A Shock Till You Drop reader dropped us a line from overseas directing us to a blog post he penned which is generating some buzz in Japan. It appears the censorship board there has sunk its mitts into Maniac, altering the picture at times around the scenes of graphic violence.
Here is the blogger’s account:
EIRIN (Japan’s film rating and censorship organization – much like America’s MPAA) and Comstock Group, Japanese distributor of “Maniac”, censored several gore scenes to make it 15+ rating – so that high school students could see it. It would be like making an R-rated or NC-17-rated film in the US a PG-13 film. Some scenes were blurred out, some were darkened. I can’t provide you the evidence of these details because it’s still playing in theatres – and to give you proof, I would have to record it at the theatre.
You can read the full blog entry, in English, here. The piece is obviously trying to draw the attention of the filmmakers who may, or may not, know what is happening to their films over there and try to drum up some sort of rallying cry against the censorship board there. Definitely give it a read. The tampering done to Maniac is certainly unfortunate.
The film opens here in the U.S. uncut on June 21st.
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