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Ad watchdog reprimands Village Roadshow for ‘extremely terrifying’ trailer

Roadshow Films’ trailer for The Nun has been banned by the ad watchdog for depicting an excessive level of “menace” which, it believed, most people would deem inappropriate.

Ad Standards said the short trailer for the horror movie titled ‘coffin’ was menacing because of the scenes shown where someone is trapped and buried alive, while someone screams for the duration of the promo.

The ruling came after complaints posted to Ad Standards labelling the ad as ” extremely terrifying”, “graphic and petrifying”.

“The add makes myself and my wife feel extremely anxious. We are not scared by things, but the very supernatural/demonic nature of the add puts us extremely on edge.”

Another commenter added: “The ad was disturbing in nature, and given the type of movie I was watching, I was not expecting or prepared to be exposed to such disturbing content.”

Responding to the complaints, Roadshow Films said the trailer was for a horror film and the TV ad only contained violence and supernatural themes which are relevant to the movie.

“The TV spots contain no discriminatory material, exploitative or degrading material, strong or obscene language, nudity, or material contrary to health and safety standards. The tv spots do
depict violence and contains scary and supernatural themes. This however is relevant to the Film being advertised which is of the horror genre and accordingly unavoidable.”

Roadshow Films said the TV ad which has breached the code stopped airing at the beginning of the month.

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