Mary suggested a movie to me today because she knows I like horror films. I've heard of this one but not seen it. She said she'd never watch it. It does sound pretty rough. The MPAA slapped the film with an X rating (this was 1990, that rating is now called NC-17) and said "no amount of cuts" would get it down to an R. In England, the British Board of Film Classification wouldn't allow the film without many cuts, a few of which are (almost hilariously) listed here:
"The BBFC waived the four seconds cut from the murder of the TV salesman, and 61 of the 71 seconds from the family massacre scene (they refused to reinstate the 10 seconds of the scene where Otis molests the mother after she is dead). Additionally, they partly approved the 38 second shot of the dead woman on the toilet, but they demanded that the last 17 seconds of the shot be removed. Based upon this, Universal decided to remove the shot entirely."
If that's not a ringing endorsement for a film, I don't know what is.
I love really good horror films. Not the slasher films with violence for the sake of violence (the Saw series) or the cheesy ones (the Scream series) but stories that get under your skin, like Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, Peeping Tom, and Se7en. I also really liked Shutter Island which I just saw recently. I have not decided if Henry fits into that genre, but I have read that it's very brutal and honest, without the campy humor or quite the amount of blood seen in many modern slasher films. Ebert gave it 3 1/2 stars in fact.
But I've also read that it stays with you...up in your brain...which can be a good thing, or a very bad thing, depending.
1 comment:
Bad thing. I still can't forget Silence of the Lambs and Psycho.
Post a Comment