View Full Version : Since When Did Rated 'R' Movies Become As Bad As Rated 'NC-17' Movies?
Brian Damage
05-08-2009, 10:51 AM
I just don't get it. Movie Studios seem to fear Rated 'R' movies. Most horror films nowadays are rated 'PG-13' and Warner Brothers came out recently and said they will no longer produce rated 'R' super hero flicks. Why is that?
There was a time when 'NC-17' movies were taboo, now it looks like rated 'R' movies are just as offensive to people.
My guess is they want to get as many butts in the theater as possible, and that's easier with a PG-13 movie than an R rated one.
JamesG
05-08-2009, 03:14 PM
NC-17 films hardly make any money and the filmmaking industry is there to make money.
Most major theaters simply will not screen NC-17 movies. Also, most DVD retailers will not stock them. Some filmmakers go out of their way to edit the footage to get an R rating as the NC-17 rating is a potential death sentence to make profit.
Even some R rated films get hassle when it comes to being screened; I remember the fiasco when Howard Stern's Private Parts came out and more recently for Zak and Miri Make A Porno.
A lot of people will agree that most of the money in the movie-making industry come from teenagers. They want to get as much money as possible so they get a PG-13 rating with mediocre storylines.
As for R-rated Superhero flicks, I am sure they are talking about Watchmen. I think a lof of people, aka the popcorn action crowd, were totally letdown by this one because they went in expecting to see something like a 3 hour balls-to-the-wall film like 300 when this is not what it was. Watchmen was a different kind of superhero flick that the average crowd is not used to and it didn't perform well.
Horror still does release R rated horror flicks, recent being Last House on the Left which got blasted by mainstream critics and the upcoming Halloween sequel.
Even Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects, which was R-rated, got critical praise from mainstream critics so the R-rated horror market is totally not dead yet.
Essentially it comes down to making money and that is much easier with a PG-13 rating than an R-rated one; unless the market is huge for the R-rated one that it will carry it well.
MickeyMac
05-08-2009, 08:02 PM
It rarely happens but there has been a time or two when an NC-17 can make some money. Back when it was still X rated Beyond The Valley of the Dolls was one of the top grossing films for 1970.
Thats a rare occasion though.
JamesG
05-08-2009, 10:04 PM
It rarely happens but there has been a time or two when an NC-17 can make some money. Back when it was still X rated Beyond The Valley of the Dolls was one of the top grossing films for 1970.
Thats a rare occasion though.
Yes, that's one of the few times that's happened.
In recent years, the only NC-17 film I know of that got wide notice was Showgirls. Though it didn't perform well it still got a lot of notice and many at least know of this one.
There have been NC-17 movies since but the majority of them don't get any real recognition and you have to "look for them".
Stuck In The '70's
05-08-2009, 10:09 PM
Marlon Brando starred in Last Tango in Paris in 1972 and that did pretty well. Brando was even nominated for an Oscar for it. It shows up on tv every so often but it's usually the R rated version.
catlover79
05-08-2009, 10:18 PM
Wasn't Caligula rated X?
browneyes106
05-09-2009, 12:46 AM
I think money is a big reason a lot of horror films get rated PG13. They just want to make money through ticket sales by teenagers. The only good recent PG13 horror thriller movie I have seen is The Uninvited.
comedyfreak
05-09-2009, 08:41 AM
That's it more kids can see PG13 movies which is where the money is right now, they can see it without the accompanyment of a parent.
MickeyMac
05-09-2009, 12:58 PM
Wasn't Caligula rated X?
I think so, I know it featured several Penthouse centerfolds. I have a buddy who used to work at a video store and the told me they always kept Caligula in the back room with the pornos, so this flick must be pretty risque.
JamesG
05-10-2009, 08:19 AM
Wasn't Caligula rated X?
I'm not really all that familiar with this movie but I believe in its native Italy it was rated with their equivalent of the X/NC-17 rating.
