Slashers for Kids.

• Author: Carvajal, Doreen
• Position: Underage kids - film screenings - Brief Article

One thing's for sure: The "R" in Hollywood's movie-rating system doesn't stand for responsibility.

Confidential marketing reports submitted to the government show that Hollywood studios routinely recruited children to test-screen R-rated movies. (An R rating requires that anyone under 17 be accompanied by an adult because of explicit sex or violence.)

The Federal Trade Commission examined 44 R-rated films and 20 violent PG-13 films distributed by the nine major studios over a four-year period ending in 1999. Thirty-three of the 44 R-rated films or advertisements for them had been screened for teenagers under 17 and children as young as 9.

Facing outrage in Congress, the Motion Picture Association of...