Will 'Man Eating a Baby,' Other Scenes Get Grindhouse An NC-17?

by Patrick Walsh Mar 15th 2007 // 5:31PM

Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Fandom, Scripts, Exhibition, New in Theaters, The Weinstein Co., Movie Marketing

There is no movie I want to see more right now than Grindhouse, the upcoming "double feature" from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Today's news only makes me want to see it more. Sources are saying there is no way the current version of the film can earn an "R" rating. Frankly, I think the audience for this film wants more more more sex, violence, and nudity -- so what's the problem? Well, without the "R" rating, the film won't be shown in mainstream theaters, won't be advertised in many newspapers, can't be carried at Blockbuster, etc. Basically, the studio would lose money. Rodriguez and Tarantino are intentionally adding splices and scratches to the print, to give it that cheap 70's feel, and also so they can add in splices if the MPAA demands cuts (Read more on this here.) From the sound of things, they better get splicing.

So far, most of the content issues with the movie are coming from the fake trailers that will show between Rodriguez and Tarantino's films. One of these fake trailers, for a film called Werewolf Women of the SS is directed by a man who is no stranger to ratings controversy, Rob Zombie. In his trailer, "a cute, topless girl is roughly tied down on a table by evil female Nazi experimenters who begin draining her blood and, as she screams in agony, they brand her like livestock with a coal-hot steel swastika. And every girl in the Nazi concentration camp is topless." Um...when can I see this thing again?

Eli Roth, director of far and away the best of the recent "torture porn" horror flicks - Hostel, shot a trailer for a fictional movie called Thanksgiving, a play on all the 80's slasher films that took place on various holidays (Arbor Day Massacre, that sort of thing.) His clip contains a scene in which Jordan Ladd is giving oral sex to her boyfriend and when she reaches to stroke his hair, she realizes he has lost his head. (Temptation to make "head" jokes rising...rising...overcome.) Another scene shows a cheerleader stripping naked, right down to the Full Britney, while bouncing on a trampoline. From what I've read, it doesn't end well for her. (Let's just say you don't do the splits when cutlery is around.) In yet another scene, an obese man...eats a baby.

So obviously this stuff isn't for the squeamish and it's probably not one for the whole family. But since this is supposed to be a no holds barred, unsanitized, over-the-top thrill ride, it'd be a shame to have to see a watered down version. There will undoubtedly be a "Directors' Cut" DVD down the line, but I'm excited to see this with a blood-thirsty, enthusiastic audience at the theater -- aren't you? Studio insiders are saying "Some cuts definitely will have to be made. There's no question." Here's hoping they get moving on this new "Hard R" rating the MPAA is trying to set in motion. And here's hoping when that happens, they give credit to my man Roger Ebert, who's been pulling for this for years.

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Tags: eli roth, EliRoth, grindhouse, quentin tarantino, QuentinTarantino, rob zombie, robert rodriguez, RobertRodriguez, RobZombie

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