Banned Movies @ IMDB

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-07-05 02:03am

I was browsing through the IMDB tonight, and I found something kind of interesting; apparently, you can look through this and find out what movies have been banned by your country in the past. I don't know how accurate it is, or if the bans are still in place, but it is kind of amusing.

Germany has not surprisingly banned a few Nazi propaganda movies. To my surprise, I also found that they've banned two classic war films, The Grand Illusion and All Quiet on the Western Front. France apparently banned Kubrick's Paths of Glory also at some point, probably due to its scatching criticism of the French military during WWI.

Movies like A Clockwork Orange, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Dawn of the Dead are favorites for banning, and South Korea has flat-out banned a number of good, fairly recent movies. Countries like the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand seem to come out OK, with nothing particularly noteworthy catching my eye. The U.S. surprisingly comes out pretty well, with only four movies on the list, three of which are on there for inexplicable reasons.

The real surprise here, is Scandanavia; Norway has banned 85 movies, Sweden has banned 213 movies, and Finland has banned a whopping 764 movies, including the first two Evil Dead movies, Red Dawn, and a whole mess of horror flicks far too numerous to list here. Anyone of you Scandanavians know what's up here?

Anyway, I'm not trying to single out any country for criticism here - really, I'm not, I just found this stuff and thought it would make for interesting discussion. Thoughts?

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2004-07-05 02:18am

I don't know about the situations with a lot of those European countries, but Islamic countries usaully have a big problem with movies that have anything remotely sexual in them. I've heard it said that in Malaysia people can watch movies with all manner of blood-splattering gruesome violence in them, but they can't even show men and women holding hands.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-07-05 02:43am

The United States has only banned four films... two of which are from 1908. Why in the world they are banned is beyond me.

AniThyng · Post by **AniThyng** » 2004-07-05 03:03am

Mayabird wrote:I don't know about the situations with a lot of those European countries, but Islamic countries usaully have a big problem with movies that have anything remotely sexual in them. I've heard it said that in Malaysia people can watch movies with all manner of blood-splattering gruesome violence in them, but they can't even show men and women holding hands.

mm-hmm. kissing, even between married couples, used to be heavily censored on both TV and cinema here in malaysia, very clumsily too, i might add, and of course anything remotely R-rated is a definate no. but holding hands is let through...unless it's gay/lesbian...
splatter violence, or any kind of violence, is significantly less censored then any form of sex/erotica.

standards are loosening, in any case, what with satellite TV and broadband becoming more common...

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2004-07-05 03:57am

http://imdb.com/List?tv=on&&certificates=USA%3AX

I wanna see those.

beyond hope · Post by **beyond hope** » 2004-07-05 05:02am

Aya wrote:http://imdb.com/List?tv=on&&certificates=USA%3AX

I wanna see those.

Reading that, I had a flashback to the phone order scene at the video store in Clerks.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-07-05 05:11am

Two of the USA's were on 1908, and may've been KKK related from just a sheer guess at the title. The 1967 one had this: "(distribution blocked by legal order, 1967-1992)" Which I suppose means, in theory, it's not banned anymore. Incidently, the 1908 ones say they were banned (1908, Chicago) and I guess they would never have made it out.

The last one is The Profit, which got banned via legal injunction "preventing exhibition" in 2002. I suppose that's recent enough to do a Google search and find out what happened. But since I really don't care I'm not gonna bother.

Though from the sounds of it, it was a shitty movie anyway.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-07-05 05:14am

Oh, and does this surprise anyone (Banned movies in Iraq)?

Sebastin · Post by **Sebastin** » 2004-07-05 08:14am

The problem with these lists is that every country has different rating systems and there is a lot of wiggle room in deciding whcih kind of restrictions on a particular movies constitute a ban.

Case in point: The listing for germany shows many movies which have been put on the BPJS-index. This is NOT a ban. It only means that these movies must not be advertised to minors. They are perfectly legal to sell, rent, play and watch for everyone over 18, I rented a few of those myself.

To my surprise, I also found that they've banned two classic war films, The Grand Illusion and All Quiet on the Western Front

Read the film pages, both movies were banned in germany during the NAZI era. Not before, and never since.

Wired_Grenadier · Post by **Wired_Grenadier** » 2004-07-05 08:29am

All Quiet on the Western Front was banned until 1945...

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2004-07-05 08:38am

Well Sweden used to censor stuff.

But the movie “Desperado” changed that.

It got banned, Rodriguez appealed and won.

The censors office whent aw shit we might as well forget the censor stuff and close. And they did just that!

Nowdays they just grade it into age limits.

The limits are: anyone, over 8, 11 and 15.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-07-05 10:38am

RogueIce wrote:The last one is The Profit, which got banned via legal injunction "preventing exhibition" in 2002. I suppose that's recent enough to do a Google search and find out what happened. But since I really don't care I'm not gonna bother. Though from the sounds of it, it was a shitty movie anyway.

