunity to understand and sympathize with the character by mentally placing themselves in the situation.

I'm surprised you didn't pick up on all that as other than the gore, Hostel didn't have much else to offer.

[pheyton]

That crazy French girl in Martyrs was insanely hot, especially in the beanie holding a shotgun!

[6810]

I'm not going to go into it in length as I simply don't have the time now and anyway, it's all open to personal interpretations. You may have seen a gorefest, I saw a moral question of pleasure and excitement, namely the numbness of having it all, and the lengths people may go to to continue the thrill. The second tried to draw viewers in with a more sympathetic character who had been talked into joining the "club" so to speak. This humanized the villianary more so than the first, and gave viewers an opportunity to understand and sympathize with the character by mentally placing themselves in the situation.

I'm surprised you didn't pick up on all that as other than the gore, Hostel didn't have much else to offer.

Personally, films like that have very little to say to me. Torture porn just isn't my thing. When you've grown up in real violence, experienced it, perpetrated, been in it, movies like this appear gruesome and pointless. Adolescent fantasies. As such, they are what they are. I only object to the psuedo-intellectualism of it all. A splatter movie is a splatter movie, at least it doesn't pretend to be anything else.

[hundefar]

Personally, films like that have very little to say to me. Torture porn just isn't my thing. When you've grown up in real violence, experienced it, perpetrated, been in it, movies like this appear gruesome and pointless. Adolescent fantasies.

I have experienced my share of violence. Still managed a half decent wank to Grotesque last night, though. Phwoooar.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I saw a moral question of pleasure and excitement

Yeah, whether or not it's OK to torture and kill for pleasure is a very tough important moral question.

[Midwinter]

Yeah, it's a very important moral question.

You censored half that sentence and took the moral aspect out of context.

[sillygirl]

Ha! Woman at work bought it out of curiousity but passed it to me cos there were no English subtitles.

The only thing that saved me from having nightmares was the silly ending.

Gonna watch Saw 6 tomorrow...hee hee..

[IkemenTommy]

The board said the movie's nonstop scenes of torture - including amputation, eye-gouging, castration and evisceration - make it impossible to edit the film in a way which would make it acceptable for British viewers.

Pussies.

[sillygirl]

Pussies.

Agreed. Clockwork Orange was banned for 27 years. As for Texas Chainsaw Massacre....grr...

from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_films#United_Kingdom

United Kingdom
1932: Freaks was rejected by British censors and banned. It was again rejected for a cinema rating certificate in 1952. Available from 1963.
1954: The Wild One was banned from distribution in the United Kingdom until 1967. Now available
1960: Mario Bava's Black Sunday was banned due to its violent content until 1968.
1963: Freaks ws finally passed with an X rating.
1968: Roger Corman's film The Trip was banned due to glorification of LSD. It is later unbanned, but was not released in Britain until the mid-1990s.
1972: The Last House on the Left was banned by the BBFC until 2002 and not passed uncut until 2008.
1973: A Clockwork Orange was banned, two years after its release, by its own director Stanley Kubrick. This was not because of the copy cat violence allegedly inspired by the film, as is commonly believed. Kubrick received death threats to his family and consequently arranged to withdraw the film from UK cinemas. It was not allowed to be shown again in the United Kingdom until after his death. Throughout the decades the film acquired a mythical status in the country until Kubrick died in 1999 and the ban was finally lifted.
1974: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was banned].
1989 Visions of Ecstasy is banned under blasphemy laws, and is the only film ever to be banned in the UK due to blasphemy. As the UK's blasphemy laws were repealed in 2008, the film is likely to be passed in the near future.
2009: The Japanese film Grotesque is banned due to a high level of sexual torture.

Bo-ring...

[Greji]

".....2009: The Japanese film Grotesque is banned due to a high level of sexual torture....."

Bo-ring...

Christ, if the prude review board barred that flick for "a high level of sexual torture," what would they do if you took them to Kabukicho and took a look at the real stuff?