Japanese horror movie Grotesque banned by BBFC

The film Grotesque, a 2009 Japanese horror film, has been banned by the BBFC, as its violence is so extreme that it could cause psychological harm to audiences. Grotesque features minimal narrative or character development and presents the audience with little more than an escalating scenario of humiliation, brutality and sadism. The British Board of Film Classification said the film featured sexual sadism for its own sake. It said that giving the film a rating would involve a ''risk of harm'' to those viewing it. Selling or supplying the film would now be illegal. The board said the majority of the film focused on the assault, humiliation and torture of two victims. The main character takes them prisoner abducts, restrains, strips and sexually assaults them before inflicting horrific injuries until they die.

This shows how desentization forces distributors to increase the amount of violence in films, due to the audiences repeated exposure to violence making it harder for films to scare the viewer. This is also supported by the fact that we are able to see on the Grotesque DVD cover, that it compares itself to other horror films, saying 'Saw and Hostel were just appetisers'.