Maniac censored for teen audiences in Japan

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DJBenz
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Maniac censored for teen audiences in Japan

Post by DJBenz »

Those familiar with Japanese movies will be aware of how gore just doesn't seem to get censored, yet a hard line is taken on genital nudity to the point of it being pixelated or blurred out. Quite a surprise then that Franck Khalfoun's Maniac remake has been visually censored for its gore scenes by the Japanese film ratings board (EIRIN) so that it's more suitable for the teen audiences that became fans of Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings.

The whole thing from the point of a Japanese horror fan (in English):
http://curse.jp/misc/20130605051525.html
Axe
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Re: Maniac censored for teen audiences in Japan

Post by Axe »

Incredibly unusual for this to happen in Japan (of all places). Mind you they'll probably still get the uncut version on DVD.
DJBenz
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Re: Maniac censored for teen audiences in Japan

Post by DJBenz »

Absolutely, even worse that it's been done purely to make it more suitable for teens and not for any objection to the material.
tinker
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Re: Maniac censored for teen audiences in Japan

Post by tinker »

I am the one who wrote the original article. Thank you guys for your interest on this matter. It means a lot to us. Since I wrote it, I have been receiving a lot of emails which tell almost same thing. "Japan is the place of Battle Royale, Ichi The Killer and even Ginea Pig. Why does this happen? I thought there is no censorship for gore, just genital nudity in Japan." That's what people say. Actually, it is not really what's happening here. Japanese horror directors have been creating a lot of gore films. True. On the other hand, there have been a lot of censored films because of gore. It is really hard to explain why. In my opinion, the problem is deeply rooted inside Japanese society. I am just a horror fan. I don't know much details how things work inside the film industry. It's quite hard to tell. But I will try to answer as possible as I can. In case you guys pick up this topic in your blog, twitter, facebook, whatever, please let me know. I will add them to the article as people's voice. I update it everyday. You'll find my email and twitter in the article.

ps. Is unrated version DVD/Blu-Ray of "Maniac" gonna be released in Japan? Not answered. It's everybody's concern. Nobody knows about that yet. I myself will buy US version Blu-Ray when it is available.

Thanks!
streetrw
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Re: Maniac censored for teen audiences in Japan

Post by streetrw »

There's no question, Maniac is an 18 film for adults. It's not just that it would be incredibly awkward to produce a 15-rated version of the film, it's that they really shouldn't. It's the subject matter and treatment that makes it an 18, and removing or blurring the easily offending imagery isn't going to change that. Horror fans are going to be shortchanged by the cuts, and Hobbit fans are still going to be thrown by it. Nobody wins.

Really, this is the same as the BBFC advising on what to cut out of Die Hard 5 in order to get a 12A certificate. This happens quite a few times in the quest for a bit more cash at the box-office, and it's silly - but it's usually at the 12A/15 mark. If they didn't want a high certificate, they shouldn't have made a film full of high certificate material. If they've made a hard, violent movie, they don't get to whine and cry when it gets a restrictive rating.
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