Also, this movie was also very heavily edited and cut when it started to get passed around to other countries so some theaters either screened the whole thing or the edited R-rated version.
catlover79
05-10-2009, 09:16 AM
^ Thanks, guys. I heard that it not only had some really heavy sex scenes, but stuff like bestiality and (EWWW) disembowelment. You know, the good old family films everyone loves. :eek: :lol:
JamesG
05-10-2009, 09:28 AM
^ Thanks, guys. I heard that it not only had some really heavy sex scenes, but stuff like bestiality and (EWWW) disembowelment. You know, the good old family films everyone loves. :eek: :lol:
The bestiality I am not sure of but I know this film contained castration, oral sex, people being urinated on, incest, rape, fisting, orgies...
God, can't believe Helen Mirren was in this but then again she was in some pretty other off-the-wall films back then; another one being The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.
catlover79
05-10-2009, 09:31 AM
The bestiality I am not sure of but I know this film contained castration, oral sex, people being urinated on, incest, rape, fisting, orgies...
God, can't believe Helen Mirren was in this but then again she was in some pretty other off-the-wall films back then; another one being The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.
She was? I never knew that. :eek:
JamesG
05-10-2009, 09:40 AM
She was? I never knew that. :eek:
This was actually, I believe, the first major motion picture to contain big stars involving the graphic/explicit nature of a film.
It starred John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, Helen Mirren, and Malcolm McDowell as "Caligula".
catlover79
05-10-2009, 09:59 AM
This was actually, I believe, the first major motion picture to contain big stars involving the graphic/explicit nature of a film.
It starred John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, Helen Mirren, and Malcolm McDowell as "Caligula".
Wow - how did they ever live this down?? :confused:
JamesG
05-10-2009, 10:10 AM
Wow - how did they ever live this down?? :confused:
Well, maybe the movie was good. :D
catlover79
05-10-2009, 01:57 PM
Well, maybe the movie was good. :D
Maybe, but I'm not planning on watching it. :lol:
Shine
05-10-2009, 02:24 PM
Marlon Brando starred in Last Tango in Paris in 1972 and that did pretty well. Brando was even nominated for an Oscar for it. It shows up on tv every so often but it's usually the R rated version.
When I hear mention of that movie, I'm always reminded of the All In The Family episode, "Archie Feels Left Out", where Archie went to see it thinking it was a musical and came a way pretty shocked. :lol: He said, "It was pure pornograph". :lol:
Well, maybe the movie was good.
That movie was awful, awful, awful. I have actually seen it - that's a few hours of my life I can't get back. Don't ever, ever see it. I picked up the DVD for about 3 bucks because the cast was great - Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud... bad, bad mistake. I turned it off after 15 minutes because it was just porn. I tried to skip through some of those scenes later, to see if there was a good movie underneath somewhere... yeah, there wasn't. Not even sexy, just gross.
There's actually a few cuts out there, there's the one on DVD that has just about everything, then somehow they managed to cut the heck out of it and put it on TV. I wouldn't seek that one out either.
Anyways, about the ratings - I've noticed that every rating seems to be losing it's meaning. It used to be that X was only for adults (Midnight Cowboy was rated X and won Best Picture). Then that was replaced by NC-17 which got the reputation of being porn.
So I guess you could say R was the new X. It wasn't meant to be porn, just films for grown-ups that contained language and nudity. It used to be anything with nudity had to be rated R, and now there's skin in several PG-13 films (everyone saw Titanic, remember?). So I guess PG-13 is becomming the new R? Wait and see, they're gonna come up with another rating level soon.
Life was easier before they had the ratings. Everyone could see everything.
catlover79
05-10-2009, 08:51 PM
That movie was awful, awful, awful. I have actually seen it - that's a few hours of my life I can't get back. Don't ever, ever see it. I picked up the DVD for about 3 bucks because the cast was great - Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud... bad, bad mistake. I turned it off after 15 minutes because it was just porn. I tried to skip through some of those scenes later, to see if there was a good movie underneath somewhere... yeah, there wasn't. Not even sexy, just gross.
There's actually a few cuts out there, there's the one on DVD that has just about everything, then somehow they managed to cut the heck out of it and put it on TV. I wouldn't seek that one out either.
Anyways, about the ratings - I've noticed that every rating seems to be losing it's meaning. It used to be that X was only for adults (Midnight Cowboy was rated X and won Best Picture). Then that was replaced by NC-17 which got the reputation of being porn.
