So I was looking at "aleternate versions" for the Friday the 13th movies...

[Mofo Rising]

Well, remember that PG-13 wasn't an actual rating until the early 80's.  So PG used to mean something different than it does today.  Since there was no step between PG and R, there were only four types of movies.

G was suitable for everyone.
PG was "parental guidance".  (Would've worked great if parental guidance was a reliable commodity.)
R was for adults.
X was porno.

PG-13 was created after movies like GREMLINS started coming out.  Not really bad enough to receive an R, but certainly more violent than most people expected from the PG rating.  I don't think that movie was marketed as a direct horror movie, but I'm really to young to remember.

NC-17 was also created in the 80's to combat the stigma of the X-rating/porno connection.  It didn't work.

Of course, I take the viewpoint that the rating system is almost completely worthless, and often criminally negligent.  So there.

[Lee]

Hey Mofo Rising, dead-on about the "parental guidence" thing. Why are movie makers being held responsible for things that are really the fault of lazy parents? It's stupid! I will admit that in my 20 years on this planet I have seen things that I probably shouldn't but I have never killed anyone, have never gotten addicted to drugs and not suffering fromany sex ills. Why? Because my parents did a dang good job of raising me and my brother and sister! Sure there were plenty of influinces out there but my parents have kept me on the straight and narrow. They taught me along time ago how to tell the difference btween movies and real life.  Parents these days need to get a clue(I'm not attacking all parents because there are still plenty of parents out there that know what they are doing.).

[Future Blob]

 I agree, my mother always said "You shouldn't watch that violent stuff, it will make you mean." I'm not mean, I'm not violent (they haven't found the bodies yet, right?)
 
Seriously, I think if a parent can instill a good layer of common sense and the ablility to tell reality from fantasy in a kid, it shouldn't matter (to an extent; there are limits of course regarding movies and the age of the child) what the kid sees.

on a side note, wouldn't "Tits and Guts" be a great name for a trashy movie?

[Jay O'Connor]

Close...



http://us.imdb.com/Title?0304829">Tits and Asphault


http://us.imdb.com/Title?0077244">Blood and Guts


http://us.imdb.com/Title?0290612">Zipper And Tits

[Chadzilla]

I'm surprised some enterprising young soul has not used the title

BLOOD, BREASTS, AND BEASTS! - The Ultimate B-Movie!

[J.R.]

I meant nudity.

[john]

As far as I know, the entire ratings system and compliance with it is completely voluntary. I remember seeing a news story on how theaters aren't legally required to keep kids out of R-rated movies. Most do, but there's no law that says they have to. X is another matter.

>NC-17 was also created in the 80's to combat the stigma of the X-rating/porno
>connection. It didn't work.

 That's because right after creating the NC-17 rating, the MPAA turned around and told people it meant the same as X, it just wouldn't be used on porn.

[Vermin Boy]

Yeah, you don't HAVE to get your film rated, but most major theaters refuse to play unrated material, since "unrated" has become all but synonymous with "NC-17." And I think it is an actual law that theater owners have to keep unaccompanied kids out of R-rated movies, but the law's only been around for a year or two.

Also, as an aside, I think the technical reason they replaced X with NC-17 was that, when they originally made all the ratings, they copyrighted all of them except X. This meant that, while several "respectable" pictures got the X ("Midnight Cowboy," "A Clockwork Orange"), every porn producer was free to put an X rating on their movies as they pleased, thus damaging what credibilty they had. They created NC-17 to rectify this, but it was still too closely identified with X, which was still identified with porn.

[Chadzilla]

I still think that a modified R-17 rating would work best.  It would be the same as a an R rating, but it would let people know the movie is a tad more graphic or saltier than the usual R rated movie.

As I mentioned before, and a few others have guessed, most studios and theater/video chains flat out refuse to stock any movies that carry an ADULTS ONLY flag.