FilmFour & non-BBFC certified screenings....

[jefflynne]

Simple question....

How do FilmFour get around the 'films shown on TV must be the BBFC certified home video version' rule that broadcasters adhere to?

For example, next Saturday....

01:00 Re-Animator
Sick mix of gore and laughs as a crazy medic brings body parts to life. Includes the notorious sex scene with a severed head.

As a subscriber, I can only applaud it :clap: ; I just wonder how they get away with it !!!

[RichB]

I'm not sure, I made the same point last week - Natural Born Killers is being shown fully uncut in it's Dir's cut on FilmFour, 3 days later the butchered DVD comes out to buy on R2
But people didn't seem to be bothered

[APPRIA40WR]

Channel 4 are obliged to show BBFC versions <u>wherever</u> possible so they must get around this by saying it's a 'special editon' or whatever else their lawyers told them. Essentially Channel 4 can show <u>anything</u> as long as it's acceptable under the various braodcasting acts -and of course these acts could (AFAIK) only be applied <u>after</u> the programme has been shown.

Channel 4 is challenging censorship and I support them.

[danielzavitz]

by the way the natural born killers R2 dvd is the uncut version that has been released in america, and will carry all the special features, deleted scenes, commentary etc.
channel 5 also screen uncut versions regularly they did both the rock and con air uncut. i missed leathal weapon 2 the other week but i hope they showed that uncut as the bbfc really butchered it.

[RichB]

by the way the natural born killers R2 dvd is the uncut version that has been released in america, and will carry all the special features, deleted scenes, commentary etc

Nope it's not, it's the same as the R1 version from Warner which is a the cut down version shown in cinemas - this is not the full length dir's cut released by trimark (R1) - please get your facts straight

[Paul490]

Channel 5 also didn't screen the uncut version of Natural Born Killers. They screened the cut 'R' rated version of the film missing quite a lot of footage.

The director's cut is released on Trimark R1, Danish R2 and Australian R4 DVD.

[APPRIA40WR]

To be fair to Channel 5 I think they showed the 'full' version as released in the US, UK and everywhere else.

So again Warner (who seem to only own the 'original' version rights) aren't releasing it cut in the UK as it's the film version that was originally realeed.

The NBK Director Cut is exactly that. The standard version of JFK isn't spoken as being cut so I don't think NBK should be either.

[RichB]

The NBK Director Cut is exactly that. The standard version of JFK isn't spoken as being cut so I don't think NBK should be either

Hmm the difference is with NBK, The MPAA forced Ollie to cut down his version as it was too violent

[Paul490]

And Oliver Stone was forced to get an 'R' rating on it for Warner.

[APPRIA40WR]

Hmm the difference is with NBK, The MPAA forced Ollie to cut down his version as it was too violent


What does that have to do with what we're talking about here?

The fact is the film has <u>never</u> been cut in the UK (or the US) and the <u>new</u> release is a different version.

[Paul490]

APPRIA40WR - The uncut version isn't being released in the UK! The new release is the same as the old one in terms of cuts. Or am I just confusing myself? :rolleyes:

[sampath]

Originally posted by APPRIA40WR
Hmm the difference is with NBK, The MPAA forced Ollie to cut down his version as it was too violent

The fact is the film has never been cut in the UK <u>(or the US)</u> and the new release is a different version

It's true that the BBFC never cut the version submitted to them, but this version was the same as the US theatrical version, which had some footage cut when it was threatened with an NC-17 rating by the MPAA.

So NBK was, in fact, cut in the US for <u>censorship purposes</u> (as opposed to, say, in order to reduce running time as in The Abyss); the BBFC then passed this cut version without further cuts.

[APPRIA40WR]

You guys 'n' gals like to complicate things http://members.tripod.co.uk/uploadimages/goby.gif :D

I've never said that NBK was released as how OS would have liked it <u>however</u> I don't see how someone can say it's 'cut in the UK' cos it very definitely is <u>not</u>.

It's the standard theatrical editon as released <u>everywhere</u>.

OK, the UK doesn't (yet) have the DC but it may come. In the meantime get the Region 4 DC (http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/NaturalBornKillersDC.html) disc and stop moaning! :D

[jefflynne]

I'm sorry I ever spoke... :argue:

...and it was my 100th post, too :p

[Dagada]

Let's be fair to the BBFC - A fair few cuts they've been making recently are due to greedy studios wanting a lower rating. The new more liberal attitude they've adopted is to be applauded, although headbuts seem to have taken over as the snip de jour.
12 seems to be the category most likely to suffer cuts at the moment, too.

[Fat Man Hackett]

Let's try and straighten things out here. The R2 coming out is the "R" rated version, which was shown in cinemas everywhere, and on Channel 5. The version out on R1 DVD, R2 Danish and R4 is the "Directors Cut" which was released by Trimark, because Warner are no allowed to release anything higher than a "R" rated movie. This is also the version that FilmFour are showing. They are obliged to show the version that has been to the BBFC, unless the film / version has never been to the BBFC. In that case, as long as they stay on the right side of the ITC, they can show what they want. They may well be pushing it with NBK: DC, but the only people to complain are people with FilmFour, and that's the kind of stuff that they want to watch.

Unfortunately, XXX pornography is not on "the right side" of the ITC...;)

[Gary Couzens]

Originally posted by Fat Man Hackett
Let's try and straighten things out here. The R2 coming out is the "R" rated version, which was shown in cinemas everywhere, and on Channel 5. The version out on R1 DVD, R2 Danish and R4 is the "Directors Cut" which was released by Trimark, because Warner are no allowed to release anything higher than a "R" rated movie.

Almost. As a MPAA signatory (as all the major studios are), Warners are not allowed to release anything without a MPAA rating. (I think old movies that predate the MPAA ratings system, i.e. from before 1968, are an exception to this.) They could release <i>Natural Born Killers</i> uncut with a NC-17 rating, but that causes its own problems - Blockbuster and other companies not stocking the title, newspapers/magazines not advertising it, people assuming it's pornography, etc.

In this particular case, the powers that be at Warners are embarrassed by <i>NBK</i>, which is why they allowed Stone to take the director's cut to Trimark.

<b> This is also the version that FilmFour are showing. They are obliged to show the version that has been to the BBFC, unless the film / version has never been to the BBFC. In that case, as long as they stay on the right side of the ITC, they can show what they want. They may well be pushing it with NBK: DC, but the only people to complain are people with FilmFour, and that's the kind of stuff that they want to watch.</b>

Having seen the director's cut (I bought a NTSC video before I had a DVD player), I don't see the BBFC having a problem with it.

<b>Unfortunately, XXX pornography is not on "the right side" of the ITC...;) </b>

But hardcore sex in 18-rated movies is, eg. <i>In the Realm of the Senses, Romance</i>. Even in art movies that haven't been submitted to the BBFC, such as <i>La vie de Jésus</i>.

[Fat Man Hackett]

Cheers for the additional info mate!:)