There are only two films in which we get to see Elizabeth Berridge naked, and one of them is X-rated while the other is only PG. And all of this started when the young actress was only 18 years old, but I suppose that was all par for the course for the 80s. So which rating do you reckon this movie – The Funhouse – got? The genre probably gives it away, but this was the film that was banned in a couple of countries and rated X, M, 18, or equivalent in a number of others. And over what? Was it the two Elizabeth Berridge nude scenes?
I wouldn’t have thought so. You see, even though they are incredibly fappable, they are not especially graphic. First of all, they’re topless only. Not only do we not get a full frontal, but we don’t even get an ass shot. Fortunately, the size of Elizabeth Berridge’s giant tits makes up for the timid nature of the camera operator. Although now that I say that, it may have been a request on the part of the actress. When the New Yorker got naked in the PG-rated Amadeus in 1984, that too was a scene where only her big bouncing boobs were on display and nothing else.
So what’s the story with the Elizabeth Berridge nude scene at the start of The Funhouse? It’s set up in a way as to pay homage to the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho but with significantly more nudity. Like, a lot more, even if it is topless only. But then why the over-the-top ratings? There are multiple theories. One is that censors confused it with The Last House on Dead End Street, which was far more deserving of the rating and had a similar alternate title. Another theory is that the original script played a part in the decision somehow – be it through screenings of deleted scenes or something else – which revealed a whole lot more graphic and gratuitous nudity.
We do get an Elizabeth Berridge topless sex scene later on in the film, but that one is so tame, that it makes the shower scene looks like a hardcore porno. And other nudity? Well, a peep show features at one point wherein the protagonists watch a trio of strippers dance around with nipple tassels, but I suspect that’s not it either. Violence? Nothing to bat an eye at. It’ll clearly remain a mystery, but for my part, I care about only one thing, which is that the film got a 4K release, which means we get quadruple the amount of pixels to enjoy Elizabeth Berridge nude in The Funhouse with.
