Movie News

The latest adaptation of Stephen King's It has set box-office records around the world, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated horror of all time.

But Burger King's Russian division has filled an official government complaint to the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) demanding the film be banned from cinemas. The reason?. The villainous clown Pennywise apparently looks like Ronald McDonald from rival chain McDonald's.

Tobe Hooper has died aged 74. He was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work in the horror film genre; his most recognized films include The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist . Stuart Heritage of The Guardian described The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as one of the most influential films ever made

Filmography

• Eggshells (1969)
• The Song Is Love (1969)
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
• Eaten Alive (1977)
• The Funhouse (1981)
• Poltergeist (1982)
• Lifeforce (1985)
• Invaders from Mars (1986)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
• Spontaneous Combustion (1990)
• Night Terrors (1993)
• Body Bags (1993)
• The Mangler (1995)
• The Apartment Complex (1999)
• Crocodile (2000)
• Toolbox Murders (2004)
• Mortuary (2006)
• Djinn (2013)

Toofan Singh is a 2017 India action film by Baghal Singh and Gurcharan Virk.
Starring Ranjit Bawa, Avtar Gill and Raza Murad.

The journey of a Punjabi Sikh boy who grew up during the chaotic, violent 1980s revolving around his chase for survival, equality and justice in order to protect and shield society and fight against brutality, crime and corruption.

India's new chief film censor hasn't got off to a very good start as he has already banned his first film.

Even as Prasoon Joshi stepped into the chairman's role at the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), reports have emerged of the new regime's first edict: banning the Punjabi film, Toofan Singh , on grounds of supposed excessive violence.

Poster of Punjabi film Toofan Singh.

Toofan Singh, directed by Baghal Singh and starring Ranjit Bawa in the title role, tells the story of a man who adopts terrorist-like tactics in order to fight corruption in Indian politics and bureaucracy.

A source from the CBFC reportedly said:

The film is brutal and anarchic. We couldn't empathise with its message of brute power, let alone grant it a censor certificate

In the UK, the film was passed 18 uncut for strong bloody violence, scenes of torture

Annabelle 2 is a 2017 USA horror mystery thriller by David F Sandberg.
Starring Miranda Otto, Philippa Coulthard and Stephanie Sigman.

Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker's possessed creation, Annabelle.

The new horror film Annabelle 2: Creation was scheduled to debut in Lebanon this past weekend but authorities decided to pull the film from theaters because clergy found it offensive to the Christian faith.

According to Lebanese daily Annahar, movie theaters throughout the country were asked to hold off on running the film for further deliberation because Christian leaders took issue with some of its scenes. Cinemacity, however, confirmer that the film was definitely blocked and will in fact not be screened in the country at all.

The movie was reportedly screened for the General Security's Censorship Bureau earlier in the month and then was passed on to the censorship committee. Annahar reported that Catholic Priests Fr. Abdu Abu Kasm and Fr. Athanasius Shahwan were both present at the censorship committee's screening. Father Shahwan had the final word and he demanded that the film be blocked over scenes that are considered offensive to Christian faith.

The specific scenes in question were not mentioned but many believe the objection comes from the fact that nuns are the ones being victimized in the movie's plot.

Complaints to the BBFC have been outlined in the BBFC Annual Report covering 2016:

The film Deadpool generated the largest amount of public feedback in2016, with 51 complaints.

Some viewers were concerned about the level of violence in the film. The BBFC responded that the violence is strong and frequently bloody, this often occurs during fast-paced action sequences with little focus on detail. There is also a comic tone to the violence, and the film's fantastical setting further distances it from reality.

The BBFC also received complaints about sex references and strong language in Deadpool. The BBFC responded that though strong sex references do occur throughout the film, most of these are in the form of comic verbal quips or innuendo. Deadpool contains frequent use of strong language ('fuck', 'motherfucker'). However, there is no upper limit on the number of uses of strong language at 15.The sex references and language are therefore acceptable at the classification.

The BBFC received 30 complaints about Suicide Squad .

Most of the feedback was from children under the age of fifteen, or their parents, who had hoped that the film would achieve a lower classification. The sustained threat and moderate violence in Suicide Squad were too strong to warrant a 12A.

