Films which you think were give the wrong rating

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  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    I was in HMV yesterday and was very surprised to find out that Aliens is an 18.
    It should be a 15, and is relatively tame even when compared to a lot of 15 films, never mind 18 films.
    The director's cut got a 15 last year for cinema but IMO the rating should be downgraded from 18 to 15 for DVD too.
  • roger_50roger_50 Posts: 6,884
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    I was in HMV yesterday and was very surprised to find out that Aliens is an 18.
    It should be a 15, and is relatively tame even when compared to a lot of 15 films, never mind 18 films.
    The director's cut got a 15 last year for cinema but IMO the rating should be downgraded from 18 to 15 for DVD too.
    BBFC can't downgrade old film ratings without that film being resubmitted for release - if a company want to slap a 15 sticker on a DVD instead of an 18 sticker, they need to get it officially passed at that rating.

    Plus, all content on a DVD (including extras) needs to be viewed by the BBFC panel as well as the main feature. For example, extras sometimes include additional swearing, etc.
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    roger_50 wrote: »
    BBFC can't downgrade old film ratings without that film being resubmitted for release - if a company want to slap a 15 sticker on a DVD instead of an 18 sticker, they need to get it officially passed at that rating.

    I know that (it's my fault for not making clear in my comment), but I think it's silly that you have to resubmit a film separately for cinema and home video releases.
    I can only think of two times when a film was cut/had it's rating raised due to the stronger impact of a big screen. The first was when a sea monster in Godzilla 1985 was cut out as was too scary for a PG in the cinema but because seeing it on a TV had less of an impact it was left uncut for VHS.
    The other was Spider-Man 2 in IMAX getting a 12A as opposed to the normal version's PG.

    *back on topic* Fox hasn't resubmitted Aliens for video since 1998 :confused: Why have they left it that long? It's not like they can't afford to re-submit it.
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    roger_50 wrote: »
    Plus, all content on a DVD (including extras) needs to be viewed by the BBFC panel as well as the main feature. For example, extras sometimes include additional swearing, etc.

    I've got a few DVDs/BDs with higher ratings because of this.
    * Bullet to the Head (film rated 15 but it comes with an 18-rated REC 2 trailer)
    * Alien (standard and director's cut are rated 15 but it comes with an 18-rated commentary)
    * Predator 2 (film rated 15; same situation as my Alien BD)

    There are a few more that I don't own which are the same:
    * Land of the Dead
    * About Time (BD)
    * Jaws
    * The Heat (BD)
    * Chariots of Fire (BD)
    * Exodus - Gods and Kings (BD)
    * AC/DC - Let There Be Rock (BD)
    * Rolling Stones - Shine a Light (BD)

    Sometimes it states so on the back (which is helpful) and it's recommended to do so but it's not compulsory. None of the three I have do so anyway.
  • Lucy Van PeltLucy Van Pelt Posts: 11,557
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    Anyone seen the film Scrubbers about a woman's prison (has Kathy Burke, Robbie Coltrane and Pam St Clement in it all before they were famous)

    Anyway considering its content I was surprised it only got a 15 rating ( or AA as it was back then)
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    I thought that the gore in Daybreakers (a vampire sci-fi film) was a bit too much for a 15. It's a 18 uncut but was very slightly cut for a 15 at the cinema; IMO the cuts don't change the impact of the scenes at all.

    *EDIT* I found an interesting video detailing all of the cuts and comparing them as video clips to the uncut version

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azD6iDUKrsA
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    Ænima wrote: »
    Their highest rating in Sweden is 15, my girlfriend's always telling me she thinks we are oversensitive here :p I agree.

    In Sweden, some films that have 15 ratings includes The Dark Knight Rises, Divergent, Twilight and Skyfall.
    Films with that rating also includes RoboCop, American Psycho and Fight Club. :confused:
  • Grabid RanniesGrabid Rannies Posts: 4,588
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    I got the DVD of one of my favourite films at the weekend, Wish You Were Here from 1987, starring Emily Lloyd. I was quite surprised that it had been downgraded to a 12 certificate, given the several pretty frank sexual themes and scenes. There's also the character's use of bad language, and whilst OK there's nothing as strong as f or c's, it is pretty much constant.
  • Chasing ShadowsChasing Shadows Posts: 3,096
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    Namira wrote: »
    Can't believe Jaws was only rated PG! Also surprised Titanic was only rated 12 because of subject matter.....and boobs.

    Jaws was rated A, not PG. Mainly because the PG rating didn't exist until seven years after Jaws was released.

    Films with an A certificate meant that anybody aged 5 or over could get in to see it - but it wasn't recommended for children under the age of 14.

    Films with a PG certificate are suitable for anyone over the age of 8, but all children can view it with an adult.

    I was seven when I saw it at the pictures - though my dad came with me.
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    Namira wrote: »
    Can't believe Jaws was only rated PG! Also surprised Titanic was only rated 12 because of subject matter.....and boobs.

    Jaws is now a 12A but hasn't been resubmitted since 2000 for video so is still a PG on DVD (the 12 rating is for bonus features). IMO the main film should be a 12 anyway and probably would be if resubmitted for video today.

