I’m known about Americans are used to see violent films, but a G-rating on THIS? Isn’t a G-rating supposed to be for young viewers like 6 or 7? And this film contains vampire bites, hanging bodies and two very bloody impaling of Christopher Lee’s body. The later one even with a golden cross.
I’m very surprised with the American rating.
He notes that they went light on supernatural horror films in the 1960's and 1970's.
shareIt's interesting, because the first time I saw this was on American TV in 1987/88, and I remember it scared the bejesus out of me then. I don't know if children today have a higher tolerance for violent or frightening imagery (I highly doubt it), but I think that maybe I shouldn't have watched this movie at that age. Certainly, a "G" seems inappropriate to me, but the DVD I have (just got one of the Hammer box sets for Christmas) it says "Not Rated". Did they void the "G" certificate or something? If so, it was probably the right decision.
I don't want some renegade necrophile princess as MY roommate!
Some people believe--and it is very believable to me--that the MPAA didn't even watch this before giving it the G-rating. The gory violence, grim tone, and strong sensuality are a little hard to miss, if your eyes are even half-open.
How could such a violent film pass unnoticed? Well, at the time, the "monster fad" was at a height of popularity with young folks everywhere, and horror films were generally considered to be kiddie material! Strange but true. I have a DVD of this that has the G-rating on it, and it makes the movie more enjoyable to me, because it seems so bizarre. This is actually one of the goriest of the Hammer Dracula flicks--very shockingly so at moments. And I thought it was dramatically very sound as well. I hadn't seen it since the 70's on TV, and was not disappointed in the DVD release.
that doesn't seem to be the only dracula film with a "low" rating
Dracula A.D. 1972 is rated PG
but to be fair - the only people who are going to be genuinely scared by this are six year olds so who cares
I think what happened here is that DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE was made right around the time that the current ratings board was coming into existence, but the film did not get released until later. (I saw it on a double bill at a local theatre with FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED, a 1969 film that was rated GP or PG.)
Anyway, all films made before 1968 were retroactively rated G. DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE was right on the cusp, but I think this may be what happened.
As for the theory that the ratings board passed the film without looking at it because they just assumed it was for kids, this is highly unlikely, as the whole point of the ratings board was to protect kids from on-screen violence, and Hammer films were notorious for being gorier than the old Universal horror films.
Everybody is right--ALL horror films were considered kiddie fare so this got by with a G rating. It started changing in the early 1970s when horror films got more gory--"Scars of Dracula" which was released in 1971 actually got an R rating. It was much gorier than this one and also had a flash of female nudity.
I don't think this would affect kids much--I caught this uncut on Saturday afternoon TV when I was a kid and it didn't bother me. It was so over the top (Dracula PULLING a stake out of his heart??? Come on!) and ridiculously bloody that I couldn't take it seriously.
[deleted]
A few other older films I can think of with "inappropriate" mpaa ratings include:
Airport, which contains violence, frightening scenes of peril, adultery committed by almost every member of the cast (including a stewardess made pregnant by Dean Martin considering an abortion) was rated G.
Papillon, the grim Steve McQueen drama which included violence, nudity, & some very adult themes, was rated GP.
Walkabout, which contained a lot of nudity as well as graphic animal killing was also rated PG.
Inconsistency has been a chronic problem for the ratings system. My only thought would be that nowadays ratings are meant more as a guide to the ages of children who should see films while in the past it was a more general guide to content.
"Taste the Blood of Dracula," which was released in 1969, the year after this one, had an R rating. The rating system was funny back in '68. That same year, "Planet of the Apes" was released, and for all the violence, strong language and partial nudity in that film, it garnered a G rating. Almost the same thing with "2001: A Space Odyssey," also released in '68 and given a G rating, although it clearly wasn't a film for young children.
share[deleted]
TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA received a PG rating in the U.S., not an R.
shareThe 4 pack I have with HOD, DHRFTG, TTBOD and DA72 lists an R rating for TTBOD for language and violence (but there's no language except the word sexual?)..I think the garters and stockings in this one automatically rule out a G
shareThat's not true. Citizen Kane, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Casablanca have all had PG ratings when shown in theatrical revival.
shareYeah, but they didn't get those ratings for 1968 revivals. The MPAA dished out those ratings for the films you speak of in the late 80s or early 90s. I'm certain that if the MPAA would have rated them in '68, they all would have been 'G.'
shareI just wanted to take another crack at this topic, maybe revising what I said earlier in the thread.
