The Classifiers discussed Thriller: A Cruel Picture, a Swedish crime drama, from 1973, in which a woman is forced into prostitution and later seeks violent revenge against her abusers
The film was previously submitted to the BBFC, in a pre-cut version, for cinema release in 1974 and found unsuitable for classification. It was resubmitted in 1975 203 following a change in BBFC leadership 203 and classified X in 1976
after further cuts were made to scenes of violence and sexual violence. It has not previously been classified for home video release
The film has now been submitted for a video rating, in its original uncut version.
The Classifiers focused in particular on two scenes of sexual violence, which depict the protagonist participating in sex work with male and female clients while under the control of a pimp who has forcibly addicted her to heroin. The
scenes include explicit images of unsimulated masturbation, vaginal and anal penetration, and ejaculation.
The BBFC supports adults' right to choose their own entertainment as long as it remains within the law and is not
potentially harmful. However, where a film or video raises issues or concerns that cannot be addressed by classification at a particular category, we may require cuts or other changes as a condition of classification.
Our
Classification Guidelines state that such cuts may be required to portrayals of sexual violence that make rape, other non-consensual sexually violent behaviour or sadistic violence look appealing.
The Classifiers noted that the
volume and detail of the real sexual activity in Thriller: A Cruel Picture far exceeds previous, and very rare, precedents for unsimulated (or apparently unsimulated) sexual activity during scenes of sexual violence in films classified by the BBFC. They
unanimously agreed that the nature and quantity of the explicit and unsimulated images, in the context of scenes of sexual violence, is such that their effect is to eroticise rape in a manner that poses a risk of harm to viewers under the Video
Recordings Act 1984.
The Classifiers determined that the scenes breached the BBFC's Guidelines and policy on depictions of sexual violence, and that cuts were therefore required to remove all explicit imagery in order to make the
film suitable for classification at 18.