So I guess you could say R was the new X. It wasn't meant to be porn, just adult films that contained language and nudity. It used to be anything with nudity had to be rated R, and now there's skin in several PG-13 films (everyone saw Titanic, remember?). So I guess PG-13 is becomming the new R? Wait and see, they're gonna come up with another rating level soon.
Life was easier before they had the ratings. Everyone could see everything.
Emily, you don't seem to be the type to watch a movie like Caligula. :lol: Just reading the synopsis almost made me physically sick, so I know there is no way I'd make it through the actual movie. :eek: :eek: :eek:
Emily, you don't seem to be the type to watch a movie like Caligula. :lol: Just reading the synopsis almost made me physically sick, so I know there is no way I'd make it through the actual movie. :eek: :eek: :eek:
I didn't know! I just thought "Hey, a Peter O'Toole movie I haven't seen!" :lol: This is the only movie I ever bought that I threw away - I didn't try to sell it or give it away - I was too embarassed to have that thing in my apartment! In the dumpster it went.
Helen Mirren still talks about Caligula. She laughs about it and her main comment is "Well, it sounded like a good idea at the time..." Her part wasn't as bad as Malcolm McDowall's. I don't know how his career survived that.
JamesG
05-10-2009, 09:04 PM
That movie was awful, awful, awful. I have actually seen it - that's a few hours of my life I can't get back. Don't ever, ever see it. I picked up the DVD for about 3 bucks because the cast was great - Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud... bad, bad mistake. I turned it off after 15 minutes because it was just porn. I tried to skip through some of those scenes later, to see if there was a good movie underneath somewhere... yeah, there wasn't. Not even sexy, just gross.
There's actually a few cuts out there, there's the one on DVD that has just about everything, then somehow they managed to cut the heck out of it and put it on TV. I wouldn't seek that one out either.
I've actually been interested in seeing Caligula but I never got around to it. Your description actually makes me want to see it more. The more I hear people are repulsed by something my interest draws closer.
This movie, to me, doesn't sound nearly as bad as another Italian sadistic movie I know of; Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma aka The 120 Days of Sodom (1975).
If you read about that one, I think you will find that one to be worse...
catlover79
05-10-2009, 09:09 PM
I've actually been interested in seeing Caligula but I never got around to it. Your description actually makes me want to see it more. The more I hear people are repulsed by something my interest draws closer.
This movie, to me, doesn't sound nearly as bad as another Italian sadistic movie I know of; Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma aka The 120 Days of Sodom (1975).
If you read about that one, I think you will find that one to be worse...
:rofl: Well, if you ever do watch this movie, you probably shouldn't see it on a full stomach. :lol:
JamesG
05-10-2009, 09:15 PM
:rofl: Well, if you ever do watch this movie, you probably shouldn't see it on a full stomach. :lol:
heh, put it this way... that movie's description is nothing I've never seen before.
I'm to a point where almost nothing shocke me.
catlover79
05-10-2009, 09:17 PM
heh, put it this way... that movie's description is nothing I've never seen before.
I'm to a point where almost nothing shocke me.
That's pretty sad. :eek: :lol:
heh, put it this way... that movie's description is nothing I've never seen before.
I'm to a point where almost nothing shocke me.
Wanna bet?
My brother (who's 18 and will watch just about anything) actually said a similar thing when I told him about it. He put on the DVD. In 20 minutes it was back on the shelf with him saying something along the lines of "That was made by sick, sick people."
Don't say I didn't warn you. I'd give you my copy, but it's currently in a landfill somewhere in Michigan (where it belongs!)
BTW, Monika, thank you for noticing that Caligula is NOT my type of movie! :lol:
JamesG
05-10-2009, 09:28 PM
That's pretty sad. :eek: :lol:
:cool:
catlover79
05-10-2009, 09:32 PM
Wanna bet?
My brother (who's 18 and will watch just about anything) actually said a similar thing when I told him about it. He put on the DVD. In 20 minutes it was back on the shelf with him saying something along the lines of "That was made by sick, sick people."
Don't say I didn't warn you. I'd give you my copy, but it's currently in a landfill somewhere in Michigan (where it belongs!)
BTW, Monika, thank you for noticing that Caligula is NOT my type of movie! :lol:
Any time. :lol:
JamesG
05-10-2009, 09:36 PM
Wanna bet?
