Rated B for Boring

A remake of an infamous blood-and-guts traffic safety film that scared generations of teenagers into driving straight debuted Wednesday before an apprehensive young audience in East Los Angeles.

But it turned out that “Red Asphalt 1998” isn’t gory enough, youngsters at Garfield High School decided.

Instead of featuring mangled bodies and blood-soaked accident scenes like the original 1960 “Red Asphalt” film, the new version is tasteful--even artful.

For some jaded youngsters who have grown up watching slasher movies and televised police pursuits, the new videotape has the impact of a 5-mph crash cushioned by an air bag.

“It looked real,” said 15-year-old Javier Maldonado. “But it wasn’t scary. It didn’t gross me out.”

The 12 1/2-minute video produced by the California Highway Patrol will be available for driver education classes and traffic schools. Copies can be ordered for $15 each from the CHP at (916) 372-5620.

Highway Patrol officials say they toned down “Red Asphalt 1998” on purpose, replacing graphic scenes included in previous versions of the film with on-camera interviews with accident survivors and relatives of crash victims.

Officials realized they couldn’t outdo Hollywood’s make-believe gore, said CHP Sgt. Ernie Garcia. So they decided to go for teenage drivers’ hearts instead of their guts.

“We want to underscore the long-term effect that fatal accidents and serious injuries have on loved ones,” he said.

“Some students are unfortunately disappointed that it isn’t as graphic as they’d heard ‘Red Asphalts’ were in the past.”

The original 16-millimeter black-and-white version of “Red Asphalt” was compiled from newsreel footage. Screened in drivers’ education classes at a time when violence was rarely depicted in movies and never shown on TV, its graphic nature immediately turned it into a teenage classic.

The new version borrows from MTV-style slow-motion photography and quick-cut editing.

Rather than sound effects depicting screeching brakes and crashing metal, it weaves sensitive music around quiet narration from teenagers whose brothers or sisters have been killed in crashes.

Instead of images of blood spurting from a crash victim or the 1960 film’s memorable close-up of a driver decapitated by a freeway collision, the new video focuses on rescuers assisting crash victims.

“It was tame, compared with what you see all the time,” said language teacher Cindy Cumbess, who viewed the videotape. “This was nothing compared to the movie ‘Scream,’ which I saw last night.”

But the film is plenty effective, ninth-grader Maribel Plascensia said after Wednesday’s screening.

“I’ll drive more safely. I’ll take precautions to avoid accidents,” the 15-year-old said. “I learned not to drive, or let others driver, after drinking.”

Garcia said there are no immediate plans to lengthen the film or punch it up with more gore. But he said the new film drives home a point that invincible-feeling young motorists often forget:

“Accidents can happen to anyone.”