Thinking about it, there's a gay blowjob scene in Paul Verhoeven's Spetters. That didn't seem to bother the BBFC at all, and neither did the buggery scene in the same film...

That'll be the reason though won't it, not some anti-gay BBFC policy? Or am I being dense?

Just under 7 minutes of cuts according to the BBFC site. Honestly, what's the point of releasing this, who's going to buy it now? 2 minutes 3 seconds removed by the BBFC so it could get an 18 certificate.....and then Arrow chose to remove a further 4 minutes 50 seconds!!!!!! Why the hell would they do that?

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/02/u5amutag.jpg

Curious. That really is bizarre.

Off topic but Stephen what app is that you're using in the screenshot?

It's the BBFC app for the iphone.

Aha, didn't know such a thing existed. Going to download it now.

Reading between the lines, I suspect it's a case of Arrow resubmitting the film in Metzger's own alternative edit (which for a long time was by far the better known version of the film), rather than physically cutting 4 minutes 50 seconds themselves.

By a happy coincidence, my review copy turned up today, so I can confirm that this is indeed Metzger's official 'softer' cut - and it's now obvious why Arrow went down this route, because Metzger recorded a commentary specifically for this version, in which (amongst much else) he discusses the differences between this version and the hardcore version.

So I imagine if they'd gone down the BBFC-recommended route, they'd be left with the dilemma of how to edit Metzger's other commentary - or, more likely, they'd be forced to drop it altogether. And since Metzger's commentaries are excellent, and the alternative cut is fully director-approved (and by far the more familiar version of the film), this must have seemed like the most sensible option.

I can live with a few minuets of hard core removied from a film if the director approves of said version. I wasn't gonna cancel my PO for this anyway.

It's probably also worth noting that all the hardcore material is gay - there are heterosexual sequences earlier in the film that seem censored, simply because they're not very explicit, but in fact they appear to have been edited identically in both versions.

As far as I can see, the key (and possibly the only) difference between the two versions affects a lengthy sequence towards the end which intercuts a surprisingly tame lesbian encounter with a startlingly graphic gay one. I haven't done a shot-by-shot comparison with the Cult Labs disc, but I get the impression that this sequence has essentially been replaced by a softer equivalent.

Incidentally, I don't think the BBFC is necessarily being prejudiced here: it's just that the gay stuff is much, much stronger than the heterosexual or lesbian material. Had there been erections, fellatio, 69ing etc. in the other sequences, they'd have run into trouble too.