There Will Be Blood BBFC rating changed?

H

harry b

New member
Some posters for There Will Be Blood have an oversticker saying that the film is now classified as a 15. According to imdb it was a 15 but was made 12A on appeal. However the BBFC site says that it contains too much detail during a violent scene to be a 12A.

So does anyone know the story of this film's classification? Was it originally a 15, then a 12A, and then a 15 again?

(I haven't seen it yet but hopefully will go soon.)
 
It was originally classified as a 12A, but the distributors appealed the decision in the hope of getting a 15 rating, thus attracting a more "mature" audience. Upon re-watching the film the BBFC agreed that it was probably better placed at the 15 category due to the violence and adult themes.

It sure gives you faith in our ratings board doesn't it...:rolleyes:
 
In fairness they're getting better, in the 90's then head censor James Ferman gave an interview to the daily mail suggesting Romper Stomper was given an 18 rating due to an admin error and should have been banned. Which was typical of how ineffective he was. He also refused to give a reason for banning the exorcist and the texas chain saw massacre, despite almost everyone else disagreeing with him on them.
 
No matter what, films always end up being censored going off one person's opinion and final say as opposed to the 'guidelines'. If the censor has a certain beef with the film they aren't going to be lenient.
 
To be fair to the BBFC (for what reason I don't know), but in cinema certificates they are a non-statutory body that was formed and funded by the movie industry itself, so they will always respond to what studios want - cinemas are not even legally requires to carry their ratings if they choose not to.

They are only a quasi-government body in relation to video/DVD.
 
OK, I obviously misread the imdb entry as I was sure it said 12A on appeal, but I've checked and it says 15 on appeal.

Not good news if the story is true: the classification should be independent of what the distributors want.
 
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