Extremely disturbing horror film is so controversial it was banned in the UK

A horror movie described as 'extremely disturbing' and 'sordidly brilliant' is one of a very small list of movies to be banned in the UK.

The movie, which joins The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Human Centipede: Full Sequence as one of the handful films rejected by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), is one of the most recent films to be denied a UK DVD release.

You can watch the film's trailer below, but be warned it contains some disturbing images:

What is The Bunny Game about?

Adam Rehmeier's black-and-white horror The Bunny Game follows Bunny (Rodleen Getsic), a prostitute struggling with drug addiction.

She's kidnapped and tortured by an unnamed truck driver (played by Jeff Renfro and referred to as 'Hog' in the credits) for the most part of the film's 76-minute runtime.

In October 2011, the BBFC rejected The Bunny Game for DVD distribution

The BBFC formally banned The Bunny Game for home video in 2011. (Death Mountain Productions)

Why was The Bunny Game banned in the UK?

The BBFC claimed the movie emphasises the female protagonist's nudity and tends to eroticise the violence that's shown on the screen offering very little context for the events depicted.

These elements, together with the visual style of the movie, may 'encourage some viewers to enjoy and share in the man's callousness and the pleasure he takes in the woman's pain and humiliation,' a statement on the BBFC's website reads.

"It is the Board's carefully considered view that to issue a certificate to this work, even if confined to adults, would be inconsistent with the Board's Guidelines, would risk potential harm within the terms of the Video Recordings Act, and would accordingly be unacceptable to the public," director of the BBFC David Cooke said at the time.

According to the Board's Guidelines, 'content which might eroticise or endorse sexual violence may require cuts at any classification level'.

The Bunny Game received a limited release in the US. (Death Mountain Productions)

The BBFC offered the chance to resubmit the movie with cuts, though it stated that there were no assurances that a re-edited version of The Bunny Game would be successful in scoring an age rating.

"Rodleen and I didn't make The Bunny Game to glamorise prostitution. It is far from an erotic film. It is a modern cautionary tale grounded in reality," Rehmeier said at the time, with distributor Trinity X slamming the BBFC's decision as 'disappointing, worrying and sad'.

14 years after its initial release, the movie is still formally banned in the UK.