When Lloyd Kaufman’s Troma Entertainment acquired Joel M. Reed’s shocker (originally released in 1976 as The Incredible Torture Show) the company's 1981 re‑release under the new title Blood Sucking Freaks triggered one of the odder public battles between an independent distributor and the Motion Picture Association of America. According to Kaufman, the MPAA informed Troma that only about 54 minutes of the film would meet the association’s standards; Troma initially made cuts in an attempt to secure an R rating. Rather than keep the trimmed version, Troma ultimately distributed the full, gore-heavy cut and affixed an R‑rating label even though that designation had not been granted by the MPAA. The MPAA treated its rating icon as a protected mark and sued Troma for copyright infringement. The case was settled with Troma compelled to publish a public apology in The Hollywood Reporter and to withdraw the unauthorised rating label. The dust‑up exemplified the leverage the ratings body held in gatekeeping mainstream exhibition, and it also gifted the picture an extra layer of notoriety — the MPAA thereafter refused to give Blood Sucking Freaks an official review, an unusual fate that became part of the film’s outlaw mystique in the indie and grindhouse circuits.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1980s
MPAA Sues Troma After the Company Slaps an Unauthorized ‘R’ on Blood Sucking Freaks
Blood Sucking Freaks / Troma Entertainment / 1980s
When Lloyd Kaufman’s Troma Entertainment acquired Joel M. Reed’s shocker (originally released in 1976 as The Incredible Torture Show) the company's 1981 re‑release under the new title Blood Sucking Freaks triggered one of the odder public battles between an independent distributor and the Motion Picture Association of America. According to Kaufman, the MPAA informed Troma that only about 54 minutes of the film would meet the association’s standards; Troma initially made cuts in an attempt to secure an R rating. Rather than keep the trimmed version, Troma ultimately distributed the full, gore-heavy cut and affixed an R‑rating label even though that designation had not been granted by the MPAA. The MPAA treated its rating icon as a protected mark and sued Troma for copyright infringement. The case was settled with Troma compelled to publish a public apology in The Hollywood Reporter and to withdraw the unauthorised rating label. The dust‑up exemplified the leverage the ratings body held in gatekeeping mainstream exhibition, and it also gifted the picture an extra layer of notoriety — the MPAA thereafter refused to give Blood Sucking Freaks an official review, an unusual fate that became part of the film’s outlaw mystique in the indie and grindhouse circuits.
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