ELFIE HOPKINS (2012)

ELFIE HOPKINS is a horror drama about an aspiring young detective who discovers that a family in her village are cannibals. The film was classified '15' for strong violence, language and soft drug use.

There are some scenes of strong violence, including a man being stabbed repeatedly (although the number of stabs was significantly reduced in order to obtain a '15' classification), a woman being shot through the neck with a crossbow, a cannibal being hit with a heavy object and a woman's throat being slashed with a sword. There is some sight of blood spray as a result of the violence, although most of the actual violence takes place off screen and there is generally no sight of wounds actually being inflicted. For example, when the woman's throat is slashed, we only hear the slash, after which we see blood seeping from between the woman's fingers as she clutches her neck. In one scene a man is shot in the head, resulting in a brief explosion of blood and gore. However, the shot in question is extremely fleeting, having been reduced by cuts in order to obtain a '15' classification. Elsewhere in the film, there is sight of cannibals eating various body parts. The BBFC's Guidelines at '15' state 'Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable'.

There are various scenes in which marijuana joints are smoked. In particular, there is a scene in which two people are seen inhaling and exhaling from blown up balloons and looking stoned, suggesting they are exhaling marijuana smoke into the balloons and inhaling it again in order to maximise the effect. However, the film as a whole does not encourage or promote drug use. The film also contains some strong language, including repeated uses during the lyrics of a song playing over the end credits. The Guidelines at '15' state 'There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, 'fuck')'.