Slow news day, so it's a perfect time to announce the MPAA has given THE DESCENT 2 a hard "R" rating.  The sequel to Neil Marshall's popular spelunking horror has achieved the rating for "for strong bloody horror violence, grisly images, terror and language."  It sure sounds as if the film should satisfy gore hounds.

As the MPAA gets more pervasive over the years in some ways (they can bump a grade for including smoking now), and yet more permissive in others (I'll get to that in a minute), I wonder if the organization is even relevant anymore.  Theatres still generally refuse to carry or advertise for unrated movies, so the product they run can be watered down, especially pertaining to horror.  But with the advent of DVD, many directors have found a way to obviate this problem;  they simply pull back on the theatrical release, knowing they will release the movie in its true version down the line, unrated.  So why is it that I can't see an unrated gore-fest at the Loews around the corner from my house, but I can see the same film in my own house, and rent similar fare from the local Hollywood Video?  Even better, I can get the U.S. Post Office to deliver it to me, from Netflix.

Even worse is the slippery slope of what makes an "R" an "R."  Let's face it: If Tobe Hooper's TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE were released today, it would likely be a PG-13 film.  It's got less gore than a lot of what's on network television in prime time.  I'm amazed how much violence and torn flesh I see in a typical episode of CSI on CBS television, where any kid can flip it on and watch it in his living room.  Put a random episode of the show in a theatre, and you'll need a guardian or adult alongside you to get in.

The current ratings system replaced the Hayes code, a standard of morality that was obsolete the moment it was conceived.  The MPAA ratings are no less obsolete, a throwback to our Puritanical roots.  Clearly, in 400 or so years, the country has not progressed beyond its own prudish, straitlaced beginnings.  A new, democratic system is long overdue.  After all, the Puritans hung farmers as witches, and nobody today validates them on that one.

--Phil Fasso