A violent Japanese film linked to copycat crimes committed by teenagers is to be released in Britain this autumn.

Battle Royale, directed by the veteran Japanese gangster movie director Kinji Fukasaku, contains graphic depictions of extreme violence committed by teenagers and has been blamed for a number of crimes.

The film, described as a cross between A Clockwork Orange and Lord of the Flies, is set in the near future when the Japanese government - despairing of a wave of teen lawlessness - decides to make an example of the nation's worst-behaved class. The uniform-clad teenagers are placed on a remote jungle island, heavily armed, and told that only the last one alive will be allowed home. They are also made to wear a collar that explodes if they refuse.

Mayhem follows as the characters, under the cold eye of their teacher, form gangs to slaughter their former friends before they turn on one another.

In one scene, a student stuffs a bomb into the severed head of one of his classmates and lobs it into a room where three others are hiding.

In another scene, a girl slices through the neck of a classmate with a sickle while the victim begs for mercy.

Tens of thousands of Japanese youths queued for up to two days to get tickets for its opening on December 16. In the run-up to the launch, the education minister Nobutaka Machimura begged Japan's film censors to ban the film and urged cinemas not to show it.

The government has even considered introducing a bill to strengthen its lax powers of censorship. However, Japan's film classification board simply confirmed its decision to restrict Battle Royale to audiences aged 16 and over.

Within hours of its opening, a 17-year-old boy went on the rampage in Tokyo with a baseball bat, attacking people at random and hospitalising a 68-year-old woman. It is not certain whether he had seen the film, but its critics pointed to the incident as proof that the general atmosphere in which violence is glorified leads to more violence.

The film does not have a US release date because it is unlikely any distributor there would touch it, but the British company Metro-Tartan will be releasing it in the UK around October. The distributor expects it to receive an 18 certificate. Paul Smith, a spokesman for Metro-Tartan, said: "We are expecting it to do very well. Already the word is out there about it."

A spokeswoman for the British Board of Film Classification said that the film had not yet been submitted for examination, but confirmed that only one film last year did not receive a certificate - the distributor was not prepared to make the cuts suggested by the board. She said: "We have been told by the public that they do not think that the board should prevent adults from seeing material they want to watch. They want to be able to make up their own minds."

Like The Blair Witch Project, the film has been a subject of intense discussion in internet chatrooms, adding to its mystique. The Guardian's film critic Jonathan Romney saw the film earlier this month at the Rotterdam film festival, and described it as "this year's undisputed hot ticket, thoroughly tawdry, impossible not to enjoy".

Mr Fukasaku rejects the criticism. "Politicians who don't know anything about movies are just making a fuss," he said. The film is about "gaining back trust," not straightforward violence.

Battle Royale was nominated this month for the Japanese film industry's highest accolade: the Japan Academy prize for best picture of the year.