MovieChat Forums > Vampire Circus (1972) Discussion > No Way Was This Rated PG in the States!

No Way Was This Rated PG in the States!

posted 13 years ago by curtis-8
10 replies | jump to latest

Was it? I've just watched it on cable TV and the first half hour has a lot of nudity for a PG film! Surely the US version was cut--but the IMDB doesn't mention it.

[–] SCAREORAMA 13 years ago

Yes, the US was cut, same with TWINS OF EVIL and HANDS OF THE RIPPER. Nudity and violence considerably toned down for the PG cert.

Looks like the Synapse DVD releases will all be the uncut prints. As they should be. After all, it is 2010!!!

[–] preppy-3 13 years ago

Yes--"Vampire Circus" was cut to get a PG and "Hands of the Ripper" to get an R but "Twins of Evil" was released here uncut with an R rating. BTW--I have the uncut "Hands" and it would easily get by with an R today. The uncut "Vampire" though might get an NC-17! The body count is high and you see children killed which is still taboo in horror films.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] southbase 12 years ago

Heh, mean little sucker, isn't it? Hammer had this extra bit of skill mixing morality with excessive violence that really brought out the dark edges of its product stopping just short of outright cynicism or pure exploitation. Even if the U.S. version tried cutting the edges off this one (I even think a lot of the remaining gore sound effects were mixed way down when they weren't removed entirely) it has an exceptionally imagistic yet lurid undercurrent that went way beyond even THE VAMPIRE LOVERS or SCARS OF DRACULA (the latter a film that I don't think has gotten its equal due until the past few years). Yet I remember CIRCUS' original release worked very normally as a children's matinee during that time and the kids had no problem dealing with it, cheering loudly at the end as vampires Mitterhaus and Emil got their comeuppance.

I don't know the production history of this film much except they reportedly had to cut shooting short. Based on the footage I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than a purely technical/financial issue...

[–] preppy-3 10 years ago

I know I'm responding to this latebut I'm guessing you might still be interersted.

First off I agree that "Scars of Dracula" is good...and extreme. However I find "The Vampire Lovers" boring. There's next to no violence...just topless women. I saw it at a drive-in at the ahe of 8 and was bored silly:)

As for "Circus"--it WAS shut down. They gave the director three weeks to film it. He got most of it done but some key sequences weren't filmed. Hammer (in bad financial distress at the time) refused to give him extra time so he had to piece together what he could. That does explain the gaps in the plot. Still I love this movie! I remember in the UK they were horrified by it in 1972...especially the part with the kids being killed.

[–] brefane 9 years ago

Have you ever heard of or seen Blood and Lace (1970) described in the Psychotronic Encyclopedia as the sickest movie to ever garner a PG rating.

[–] GeoSlv 8 years ago

Correct that the US was PG because it was edited. I have a 20th C.Fox TV recording. What I want confirmation of is the US length. The recording is 1:23.
This is not a PAL conversion so it's the real length.
I was looking at the 87m description. Now I also see it says 84 min at the top.
Does anyone else think it's good to have an edited version around for the sake of young people?

[–] heelmaster2000 8 years ago

I have no idea why or even how it still has a PG rating.

[–] GeoSlv 8 years ago

Check Internet Archive for an edited copy. You can't just lose your minds and show anything to anyone. Regular TV is still and always has been edited.

[–] Tabbycat (748) 5 years ago

Vampire Circus was indeed released in the US in 1972 with a PG rating.
Having seen only the uncut version, I cannot imagine how this was even possible.
With all the gore and nudity removed, what would be left?

Wanted to see this since 1975.
Very glad I didn’t have to endure a butchered version.

Seems silly today, but in the early 70’s horror was thought to be mostly for kids, so a PG was mandatory. This thinking continued until Alien broke box-office records with an “R”. By the 80’s, horror was dominated by “R” and even unrated releases, possibly because it became much easier for youngsters to see restricted flicks in the age of video.