Monday Night Poll: Does 'Saw VI' Deserve An X Rating?
Filed under: Horror, Lionsgate Films, Celebrities and Controversy
Sunday over at Cinematical's sister site, Horror Squad, vigilant contributor Brian Salisbury picked up a news story from Arrow in the Head about Saw VI receiving no less than an 'X' rating for violence from the ratings board in Spain. While this might be minor news if the rating board awarded 'X' ratings to its predecessors, or even just some of the other horror films released in recent years that borrowed from the first film's gag-inducing inspiration, evidently Saw VI is the first-ever movie that has been awarded the killer rating for violence in the country's history, which begs makes us wonder what the board saw in, uh, Saw that made it so offensive?
Despite having seen only the first and sixth installments in the Saw series, I can attest that the new film is indeed gross and gory, featuring scenes like a showdown between two victims to shave off enough body mass (or maybe just body parts) to survive, and a merry-go-round fitted with six victims who more or less indiscriminately suffer from direct shotgun blasts to the chest. But personally I'm not sure that the movie is really any more violent or gratuitous than any of its predecessors, even those that I haven't seen; while one could perhaps make the argument that many of Jigsaw's victims were dubiously "guilty" at worst (or even outright innocent), making their deaths more tragic, it seems unlikely that the murkier morality of this film would earn it a harsher rating than any of the others.
Since I'm sure there are plenty of readers who have seen all of the films and are ready to weigh in with their own opinions, we'll put the question to you: Is Saw VI deserving of an 'X' rating?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-26-2009 @ 11:08PM
nilz said...
I have watched all saw movies which came before this. today i watched Saw VI movie . It was marvelous movie. I love horror movies and till today nothing could pass the saw movie's quality. I love to watch this movie again.
Source
http://blog.80millionmoviesfree.com/in-theaters/watch-saw-vi-online
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10-26-2009 @ 11:44PM
Midnight13 said...
The only "R" rated movie that I'm aware of that recieved an "X" rating for its violence is the original "Robocop" of 1987. Of course even if the film happened to be more violent, or gory then any of the previous films which is highly doubtful, it should get an NC-17. Of course we don't know the various types of ratings that Spain has. Some countries use a "A" for adults or a "M" for mature like we do here with video games. Perhaps Spain's "X" rating isn't used to indicate pornographic pictures the way it does here in America, and are focusing too much on our interpetation of what Rated X means here.
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10-27-2009 @ 10:06AM
justin said...
i'm fairly certain Total Recall got an X rating for violence before getting trimmed.
Verhoeven strikes again.
10-27-2009 @ 5:58AM
bb6640 said...
I've seen Lars Von Trier's AntiChrist. Saw movies, exploitative chickenshit in comparison.
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10-27-2009 @ 7:43AM
C.A. said...
Haven't seen it, but maybe Spain is just showing they are tired of this stuff.
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10-27-2009 @ 9:17AM
Rotwang said...
I am from Spain and I can teel you this is a case unheard of. An X rating in Spain means exactly the same as in the states. The difference is that we don't have something like your NC-17. All ratings in Spain (except the X rating) are only recommendations, which means that anyone, no matter the age, can buy a ticket for an "R" movie (which in Spain would be called "not recommended for people under 18"). Therefore the only way to really avoid minors from seeing a movie is rating it X, which limits the release to the 8 X cinemas that still exist in this country (none of which can actually afford to show it...). However, as far as I know, this is the first time this has been applied to a movie because of its violence since the dictatorship ended in 1975.
I think that if the ministry really wants to legislate this without being censoring, they should create a new rating similar to your R, so that minors could only see films like this accompanied. Although they could also leave things as they were, it was working ok until now...
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10-27-2009 @ 1:31PM
JimeneX said...
I don't understand the US rating systems. Heads and brains blown off: OK. Penis: BAD.
I was watching TheDeparted on TV one day and of course, they bleep out all the curse words. Yet they had no trouble showing Brains being splattered on the wall.
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10-27-2009 @ 12:51PM
Adam said...
I dont think it should be X rated - The film is violent yes, but thats whats to be expected, it never claimed to be anything else.. Nobody is going to show up at Saw VI saying "oh this will be a pleasant night to the cinema with the kids"
You can be so prude. Also, its actually tastefully done from an editorial perspective, it NEEDS to be in the film, simple as..
Read the review here
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2325602/saw_vi_review.html
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10-27-2009 @ 1:20PM
GL said...
I don't care how they rate a movie, I just ask for consistency. The point of the rating is moot otherwise.
So, the Hostel movies didn't rate an X? I haven't seen Saw 6, but somehow I doubt it's much worse than many other movies in regards to the violence.
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10-27-2009 @ 7:29PM
david said...
the saw movies are just an orgy of demented sickness. Why they keep making them is because people keep watching them. Thats something to really look at. Why are there so many people fascinated with what saw contains? Its torture, murder, fear, pain, sadness. The people that are "enjoying" these movies identify with those feelings and the feelings the ideas contain. Sad people. Fearful people, People living tortured lives. Its not that there lives are bad, but the perceptions they fall into about their lives are of these dark states of being. Its a choice. And its worth thinking about. Personally I dont enjoy living like that so I choose not to partake in it. Its a personal choice. But I dont think we are meant to live in those states naturally very long. We all want to be happy. Thats our goal naturally. To live in feelings of nurture and love. To feel good. The problem for most people is they do not know the way to that, so they do the best they can. They must get sick of how they feel before anything changes. It only changes when they decide they have had enough. In a way the saw movies are helping people reaching a breaking point faster. So enjoy
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