:lol: That was Jon Lovitz when he guest starred in Friends. Just my way of announcing how amazed I am at this news.

or more in-line with this thread "well call me a turtle and serve me up raw with a side order of monkey"

Its been ... interesting, shall we say :)

I was telling Ian McCulloch once how I successfully defended Zombie Flesh Eaters in Court (that was one we had to watch that the judge couldn't believe the cops thought was obscene) and he was very impressed. Gave me a free 10x8 and signed it "Congratulations!"

JESUS H CHRIST! 15 SECONDS OF CUTS? :eek:

Incredible indeed!


Thanks for sharing that Andy.It's cool you defended your videos,and as for the 'law'-what a ****ing waste of taxpayer's money.Tossers.:mmph:

And when the BBFC are aware of horse tripping, they cut it. Quite a few of the old westerns have been trimmed by the BBFC.

Well...ahem...I was arrested at Stonehenge '85 for trying to start an illegal rock festival. Me and two mates....and we didn't even have any instruments! LOL!

But I digress... :focus:

Anyone planning to see the new cut at Cine Excess in a couple of weeks? They're having a live debate between Deodato and the BBFC. Should be cool.

I will be there, really looking forward to it.

I can't make it, but that is a fascinating idea -- it should be filmed and, if it is interesting as I expect it to be, would make a great extra feature on the BD/DVD.

It certainly would. It would be interesting to hear the BBFC's stance on previously troublesome horror movies today. They're attitude certainly seems to be shifting rapidly - and kudos to them for that.

We've certainly come a long way from the days of Ferman, who not only was a dreadful BBFC head, but was also extremely secretive into the bargain. The stupid old git :loco:

Ferman was probably thinking I remember back in the day when people saw Gone With The Wind, Ben Hur and Dracula (1931) at the cinema. Those were the days - none of this hardcore violence, i'm going to see if we can get back to them days by me cutting everything violent

Actually, in an old interview, Ferman said he joined the BBFC so that he'd never have to watch a censored film ever again, after suffering censorship of his own films. Then became the most notorious censor in British film history. Go figure.

remember when ferman thought he would make 'henry' a better movie by re-editing it himself, ha ha ha, alright it was just the one scene, but still, ha ha ha, what a twonk.

That noise you can hear is Mary Whitehouse boring her way to the centre of the earth at 75,000 rpm!:lol::woot:

Just my personal view but I think Cannibal Holocaust has had a bit of a reputation make-over in recent years - critics no longer regard it as a trashy video nasty as it was in the 1980's...just my own opinion! I personally think apart from the animal killings it's a very good film, brutal but good.

I can't believe James Ferman was opposed to censorship...the man who treated the BBFC as his own personal editing suite, the man who would only pass 'Ai No Corrida' because the 'right' sort of people would only see it. What hypocrisy.

Just goes to show what a hypocrite he was.

And so was his predecessor, John Trevelyan, who had stakes in private film clubs across London. He'd deliberately reject films that were too 'racey' and would then pass them over to his own film clubs, which didn't require these films to be certificated to show them.

Trevelyan also famously once said 'If it turns me on, it goes', or words to that effect. The BBFC should have been disbanded at the same time as the Lord Chamberlain's Office that oversaw decency in the theatre.

The full details are now up on the BBFC website for you to enjoy!

I love the line where it says GENRE(S): DRAMA -- drama?

I seem to remember a quote from back in the time TCM was banned; basically it went something along the lines of 'it's okay for educated cinephiles in London to see it, but what if a plumber in Leeds was to see it' :crazy: . Quite obviously us proles were just too stupid to 'understand' such things and needed to be protected from ourselves. :mmph:

This is indeed a landmark decision.Cut or not.
When you compare it to the Vipco release,it is truly gobsmacking.
The BBFC I have to say have come a long way recently....

Wonder if Deodato's HOUSE will fare as well.......:eyebrows:

Coincidentally, I watched House by the Edge of the Park last night and think it might do quite well in Soho Square as the rape/sex scene isn't so much a woman starting to like it, but a woman feeling sorry for the guy and seemingly suffering a little of Stockholm Syndrome. The scene I feel will be the most trouble is the one with Cindy but that is so repellent there is no way they could convincingly argue it would titillate, just like the scenes of sexual violence and rape in Cannibal Holocaust.

