MovieChat Forums > 8MM (1999) Discussion > Slightly irrelevant for many, but...

Slightly irrelevant for many, but...

posted 4 years ago by TheMan18 (13015)
4 replies | jump to latest

... its kind of interesting for me, that, on the VHS UK version of the film, which is pretty much the same cut (or version) I own on DVD, on the back of the cover, there is a "Consumer Advice Grid" by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) which states the following : 1) Theme/Contents - Thriller, snuff movies 2). Bad language - Frequent, strong 3). Sex/nudity - Infrequent, strong, fetish 4). Violence - Frequent, strong.

I have to admit, there is actually at least a little MORE sex and nudity and at the very least, loads of strong sexual references in this film, so at least the third part should be - Occasional, strong, fetish and the last part about the violence should really be more - Occasional, strong, though it must be said that at least in a few instances it is brutal and bloody, and in a few others, sexual, the language and theme I mostly agree with though.

[–] bigbadwolf666 (4707) 4 years ago

they probably dont even read what they write let alone know what they are writing.

[–] TheMan18 (13015) 4 years ago

Hahaha, I have actually thought that PARTIALLY, at least in SOME cases, that MIGHT be true. I remember back in the late 90s when I frequented my local video stores I often got fascinated by that consumer advice grid, the table, what is even more interesting is that...

After the year 2000 or so, those who designed it for the back (at the time) covers of the video cassettes and DVDs have actually LOST interest in it, as later, it became muddled, whereas before for instance in theme/content section they wrote stuff like "Thriller, police" or "Horror, haunted house" and violence was say "Frequest, strong, gory" it often became "Violence - occasional, strong" and "Theme/other - strong gory horror" etc etc etc.

I wonder bigbadwolf, are you familiar with that stuff at all, what do you think, thanks. If you ever visited or lived in UK around that time, you'll know.

P.S. It was actually based off on that "Consumer advice grid" that I watched this movie back in 2000 with my parents and I was surprised by how sexually explicit and also provocative it was on that front and there was a little less actual violence than I expected, but it was definitely strong and even those aforementioned parts when it was there.

[–] SteveG (1370) 4 years ago

Either way it’s A pretty good movie my favorite part is when he calls to Mom and asked her permission to kill the guy.

[–] TheMan18 (13015) 4 years ago

And I know it kinda sounds cheap and unsophisticated, but back around that time period also, the late 90s and early 00s, I was also quite fascinated by those "What's on TV" magazines that also revealed film ratings. One of such magazines even gave the acclaimed movie "Exotica" (1994) by Atom Egoyan one star and claimed they found the ending incredibly unpleasant, but wasn't that its point?

But in some ways, it was interesting how they gave film ratings like "Dreadful, Moderate, Watchable, Good, Great" and it used to be kind of fun to see where they are coming from. Although... This one such What's on TV magazine gave "8MM" at the time a "Good rating" but then a few weeks later a "Moderate One", and basically, Dreadful is one star, Moderate - 2 stars, Watchable 3 stars, Good 4 Stars and Great 4.5 or 5 stars.