My brother (who's 18 and will watch just about anything) actually said a similar thing when I told him about it. He put on the DVD. In 20 minutes it was back on the shelf with him saying something along the lines of "That was made by sick, sick people."
Don't say I didn't warn you. I'd give you my copy, but it's currently in a landfill somewhere in Michigan (where it belongs!)
BTW, Monika, thank you for noticing that Caligula is NOT my type of movie! :lol:
I'd be willing to bet... yes.
Nobody really knows the things I have seen on screen and in person... I can't describe it because I'd be banned from this forum. ;)
All I'll say is I've been around in my life and have seen many things.
Shine
05-10-2009, 09:37 PM
heh, put it this way... that movie's description is nothing I've never seen before.
I'm to a point where almost nothing shocke me.
Have you seen the film I Spit On Your Grave? Man, now there is a movie that is in bad taste. When I was done with that movie I literally felt sick. I remember that I had to take a walk around the block to clear my head.
JamesG
05-10-2009, 09:42 PM
Have you seen the film I Spit On Your Grave? Man, now there is a movie that is in bad taste. When I was done with that movie I literally felt sick. I remember that I had to take a walk around the block to clear my head.
I own that on DVD actually; my copy is in a hard metal cover. One of my favorites.
They definitely don't make films like that anymore. I hear rumors of a remake but nothing is set in stone with it yet.
Okay, just thinking about Caligula this much is grossing me out. I'm off to watch a Doris Day movie. :wave:
catlover79
05-10-2009, 10:27 PM
Okay, just thinking about Caligula this much is grossing me out. I'm off to watch a Doris Day movie. :wave:
Good call. Go see Midnight Lace. :wave:
Torgo
05-11-2009, 11:20 AM
The bestiality I am not sure of but I know this film contained castration, oral sex, people being urinated on, incest, rape, fisting, orgies...
[/I].
Sounds like a Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie :happyface
Torgo
05-11-2009, 11:26 AM
Have you seen the film I Spit On Your Grave? Man, now there is a movie that is in bad taste. When I was done with that movie I literally felt sick. I remember that I had to take a walk around the block to clear my head.
If you thought I Spit On Your Grave was bad, don't ever watch Salo.
Torgo
05-11-2009, 11:40 AM
I own that on DVD actually; my copy is in a hard metal cover. One of my favorites.
They definitely don't make films like that anymore. I hear rumors of a remake but nothing is set in stone with it yet.
The remake couldn't be any worse than the horrendously bad '93 sequel- I Spit On Your Grave 2: Savage Vengeance, Camille Keaton truly must have been desperate to return to this. Though if you are curious to see what I Spit On Your Grave would look like had everyone left their clothes on, see part 2 :lol:
catlover79
05-11-2009, 01:16 PM
Sounds like a Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie :happyface
:rofl:
JamesG
05-11-2009, 04:37 PM
If you thought I Spit On Your Grave was bad, don't ever watch Salo.
Oh yeah... oooohh yeah. Salo is definitely not for you.
JamesG
05-11-2009, 04:39 PM
The remake couldn't be any worse than the horrendously bad '93 sequel- I Spit On Your Grave 2: Savage Vengeance, Camille Keaton truly must have been desperate to return to this. Though if you are curious to see what I Spit On Your Grave would look like had everyone left their clothes on, see part 2 :lol:
The sequel I haven't seen. I knew Camille Keaton had returned but I wasn't really interested in this one.
I might see it "just to see what it is" but I don't know.
MrCleveland
05-12-2009, 02:27 PM
When South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut came out.
The F word was used a lot and the S word has been used many times. The only other successful animated film that was adult-oriented would be Fritz the Cat.
That movie was Rated X for language, sex, and violence. Today, it would be rated R and it actually paved the way for South Park.
LuLu Rogers
05-12-2009, 02:41 PM
Being a huge horror movie fan, I have no problem with R ratings because it's usually for gore and violence. However, a lot of current horror films have tons of sex thrown in all over the place just for the hell of it. No thanks. I'll stick with the classics like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Prom Night(the original), My Bloody Valentine(The original) and stuff like that. The only more current horror film that I really love is The Strangers. It felt like watching an old school classic horror film because they went back to the basics, I loved it! :)
http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2008/05/14/strangers-poster-because.jpg
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