Sorry for the digression -- back on topic!

Well,here's hoping.....

I hope we soon get more info on the new Deadato cut!

i know it won't happen but it would be cool if Shameless could hunt down kerman, pirkanan and the italian cast to see how they feel about the film being as highly thought of as it is today.

I would really love to go, but I have a feeling I won't make it :(

I've been thinking this since I found out Deodato would be appearing at Cine-Excess, before I even knew about the discussion. I think this, in it's entirety would make such a great extra for the Shameless release! It would be something no other release had - new information on Deodato and how he approached the new cut, as well as a very interesting discussion on how the BBFC now view the film, etc. I think that this would be great information for a lot people who are considering buying this but may already have numerous uncut copies - these kind of extras could really persuade people to buy!

Is there anyone who knows for certain if this event will be recorded? Is there anyone at Shameless or on Cult-Labs who could help organise such a thing? I, am I'm sure others, would be forever grateful! :pray:

They were pretty much all tracked down and interviewed for the Grindhouse release of some years back. If for no other reason, the extras on the Grindhouse release alone make it worth picking up, even if you don't like the film. I wonder what extras will grace the Shameless release?

Robert Kerman and Carl Gabriel Yorke were interviewed extensively on the Grindhouse release and they had some great stories to tell - even with the interviews running for 36 mins and 51 mins, I find them very interesting viewing.
I would love if it was possible to track down any of the other three stars (Francesca Ciardi, Perry Pirkanen, Luca Barbareschi) to get their memories of filming and thoughts on the film and it's status 30 years on - do they abhor the film? Do they regret being a part of it and why/why not? Do they think the film should have disappeared a long time ago or does it deserve it cult status, even today? I would love to hear their thoughts on things like this, as this is still still a film which strongly divides people and I'd love to hear what the other actors still remember from the shoot 30 years later and how they, being involved in the film themselves, see it as a whole.

Barbareschi appears on the making of documentary that is on the italian and US releases and Francesca Ciradi made several appearences last year at various events in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh (where I met her and she was great) and the USA. The only one who hasn't been tracked down is Perry Pirkanen. Or maybe he has but doesn't want to talk.

Oh, my bad on Barbareschi - I havn't watched the discs in quite a while! Yeah, I see Francesca has appeared at a few events lately, which may mean that she would be willing to be interviewed for the disc? It would be great to get some thoughts from her available on a disc for those who havn't heard her views at events :nod:

Full detailed explanation of the bbfc's decision has been posted on their site:

Title « British Board of Film Classification

Thanks for posting this, Pete! :)

That's a very extensive explanation for the BBFC website, and think it's fair to say they have considered things very thoroughly. The point about the tarantula being acceptable to kill on screen as it is an invertebrate interested me - I hadn't thought about that, but was a similar case with the squid scene in Oldboy. Not sure I agree that the film could be construed as 'racist', I think the fact it portrays the natives as being very much victimised by the Yanks (as pointed out in the write-up) shows the film to be quite the opposite.

Think that's almost certainly true, and refreshing to see the BBFC admit to this! Overall, I think even with 15 seconds of cuts, this a pretty big step forward for the BBFC :nod:

There's some fascinating reading there although, if you haven't seen the film, I'd avoid it as there are major plot spoilers. It will be of great interest to those who have an academic or keen interest in film censorship.

Ok folks, what am I not seeing on the BBFC site? I can't find this detailed explanation.

Same here :S

It's been removed for some reason.

Cheers Pete. Very strange.

i'll third that, tho i'm on my phone so might need full browser, but as manuel would say "I see nothing" or "que?".

How odd -- the link used to take it to the site with a blow by blow analysis of the film and the more contentious issues describing why they were left in with an 18 certificate, why a 15 certificate wasn't sufficient and various other discussion points. Perhaps it's been moved or temporarily taken down as the link just redirects to the main Cannibal Holocaust ratings page.