Horror, violence, blood: these feature films are still banned in Germany for the protection of minors
Created: 03/13/2022, 08:30
The protection of minors is particularly interested in horror and zombie films © PantherMedia / lighthouse
Why are films still banned in Germany today?
A look into the chaotic turmoil of our media youth protection
Film and TV - Just this week, a murmur went through the German film fan community: "Hostel 2" is no longer confiscated!
That's right: a film that has been freely available in stores in the rest of the world for 15 years could also be available in Germany in the future – in an uncut form for the first time.
Recently, such earthquakes have increased: "Evil Dead" (over 40 years old), "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (almost 50 years old) and "Dawn of the Dead" (44 years old) were removed from the notorious list of confiscated films deleted and can be freely sold again for the first time in decades.
Germany is one of the last countries in Europe where feature films can still be indexed (indexed) or even confiscated and thus subject to a sales ban.
If a film ends up in that notorious media 'poison cupboard', it is very difficult and associated with high bureaucratic hurdles to rehabilitate it.
Some films will probably stay on that list forever.
How does it happen and which films can get it?
What the FSK approvals really mean
The German protection of minors is far more complicated than it first appears.
For cinema and home media, the well-known FSK, which can release a film from 0 to 18 years, applies.
It gets complicated when you consider that different regulations apply to cinema than to DVD;
another institution is responsible for television and an FSK 18 is actually only the third highest rating that films can receive in this country.
But first things first: Films that receive an FSK rating are protected from indexing and bans.
If a horror or action film is too sensitive for the FSK due to the violence shown, i.e. if the FSK suspects that it may endanger young people, it will refuse release.
(FSK 18 films that are not approved for young people from the outset may not be classified as harmful to young people in Germany - strange!)
The next higher instance above the FSK is the so-called 'leading organization of the film industry' (SPIO for short), which takes on the rejected films and gives them a light or heavy seal.
That means the films don't have the FSK logo, but the imprint SPIO/JK.
They may initially continue to be sold everywhere, but can be indexed at any time by the Federal Inspection Office for Media Harmful to Young Persons (BPjM).
From then on, they may only be sold 'under the counter' and no longer be publicly displayed.
Indexed films can also be confiscated, i.e. completely banned from sale.
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The logical consequence of this is usually that the rental company produces cut versions that can be freely sold again with the FSK seal.
The rules on TV
It gets even more confusing with regard to the regulations in German free TV.
It is not the FSK that is responsible here, but the FSF (Voluntary Self-Regulation Television).
Although this is based on the releases of the FSK, it can override it and classify the films differently.
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that since 1952 we have been able to classify TV films as 'not holiday-free'.
This means that they may not be broadcast on Christian holidays such as Easter or Christmas.
The horror film series Saw, for example, has been branded this way, as have the odd exorcism film, The Terminator, and even The Life of Brian.
Z for censorship: zombie films don't have an easy time in Germany © PM
Extra rules for the cinema
The FSK approvals in cinemas are a little less strict than for home media, since the FSK assumes that mandatory age checks are carried out in cinemas.
Films that are classified as harmful to young people may also receive an FSK 18 release here.
The bizarre thing about it is that those films for home cinema release then have to be re-examined under stricter conditions and sometimes no longer receive approval.
This is what happened, for example, with the action film "Crank 2" or the zombie film "Planet Terror": uncut in the cinema with FSK 18, but only cut on DVD with the same approval.
(And indexed uncut.)
Where does the understanding of the FSK end?
At least this aspect is less complex in Germany than in other countries.
With us, the classic violence is still responsible for a large part of the age ratings.
In the USA, for example, elements such as swear words, drug use or nudity are heavily factored into the criteria.
Violence is less of a problem there.
And in England, headbutts, horse falls, or brandishing knives or throwing stars (only brandishing, mind you - not stabbing) result in higher clearances or must be removed.
There are also extreme cases, such as in the film "Ninja Assassin", where a woman driving a car was cut out in the Singapore version, since this act was forbidden for Muslim women (at the time).
The gaps in the system
The practice of indexed/confiscated films can be described as a relic of the 1980s.
More films were never edited in Germany than in that decade.
Since then, the situation has eased very slowly.
Fewer and fewer films are being rejected by the FSK - also a product of changing viewing habits.
Series like “Spartacus” or “The Walking Dead” or horror films like “Halloween Kills” brought violence to the mainstream that would have been unthinkable in the German media landscape just a few decades ago.
Modern streaming services such as Netflix are accelerating this liberal development, as the films on that platform do not have to be FSK-tested.
Indexed films can sometimes be streamed there without any problems.
Jason and his Friday the 13th series have been a thorn in our regulators' side for decades © PM/Nomadsoul1
Locked up but not forgotten
Some of the most popular films that languish in the poison closet of banned feature films and may never be released include the zombie comedy Braindead by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, 1981's Halloween 2, various Friday the 13th part from the 1980s, the French horror film “Inside” from 2007 and the French zombie film “The Horde” – which is freely available in France, its country of origin, with a rating for ages 12 and over.
(There is a certain bias towards horror films on the banned list.)
Since a confiscation is accompanied by a court order, a "release" of those films must also be fought for in court, which is costly and time-consuming.
If no label takes the trouble to do so, the films mentioned will remain on this banned list until the end of time.
Indexing, on the other hand, expires automatically after 25 years unless it is extended by the BPjM.
How other countries benefit from Germany's bans
Decades of restrictive release policy in Germany led to a new sales market for surrounding countries.
Films indexed by us are usually only imported from Austria or England at a significant surcharge.
Horror or action films, which are available abroad at every petrol station for little money, are traded here for sometimes ten times as much.
B or C films, which do not attract any great attention abroad due to their poor quality, experience real hype in Germany simply because of the fact that they have been confiscated.
The allure of the forbidden is still a selling point.
Anyone who would like to delve deeper into the escalating issue of youth protection and censorship in our entertainment media can take a look at the website www.schnittberichte.com.
by Philip Heggmair
