JUST FOR DISCUSSION'S SAKE....

[alandhopewell]

     What, in your opinion, do nudity and excessive violence / gore bring to a film?

[Umaril Has Returned]

Well, nudity is self explanatory..I remember seeing Stella Stevens in the shower scene from Monster In The Closet and went away seeing at least two good reasons I liked the fillm as well as realizing that at her age, Stevens still had a great future in front of her, 

The other reasons? I'll have to think, I'll get back to ya' on that one 

[Jitters]

It all depends on the context.  In some (most?) cases it could just be titillation and exploitation.  In some cases nudity could convey a sense of vulnerability, eroticism, sensuality/sexuality.  Excessive gore could bring up issues of the horrors of war, mankind's evil to one another, a jaded society, etc.  It depends...

[Jack]

Violence - well I loved those Bruce Lee movies, just because it was incredible that a human being could do those things.  Other than that though, with fistfights or martial arts stuff, I've seen so much of it and it's so fake most of the time, they even add in CGI to make it ridiculously fake, it bores me.  Excessively violent stuff or violence for the sake of violence, like torture porn, turns me off completely.  In war movies and that sort of thing I don't really even think of it as being violent because it's just special effects and rarely is it done in any sort of an effective manner.

Gore - once in a great while it can add to a movie.  For instance with Wrong Turn where the inbred mutant cannibal hillbilly's had a young girl on their kitchen table with her leg cut off.  It was realistically done and it added some impact to that scene.  99% of the time though it's so overdone and/or unrealistic it's comical, and it's obviously just makeup;  I barely even pay attention to it.  I've seen gory movies and people have asked me "What did you think of that one scene where..." and I couldn't remember it because it didn't even register.

Nudity - nudity is good.  I support the nudity.   

[Leah]

Three words: Boner, Action, Shock.

That's pretty much it with guys. With gals, I dunno about that.

[Chainsawmidget]

In some cases, they're the only reasons to watch a movie. 

[VenomX73]

In some cases, they're the only reasons to watch a movie. 

Well said. I agree 100%

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Frankly I'm turned off of Tarantino for the excess violence. His films are great but it can be way way too much.

   What gets me more than nudity or violence is excess disturbingness... Like rape or torture for no reason.   

-Ed

[Allhallowsday]

In some cases, they're the only reasons to watch a movie. 

Well said. I agree 100%

This was certainly true in the days of DAWN OF THE DEAD or really even TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (which rises head and shoulders above lame bloodier imitations; there's almost no gore at all in TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE).  These films had content and context, and in the case of DAWN OF THE DEAD, many definitely went to see a guy's guts ripped out. 
However, as Jack said earlier, "torture porn" is a turn off. 

[Bushma]

Violence & Gore.

Saw is one on my favorite movies.  It's a perfect example of how you can start to show something then cut away and let the viewer simply be horrified by what they are imagining in their head.
HTTP://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bmB4RhsYgQ

The first saw movie contained the very little gore, which IMO is the right amount.  For most films you don't need the gore to make a point and Saw did that wonderfully.  The rest of the saw movies just became torture porn and I'm not into that.

Saving Private Ryan and a fair amount of gore from the Omaha Beach scene, and I will say that it was necessary to show the hell that these men went through.  Could the movie have gotten along with it?  Perhaps, but would have have instantly cared for the characters as much?  I don't think so.
HTTP://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nax7YiPDfI

Nudity

I have a hard time finding examples where "If she wasn't naked there the film would be meaning less."  There are lots of examples where it's not needed at all.

One example was Two-Headed Shark Attack.  The two half naked girls making out with each other took what I would have considered to be a fun family friendly (ok at least my family) movie and made it something the kids can't really watch.  I still wish they had that option with DVDs where you could set custom maturity levels.  Like I could set a PG-13 level to watch with my kids and the film would skip the scene with the girls or leave it as R and watch it with adults.

[Umaril Has Returned]

In some cases, they're the only reasons to watch a movie. 

Well said. I agree 100%

This was certainly true in the days of DAWN OF THE DEAD or really even TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (which rises head and shoulders above lame bloodier imitations; there's almost no gore at all in TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE).  These films had content and context, and in the case of DAWN OF THE DEAD, many definitely went to see a guy's guts ripped out. 
However, as Jack said earlier, "torture porn" is a turn off. 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre rises "head and shoulders" above the others?  I didn't know anyone had any of those parts left after they met Leatherface.

[tracy]

I don't mind some violence if it makes sense and furthers the story....as in The Godfather films or Lord of the Rings or such. But excessive gore and pointless violence puts me off. As for nudity....well,call me old fashioned but come on! We generally know what a  nude body looks like so why stick it in our faces? And I say that if you're using it to draw viewers then do a rewrite and get some real plot.

[claws]

I really don't mind either. Here in Europe nudity is no big deal, though there might be the rare instance where I find pointless violence a bit, well, pointless.
For example, I love the movie Action Jackson but in the opening a scared out of her mind woman (Mary Ellen Trainor) is brutally sucker punched in the head resulting in instant death by broken neck. That scene always irks me but I still love the movie.

[claws]

One example was Two-Headed Shark Attack.  The two half naked girls making out with each other took what I would have considered to be a fun family friendly (ok at least my family) movie and made it something the kids can't really watch.  I still wish they had that option with DVDs where you could set custom maturity levels.  Like I could set a PG-13 level to watch with my kids and the film would skip the scene with the girls or leave it as R and watch it with adults.

Mind boggling in my opinion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcUyZMRG7ng

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

In my book, One movie thats gorgeous horror with no violence is Shadow of the Vampire
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189998/