I can understand, to a point, the issue taken with the Captivity ads; no one wants to see a pretty girl killed, but this seems to be going just a bit too far if you ask me. I think it’d be pretty safe to assume if either film were made by someone like Eli Roth, a proven cash cow, a lot more flack would be given. It almost seems that since After Dark are fairly new in the game that the MPAA is attempting to make an example out of them.
However, according to the Variety article said ads for Captivity were submitted to the MPAA and rejected, but After Dark went ahead and used them anyway. That’s the kind of attitude you can develop when you’ve been at this a while; openly defying someone as powerful as the MPAA in Hollywood right out of the gate is just asking for trouble.
One can’t help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, all this publicity is looked upon as a good thing behind the scenes since it keeps people talking about Captivity, a Hostel knock-off that would have more than likely suffered a quick box office death otherwise. At least now they can be sure they’ll get a good amount of the curious in the seats.
That is, if he movie actually makes it’s May 18th release date. The earliest they can submit Captivity for a rating is May 1st, and then it will just go into a queue of other movies waiting to be seen and judged. We’ll have to wait and see how this pans out for the both Captivity and After Dark, but it sure is getting interesting out there.