More sex films coming?

The approval for screening erotic films, such as 3D Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy (above) and Brown Sugar, are based on what actually is shown, rather than the films' genre and notoriety, says the Media Development Authority. -- PHOTOS: GOLDEN VILLAGE, SHAW

The day few of us thought would come has arrived.

This week, a much-ballyhooed film, claimed to be the first soft-porn work shot in 3-D and part of a notoriously lurid Hong Kong franchise, will be released in Singapore cinemas.

Many will be wondering how it happened that a movie given Hong Kong's Category III rating - a ranking synonymous with explicitly sexual or violent content - could be allowed here under Singapore's R21 classification.

Have Singapore's famously uptight film classification guidelines been suddenly relaxed? Could this be a replay of the early 1990s, when the newly introduced Restricted (Artistic) classification led to an inrush of soft-core titles, causing a backlash and a retightening of rules and the creation of the present R21 category?

After all, the Sex And Zen franchise's previous three films were never released here, presumably because they would be banned anyway.

The latest release, 3D Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, comes to Singapore after breaking a few box-office records.