In this series
CleanFlicks, the Utah-based video company that cuts nudity, sex, violence, and bad language from movies like Titanic, is branching out. It already has 10 branches from Oregon to Ohio, and is planning several more. The company's online service (cleanflicks.com) also sells edited videos or edits movies for about $12. Very violent movies, like Gladiator or The Patriot, run about $17 an edit, though CleanFlicks won't even touch about two dozen films, from Caddyshack to Basic Instinct. For those who would rather know what they're missing, Trilogy Studios (also based in Utah) will soon release Movie Mask ($50, moviemask.com). Scenes aren't deleted—they're replaced. In Kate Winslet's topless Titanic scene, she's now wearing a digital corset. Swords in The Princess Bride are replaced with Star Wars lightsabers. Bullet wounds in The Matrix are now "a fun comic book-style effect." But what will be truly amazing is when a device comes out that removes the cheese from Christians' apocalyptic films.
Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Related Elsewhere
"Making the hard decisions about what our children see and hear has to be the job of parents. Software is no substitute," wrote Ken Paulson in a recent Freedom Forum commentary on these film-cleaning solutions.
Media coverage of CleanFlicks includes:
CleanFlicks offers videos free of sex, swearing – The Denver Post (Dec. 28, 2001) (if the link doesn't work, try this one)
Company cleans up popular films – Family News in Focus (Jan. 8, 2002)
Utah companies edit R-rated videos for family audiences — Associated Press (Aug. 18, 2001)
Coverage of MovieMask includes:
New software will let parents censor DVDs at home – Ananova (Dec. 30, 2001)
Software cleans adult DVDs for family viewing – PC World (Dec. 28, 2001)
Three firms market do-it-yourself censorship software — Associated Press (Dec. 24, 2001)
