KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Film Censorship Board (LPF) has banned the erotic, romance movie Fifty Shades of Grey from showing in Malaysian cinemas.

Its chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid said the board had found the film, which was slated to premiere on Feb 12, to be unfit for the Malaysian audience, calling the flick more like "pornography than a movie".

"The board made a decision in view of the film containing scenes that are not of natural sexual content. The content is more sadistic, featuring scenes of a woman being tied to a bed and whipped," Abdul Halim said.

United International Pictures, the local distributor of the film, confirmed that the film would not show in cinemas here.

The Sam Taylor-Johnson directed movie, based on a wildly popular but critically panned novel of the same name, has been wrapped in controversy with its depiction of racy sex scenes and copious 20 minutes of on-screen nudity.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an R-rating based on "strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behaviour and graphic nudity".

The film stars Dakota Johnson as Anastasia "Ana" Steele, a literature student who falls for the wealthy and handsome businessman Christian Grey (played by Jamie Dornan), and is drawn into his fetish world of bondage sex.