Movies Banned in Germany

[claws]

50 of 635 movies banned in Germany. How many have you seen?

The German movie rating board usually has issues with sadistic violence or movies that glorify violence. They are also not too keen on vigilante or revenge type violence.
They have no problem with nudity and sex but with pornographic material. Most of the banned movies had a uncut theaterical release but once they went to home video they may be deemed harmful to minors and banned.

The general rule of thumb is no banned movies in their unedited form on TV or streaming platforms.
Certain banned movies on physical media are still allowed to be sold but in stores only, and only under the counter (they can't be put on display, you'll have to ask for them).
Online sales are verboten.
Streaming platforms and TV may show certain banned movies in their uncut version, usually for a special one-time showing, but there are hurdles to take (permit is needed). It also depends on the movie.
In other cases, streaming platforms and TV had to pay fines for showing certain banned movies in their unedited form.
Last year German TV showed the unedited version of Day of the Dead (1985) leading to Public prosecutors investigating. Turns out they "accidentally" showed the uncut version. They got off with a warning.

Per German law a banned movie is automatically unbanned after 30 years, unless the movie rating board still thinks the film remains harmful to minors.

[claws]

35/50

[Alex]

36. Seems to be some odd choices on there.

[zombie no.one]

15

yeah very random selection of films there!

[RCMerchant]

I don't think they watched films at random. If it was horror- they banned it. The did they same in 1935 to American Horror films.

[bob]

Bad Taste (1987)
Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
House of the Dead (2003)
Halloween II (1981)
Saw III (2006)
Saw IV (2007)
Saw V (2008)
Saw VI (2009)
Saw 3D (2010) 
Halloween II (1981)
Dead Alive (1992)
See No Evil (2006)

seems to me like Germany just randomly decided to ban a bunch of horror flicks

[indianasmith]

I've seen 22 off of the list.

[claws]

I don't think they watched films at random. If it was horror- they banned it. The did they same in 1935 to American Horror films.

That's pretty much what they did throughout the 1980s, but the mind set and "morals" of yesteryear barely applies anymore. The german movie rating board is not as strict as they used to be. The laws haven't changed but movies and viewing habits have.

There are a few exceptions, for example The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Hooper's horror classic was deemed to be banned forever in Germany. That was until German boutique label Turbine went to court to get Texas Chain Saw out of prison. It took a few years and lots of money but they finally succeeded.

[zombie no.one]

the only films I'm aware of being banned here in the UK were THE EXORCIST annd CLOCKWORK ORANGE

iirc they both got finally unbanned in the late 90s or early 2000s because I remember going to see them both at the cinema within a short space of time around then

people were openly laughing at THE EXORCIST in the cinema, and CLOCKWORK ORANGE was apparently banned at Kubrik's request, not the censors

[claws]

people were openly laughing at THE EXORCIST in the cinema

From what I read the same happen when they showed The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen in theaters in 2000.

Quite the contrast when you watch The Exorcist audience reaction and interviews from 1973 on youtube. People were scared and some fainted on camera 

[Alex]

people were openly laughing at THE EXORCIST in the cinema

From what I read the same happen when they showed The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen in theaters in 2000.

Quite the contrast when you watch The Exorcist audience reaction and interviews from 1973 on youtube. People were scared and some fainted on camera 

I met a woman who told me she had a nervous breakdown after seeing the movie when it first came out. I fell asleep in the cinema watching it.

[Trevor]

Our censors were just as bad: remember I'm talking about the same people who banned the book Black Beauty on the title alone 😳

[ER]

I don't understand the concept of banning anything save child porn, or the recording of someone or a sentient something, like an animal, being harmed against his or her will. Beyond that, prosecute any egregious criminality but what's with banning a fictional narrative? I don't like gratuitous violence, so I don't watch it. Problem solved.

I guess I'm generally a permissive person when it comes to creativity, and that may come from having grown up pushing back against a notoriously repressive mentality that once held a smothering influence over this area. (Largely relegated to the past, glad to say.) This is a city where an art museum once got criminally prosecuted for having a showing of admittedly, I think, gross homoerotic images. Again, don't like them, don't look at them, but to try to put someone in prison for privately displaying them ...?

So yeah I think I grew up fiercely on the side of free expression.

[ER]

PS: I think I've only seen one movie on that list.

[Archivist]

I've only seen four movies from that list, and some make me question the censors.

A Better Tomorrow - yes, it's violent, but it's just Chow Yun Fat shooting everyone.
The Midnight Meat Train - lots of CGI and practical blood effects, but no way near as yucky as the Saw or Hostel movies.
Rambo - yes, violent, but am I jaded?
Death Race 2 - straight to video schlock.