Movie News

Thundercrack! is a 1975 US adult comedy by Curt McDowell
Starring Marion Eaton, George Kuchar and Melinda McDowell

A cult film that was notably unreleased in the UK for many years except on the cinema club circuit. The film was finally BBFC 18 rated without cuts for 2024 release. The BBFC noted that it contains strong real sex. Uncut and MPAA Unrated in the US.

Summary Review

With a killer gorilla on the loose, a group of strangers find themselves stranded at a remote mansion of a grieving madwoman one dark and stormy night. They indulge in swapping bizarre personal backstories - and bodily fluids.

Imagine yourself a typical low-budget horror opening, in which random people gather around an old dark mansion during a nightly thunderstorm. They're all slightly eccentric characters with unusual backgrounds and/or odd personalities and, naturally, the female owner of the mansion is the queen of all madness.

Her guests soon begin to physically experiment with themselves and each other and these sexual outbursts become gradually odder. Masturbation and ordinary hetero-sex at first, but before you properly realize it; you're up to your neck in gay sex, voyeurism, sex with peculiar attributes and even bestiality.

This movie is available in two versions, but I can safely say already that even the cut Theatrical Version (120 minutes instead of 150) is more than weird enough for every avid fan of offbeat cinema on this planet.

Versions

uncut run: 159:27s pal: 153:04s		UK: Uncut and BBFC 18 rated for strong real sex, nudity: 2024 BFI VoD (rated 05/02/2024) titled Thundercrack! US: Uncut and MPAA Unrated for: 2015 Synapse Films 40th Anniversary Edition R0 Blu-ray at US Amazon 2015 Synapse Films 40th Anniversary Edition R0 DVD at US Amazon
cut cut:   run: 125:30s pal: 120:29s		Sweden: There is a cut version running about 120m

Barbie is a 2023 UK/US comedy fantasy by Greta Gerwig
Starring Margot Robbie, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Ryan Gosling

Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have banned the movie Barbie from cinema screening.

In Saudi Arabia, the culture ministry's announcement on August 9 cited violations of laws and values, asserting that certain scenes within the film mocked the sanctity of marriage and family, and insulted Islamic beliefs.

Kuwait banned the film in a bid to protect public ethics and social traditions.

Meanwhile there is a lot of pressure in Lebanon to ban the film. Lebanon's culture minister Mohammad Mortada criticised the movie, saying it "contradicts values of faith and morality" by diminishing the importance of the family unit.

The minister is backed by the armed Shi'ite armed group Hezbollah, whose head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Lebanese authorities to take action against materials he deemed to be promoting homosexuality, including by banning them, and said homosexuality posed an imminent danger to Lebanon and should be confronted.