In the Flesh was a phat horror media fanzine from Bristol (UK) edited and published by the
inimitable Steve Court. I wrote the following report for his Censorship Around the World column,
discussing our antipodean state of play circa 1991, just after my Customs bust. The article appeared in issue #9
and was accompanied by reproductions of the Australian VHS covers for Dawn of the Dead,
Day of the Dead, Demons and 2000 Maniacs. Steve had no doubt imported copies
of these Australian releases for his own collection, and put their lurid covers to good use for the article.
I may have even supplied Steve with some of this forbidden fruit in my tape trading days.
Where are you now, mate?
Censorshit Around the World: Australia
by rod williams
G'day there!
Well, Australia certainly has its share of censorshit problems, but they are pitifully insignificant
when compared to the situations in some European countries (all of which I thought of as being very
liberal) such as West Germany. Man, you people are being fucked over in a big way.
Sweden I hear, also has similarly offensive laws.
Overall, I think Australia has things a fraction better than the US and much better than the
UK (sorry Steve!)
Some history first: up until the early 1970s Australia had been the laughing stock of the
film world. Many of the brainwipes that held the position of Chief Censor, like Methodist
Lay preacher Creswell O'Reilly, held savage biases against anything blasphemous or insanitary.
Movies were banned for ludicrous trivialities; some were pro-communism, racial interbreeding,
scenes of dirty American laundry being washed (!?) and the ever popular "it's not in the
public's best interest". A new censor was appointed in the 1940s and he, unlike O'Reilly,
was of the opinion that horror films appealed only to the "moronic". From then up until
1971 virtually all horror films were banned.
What happened in 1971? The R certificate was introduced, therefore allowing the many,
now popular, adult orientated films to be released. The X rating appeared soon after.
Today the film and literature Censorshit Board consists of seven people, headed by John Dickie
as the chief censor. Their ages are 50, 40, 51, 40, 46, 28 and 36. Three are male, four are female
(the last four ages in the list). Also, there's a Film and Literature Board of Review to
handle appeals made against board classifications. (Silence of the Lambs was reduced from
an R to an M this way). Generally speaking, the board have been fairly objective towards horror
in the past. Their guidelines for classification are unambiguous, and they see themselves
as a ratings board, rather than a censorshit board, which means they don't do any censoring.
This decision is left up to the distributor.
Material that won't be classified includes: child pòrn, bestiality, "offensive fetishes",
detailed extreme violence or cruelty, sexual violence and encouragement or instruction of crime.
This shit becomes unclassified and is effectively banned. Distribution, importation or possession
of unclassified films or books can get you a fine and/or jail time (I speak from experience!)
A few of the horror films still banned here are:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
New York Ripper
Thou Shalt Not Kill...Except
Last House on the Left
Salo: 120 Days of Sodom
Color Me Blood Red
One good aspect of Oz censorshit is the chance of a banned film eventually being released.
Day of the Dead was banned in 1985, but three years later it was released totally uncut
with an R rating. Pretty impressive huh? The same thing happened with Texas Chainsaw Massacre
and Death Trap, The Honeymoon Killers and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
(the video release has one scene cut). Of course we are hoping that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II
and the others will be classified... but I don't want to wait another 20 bloody years!
Bad Taste was originally banned, so now we have a cut version in circulation.
Meet the Feebles got an M rating uncut. Dario Argento has been lucky here;
only Inferno might have cuts, although Bird with the Crystal Plumage and
Four Flies on Grey Velvet haven't been released (I doubt they're banned). None of
Lucio Fulci's gore epics are uncut on video, which is a shame because they could get through
with an R rating uncut nowadays. Interestingly, all the gore in Zombie Flesheaters
is in Zombiethon (1989) with an R rating. Night of the Living Dead, Martin,
Dawn of the Dead (127 mins) and Day of the Dead are all uncut, so Romero has
done well here. Not much of Jess Franco's stuff is around, which is more due to its obscurity
than anything. Only the first two of H.G. Lewis' gore films are on video (2000 Maniacs and Blood Feast).
With the exception of Videodrome and The Brood, David Cronenberg has been treated
kindly (Dead Ringers picked up an M). Virtually all of the miscellaneous Italian
cannibal, zombie, Nazi movies are either heavily cut or just remain unreleased. Hellraiser
was passed uncut, but Hellbound: Hellraiser II is missing a few minutes. It does have more
than the American R rated version though. A selection of our best uncut choices will be
listed at the end of this article.
The Australian States have the power to override the board's decisions with their own
boards of review. Up until last year (1990) Queensland, my home state, was the worst.
Day of the Dead, Near Dark, A Nightmare on Elm Street III, The Last Temptation of Christ,
It's Alive III, Hellbound, Opera and many others were banned. X-rated
porn films are also illegal in all but two states (you can get them through mail order).
That's about it. It doesn't look like films already released will be banned (like Germany)
but unclassified films are illegal (unlike the US) which makes importation through Customs tricky.
My copies of Zombie 90, Nekromantik etc. are going to the censors in Sydney,
because Customs searched my house after I tried to import a copy of the fanzine Boiled Angel.
Hey, maybe Nekromantik and the others will just get R ratings...shit I fucking hope so!
Uncut on Oz Video:
Nightmare / Nightmares In a Damaged Brain
Pieces
Street Trash
Re-Animator
Opera / Terror at the Opera (uncut gore)
Tenebrae
Suspiria
Creepers
Dawn of the Dead
Day of the Dead
I Spit on Your Grave
Blood Sucking Freaks
From Beyond
Evil Dead
Evil Dead II
Hellraiser
Hardware
The Killer
Santa Sangre
Near Dark
Out for Justice
Total Recall
Terminator II
Basket Case
Basket Case II
Brain Damage
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Bloody Moon (Franco)
Faceless (Franco)
Combat Shock
Night of the Zombies
Good Fellas
Angel Heart
A Blade in the Dark
Flesh for Frankenstein
Mother's Day (very rare!)
Demons
Demons II
Robocop
The Thing (1982)
Blood Feast
2000 Maniacs
The Killing of America
Scream Greats Volume 1: Tom Savini
One more point: R-rated films are sometimes cut to an M rating for cinema release, but almost
always go to video uncut with an R, unlike in the UK.
The Ratings:
G = General
PG = Parental Guidance Recommended
M = Mature, recommended for 15 and over
R and X = Restricted to 18 and over
Together with the rating symbol is a description of the movie's contents,
e.g. "Course Language, Graphic Violence, Drug Use, Sex Scenes, Horror, Impactful Violence,
Anti-Social Concepts" etc.
By the way, A Clockwork Orange has never been released on video in Australia,
so don't even ask!
Post Script 4/7/2004: Since 1991, the censors have indeed retracted existing R classifications
to ban titles such as I Spit on Your Grave, Salo: 120 Days of Sodom and
Baise Moi. You will
also notice that Robocop is listed as uncut. We all know now that it was actually cut before release
to secure a US R rating. The true director's cut is now on DVD and NTSC laserdisc.
As mentioned on the Chopping List, Day of the Dead was meant to be a shorter version
than the one Premier put out on VHS rental. If it had been cut, I doubt this
article would have been as sympathetic to the Australian OFLC as it was.
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