In our last (for now) episode, we chat to John Kelleher who was appointed Irish film censor in 2003. When he left in 2009, the Irish Film Censor's Office had been renamed the Irish Film Classification Office, a reform that reflected how it had become, as John says 'more guide dog than guard dog'.

Until the pod returns, thanks to everyone for listening!

A & LM xx

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In our final (for now) episode, we chat to John Kelleher, who was appointed Irish film censor in 2003 but left the job as film classifier. Changing the job title signaled a regulatory shift, from 'guard dog to guide dog', as he says here. We asked him about his youth watching censored film and his work as censor/classifier.

Thanks to everyone for listening

A & LM xxx

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Censors have been replaced by classifiers, opaque silence by annual reports. We read recent annual reports from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) to see how those offices work in a digital media age, and to see what the (complaining) public thinks of their role.

Films mentioned

Minions: the Rise of Gru

Ghostbusters

Watership Down

Bambi

Star Trek the Motion Picture

Nutcracker (by Matthew Bourne)

The Batman

Batman Returns

A Man Called Otto

The Banshees of Inisherin

Saltburn

Cocaine Bear

Benedetta

BBFC 2022 Annual Report

IFCO published reports

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This remarkable neo-noir, directed by Abel Ferrara, has never been certified by the Irish Film Classification Office (the new name for the censor’s office). Aoife and Lloyd Meadhbh are joined by author Rob Doyle to discuss how Abel Ferrara and Zoe Lund, with backgrounds in porno sleaze, made a sincere film about redemption, and forgiveness.

Bad Lieutenant dir. Abel Ferrara, starring Harvey Keitel

Rob Doyle

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In Sam Peckinpah’s film, standard Western tropes – outlaws, heroes, beautiful landscape – are used to interrogate an exhausted genre. He knows spectacular gunfights are problematic but did the cut version shown in Ireland convey Peckinpah’s intent?

The Wild Bunch, dir Sam Peckinpah, starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine

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One of Martin Scorsese’s favourite films and guess what? We agree, it’s brilliant. Contemporary audiences detested it, preferring to ignore why they derived pleasure from realistic, filmed torture and terror. This film has everything from Freudianism to a Hitchcock doppelganger. Cuts made by censors might be lost forever but it still shocks and gives us a perfect amount of ick.

Peeping Tom (1960) dir. Michael Powell, starring Karlheinz Boehm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer

Psycho (1960) dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh.

The Red Shoes (1948) dir. Powell and Pressburger, starring Anton Walbrook, Moira Shearer.

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And, Merch

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A horror fan (Lloyd Meadhbh) and not-a-horror fan (Aoife) agree that this unexpectedly feminist film did not deserve to be banned twice in Ireland. Caveat: Roman Polanski directed it.

Rosemary’s Baby (dir. Roman Polanski) starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes

Merch!

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Ties, suits and sex - Paul Schrader's exploration of consumerism and Richard Gere's hotness was pruned of bad language and "sex scenes" by the Irish censor.

American Gigolo (1980, dir. Paul Schrader) starring Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Bill Duke, Hector Elizondo

You Must Remember This on American Gigolo

More on Aoife's Gere-athon for Patreon supporters

Merch!

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What’s the worst celluloid crime committed in The Evil Dead: excessive violence or Bruce Campbell’s fringe? Lloyd Meadhbh (a fan) tries to persuade Aoife (a sceptic) to embrace this video-nasty classic. Also, listener correspondence on The Rocky Road to Dublin.

The Evil Dead (dir. Sam Rami, 1981) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6_tt_8_nm_0_q_evil%2520dead

Evil Dead II (dir. Sam Rami, 1987) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092991/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7_tt_8_nm_0_q_evil%2520dead%2520

Weird Studies Podcast on ‘Evil Dead II’ https://www.weirdstudies.com/136

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Lloyd Meadhbh rewinds the tape back to the 1980s, when a new film medium caused a new (ish) moral panic.

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Merch

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