Advertisement

‘Evil Dead’ remake rated NC-17 by MPAA, will be re-cut for an R rating, says director

Movie remakes are scary things – especially for fans of the original property. But it’s sounding like fans of Sam Raimi’s cult horror movie “The Evil Dead” don’t have too much to worry about with director Fede Alvarez’s upcoming re-imagining of “Evil Dead.”

For one, the remake about a group of horny college kids retiring to a cursed cabin in the woods for the weekend is being produced by original director Sam Raimi and longtime star of the series Bruce Campbell. Their involvement alone should guarantee some level of faithfulness to the original material (heck, the two actually remade the 1982 original themselves with the 1987 sequel/reboot "Evil Dead II"). But on top of the input from the horror franchise’s originators, another recent tidbit about “Evil Dead” should assuage any fan fears that this is going to be some watered down, PG-13 remake effort from Hollywood.

Director Alvarez recently answered a fan query about the film’s rating on Twitter, revealing that the original cut of “Evil Dead” had been rated NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Rating Administration, and that they have had to cut material out to be reclassified as an R-rated film.

The harsh initial rating is not really surprising given the gory and somewhat stomach-churning content glimpsed in the red band trailer for “Evil Dead,” but a strict rating like that simply wouldn’t fly for a mainstream Hollywood release. In addition to carrying a bit of a stigma, the NC-17 rating would mean that even with adult accompaniment, no one under the age of 17 could be admitted to the film. Obviously, that would severely limit “Evil Dead's” box office chances, since NC-17 rated films cannot be marketed in the same way and the majority of American cinemas won’t even screen them. While gore fans can likely look forward to an unrated cut of "Evil Dead" on home video at some point, it looks like the movie will be R-rated for its theatrical run.

See also: 'Evil Dead' remake loses Lily Collins, gets new male lead

"Evil Dead" isn't the only movie to have recently tangled with the MPAA over an NC-17 rating. A few years ago, the Ryan Gosling/Michelle Williams drama "Blue Valentine" and its producers got into a row with the ratings organization over what was seen as an unfair NC-17 rating. "Blue Valentine's" frank depiction of sex is what got it into hot water in the first place, but the Weinstein Company was able to successfully appeal the decision and get an R-rating without any cuts. Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has also unsurprisingly been stamped with an NC-17 rating by the MPAA several times -- once for "Pulp Fiction (for excessive harsh language) and once for "Kill Bill Part 1" (for graphic violence). Some small edits earned both films an eventual R-rating.

But not all filmmakers are willing to censor themselves to avoid the rating. The 2011 sex addiction drama "Shame" starring Michael Fassbender was released by Fox Searchlight with the NC-17 rating intact after director Steve McQueen refused to edit the offending content out of the film. Much like "Evil Dead's" Alvarez, Fox Searchlight's president Steve Gilula told the Hollywood Reporter that he saw the NC-17 rating as a "badge of honor, not a scarlet letter."

The R-rated version of "Evil Dead" arrives on April 12.