The BBFC revisit the film for the first time since a cut VHS in 1988
1st December 2019
The Satanic Rites of Dracula is a 1973 UK horror by Alan Gibson. With Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Michael Coles.
In London in the 1970s, Scotland Yard police investigators think they have uncovered a case of vampirism. They call in an expert vampire researcher named Van Helsing (a descendant of the great vampire-hunter himself, no less) to help
them put a stop to these hideous crimes. It becomes apparent that the culprit is Count Dracula himself, disguised as a reclusive property developer, but secretly plotting to unleash a fatal virus upon the world.
It's been many years since the BBFC has seen The Satanic Rites of Dracula.
Previously the film was heavily cut by the BBFC for X rated cinema release in 1973. The cuts were to:
opening nude sacrifice scene,
2 staking scenes,
the electrocution of a guard
Cuts were requested to the shooting of Torrence but these cuts was not made
This cut UK cinema version was further cut by 1s for BBFC 18 rated VHS in 1988.
The UK cinema version has now just been passed 15 by the BBFC for strong sexualised violence for:
2019 Warner Bros. R0 Blu-ray
at UK Amazon released on 14th October 2019
For the record, in the US the UK cinema version was further cut and PG rated under the title of Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride . US distributors later reverted to the the UK Version which received an MPAA R rating in 1978. However US
home video releases have been MPAA Unrated and feature the UK version with, and without, the BBFC 1s video cut.
Blue Story is a 2019 UK crime drama by Andrew Onwubolu. Starring Stephen Odubola, Micheal Ward and Khali Best.
Blue Story is a tragic tale of a friendship between Timmy and Marco, two young boys from opposing postcodes. Timmy, a shy, smart, naive and timid young boy from Deptford, goes to school in Peckham where he strikes up a friendship with
Marco, a charismatic, streetwise kid from the local area. Although from warring postcodes, the two quickly form a firm friendship until it is tested and they wind up on rival sides of a street war. Blue Story depicts elements of Rapman's own personal
experiences and aspects of his childhood.
Vue Cinema bosses have decided to pull the controversial gang film Blue Story from all its venues after gangs with machetes terrified families when the film was being screened at an inner city cinema in Birmingham.
Two schoolgirls, a boy and a man were arrested and seven police officers suffered minor injuries as dozens of officers swarmed the area just after 5.30pm on November 23. People were evacuated as Vue cinema managers decided to close the venue.
Showcase Cinemas later announced that it was following suit and cancelling all screenings at its cinemas, but soon changed its mind and resumed screenings. Odeon is continuing to screen the film but with extra security staff on hand.
The cinema film was passed 15 uncut by the BBFC for very strong language, strong violence, threat, sex, drug misuse.
The boss of the Vue cinema chain that banned a London gang film after a mass brawl in Birmingham has told the BBC he plans to resume screenings by the weekend. And indeed the film was once again being screened by the weekend.
Vue banned Blue Story after saying there had been 25 serious incidents in 16 of its cinemas. But its chief executive, Tim Richards, said it was now looking at beefing up security to restart screenings.
rDisney is promising an extensive near complete library of its films to be made available on its new streaming service, Disney Plus. This has necessitated a review of content in order to bring it up to date with modern-PC sensibilities.
It has already been reported that a very notably absent film from the catalogue will be the Oscar-winning 1946 animated musical Song of the South , that deals with the post civil war period in the United States and the abolition of slavery. It
inevitably included themes and depictions that are now forbidden.
Also for the chop is the Dumbo scene featuring the character of Jim Crow, a charcater naming referencing US racial segregation laws. Then there's the seduction of twin Barbie dolls in Toy Story 2 -- where a character by the name of
Stinky Pete is seen promising the Barbies roles in Toy Story 3 . This was judged out of order on #MeToo grounds.
A new addition to the list is the cartoon Lady and the Tramp from 1955. The film has a song featuring a short appearance of two conjoined cats called Si and Am. The term 'Siamese Twins' is now frowned upon so it seems likely that this allusion
will have to be overdubbed for release on Disney Plus.
According to IMDb, an early pre-release cut of the film had a much longer appearance featuring the cats, but this was mostly deleted in 1955 as it was decided that the awkward restricted movement of the cats didn't really fit in with the rest of the
film.
The Disney+ streaming service has now started and so commentators have been finding out ho Disney has addressed 'inappropriate content'.
Well the good news is that Disney has opted for warnings over cuts. The Verge writes:
Some of Disney's older movies streaming on Disney+ will include disclaimers about the cultural context of certain scenes that are considered outright racist and prejudiced today. The disclaimer on certain titles is found within the description box,
and reads, This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions. The Verge also notes that warning only runs before the movie and does not appear again in the video.