It is about Scientology, IIRC. You live in the Tampa Bay area, you know how much power they have.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2004-07-05 10:56am

sebastin is right.

the site lists # Testament des Dr. Mabuse, Das (1933) 7.4/10 (469 votes)
...aka Crimes of Dr. Mabuse, The (1952) (USA: dubbed version)
...aka Dr. Mabuses Testament (1933)
...aka Last Will of Dr. Mabuse, The (1933)
...aka Tagebuch des Dr. Mabuse, Das (1933)
...aka Testament of Dr. Mabuse, The (1933)

as banned.

i´ve seen this movie on tv a couple of times. not even at a particularly late time.

as well as

Braindead (1992) 7.5/10 (9381 votes)
...aka Dead Alive (1992)

and
# Night of the Living Dead (1990) 6.1/10 (1977 votes)

Striderteen · Post by **Striderteen** » 2004-07-05 09:04pm

RogueIce wrote:The last one is The Profit, which got banned via legal injunction "preventing exhibition" in 2002. I suppose that's recent enough to do a Google search and find out what happened. But since I really don't care I'm not gonna bother. Though from the sounds of it, it was a shitty movie anyway.

The Profit was a movie about cults which the Church of Scientology decided it didn't want anyone to see and managed to get an injunction on.

http://www.theprofit.org/index2.html

TempestMagister · Post by **TempestMagister** » 2004-07-05 09:55pm

Odd, why would New Zealand ban Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Movie back in 1993? I remember watching it as a kid, and it was basically harmless. Actually, now that I remember, the idiocy involved in the movie that made kids like me go out and watch it over and over again might make the movie deserve a ban.

Jordie · Post by **Jordie** » 2004-07-05 09:58pm

Either that list is wrong, or alot of people I know are in deep shit for owning GTA:3. Then so am I, because Vice City is much worse.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-07-05 11:13pm

That list is not accurate. One of the films listed as banned in Canada is "Romper Stomper", and they rent that at the local video store.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-07-05 11:24pm

Darth Wong wrote:That list is not accurate. One of the films listed as banned in Canada is "Romper Stomper", and they rent that at the local video store.

If the local video store in question is Suspect Video, you'll find that they rent most if not all of the banned films. They have all kinds of really weird and fucked up videos, and they have all kinds of weird deviant fetish porn among other things. Fun place to browse through with some friends who have a sick sense of humor.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-07-05 11:56pm

aerius wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:That list is not accurate. One of the films listed as banned in Canada is "Romper Stomper", and they rent that at the local video store.
If the local video store in question is Suspect Video, you'll find that they rent most if not all of the banned films. They have all kinds of really weird and fucked up videos, and they have all kinds of weird deviant fetish porn among other things. Fun place to browse through with some friends who have a sick sense of humor.

The video store in question is BlockBuster Video. I doubt they're playing shady.

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2004-07-06 01:23am

Darth Wong wrote:The video store in question is BlockBuster Video. I doubt they're playing shady.

I don't know, with the shiny facade and snazzy advertising I think its just a front for the CIA/FBI/NSA/Walt Disney/Black Helicopter Conspicracy Organization.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-07-06 05:18am

Anyone of you Scandanavians know what's up here?

Norway, like Iran, is run by priests. That´s all you need to know.

-___-

in deep shit for owning GTA:3

Heh, here we had one of the Secretaries of State go out in public and ask for the removal of GTA3 because of its violent and immoral content. Sales for GTA3 skyrocketed after the interview.

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2004-07-06 05:29am

TempestMagister wrote:Odd, why would New Zealand ban Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Movie back in 1993? I remember watching it as a kid, and it was basically harmless. Actually, now that I remember, the idiocy involved in the movie that made kids like me go out and watch it over and over again might make the movie deserve a ban.

Fucked if I know..some one got a bee in there gruts about it..or the rampant stupidity inherent in the movie? which makes me wonder why we havent banned other similar stuff? well I cannot be buggered to find out the full story as I am eating dinner.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2004-07-06 05:30am

VT-16 wrote:
in deep shit for owning GTA:3
Heh, here we had one of the Secretaries of State go out in public and ask for the removal of GTA3 because of its violent and immoral content. Sales for GTA3 skyrocketed after the interview.

I thought that GTA3 was formally banned in Norway?

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-07-06 09:16am

Is it? I sure don´t know (or care). If it is, I´ll just obtain it through "alternate means"...

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-07-06 09:24am

phongn wrote:
RogueIce wrote:The last one is The Profit, which got banned via legal injunction "preventing exhibition" in 2002. I suppose that's recent enough to do a Google search and find out what happened. But since I really don't care I'm not gonna bother. Though from the sounds of it, it was a shitty movie anyway.
It is about Scientology, IIRC. You live in the Tampa Bay area, you know how much power they have.

*shudders* I don't really pay that much attention, but I do remember a few things... *sigh*