12 responses
I saw the Killer inside me a few weeks ago and was disgusted by it, I think Winterbottom has gone a little too far with this film. Do you think there should be stronger censorship laws? should this have only received an MA 15+ rating in Aus?
Hi Clare, thanks for your comment.

You may want to have a look at the Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games (the Guidelines) available at www.classification.gov.au.

The Guidelines are made under the National Classification Code (the Code), which is contained in the Commonwealth Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 (The Act). The Commonwealth makes the classification decisions, and the States and Territories enforce them.

The Act requires films to be classified before they are released or advertised. Classification decisions are made by the Classification Board.

The Act names the classification categories for films and the Code describes them. The relevant categories here are: M, MA 15+ and R 18+ (which applies to films only).

Under the Act, the standards of morality accepted by reasonable adults, the artistic merit of the film, the general character of the film and the audience to whom the film is to be presented must be taken into account in classifying films.

Under the Code, classification decisions are to give effect to the principles that adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want, minors should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them, everyone should be protected from exposure to unsolicited material that they find offensive and the need to take account of community concerns about depictions that condone or incite violence, particularly sexual violence.

The Act requires the Classification Board to provide consumer advice about the content of films it classifies, to assist consumers to make informed choices in regards to the films they wish to see.

There are three ‘essential principles’ which underlie the use of the Guidelines:
• the importance of context – to see whether the classifiable element is justified by the story-line or themes.

• assessing impact - requires considering the treatment of individual classifiable elements, their cumulative effect, the purpose and tone of a sequence. Eg-

 moderate - M
 strong - MA 15+
 high - R 18+
 very high - RC

The Impact may be considered higher where a scene:
• contains greater detail, including the use of close-ups and slow motion
• uses accentuation techniques, such as lighting, perspective and resolution
• uses special effects, such as lighting and sound, resolution, colour, size of image, characterisation and tone
• is prolonged
• is repeated frequently
• is realistic, rather than stylised

The impact however may be lessened where reference to a classifiable element is verbal rather than visual. Some visual impacts have less impact than others: for example, an incidental depiction may have less impact than a direct one.

The classifiable elements
The six classifiable elements in a film are themes, violence, sex, language, drug use and Nudity.

The classification takes account of the context and impact of each of these elements, including their frequency and intensity, and their cumulative effect. It also takes account of the purpose and tone of a sequence, and how material is treated.

Film Classifications

So, for a film to be classified as M - MATURE (not recommended for persons under 15 years of age);

Impact test

The impact of the classifiable elements for material classified M should be no higher than moderate.

Classifiable elements

• The treatment of themes may have a moderate sense of threat or menace, if justified by context.
• Moderate violence is permitted, if justified by context. Sexual violence should be very limited and justified by context.
• Sexual activity should be discreetly implied, if justified by context.
• Coarse language may be used. Aggressive or strong coarse language should be infrequent and justified by context.
• Drug use should be justified by context.
• Nudity should be justified by context.

For a film to be classified as MA 15+ - MATURE ACCOMPANIED (a legally restricted category that is considered unsuitable for persons under 15 years of age);

Impact test

• The impact of material classified MA 15+ should be no higher than strong.

Classifiable elements

• The treatment of strong themes should be justified by context.

• Violence should be justified by context. Sexual violence may be implied, if justified by context.
• Sexual activity may be implied.
• Strong coarse language may be used. Aggressive or very strong coarse language should be infrequent.
• Drug use should be justified by context.
• Nudity should be justified by context.

For a film to be rated R 18+ - RESTRICTED (legally restricted to adults. Some material classified R 18+ may be offensive to sections of the adult community);

Impact Test
• The impact of material classified R 18+ should not exceed high.

Classifiable elements:
• There are virtually no restrictions on the treatment of themes.
• Violence is permitted. Sexual violence may be implied, if justified by context.
• Sexual activity may be realistically simulated.
• There are virtually no restrictions on language.
• Drug use is permitted.
• Nudity is permitted.

The Killer Inside Me has been given a MA 15+ rating by the Classification Board of Australia. The consumer rating advice, as necessitated by the Act, accompanies the rating as "Strong violence, sexualised violence and sex scenes"

To answer your question, and in relation to the above, I consider the impact of material depicted in The Killer Inside Me to be higher than strong. I don’t consider the violence to be justified by the context of the film.

I consider the impact to be higher as the notorious scene of violence contains great detail, including the use of close-ups, use of accentuation techniques (such as lighting), use of special effects (such as lighting and sound), is prolonged, is repeated frequently and is realistic, rather than stylised.

I understand that a counter-argument could assert that the impact may be lessened where reference to the classifiable element, the violence in question, is aural rather than visual, specifically, we do not see the punches directly connect with the character, however we do see the immediate aftermath – the damage as the result of the physcial assault in increasingly graphic detail.

Always remember that you can make a complaint about a classification decision by writing to the Classification Board or the Classification Review Board:

By Post: Locked Bag 3 Haymarket, New South Wales, 1240
By Fax: (02) 9289 7101
By Email: enquiries@classification.gov.au

What's the most messed up movie you have ever seen? Ichi the killer? tetzueo?
The Holiday with Kate Winslet and Camereon Diaz was the most messed up movie that I have ever sat through.....urgh.....
Top ten sickest films I've ever seen!

10. Salo - 4/5
9. Ken Park - 2/5
8. Visitor Q - 5/5
7.Men Behind the sun - 2/5
6. Begotten - 3/5
5. Schramm - 2/5
4. Unspeakable - 1/5
3. Aftermath - 3/5
2. Guinea pig 2: The Flower of flesh and blood - 4/5
1. August Undergrounds Mordum - 5/5 (because its the most disgusting thing you will ever watch, it succeeded in this in every way)

Review August Underground! that would be sick! I will youtube the trailers for those films!
<3 AU series! I agree, you should have themed shows every now and then!
Sorry to break it to you, Mordum is banned over here(for obvious resons). I saw it in Japan last year and couldn't possibly review it, same goes with 90% of the list.
Good suggestion Sarah - we have a "Girl Who Has/Does Various Stuff" show on October the first.

We're also keen to hear your suggestions as well as any criticisms you might have of Luke.

Beneath hill 60, was it really the set of Wolverine?

Any Links to Tegan the vegan?

Any other Australian war films you can recommend?

Ps: Lovin the show

Wolverine was an Australian film??
Why was this episode so short?