One of the joys of DVD is that the MPAA rating system isn’t all that important to the viewers. In fact, getting around the MPAA is one of the best things about special edition DVDs. However, where studios used to put unrated elements into the deleted scenes on the DVD with the modest warning “bonus features not rated,” things are now getting a little out of hand.

Now, studios are aiming for the coveted PG-13 rating for theatrical release. This maximizes profits at the box office by opening up the teenage and pre-teen market. Where an R rating was a necessity for horror movie and comedy success in the 1970s, the PG-13 rating is the one everyone wants.

Often horror movies and comedies suffer the most. Horror movies must love violence or gore - and sometime nude scenes. Comedies take it on the chin even harder. They lose a lot of raunchy jokes and gags that really don’t amount to anything more than suggestive language.

Now studios are capitalizing on the “unrated” moniker for special release DVDs, often to entice people to see “raunchier, funnier, sexier” footage. I remember seeing this sort of thing when “American Pie” and “Van Wilder” came out, as well as the more recent “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.” Now things are really getting overdone with unrated DVD releases a year or so after the initial one, with the new content only amounting to a couple minutes.

I’ll admit that I will always rent an unrated DVD over a PG-13 DVD. And ever since Blockbuster Video set the national bar for not carrying X-rated and NC-17-rated material, these unrated discs were a commodity. But now studios are simply abusing them.

“Scary Movie 3.5” is the unrated release of “Scary Movie 3.” Because this was the first “Scary Movie” that delivered a PG-13 rating (and consequently became a wild success at the box office), the stage was set for an unrated special edition.

About one minute of new footage is reinstated into the film. As expected, it amounts to language issues with raunchy subtext. As the filmmakers say on the commentary, “You know what the .5 stands for? Pussy jokes.”

This disc contains all the elements from the initial “Scary Movie 3” DVD release, including outtakes, deleted scenes, both fake and real making-of documentaries and the bizarre original ending in which Simon Rex morphs into the Hulk and shoves and alien up his butt.

Additional special features include six new deleted scenes, each with filmmaker commentaries. To the film’s credit, these additional deleted scenes are pretty good and don’t seem to be scraped from the bottom of the barrel. They were definitely held back for this disc. They aren’t necessarily more titillating than the others (except for one involving a baby oil spill on a bunch of Catholic high school girls with fake boobs), but they are pretty funny.

The box cover touts an “all new” feature commentary, although it only includes new commentary on the unrated parts that have been reinstated. Otherwise, the other 84 minutes of the commentary are from the original release.

I did like “Scary Movie 3.” If you’re not restricted to PG-13 movies, this is the better film, although it might just be worth a rental if you already have the first DVD release.



Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16x9 televisions. French language track; Spanish subtitles; English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.