Two Towers gets 12A rating for 'fantasy horror'

The second instalment in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy has been awarded a 12A certificate by the British board of film classification.

The rating means that children under the age of 12 may only see The Two Towers in the company of an adult. Last year's first instalment, The Fellowship of the Ring, earned a more lenient PG certificate, meaning that an unaccompanied child of any age could see it, though parents were advised that it contained some controversial material.

The BBFC justified their decision to upgrade the rating because The Two Towers "contains intense combat and fantasy horror scenes" which are presumably stronger in tone than those in the first film. This view has been indirectly supported by Jackson, who last year told the Guardian that The Two Towers is the movie "where things go from worse to worse". Its main action concerns an epic battle with Saruman's army of orcs, while elsewhere Frodo is menaced by a giant spider on his way to Mordor.

The 12A certificate was only introduced by the BBFC in August as a replacement for the more prohibitive 12 rating. Other notable 12A pictures include Spider-Man and Minority Report. Spider-Man was reclassified 12A after its initial 12 rating led some local authorities to break ranks and award it a PG certificate.

The Two Towers was passed uncut by the BBFC, who note that the film clocks in just a shade under the three hour mark at 179 minutes and 10 seconds. It will be released on the UK on December 18.