There was no way this was a 12A certificate film! i think under 15s would find it frightening in places never mind under 12s !! The fact is PJ took out some of the more spiritral and lighter moments which were in the book, made the film more darker disturbing and haunting !
Peter actually said to an interviewer who kept asking him about it, 'do you want to see a scene in a movie where a 14-year-old girl is raped? because I don't, and I don't want to shoot a scene like that'.
IMO you don't need to see it. What Peter shows in the movie makes it quite clear that what has happened to Susie is indeed horrible and all the blood in the bathroom scene, come on what more do people want?? This isn't 'Saw', it's supposed to be a touching story. I agree with the decisions he made in that regard. Also, I think the book was very overrated. The IDEA of the book is great and the setup but it's a dodgy read and peters out into lameness (most of which was cut by Peter).
The bathroom and den scene were terrifying ! and the look on susies face in the den when she knew she was trapped will haunt you! so we dont need the gory scenes some people might want ! PJ captured the terror and tension pretty well !Still think the book is brilliant though!
Susie got raped, murdered and dismembered. She didn't escape from the den at all. When she elbows Harvey in the face and runs, it's not really happening. What actually happened was the clip later on in the film where Harvey grabs her and pulls her roughly down on to the ground. Her "escaping" the den is supposed to symbolise her body escaping Harvey's torment (when she is actually murdered and the rape stops), I think. When the girl sees Susie running past it's because she "sees things that others can't" (Susie explained this earlier in the film) and she senses Susie, but doesn't see her.
Secondly, Harvey is in the bath washing the blood off his body. The clothes, blood and weapons everywhere are all the stuff from the den. When Susie walks in on him and screams, it's her realising that she has been murdered and she gets taken to that mad world place.
Hannah;39782566']I've just been reading the book, I'm about 3/4 through it.
I'm disappointed that Peter Jackson didn't include
the part where it's the anniversary of susie's death, and all the neighbours gather in the cornfield with candles. Especially the Ruth/Ray scenes.
I was really disappointed that it wasn't in the movie, I think it would have been a beautiful scene. I pictured it in my head as I was reading it, actually.
I think that would have been a great ending, or near-ending, as afterwarRAB susie could have said something like
"and life carried on without me. My sister got engaged to the true love of her life after he proposed to her. [scene between her sister and her boyfriend.] She thought he was joking at first, and they ran home in the rain and kissed, almost getting killed by a car in the process. [scene enRAB, and cuts to ray and ruth.] Ray learned to move on. He got especially close to Ruth Connors, and realised he had feelings for her. I allowed him to move on, but he still looked at my photograph sometimes when Ruth wasn't around."
Then they could have gone to the part where the movie actually enRAB.
I do agree that Peter Jackson focused wayy too much on the 'heaven' aspect, and making it a '12' rating. I agree heaven is a huge part of the book/movie but after reading the book for myself I feel that so much more could have been added, as I mentioned above.
I also feel that
showing the murderer as a child in the movie would have been great too, because at the end of the movie we still don't know a huge lot about him. It would have been interesting to view his childhood, as it is in the books.
But I can't complain because the movie was good, just could have been a bit better. After reading the book (or most of the book, anyway) I rate the movie 8/10.
Will still be buying the DVD.
