I was looking around at various Japanese editions, and I noticed something odd about the running time of the forthcoming Blu-ray of Scary Movie 2 (2001) in Japan. The film should run 83 minutes, but the Japanese versions seem to run 75 minutes. As far as I can tell, this is because of some offensive content involving the developmentally disabled. This is not new to the Blu-ray, as the original Japanese DVD is also cut in the same way, and Japanese Wikipedia indicates the theatrical release was delayed to make the cuts.
Can anyone shed any light on this? I find this type of censorship extremely perplexing, and I would like to know more about it. Do any other Japanese releases suffer from this type of censorship?
Seems the entire plot and character that Chris Elliot plays (character with a deformed left hand) was completely removed, including his name in the credit. Some scenes from "Scary Movie 1" was reinserted to "2" to increase the runtime as well.
It seems Japan has a real distaste for Chris Elliott unfortunately.
In seriousness,
This is a self-imposed censorship issue and not a government censorship issue. After WWII left many people maimed, burned, scarred, deformed, or handicapped physically, it became very taboo to physically handicapped people in negative or comical views in Japan.
Interesting. Thanks for the info. For whatever reason, it appears that they still credit him as being in the film:
Quote:
Originally Posted by WHV Japan
みんな大好き『最終絶叫計画』（00）のキャラクターたちが、オリジナル版以上に不敬な笑いで怖がらせる、 爆笑間違いなしの続編に帰ってきた！ マーロン・ウェイアンズ（『最終絶叫計画』、『レクイエム・フォー・ ドリーム』（00））、ショーン・ウェイアンズ（『最終絶叫計画』、『ポップ・ガン』（95・未））、そし てアンナ・ファリス（『最終絶叫計画』）が珠玉のキャストを率いて、ハリウッド史上最も恐ろしい映画と非難 ごうごうの、ポップカルチャーを完全パロディ化した、究極のお楽しみ映画へと皆様をお連れする！ さらに、 レジーナ・ホール（『最終絶叫計画』、『ワン・オン・ワン ファイナル・ゲーム』（00・未））、クリスト ファー・ケネディ・マスターソン（ＴＶシリーズ「マルコム in the Middle」（00～06）、トーリ・スペリング（ＴＶシリーズ「ビバリーヒルズ高校白書」（90～00 ）、そしてティム・カリー（『チャーリーズ・エンジェル』（00））、クリス・エリオット（『ナッティ・プロフェッサー２／クランプ家の面々』（00））、ジェイムズ・ウッズ（『エニイ・ギブン・ サンデー』（99））まで出演！ ちっとも怖くない、何でもありの、今までにないコメディヒット作をぜひご 笑覧あれ！
Quote:
Originally Posted by WHV Japan
Characters who love "Scary Movie" (00) is, scare in profane laughter in the original version or more, came back to the sequel without laughter mistake everyone! Anna Faris Marlon Wayans ("Scary Movie," "Requiem for a Dream" (00)), Shawn Wayans ("Scary Movie", "Pop Gun" (95 and intact)) and, ("Scary Movie") is leading the cast of the gem, to take you everybody was full parody of the blame Gogo and the most terrible movie Hollywood history, pop culture, to the movie enjoy the ultimate! In addition, Regina Hall ("Scary Movie," "One On One Final Game" (00 and intact)), Christopher Kennedy Masterson (TV series "Malcolm in the Middle" (00-06), (TV series "Beverly Hills 90210" and (90-00), Tim Curry ("Charlie's Angels" (00)), "surface of Nutty Professor 2 / clamp house people" (Chris Elliott Tori Spelling (00) and your Shoran any means not scared at all appearance!), James Woods ("Any Given Sunday" (99) to), of anything goes, the comedy hit ever!
Again, it's a company decision.
"Freaks" was made in 1932, and released the same year in Japan, pre-WWII. And a DVD release of a movie made 80 years ago doesn't have the same issues as a movie with the same content made currently.
This cut of the film omits the character of Hanson completely. Note, however, that he still appears on the cover (and also on the menu image of this Blu-ray) parodying Hannibal Lecter. Additionally, Chris Elliott's name is mentioned in Japanese on the back cover, and he is listed in the English film credits on the back cover.
When Cindy first arrives at the mansion and is startled by Hanson, the camera is on Cindy, and you can hear them both scream before there is a fade to black.
After this point, I began spot-checking.
Obviously, the other characters now just seem to have shown up at the mansion.
During the dinner scene, there is a jarring cut before Hanson arrives.
The Charlie's Angels parody cuts before Hanson arrives.
The parody of Hannibal is missing entirely, leaving a big mystery as to why Shorty shows up at the end appearing to have had the top of his skull being cut off (and subsequently put back on).
The end is another jarring cut, where we can see Cindy and Buddy approaching the vendor's cart, and here we actually manage to see part of the back of Hanson's head, but then the film cuts to Shorty and the demon with a paper bag over her head in the car, and the film ends.
Chris Elliott is not credited in this version of the film.
Altogether, thirteen minutes have been cut from the film.
The extras, which otherwise largely duplicate the Lionsgate US BD, have also been edited to remove any mention of Hanson or Chris Elliott. The deleted and extended scenes have Japanese title cards, as well as optional Japanese audio and subtitles, and run only 37:44. I was surprised to see that the deleted scene where Alex accidentally
[Show spoiler]waxes off her labia and clitoris
was left uncensored.
It's a shame, given that there was so much deleted material, that the Japanese exhibitor didn't simply use some of the deleted footage and one of the alternate endings to pad out the film a bit. It seems, however, that previous versions of the film have run 74-75 minutes, so it would seem that WB have further cut the film to 69 minutes for this Blu-ray (and DVD) release. Perhaps further cutting was done to remove incoherent material, or perhaps WB took a lazier route and just cut whole sections out?
BDInfo scan:
Code:
Total Video
Title Codec Length Movie Size Disc Size Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track Secondary Audio Track
----- ------ ------- -------------- -------------- ------- ------- ------------------ ---------------------
00011.MPLS AVC 1:09:24 16,514,918,400 20,532,347,670 31.73 25.93 DTS-HD Master 5.1 2173Kbps (48kHz/16-bit)
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Scary Movie 2 -- Severely cut in Japan?
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