The final film to feature Cindy Campbell and Brenda Weeks, Scary Movie 4 is a parody. The studio tried to defend its exposure to children, as well, claiming that the dark black and grey color scheme was unlikely to attract the attention of children. Rate 5 stars Rate 4 stars Rate 3 stars Rate 2 stars Rate 1 star. deemed the computer-generated creation a "fantasy image" and too "surreal" to resemble any realistic violence. In the case of Final Destination 5, Warner Bros. responded by stating that the imagery was meant to " accurately depict the content of the film without causing fear or distress," a balance that studios probably struggle with every time they need to pique interest about a violent horror movie. These were prominently displayed in the London Underground, as well as on the sides of buses in plain public view, exposing the film and its accompanying poster to a wider audience. Thirteen people complained to the group about the poster, three of which stated that the image upset their children who were aged one to three years old. The advertisements weren't placed in discreet locations, either. The ASA claimed that the poster was especially upsetting to children, a group that the watchdog often points to in order to justify its censorship choices. Why Final Destination 5's Poster Was Banned In addition, the poster for The Last Exorcism, which showed a bloodied girl bent over backwards, an arguably more disturbing image than the skull in Final Destination 5, was removed because it apparently resembled a sexual assault. The poster for Wanted, an R-rated comic book adaptation, was banned over fears that it would encourage gun violence. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Kate, 10 Cloverfield Lane) takes on the grim reaper in the horror franchises third film. The poster crackdown does not mark the first and only time that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the private British watchdog entity who oversees activity in this area, has intervened in film distribution. Related: Final Destination's Script Was Originally Much Darker However, compared to something like the poster for Saw II, which was banned for its severed fingers, or Teeth, which disturbed onlookers for clearly pointing out that the movie is about female genitalia with teeth, the uproar over Final Destination 5 may come as a surprise. The skull is front and center, an eerie sight to look at when on a morning commute, to be sure. Despite this, Final Destination 5 still presents one of the less explicit images to cause a stir. Movie posters, even for those outside the horror genre, have had a long history of being removed from display due to controversial reasons.
earlier this year.The poster for Final Destination 5was perhaps the series' most stylish, but it was banned in the United Kingdom due to complaints from individuals who said that it upset their children. The image, although devoid of any blood or gore, depicts steel rods breaking into a human skull to foreshadow the film's bridge collapse catastrophe, as well as to advertise the grisly accidents that are the centerpiece of the Final Destinationmovies. The movie took more than $8 million at the box office in the U.K. The ban won’t affect box office as it is after the theatrical rollout. argued that the skull was a “fantasy image” and the poster “accurately reflected the content of the film in an appropriate manner without causing excessive fear or distress.”ĭespite WB’s protestations, ASA said the ad must not appear again in its original form.
Three people who complained claimed that their young children had become visibly upset when they saw the ad on a bus.ĪSA said in its ruling that it “considered the image was likely to catch the attention of children, especially because it was shown on a poster on the Underground, where it was an untargeted medium.”īecause very young children might view the ad depicting violence, “it was likely to cause fear and undue distress to children,” ASA said. The campaign ran in August this year ahead of its August 26 rollout and the ASA received 13 complaints that the poster and it’s tag line “It’s not if, It’s when Final Destination 5” was distressing and unsuitable for children to see.