When I saw DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (around 1970), the GP rating was a relatively new replacement for the M rating (which prevented younger viewers from getting in without their parents).
At that time, GP did not (as the PG rating does now) indicate a film appropriate for the whole family, nor had the G rating come to be equated only with films specifically designed for kids.
A G rating would be thought to encompass what we now think of as both G and PG films. A GP rating would have been more the equivalent of today's PG-13.
So a GP probably would not be given unless a film was deemed appropriate only for viewers 13 and over. Something like DRACULA HAS RISEN might not be appropriate for very younger viewers, but it is not too much for 10- and 11-year olds.
By the way, you can read what it was like for kids who saw the film when it first came out here: http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/04/13/nostalgia-dracula-has-rise n-from-the-grave-1968
"all films made before 1968 were retroactively rated G."
Very untrue! Only films that have been submitted to the MPAA have received ratings. 1960's "Psycho" was submitted and it received the "M" rating for its re-release. The "M" rating was later dropped by the MPAA. "Psycho" was later re-rated with the "R" rating.
When MPAA rating system was initiated on November 1 1968, there was no requirement that everything released before 1968 had to be submitted to the MPAA. Remember, back in the days before home video, there were second run theatres and revival houses that could keep films in circulation long after their initial release. So distributors could keep circulating their films in these venues without have to pay to rate each and every one of them. Those films were retroactively treated as if rated G, unless they were later submitted. It only made sense to submit one when it was getting a full-blown re-release.
So yes, PSYCHO eventually ended up being rated R but only when it was submitted for re-release. However, many films have had their ratings changed for re-release because standards change. For instance, MIDNIGHT COWBOY is now R; that doesn't mean it was not rated X when it originally came out.
The Birds and The Manchurian Candidate are PG-13. Some pre-1968 movies remain unrated.
shareI saw this movie way back in 1970, on a double bill with "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth". I was pretty amazed that BOTH movies got a "G" rating. "Dracula... ' was particularly gruesome and gory, and "When Dinosaurs..." also had its share of bloody scenes, not to mention bikini-clad "cavewomen."
Also amazing is that during this same year "Beneath The Planet of the Apes" was released, also amazingly with a "G" rating, though some scenes were as bloody as those in "The Godfather."
I can only assume that the Ratings Board simply considered anything connected with Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror as being for children and teens. Perhaps "The Exorcist" changed that with its "R" rating, although some horror movies of the early 70's were getting "higher" ratings, such as "The Abominable Dr. Phibes," released in 1971 with a "PG", and "Theater Of Blood," released in '73 with an "R." Also more SF movies were getting "GP" and "PG" ratings, such as "Soylent Green" and "Westworld,", although I suspect those ratings were more because of sexual situations than for the violence or otherwise disturbing scenes (I always found the scenes of overpopulated Manhattan to be pretty disturbing.)
A somewhat sad note is that in later years the ratings didn't really matter much. In 1990 I saw children and teens being sold tickets to "Robocop II" despite clearly being unaccompanied by parents or guardians.
Every cloud has a silver lining, and every plate of vegetable soup is filled with vegetables.
Very odd but this movie with the earlier Hammer Dracula movies are family fun you know that everyone can enjoy.
"You gotta be Fkng kidding"-The Thing (1982).
some horror movies of the early 70's were getting "higher" ratings, such as "The Abominable Dr. Phibes," released in 1971 with a "PG"
Isn’t a G-rating supposed to be for young viewers like 6 or 7?
Another possible reason for the "G" rating was perhaps because of the religous overtones to the film (good over evil,etc). This was the FIRST year of the ratings systems; they realy didn't know what they were doing. Exact opposite The Thomas Crown Affair: an "R" rating????
shareI do believe this was the first film ever rated by the MPAA, actually.
Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...share
I turned ten in 1969 and my mother tried to drop me off one day that year at a matinee at a theatre on Long Island, NY. They wouldn't let me in because I was without an adult and DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE was rated "M." "M" meant that it was "For Mature Audiences Only." The "M" rating only lasted a year or so before it was replaced with the "GP" rating, which later became the "PG" rating, which later became the "PG-13" rating. Anyway, I've hated the rating system ever since being turned away from DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE in 1969.
shareIt's funny that I watched these movies on TV as a kid but when I bought some of them yesterday the clerk had to age-check me.
I noticed that for the first time on the back of the DVD box today. I was thinking "I don't watch too many G-rated movies. This is an anomaly for me."
share