Banned Film Posters

I watched an old interview of one of my favourite actresses Eva Green about the film Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, the sequel of Sin City. I have not watched Sin City 2 in a while so I tracked down a copy on the internet for later viewing and I will review it.

Why I’m posting this piece was because one of the promotional posters for the film was banned featuring Eva Green the reason the image was deemed too risky by bosses of the Motion Picture Association for America. It was because of inappropriate and rejected it for nudity or, more specifically, “curve of under breast and dark nipple/areola circle visible through sheer gown”.

To be honest I seen the both pictures (see accompanying photo) there is really little difference between the two. They are still both incredibly and sexy the banned one may have the edge but still I have both saved. Still, it's always nice to see Eva Green naked or semi-naked. That's something that never gets old.

It led me to look into other film/movie posters that have run into trouble with the censors … While most of the posters on this list fall into two categories — too much sex or too much violence — the banning of these posters was more political than anything.

Silent Night, Deadly Night

Silent Night, Deadly Night was a 1984 horror movie that featured psychotic, axe-wielding Santa Clause terrorizing innocent victims. The film was scheduled to be released right before Christmas and parents were outraged. After mass protests outside of theatres, all the ads were pulled six days after the movie was released. Shortly after, the movie itself was yanked. It survived the years, though, gaining a cult following and spawning four sequels. I can see why it was banned in the end if you believe Santa comes down your chimney why not with a bloodied axe.

I Spit On Your Grave

This 2010 film is already disturbing enough. It is about a woman who brutally seeks revenge on a group of men who rape her and leave her for dead. You can see why she was out for revenge. The poster combines a half-naked butt with a bloody knife, a losing combination for the censor. They considered it a sexualisation of rape victims and banned the poster.

A new poster was made, and the artwork for the sequel in 2013 was much tamer.

The Rules of Attraction

Stuffed animals having sex... now that’s how you totally ruin someone’s childhood and scar him or her emotionally in the process. I can only imagine parents having to explain this poster to their kids at the Cineplex. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if hordes of parents were the ones who got this banned for putting them in such a ridiculously awkward situation.

This poster for the use of children’s toys – to put it mildly – in a poster that wasn’t meant for children. Surprisingly, the poster for Rules of Attraction was not banned in the UK or Canada. I guess having a poster that looks like a Toy Story spin-off with the exception of toys trying out the Kama Sutra isn't really an "across the board" problem.

The Outlaw 

The 1943 Howard Hughes film, The Outlaw, was blocked from being released because censors thought it featured too many shots of actress Jane Russell‘s cleavage. So what did Hughes do? He released this very controversial poster to help create audience interest and demand. Guess what? It worked! The poster is barely PG rated by today’s standards, but in the conservative 1940’s it was very risky. The poster was banned, but the film was released.

A miff surrounding the film was that Hughes employed his engineering skills to design a new-cantilevered underwire bra to emphasize her figure. True he did but Russell later revealed she used her own bra stuffing it with tissues.