UK Censors See Fit To Ban Nick Palumbo’s ‘Murder Set Pieces’

The last few years have seen a propensity for making overtly gory and over the top horror or slasher films, which leave nothing to the imagination. I don’t know if it’s due to film-makers needing to do more to shock in this day and age, or movie goers demanding more death and destruction on screen.

Films such as Saw and Hostel have shown that it’s now acceptable to show the highest levels of gore without being classed as despicable and irresponsible film-makers.

It seems that one has gone just that little bit too far though, and crossed the line between showing gore for art’s sake and showing gore just for the hell of it. At least in the eyes of the BBFC (The British Board of Film Classification), who have outright banned one from receiving a UK DVD release.

The film in question is Murder Set Pieces, a serial killer thriller from Nick Palumbo set in Las Vegas. The film centres around a psychopathic sexual serial killer who tortures and murders his victims for fun.

According to Digital Spy, BBFC director David Cooke said:

“Rejecting a work outright is a serious matter and the board considered whether the issue could be dealt with through cuts.”

“However, given the unacceptable content featured throughout, and that what remains is essentially preparatory and set-up material for the unacceptable scenes, cutting the work is not a viable option in this case and the work is therefore refused a classification.”

A ban is indeed a tough measure to impose on what is, after all, intended as a form of entertainment. But hearing what critics have said about the film makes me think it could actually be the right decision.

Variety critic Dennis Harvey says the film can only distinguish itself through:

“sheer extremity of gore, sadism and tastelessness”. [The film’s] nastiness is so insistent, one-dimensional and excessive it risks self-parody.”

I’m not one for censorship, but on this occasion maybe a ban was the only acceptable way to deal with it. What’s likely to happen though is, a few years down the line, the film will become a cult classic, and there will be demands for an immediate unbanning.

By then, there will likely have been a new film made which further pushes the realms of acceptable taste and decency and makes this one look like an episode of Teletubbies.