According to MPAA chairman Dan Glickman, the feature film ratings system everyone is used to may be receiving an overhaul in the coming months. There are two major problems they feel need to be addressed. First, the R rating is too broad in its current categorization of films.
[...] the R rating is too broad, encompassing everything from a few swear words or brief flashes of nudity to repeated scenes of stomach-churning mutilation and disembowelments.
Secondly, the current top end rating, NC-17, has a negative association and most film makers will make drastic changes to their work to avoid the rating. This is mostly due to the fact that traditionally, NC-17 films have had a hard time finding theatres to show them, which hurts everyone right where it counts…the pocketbooks.
The goal is to find a category for some films that are now informally called “hard R’s” — i.e., content so graphic that no one under the age of 17 should be allowed to see it at all in theaters. The new generation of horror pics, namely, the “Saw” and “Hostel” franchises, are pushing the limits of the “hard R” category.
Is there a need for new categorization like this? What is your opinion?