MOVIE NEWS – Venom: Let There Be Carnage is rated PG-13 (or similar) almost everywhere globally, but in Hungary, it is recommended for people over 18. Now we know why.

Venom is the very rough-looking “bad guy” of the Marvel movies: a symbiote who possesses a host and takes out his opponents in a very rough way, mauled them to death or shoves his tongue down his victims’ throats. That said, the first Venom film, starring Tom Hardy, was aimed at 13-year-olds only, so they’ve toned down the violence. It’s no different with Venom 2 – The Exterminator, which unleashes a psychopathic serial killer and his symbiote – at least according to foreign age rating agencies. Not according to the Hungarian National Film Board, which has given the film an 18 rating (and not 18+, as incorrectly stated in the second article of IGN, which continues to cover the issue.)

Venom 2 – Bloodhound, by the way, could have been more brutal, according to many fans, given that we’re dealing with such a brutal Marvel character (or symbiote) that occasionally sticks his tongue down his victims’ throats. (It should be added that there are much more brutal Marvel series on Netflix, such as the sometimes brutal Daredevil or The Punisher, which still keep Venom well within the PG-13 level.) However, the creators felt it was better to keep the violence to a minimum so that the PG-13 rating would reach a much wider audience. The National Film Board took a different view in our country and gave the film a PG-13 rating, which is only a recommendation, so even younger people can see it.

However, what is certain is that the film was given a red 18 not because of its LGBTQ content but because of the violent content it contains. However, the recently adopted Child Protection Act might lead one to think so (as we wrote about earlier). In Hungary, they are trying to ban lesbian, gay, transgender and therefore not cisgender characters from television programmes.  IGN, however, contacted the domestic distributor InterCom and received a reply that there is no justification for the classification; that is, there are no claims of LGBTQ content, i.e. the red stain is put on the promotional material of its violent scenes. We instead called the source: the National Film Board itself, which essentially confirmed this claim. In other words: it was the violence alone that earned the film an 18, not the LGBTQ. How “bloody” Venom 2 is, then, we’ll find out for ourselves on Friday, when BadSector finally gets to see the film in a press screening.

Source article from IGN Hungary