The BBFC received 20 complaints regarding Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Some members of the public believed the film to be too scary for a 12A classification. Te BBFC responded that scenes of horror in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children involve some monster characters known as Hollows which feast on eyeballs. These scenes are infrequent and the fantasy setting of the film as a whole reduces the intensity of these moments.

Nineteen members of the public wrote to the BBFC regarding the level of violence in Jason Bourne , classified 12A.

Some complaints focussed on the term moderate violence and argued that this did not reflect the level of detail depicted. The BBFC responded that although there are some heavy blows, little is shown in terms of injury detail, with the focus instead placed on action.

Sausage Party attracted 19 complaints.

Some of the feedback concerned the film's sex references. A scene in Sausage Party shows food products taking part in an orgy, during which various sexual activities are depicted, but in an unrealistic manner. Given the animated nature of the film and the comic context, this scene is acceptable at 15.

Some members of the public complained about the film's three uses of very strong language ('cunt'). The comic and non aggressive delivery of the very strong language in Sausage Party means that it is acceptable at 15.

Other complaints about Sausage Party focussed on drug use. Drug references in the film are either unrealistic (for example, food products smoking joints) or involve non-existent drugs (for example, bath salts). As such, they are permissible at 15, where drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.

Eighteen members of the public wrote to the BBFC about the violence in 10 Cloverfield Lane (12A).

There is a scene where a character is shot; however, this takes place off screen, and no impact or detail is shown. Another scene shows the antagonist being injured by a barrel of acid, his face visibly burnt. However, there is no significant focus on the injury detail. There are several scenes of moderate threat in the film which create a dark tone that the BBFC recognised as being at the upper end of the 12A level. At 12A,moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted as long as horror sequences are not too frequent or sustained, and the overall tone is not disturbing.

The BBFC received ten complaints about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice regarding threat, violence and the dark tone of the film.

Moments of threat include characters being held at gunpoint, and some nightmarish dream sequences. The BBFC responded that the violence and tone sit within a known fantasy context consistent with both BBFC Classification Guidelines and past instalments of the Batman series at the 12A classification. There is limited detail of injury in the film and, in the few moments where injury is seen, there is no emphasis on either injuries or blood.

George A (for Andrew) Romero has dies aged 77. He was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer and editor, best known for his series of gruesome and satirical horror films about an imagined zombie apocalypse, beginning with Night of the Living Dead (1968), which is often considered a progenitor of the fictional zombie of modern culture. Other films in the series include D awn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).

Aside from the Dead series, his works include The Crazies (1973), Martin (1978), Creepshow (1982), Monkey Shines (1988) and The Dark Half (1993).

Romero is often noted as an influential pioneer of the horror film genre, and has been called an icon and the Father of the Zombie Film.

Filmography

1968	Night of the Living Dead [II]
1971	There's Always Vanilla [II]
1973	Season of the Witch [II]
1973	The Crazies
1978	Martin
1978	Dawn of the Dead
1981	Knightriders
1982	Creepshow
1985	Day of the Dead
1988	Monkey Shines
1990	Two Evil Eyes
1993	The Dark Half [I]
2000	Bruiser
2005	Land of the Dead
2007	Diary of the Dead [I]
2009	Survival of the Dead

India's film censors have ordered that a documentary about the economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen be altered to remove words including 'Hindu' 'India' and 'cow', the director has said.

Suman Ghosh said he was told by censor board officials that his one-hour documentary about Sen, a Harvard professor and essayist, could be released only if certain words were bleeped out. Those words reportedly included cow, Hindu India, Hindutva, a reference to the religious nationalist ideology of India's ruling party, and Gujarat, the home state of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi .

I was quite shaken, Ghosh said of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) decision, against which he said he would be appealing. I was shocked but I thought, I have to argue.

In the documentary, named after his book of essays The Argumentative Indian, Sen criticises what he sees as the restricted vision of India espoused by Modi's rightwing nationalist party. In one reportedly censored scene, Sen lauds the value of vigorous argument and debate, in contrast to chastising people for having mistreated a cow or some such thing.