Kids, Leave That Teacher Alone

Kevin Williamson's Killing Mrs. Tingle has been removed from German screens following several real life incidents where pupils have attacked teachers. The film, which stars Helen Mirren as an evil history teacher, has already undergone a name change in the US. In the wake of the Colorado school massacre it was retitled Teaching Mrs. Tingle. The same tactic was tried in Germany, where it became Saving Mrs. Tingle, but this hasn't stopped cinema owners dropping the movie. In the film Mirren is held hostage by pupils after she gives one a bad grade. None of the German incidents directly follow the movie's plot, but last month a teacher was stabbed to death by a pupil in front of his class and this week three teens were arrested; they had a gun and were attempting to buy hand grenades in a plot to kill three teachers. There may not be a direct connection between the film and these attacks, but cinemas are reluctant to screen a movie which, they fear, might see them being blamed for the violence.