18 Certificate - Violence, Horror, and The 18 Certificate

Violence, Horror, and The 18 Certificate

In the past, violence was one of the most problematic aspects when passing a film with an 18 certificate, whether it is sexualised or fantasized violence. Horror films were often the culprits for depicting graphic violence and this often results in a lot of grief to the examiners. Therefore, they must remove the offending scenes before giving it a certificate. With the advent of videotape, this meant that any film that was cut in the cinemas could be released uncut on video. This had led to a moral panic concerning "video nasties" as coined by tabloid newspapers. The Government passed the Video Recordings Act 1984 which meant all videos offered for sale must be assigned a classification agreed upon by an authority designated by the Home Office (the BBFC in this case). As a result of this, many films previously cut for cinema (such as The Evil Dead and Dawn of the Dead) had to be cut further in order to get a legal release.

In recent times, the BBFC have been more lenient towards fantasized violence, and so the above-mentioned films have since passed uncut. Current concerns include content such as "any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts which is likely to promote the activity", and sexualised violence. The BBFC also takes into account whether the scenes are considered to glamourise sexual assault. In 2002, the board passed Gaspar Noé's Irréversible without any cuts. This is because they state that the rape depicted in the film does not contain any explicit sexual images and is not designed to titillate at all. Less than a month later, Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer had to be cut by 3.25 minutes due to sexual violence. In this case, it featured scenes of explicit sexual images and is designed to titillate the viewer. Another example is the former video nasty, Cannibal Holocaust. It had to be cut by 5.44 minutes due to scenes of sexual violence and animal cruelty, reduced to only a single cut of 3 seconds in 2011.

References or scenes of suicide or dangerous stunts, which can be easily imitated by youth, can lead to a DVD being given an 18 certificate. Volume 3 of the anime Paranoia Agent (which is normally rated 12 or 15) is rated 18 because of suicide references and violence, mostly in the episode "Happy Family Planning", which made light of suicide and featured a scene of someone pretending to hang himself (the scene was edited by the BBFC). An episode of House titled "Under My Skin" became the first and only one to be passed with an 18 certificate due to scenes depicting a suicide technique that can easily be imitated in real life. The Jackass films are also given an 18 certificate due to the myriad of dangerous stunts.