Wednesday 17 March 2010

THE "KILLER BITCH" IS BACK - and The Censors Don't Know What to Say

Our upcoming KILLER BITCH film had to change its title to "Killer Babe" to satisfy a major UK retailer who objected to the word "Bitch" or "B***h" or "B****". Apparently "bitch" was considered offensively sexist but "babe" was/is not. That retailer has now seen what is in the actual movie itself and has backed out of stocking it.

So we are reverting to the original title KILLER BITCH, known and loved by many including, I can only presume, Joan Collins.

Meanwhile, indecision still reigns in the labyrinthine corridors of the BBFC (the British Film Censors). They had their normal screening of the movie by a single Examiner... then an uncommon second screening for other Examiners... then a third screening for the BBFC's Director... and they still couldn't reach a decision... So now there will be a fourth screening for the BBFC Chairman this week and, allegedly they will then decide on Friday or Monday. Frankly, if they are going to have this many screenings to this many people, I think the least they could do is buy a copy.

But, as a result of all this delay, the release of the DVD has been put back to Bank Holiday Monday 3rd May, coincidentally 24 hours after the British Erotic Awards Film Day on 2nd May.

The people I feel sorry for, though, are the poor souls at the BBFC. If the content of KILLER BITCH is so close to the edge of what is acceptable in a British feature film, I am worried about the moral health of the poor peeps at the BBFC who are continually being subjected to this apparently shocking and soul-degrading attack on the moral senses. Four screenings!

They recently passed with an 18 certificate the Willem Dafoe movie "Antichrist" which, I understand, showed close-ups of a penis ejaculating blood and, in extreme close-up, a shot of a woman cutting off her clitoris with a pair of scissors - as filmed by the Oscar-winning cinematographer of "Slumdog Millionaire".

But maybe that was Art aimed at readers of upmarket newspapers whereas KILLER BITCH is roundly aimed at ordinary people with a taste for straightforward entertainment and without an Oxbridge degree in Classics. We have always seen KILLER BITCH as an over-the-top British pantomime with blood and breasts. No more offensive than an Eminem stage show.

I suppose we should feel honoured that the BBFC is worried that KILLER BITCH might be more morally corrupting and closer to the edge of acceptability than "Antichrist". After all, we know exactly how small our budget was! But I have a slight worry there might be elitism creeping in - one rule for the Arts graduates who read the Guardian and the Independent; another rule for 'the plebs' who read the Daily Mirror, Star and Sun.

www.killerbitch.co.uk

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