The BBFC is on a roll these days: THE BUNNY GAME is banned

Are we heading into a new age of "video nasties"? Now that the BBFC has finally allowed distribution of "The Human Centipede 2" (albeit with HEAVY cuts) it seemed not, but here is yet another film that has been banned in its current form: "The Bunny Game" will not be allowed a DVD release in the UK. At least the BBFC is somewhat consistent in its reasoning, because again the problem here is that the film shows sexual torture of an unwilling victim. In this case the story is about a drug-addicted prostitute who gets kidnapped by her customer, a truck driver with serious issues.

In the BBFC's own words:

"The principal focus of The Bunny Game is the unremitting sexual and physical abuse of a helpless woman, as well as the sadistic and sexual pleasure the man derives from this. The emphasis on the woman's nudity tends to eroticise what is shown, while aspects of the work such as the lack of explanation of the events depicted, and the stylistic treatment, may encourage some viewers to enjoy and share in the man's callousness and the pleasure he takes in the woman's pain and humiliation."

Now I had never heard of "The Bunny Game" before nor do I know if it is a daring piece of art or a tepid piece of crap. Check the trailer to see where you'll probably stand (but be warned that it is quite NSFW because of nudity and metal). I DO know, however, that a lot more people now know about it. Times have changed since the "video nasties" of the Eighties and people who are interested in this sort of thing can easily get their hands on it. Think what you will about censorship but if the BBFC is fighting a hazard to society, as they claim to be, I do think they might want to rethink their strategy a bit...


Thanks go to Leon O'Regan from Siren Visual for alerting me.