One popular example floating around Twitter is Disney's 1941 animated feature film, Dumbo . An infamous scene at the end of the movie finds a group of crows singing about seeing an elephant fly. The scene relies on a series of racist stereotypes to
get through the song, including naming the lead character Jim Crow, a mocking term used to insult black men. The scene is still in the version streaming on Disney+.
It's encouraging to see Disney acknowledge the darker elements of its past film and TV content, but this disclaimer is also the bare minimum, writer, critic, and Disney expert Josh Spiegel told The Verge:
Frankly, a lot of Disney+ subscribers might not even notice the disclaimer, instead of just clicking Play on a title.
Gravity Falls , a popular Disney cartoon series, has been on the receiving end of Disney's censorship blade. The series ended only a couple of years ago, but the character of Grunkle Stan has had the symbol removed from his fez in the first part
of Season 1.
The symbol was supposed to be a fish but the theory behind the change was that maybe it too closely resembled the crescent moon, the symbol of islam. It seems unlikely that there was anything intended by the resemblance.
Black Christmas is a 2019 New Zealand / USA horror mystery thriller by Sophia Takal. Starring Imogen Poots, Cary Elwes and Brittany O'Grady.
Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. One by one, sorority girls on campus are being killed by an unknown stalker. But the killer is about to discover that this generation's young women aren't willing to become hapless
victims as they mount a fight to the finish.
Blumhouse and director Sophia Takal's remake of Bob Clark's Christmas slasher classic Black Christmas will be released this Christmas. It has been rated PG-13 by the MPA for violence, terror, thematic content involving sexual assault, language,
sexual material, and drinking.
Co-writer April Wolfe took to Twitter to explain the PG-13 rating, writing:
Here's the deal: We wrote it with an R in mind. When they did the test screenings, was clear that this movie needed to be available to a younger female audience because the subject matter is timely. Also, I want to indoctrinate girls
into horror. Doesn't make it any less vicious!
Ford v Ferrari is a 2019 USA / France action sport biography by James Mangold. Starring Christian Bale, Matt Damon and Caitriona Balfe.
American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary race car for Ford and challenge Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in
1966.
The film was cut by India's Central Board of Film Certification to blur out alcoholic drinks and to mute the phrase son of a bitch.
A source close to the film told timesnownews:
We know we've to blur out the bottles because they carry brand name and CBFC guidelines do not allow that. But a mere glass being blurred out is something I'm hearing for the first time.
Adding that studios are often prepared in advance for such cuts, the person added, You know the committee is going to send the print back with such cuts. Can't do much about it. It's frustrating. .
For comparison the BBFC passed the film 12A uncut for infrequent strong language, moderate threat
Tushar Karmarkar, Regional Officer, of The Central Board of Film Certication (CBFC) Mumbai has denied blurring the alcohol bottles in Hollywood film Ford v Ferrari.
It seems that in fact the alcohol blurring was pre-cut by the distributor as the CBFC has a rule which bans alcohol from U/A movies, So although the censors are correct in their pedantic denial, the film was cut solely to comply with CBFC rules.
According to a CBFC official document, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times. The specified cuts are:
The muting or replacing words such as sons of whore , son of a 'bitch'; an
insertion of anti-smoking disclaimers and a static message wherever a smoking scene appears.
But Karmarkar says, It (the blurring) was voluntarily done by teh distributors, as per our records.
Joker is a 2019 USA crime thriller by Todd Phillips. Starring Robert De Niro, Joaquin Phoenix and Marc Maron.
Joker centers around an origin of the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Todd Phillips' exploration of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only
a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.
While speaking at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, Joker director Todd Phillips explained that there were a few scenes that he had to cut, the most notable of which was a scene had Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck doing something bizarre while inside a
bathtub.
Phillips suggested that the scene that was removed is not sexually explicit in nature, but is simply too bizarre for a standard R-rated movie to handle. He spoke in vague terms at the film festival:
So the other thing that's great about Joaquin is that he's always up to try things -- the fridge was one of those. It wasn't in the script it was something that Joaquin just kind of did and there was a few others, there's only one
other that's in the movie and it's when he's laughing after he goes to [Zazie Beetz's] apartment and he comes back down the hall and he's laughing alone in that living room, that was another one...
There were two or three others we shot, one that is amazing in a bathtub, but I don't think we can actually include it in an R-rated movie and it's not because it was pornographic, it was just insane.
Gravity Falls , a popular Disney cartoon series, has been on the receiving end of Disney's censorship blade. The series ended only a couple of years ago, but the character of Grunkle Stan has had the symbol removed from his fez in the first part
of Season 1. 