    I thought Titanic was fine at 12.
  • dodradedodrade Posts: 23,624
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    Just saw Jabberwocky, which has a surprising amount of violence, gore and nudity for a PG.
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    dodrade wrote: »
    Just saw Jabberwocky, which has a surprising amount of violence, gore and nudity for a PG.

    I really don't understand how Aliens got an 18 in the same year that Jabberwocky was given a PG (1993).

    In the trailer alone, a knight is sliced in half with a large spurt of blood and a bloodied skeleton is shown with muscle and tissue around it (yes, it's funny as there is a normal head attached to it which is talking but still incredibly gory for a PG).
    Maybe it was given lenient treatment because it was a comedy but it should really be a 15.

    In Sweden and Germany, Jabberwocky is a 15/16 if that tells you anything.
  • Dalekbuster523Dalekbuster523 Posts: 4,596
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    Jurassic World should have been a 15 because it contained a lot of graphic scenes.
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    Jurassic World should have been a 15 because it contained a lot of graphic scenes.
    :confused:
    Have you seen Daredevil (TV series), Die Hard, Terminator 2, Alien or anything with a 15 that actually had graphic violence?
    Jurassic World has nothing on these.
  • lady_xanaxlady_xanax Posts: 5,662
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    Namira wrote: »
    Can't believe Jaws was only rated PG! Also surprised Titanic was only rated 12 because of subject matter.....and boobs.

    The subject matter is the historical sinking of the Titanic- hardly 12-rated material.

    Romeo and Juliet (the Zefirelli film) has underage nudity and is a PG. The nudity in Titanic is in the context of a life drawing, which gives it a lower rating.
  • GortGort Posts: 7,460
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    lady_xanax wrote: »
    The subject matter is the historical sinking of the Titanic- hardly 12-rated material.

    Romeo and Juliet (the Zefirelli film) has underage nudity and is a PG. The nudity in Titanic is in the context of a life drawing, which gives it a lower rating.

    A Room with a View has a scene that shows, for several seconds, three men nude, bits showing. However, it's just an amusing, playful scene that's not sexual in any way, which is why it's rated a PG. I once saw the film on Film Four around noon a few years ago, which included the nude scene. Nudity doesn't have to equal sex.
  • grazey1985grazey1985 Posts: 1,480
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    Jurassic World should have been a 15 because it contained a lot of graphic scenes.

    Nope wrong again. Nothing in that is graphic enough to be a 15. Not even close
  • JCRJCR Posts: 24,009
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    rfonzo wrote: »
    The Alfred Hitchcock Collection is rated as an 18, but I can only think of Psycho having a "gory" scene but when you buy the film individually it is a 15. I can't of any other films he did with Universal Studios that are rated as 18?

    Frenzy, which would still be an hard 18 now. bbfc director from 75-99 James Ferman insisted on cuts for 18, it wasn't available uncut in the UK till after he retired.

    Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gWjZpkkkIs
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    Watership Down should be a 12 at the lowest, maybe even a 15 (albeit a very, very soft one).
    My DVD from 2005 has the Irish rating as 12; that could've changed since then.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 208
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    Gone Girl was definitely a tame 18. The subject matter and 'that' scene in the final third are bloody, but not absurdly so. A 15 could have cut it, with a few of the C-words removed.

    What I think should have been a higher rating, but watered down for the sake of commercial success is another question... *cough* Taken 2 & 3 *cough*
  • JCRJCR Posts: 24,009
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    Watership Down should be a 12 at the lowest, maybe even a 15 (albeit a very, very soft one).
    My DVD from 2005 has the Irish rating as 12; that could've changed since then.

    Watership Down is a U and as the bbfc (as their website notes) have legally no way of changing it. Ferman was just soft of animation I think; Akira had a 12 rating for cinema in 1990, which is just :o he also gave Princess Mononoke a PG, and I'd certainly imagine it'd be 12A if seen for the first time now.

    As mentioned on the other thread, a fair few of the DC comics animated features are 15 now, kinda odd. The Dark Knight Returns part 1 is 15 and isn't really more violent than the 90's Batman cartoon. I assume Warner Bros are asking for 15's, but they'd probably have been PG under the Ferman bbfc.
  • Lee_Smith2Lee_Smith2 Posts: 4,166
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    Has the 1980's remake of The Fly been downgraded to a 15? Only I was channel surfing on Sky not too long ago and noticed it was listed as 15/on at a bit earlier time. It was definitely an 18 on VHS and my DVD of it is too.
  • JCRJCR Posts: 24,009
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    Lee_Smith2 wrote: »
    Has the 1980's remake of The Fly been downgraded to a 15? Only I was channel surfing on Sky not too long ago and noticed it was listed as 15/on at a bit earlier time. It was definitely an 18 on VHS and my DVD of it is too.

    Yep. Been a 15 since 2008.
  • Lee_Smith2Lee_Smith2 Posts: 4,166
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    JCR wrote: »
    Yep. Been a 15 since 2008.

    Thanks for that. Can't say I disagree with the decision, as there are only 2 or 3 intentionally gross out scenes. Although the tone and general intensity in that film is far from light-hearted imo.
  • giratalkialgagiratalkialga Posts: 240
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    JCR wrote: »
    Yep. Been a 15 since 2008.
    The version with the trivia track activated is a 15 because that was the only version re-submitted in 2008, so the whole Blu-Ray is still an 18 because the normal film wasn't resubmitted.
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