It is not very often that a film distribution company comes out and says that one of its films is so gruesome that it is not suitable for the under-18s.

But that is exactly what A-Film said about its new baby, Midnight Meat Train, a delightful bloodfest about the ‘subway butcher; Mahogany’.
News of this new height in horror generated a great deal of media attention. ‘We feel forced to warn film-goers about the enormous amount of blood in this film,’ director Wilco Wolfers told yesterday’s AD – which illustrated the article on its website with a gory still from the film.
And, he tells the paper, A-Film is also concerned about the growing amount of violence in films.
Alas, Kijkwijzer, which classifies films in the Netherlands, does not agree. After all, it points out in a statement, adulthood officially begins at 16, and 16 is the highest film rating.
And, continues Kijkwijzer, it has not recorded any great increase in film violence in recent years.
Sidelines wonders why, if A-Film is that worried about the amount of blood being spilled in films, it did not refuse to distribute the film in the first place.
Still, the public disagreement and the ensuing media attention has probably achieved its purpose – heaps of bloodthirsty 16 and 17 year olds will be flocking to their nearest cinema to see what all the fuss was about.