Censor

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source: Censor

DVD lacked subtitles for the elderly, disabled, hearing impaired, and ESL viewers. Disrespectful & cheap on the part of the producers especially when audio levels & enunciation were very poor. Shaky hand held camera at times is passé along with excessively annoying weird red lighting as a cheap effect. Lots & lots of screen time filled with static & boring, walking down semi-lit hallways, sitting in a small room reviewing snippets of old horror films on an old TV; driving a car; not clear flashbacks. Acting felt staged, artificial. Suppose to take place in the '80s when censorship to protect the public from supposed copycat crimes inspired from viewing the new media of videotapes; especially horror & crime.

Only heard about this when I was looking for films to see at my local Cinema & thought to give this a watch as it sounded like it would be good! How wrong was I! The film follows a woman named Enid working as a film censor at the BBFC in the early 1980's & finds herself becoming mentally unstable after she views a familiar Video Nasty & goes out to solve the past mystery of her sister's disappearance, that sees the line or fantasy & reality being severely blurred as she digs deeper & deeper! I found the film to start off with strong & promising! The setting of the 1980's, the brief clips of 80's horrors that I've seen & heard of along with the fictional film within a film film's based off of real life horrors was a nice touch! The theme on Violence In Cinema was interesting as well & a subject matter that I myself am clued up on & usually talk about! But the story & dragged out pacing made this film a bitter disappointment! Where to start? The story, I mean, while the premise is simple, the execution & twist make little to no sense at all! The story arcs seem to start & go nowhere with no follow up to them, which is what the viewer would expect, yet we don't get that. E.g. The man who killed his family after watching Deranged which was passed by the Censors in the film, we hear nothing about it afterwards! The Death of the producer at his home when Enid pushed him into the Horror Award on the table! It's like the film just jumps around & plods slowly & then repeats! The film goes in all kinds of rapid directions without any explanation & expects you to understand what is happening! The ending especially, what the hell was going on there!? I was expecting an ending to explain everything yet it just ends like that & you're left screaming "THAT IT!?", I mean come on! You're left with more questions than answers! What happened to Enid!? Did she get arrested!? Did she get caught? Did she get away!? Did she die!? What!? Nothing made sense! It's as if the Writer/Director gave up, but it's no wonder it was bad! Being it was written & directed by a woman that knows nothing about horrors! The film itself was just a slow bore with little to no action in it aside from the brief scenes of horror we get to see! Aside from that, the film was a plane crash at the end! Terrible! At 1 hour & 19 minutes, you'd think the film would be good, yet it feels longer at nearly 2 hours! Overall, the film starts of strong but loses it way VERY fast by the end! 3/10.

I liked how it started. The censorship theme is great and original. I didn't like how the story played out in the second half. All in all, not a great movie for me. Not a great horror or thriller or drama film. But still I enjoyed some parts of this movie.

Enid Baines (Niamh Algar) works to censor a new wave of grotesque horrors in 80's Thatcher Britain. She is haunted by the disappearance of her sister. Her parents want to regain some peace by declaring her sister dead. A gruesome murder is blamed on a movie passed by Enid and she gets outed to the press. She sees a film which resembles closely to her and her sister and the incidence of her disappearance. This is not a horror movie as much as a it's a commentary on horror movies. I think that is most of the disconnect with the audiences. Most people probably come into this thinking that this is a scary movie. It isn't. This is a historical mystery drama. It's very moody. It's a concept movie.

From the beginning, the film gives you an expectation that you are going to watch something great, and definitely something amazing is going to happen, until the end; unfortunately, many things happens and you have no idea whatsoever. Just adding random confusions, glitch, and random gimmicks cannot help in creating a great amazing mysterious horror movie. This is below average movie under the skin of a good movie.

Greetings again from the darkness. Will Hayes is likely the only film censor most movie buffs can name, and it's been more than ninety years since the "Hays Code" first went into effect. Despite the relative obscurity of the profession, the first feature film from Prano Bailey-Bond, places censor Enid Baines (Niamh Algar, WRATH OF MAN, 2021) at the forefront of a prime midnight movie ... a horror film about horror films. Ms. Bailey-Bond has adapted her own short film NASTY (2015) with the help of co-writer Anthony Fletcher, and for the most part, the changes work quite well. The story is set in 1985 when "video nasties", the U. K. label for slasher films, were at the peak of their popularity thanks to the convenience of VHS tapes. Many argued these films, typically independent and low budget productions, were influential in allowing sadistic violence to seep into society. As a film censor, Enid (an excellent Algar), who dresses and carries herself like a 1950's librarian, is responsible for making sure the fictional violence on screen doesn't cross the line of what's acceptable and clearly fictional. Enid takes her job extremely seriously and is annoyed when people mistakenly assume she is in "entertainment". For Enid, it's all about protecting the public. Bailey-Bond jams a lot into 84 minutes ... much more than most horror films attempt. Enid's backstory, and really the driving force for the film, involves her sister's disappearance when they were kids. It remains an unsolved mystery, and Enid often suffers flashbacks and dream sequences - none more vivid than when one of the movies she's watching triggers hope of resolution and a mash-up of fiction and reality. This kicks the movie into a different gear, as we are no longer caught up in Enid's stress censoring movies, but rather in her desperate search to solve the mystery of her sister. Multiple sub-plots (or at least story lines) exist, including Enid's strained relationship with her parents - with an underlying theme of blame - and a real world tragic event that may implicate Enid's work. At play throughout is the existence of violence against women, and Michael Smiley (FREE FIRE, 2016) portrays a sleazy producer whose actions are likely similar to many in the mid-80's. Much of the third act is surreal as Enid crosses over onto the set of director Frederick North's (Adrian Schiller) latest movie after she sees a possible connection to her sister in North's previous film "Don't Go in the Church". The production design by Paulina Rzeszowska (SAINT MAUD) and the cinematography of Annika Summerston are noteworthy. With Enid wielding both a pen and an axe, the film is a bit deranged and disorienting, but a nice fit for the midnight movie crowd. In theaters June 11, 2021.

Censor blends the horrors of reality and classic 80s B-horror to create a unique watch. After viewing a strangely familiar video nasty, Enid, a film censor, sets out to solve the past mystery of her sister's disappearance, embarking on a quest that dissolves the line between fiction and reality. I'm a sucker for indie horror flicks so I couldn't pass this up. Director Prano Bailey-Bond crafts an exquisite film for horror lovers that brings a great sense of dread and nostalgia. She had a clear vision from the start to finish that delivered. What's so amazing is the use of lighting. I loved looking at the screen every minute. Everything looks like a b-horror film in all aspects. The third act is absolutely insane. It's a brave choice that really sticks with you. Niamh Algar's performance is phenomenal. The amount of work she put into the role is something to look forward to when this finally gets a release. Obviously, not everyone is going to be onboard with Censor. And that's the case with all horror since it's subjective. The middle does get a little convoluted and the third act, as much as I think most will like it, might seem too absurd for the regular audience. But it all worked for me. Fans of classic horror, video nasties, and those who just want to be utterly confused, should definitely watch this when it's released.