10 Movies That Were Only Made With VERY WEIRDLY SPECIFIC Conditions
4. The Blood Had To Be Unnaturally Coloured - Evil Dead II
Sam Raimi had quite the experience attempting to release his directorial debut The Evil Dead, particularly in the U.S. where it was given the dreaded "X" rating for its violent content, effectively lumping it in with porn and more transgressive genre films.
Despite The Evil Dead's commercial success, the X rating prevented it from becoming even more of a hit, and because the sequel was being distributed by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG), who were signatories to the MPAA, Raimi was contractually obliged to deliver an R-rated cut of Evil Dead II.
But the producers had a novel suggestion to help Raimi avoid another X rating: use darker, more unnatural colours of blood throughout the film to makes it seem less realistic and soften the impact of the gore.
However upon reviewing the final cut, DEG decided the film was still too violent to avoid an X without cutting massive portions out, and so made the drastic call to not submit it to the MPAA at all.
Instead, they released Evil Dead II unrated through a shell company, and though the sequel turned a profit at the box office, the lack of an MPAA rating clearly impacted its ability to be booked theatrically, as it opened in just 310 cinemas on its opening weekend.