Film censor, the British Board of Film Classification has recently rewritten its guidelines, focusing a view that addresses the “psychological impact of horror”.
The new rules, implemented from next month, were formed mainly due to the large amount of complaints made over the Daniel Radcliffe chiller, The Woman in Black two years ago. The ghost story, which was awarded a 12A certificate, prompted 134 complaints, the largest number in 2012.
In 2011, the most complained-about rating was Oscar-winning psychological thriller Black Swan, which featured scenes of self-harm. BBFC assistant director David Austin told the BBC that film-goers were increasingly concerned over the “tone” and “theme” of horror movies, as well as the amount of gore. Classification chiefs are also expected to be more stringent on strong language in films aimed at family audiences. It will also be more “flexible” towards films classified 15 after research showed that context rather than frequency was key for viewers.
The BBFC will also focus more on sexual content after an performing an extensive public consultation, involving around 10,000 people, which revealed there was concern about “the sexualisation of girls and pornography”, with the content of music videos and access to online porn said to be “special worries”.
For more information, head to the British Board of Film Classification website at – http://www.bbfc.co.uk
