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Spectre Was The Most Complained About Movie Of 2015

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Thanks to some gruesome eye-gouging action, Spectre was the most complained about movie of 2015, the BBFC has confirmed.

The Bond movie received 40 complaints to the classification body, regarding its 12a rating and the violence portrayed on screen.

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Mainly, the complaints rounded on the scene in Christoph Waltz’s conference room, where henchman Hinx (Dave Bautista) goes on an eye-poke frenzy.

Also unappreciated by the complainants was the moment when Waltz’s villain gets to work on Daniel Craig’s Bond with a micro-drill.

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“One scene involving an eye-gouging was slightly too strong for the company’s preferred 12A classification.We therefore suggested reductions to this scene,” reads the report.

As for the drill torture, the report added that ‘although the idea is unpleasant there is limited detail depicted. Given the lack of detail in the scene and the context of an action film featuring a larger-than-life hero character who always defeats his enemies, this moderate violence is acceptable at 12A’.

“Another scene, showing the bloody aftermath of a suicide, was similarly reduced,” it added.

“By our standards it is quite a lot of complaints but the box office for Spectre is £94m so in context it is a tiny proportion,” said BBFC chief executive David Austin.

It also emerges in the report that 'Kingsman: The Secret Service’ was set to be given an 18 certificate, before the infamously violent church scene was toned down.

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It received the second-highest number of complaints, with 38.

“One of the issues raised by the public with regards to 'Kingsman: The Secret Service’ was the level of violence at 15, particularly in regards to a fight scene in a church,” the report adds.

“The BBFC saw a version of the film before it was complete and offered advice as to how the film distributor’s desired 15 rating could be achieved. Otherwise, the film would have been classified 18. The distributor chose to make changes before formally submitting the film for classification.”

Strangely, 'Minions’ also received a comparatively large number of complaints – 16 – over the scene where the yellow henchman are stretched on a rack in a 'medieval-style torture dungeon’.

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Reads the report: “This develops into them slipping unharmed through a noose and playing with the gallows. The scene takes place in an unrealistic, comic and slapstick manner which is likely to be familiar to young viewers, who expect the Minions to survive. The realistic risk of harmful imitation is very low indeed.”

There was also some concern over a scene featuring a pale-faced man brandishing a chainsaw and a clown juggling bombs.

The certification body passed 983 for distribution in 2015, a near three percent rise from the previous year.

Image credits: Eon/Fox/Universal