This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

censorship, uncensored.

Director Kirby Dick explores the mysterious world of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), a secretive organization tasked with rating films in the United States. This Film Is Not Yet Rated takes a look at the history of the MPAA as a self censoring body established by the US film industry, which is predominately controlled by a small handful of massive corporations.

What is the MPAA? Where did it come from? How does it act as a tool for controlling and manipulating American culture and the information that citizens take in? For that matter, who are they?

Watch the film to find out, but for starters they are unelected, appointed by a conservative republican, and include two representative of religious denominations.

Decide for yourself, but it appears clear that the MPAA is an anti-democratic organization bent on imposing their reactionary views on society as a whole. The organization should be disbanded entirely and replaced with either a transparent and elected body, or nothing at all. At any rate, this is an eye opening film which is well worth a watch.

4 bigoted censors out of 5
Contains some nudity, sexuality, language.

Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009)

Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue explores the evolution of American horror cinema from the gothic monster films of the early 1900's, to the extremes of modern horror. The film features clips from many of the most influential and well known horror movies, as well as a few lesser known gems, plus interviews with some of the genres greatest directors.

What makes this documentary so valuable is not only its production values and its great interviews, but also that it doesn't just examine where the genre started and where it is today. It also tackles the more important question; why. Nightmares looks at the conditions in a given era that gave rise to the horror films of the day. The American Dream is counter-posed with the reality of the all-too-often American nightmare; war, violence, consumerism, excess, poverty, etc. We are then made to examine how that nightmare has been reflected consciously or subconsciously on film, forcing us to face its unpleasant realities.

In this sense, Nightmares is one of the most in depth, analytical, and fascinating documentaries on horror cinema I have yet seen. It leaves the viewer with plenty to think about, and a curiosity about where we are going next.

5 American nightmares out of 5
Unrated: contains violence/gore, frightening scenes, sexuality, nudity, language. 

Fan of the Dead (2008)

When the dead are in the theater, the fans will walk the earth. 

This low-budget documentary follows French film maker and zombie fan Nicolas Garreau to the filming locations of George Romero's zombie classics such as Night of the Living Dead (original and remake), Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead.

The viewer will see such places as the basement from Night of the Living Dead, the mall from Dawn of the Dead, and the military base from Day of the Dead. How have these locales changed since the movies were filmed? Do they still hold the haunting power they contained in Romero's masterpieces?

Maybe. But watching a movie of some really excited zombie nerd walking around in the vicinity of places where Romero once filmed only stays interesting for so long. It's kind of interesting to see the mall, for example, still relatively as it was in the original Dawn of the Dead. But I'd still rather spend my time re-watching the actual movie. It also doesn't help that the film, originally in French, is very poorly dubbed over in English by a guy who sounds as unenthusiastic about the documentary as I felt.

There's probably a lot one could look at in a documentary about these groundbreaking films. What was making them like? What was the socio-economic context that led to such films and their rise to popularity? What was the reaction to them at the time? How did they become cult classics? What message underlies them? How do they compare to contemporaries? How do they compare to modern zombie films, or to those of the past? These, and other interesting questions are NOT studied in this documentary.

In fact, when the filmmaker has a chance to speak with cast members from Dawn of the Dead, such as the protagonists and some lead zombies, he just asks them if they thought the movie would ever get so big. They all say no, not really. Riveting.

1 mall tour out of 5
Unrated.

Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)

An in-depth analysis of the "Video Nasty" scandal of the early 1980s in Britain. 

Ban the Sadist Videos! explores the controversy surrounding so-called video nasties in 1980's England. Numerous films, including such notorious titles as I Spit on Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust, Driller Killer, and The Evil Dead, were banned as obscene during a period of moral panic set off by right wing moralists with help from the corporate media.

Those guilty of producing such films could be subject to fines and/or jail time. Films were confiscated, censored, and banned outright. While some of the films, like Cannibal Holocaust or Cannibal Ferox, can hardly be anything but condemned for their misogyny,  racism, and animal cruelty, the documentary does expose the danger posed by allowing conservative religious zealots the power to decide what one may and may not watch. In their hysteria, films that were largely innocent by any standard were caught up mistakenly in the whirlwind. The Dolly Parton musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, for example, was confiscated in a raid on the mistaken presumption that it was pornographic.

The witch-hunt eventually subsided and many of the films were released either with cuts of without depending on the circumstances. Ban the Sadist Videos! is an interesting look at censorship in horror films from the perspectives of both its proponents and detractors.

3 nasties out of 5
Rated R. Contains violence, nudity, disturbing scenes.