Jennifer Lynch’s thriller Chained gets slapped with a NC-17 rating; Lynch responds!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It’s no secret that here at AITH we’re big fans of director Jennifer Lynch. With that being said it should come as no surprise to anyone that we’re pretty stoked for her upcoming thriller CHAINED, especially now that the thing has an intriguing rating!

What has this puppy been tapped with? Well in case you didn’t read the title of this article I’ll tell you – NC-17 baby! Man I love seeing that. But is a NC-17 rating a good thing? Apparently Lynch doesn’t think so because she’s planning on cutting the film up to get that rating changed. But she wants to know why she has to. In an interview with the LA Times the filmmaker had the following to say about the rating:

“The one thing they [the appeals board] kept citing was context, that violence in a lot of other films doesn’t feel as intense. I have a lot of compassion for what [the MPAA] does. And they were all very nice and warm in the room. But it doesn’t seem fair to me. I feel like we are being punished because the film was done the way it was set out to be done, which was authentically.”

Preach it sister! Apparently the scene responsible for the NC-17 is a throat-slashing scene… Must be pretty intense to score the dreaded NC-17… or at least the ‘context’ must be.

The film is the story of a serial killer who kidnaps a 9-year-old boy. Now a teenager, the boy learns the only way to survive is by following in the killer’s footsteps. He must make his move to escape before he becomes like the monster that now considers himself his father.

Starring Vincent D’Onofrio, Gina Phillips, Jake Webber, Eamon Farren and Julia Ormond (below), CHAINED is still without a release. You can bet we’ll keep our eyes and ears on this one to see if the rating gets turned after Lynch gets to chopping.