Sun 1 May 2011 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
An extremely conservative ‘community standards' group wants the decision to allow a gay zombie porn romp to be shown at Out Takes to be re-examined. LA Zombie has been given an R18 rating and will screen in Auckland and Wellington at the glbt film festival. The film was banned by Australian censors in a move which was considered incredibly over-zealous by the Melbourne Film Festival's organisers. At the time the festival's director Richard Moore told The Age that filmmaker Bruce LaBruce's blend of sex and violence can be confronting, "but I would argue that within the context of the festival, it is nonsensical and patronising to not allow people to decide what they want to see.'' A rebel screening was ultimately held. The work follows an alien zombie who roams the streets of Los Angeles in search of dead bodies and gay sex, an activity that reveals a gift of ''shagging'' the deceased back to life. It has full-frontal nude scenes and zombies with prosthetic cucumber-shaped penises. Starring French porn star Francois Sagat, it features wound penetration and implied sex with corpses. The Herald on Sunday says The Society for Promotion of Community Standards is shocked at the decision to allow the film to be screened, and has applied to the Film and Literature Board of Review to have the decision re-examined. David Lane, the society's executive director, said the film appeared to breach the law by including acts of torture and extreme violence, and by emphasising sexual conduct with bodies of dead people. Out Takes Chief Programmer Simon Fulton is confident LA Zombie won't be banned. He says it's definitely for a certain taste: "It's grimy and grubby, some people will love it and some won't. It's a silly sort of zombie horror porn thing, but it's loads of fun to watch." Fulton says the film's use of an alien sexual technique to turn bodies into zombies is what has worried censors in some countries, but he says it's not necrophilia.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 1st May 2011 - 1:02pm