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Payback (1988)
Director	Addison Randall
Cut Formats	VHS
Classifications	M (1992), Banned (1991)
Cut Footage	Unknown.
Reason	Cut to avoid being banned.
Uncut Releases	Unknown.
Original Entry	Refused-Classification. [Thanks to RC]

 

Pearl Harbor (2000)
Director	Michael Bay
Cut Formats	VHS, Film, two-disc SE DVD
Classifications	M (14/12/2001), MA (27/2/2002)
Cut Footage	War wounds during the attack on Pearl Harbor, severed limbs, guts falling out, people getting cut in half by gunfire. The oversas Blu-ray release is the theatrical version, which means there is a good chance ours will be the censored version, too.
Reason	Cut to obtain a US R rating.
Uncut Releases	Local three-disc director's cut DVD, US DC DVD, UK DC DVD.
Entry Last Updated	30/6/2008

 

Perdita Durango / Dance with the Devil (1997)
Director	Alex dela Iglesia
Cut Formats	VHS, Film
Classifications	R (1998)
Cut Footage	Approximately six minutes are missing, including: a foetus is picked up from a road during the excised introduction of one character, the rape scene is longer, as is the black mass sequence.
Reason	A pre-cut international English version was submitted for classification and passed unmodified.
Uncut Releases	The Spanish version is complete, but no English dub (or subtitles one presumes) are available on that release. The recent US DVD from APIX was cut by the company to remove shots from other movies that are shown on various TVs. Several stupid edits were made that ruined any chance of a definitive English version being available. [Source: Video Watchdog #60]    The uncut version is approximately 131 minutes long (film). The German DVD (EMS) is uncut and runs at 125:50 mins PAL.
Comments	The local DVD is not the full uncut version, as stated on the cover. It remains to be seen whether this full version would be passed uncut in Australia.

 

Permutos (2000)
Director	Olaf Ittenbach
Classifications	Banned - Customs confiscation [confirm]
Uncut Releases	Euro DVD.
Comments	Inspired by Braindead and its ilk, this enthusiastic amateur German production has a totally gore-denched climax with severed limbs flying around and heads exploding. I remember reading about this title being seized somewhere on the Internet (I originally thought it was on a newsgroup) but I cannot find the reference.

 

Pet Sematary II (1993)
Director	Mary Lambert
Cut Formats	VHS, DVD, Film
Classifications	MA
Cut Footage	Instances of gore, for example when the rabbit is slit with a knife, and a head explosion. [speculation]
Reason	Cut to obtain a US R rating. [specultion]
Uncut Releases	None.

 

Phantasm II (1988)
Director	Don Coscarelli
Cut Formats	VHS
Classifications	R
Cut Footage	Some violent bits are trimmed including the sphere attack on Father Meyers is also much gorier. We see a much bigger geyser of blood spurt out the back of the sphere and we see a huge puddle of blood forming in front of him. When the gold "Ripper" sphere drives itself into the Caretaker's back and sends him flying across the Casket Room, we see a lot more blood squirt from his body. [speculation]
Reason	Cut to obtain a US R rating.
Uncut Releases	A director's cut has apparently been released. [confirm]
Comments	"Although Coscarelli shot extra footage, he was contracted for a US R rating for theatrical release on this title, and tricks that he had managed to pull off with the original film did not wash with the MPAA for his 1988 sequel. The film's biggest casualty was the sphere sequence, which was shot identically to a similar sequence in the original (which was passed uncut with an R rating). Coscarelli argued that the original film's sequence was awarded an MPAA R, and therefore the sequel's scene could similarly be accommodated in an R. Suffice to say, the MPAA didn't agree; they claimed a different societal/moral climate, and asked for cuts. As Coscarelli was contractually bound to an R rated film for distributor Universal Pictures, the film was subsequently edited and put into general release. Talk of an unrated version abounded for video release in the US, however Universal followed suit with the theatrical R rated version. At this stage, legal procedure (rights disputes) prevents the film from being released in any form on a digital medium." [M. C. Thomason]

 

Phantasm III (1994)
Director	Don Coscarelli
Cut Formats	VHS
Classifications	MA (26/6/1995)
Cut Footage	Unspecified violence.
Reason	Cut to obtain a US R rating.
Uncut Releases	None.
Comments	"Shooting on a smaller budget and for an independent producer this time (with view to distribution through Universal, who had burned him on the prior sequel) Coscarelli under-shot a lot of the gorier footage as a concession to the MPAA and another contractual R rating. When the final cut was delivered, even though played down from prior instalments, the film was awarded an NC-17. As Universal, like their counterpart Paramount, will not distributed NC-17 titles the film was modified for an R rating. This R rated version was released locally with an MA classification by Roadshow. Once again, apparently rights issues prevent this one from seeing a digital release in the US." [M. C. Thomason]

 

Pink Flamingos (1972)
Director	John Waters
Cut Formats	VHS, Film
Classifications	R, Banned (7/10/1997 - 107 mins film, 1976, 1981, 1983)
Cut Footage	(a) The part where Divine eats the dog shit to win the title of the World’s Filthiest Person is still cut from release prints. (b) "More pertinently the infamous chicken-sex scene (where said chicken ends up dead for real) and an explicit fellatio sequence, where the participants are implied to be mother and son." [M. C. Thomason]
Reason	Cut to avoid being banned.
Uncut Releases	US DVD, VHS.

 

A Place Called Today (1972)
Director	Don Schain
Cut Formats	VHS
Classifications	R (1985), Banned (1984)
Cut Footage	Unknown.
Reason	Cut to avoid being banned.
Uncut Releases	Unknown.
Original Entry	Refused-Classification. [Thanks to RC]

 

Planet Terror (2007)
Director	Robert Rodriguez
Cut Formats	Film
Classifications	MA 15+ (16/1/2008 - DVD, 13/12/2007 - 190 mins film)
Comments	Originally slated for release in a shorter theatrical version with Quentin Tarantino's awful Death Proof as the Grindhouse double-bill, the local DVD is the so-called extended international version. While much gore has been put back in to the extended release, the audio commentary has Rodriguez mentioning that only one scene was trimmed for MPAA approval. Even still, watching the scene on DVD and hearing his comments, it's not clear that the brain munching sequence on the car bonnet has been restored to its full length, since the edits (artificial print damage and whatever else) make it look cut.    All home video releases around the world are of the extended version. Both Grindhouse extended versions apparently played in Sydney for a special screening event. According to the BBFC, the running time of the extended version is 105:32 film, while Death Proof was timed at 113:32 film for its extended version. The OFLC only classified the shorter versions for cinemas, which combined to make a total running time of 190 minutes, with trailers included. If these shorter versions were never screened anywhere in Australia, it could be argued that Planet Terror has never been shown in a censored form locally, but since there's still doubt over the brain eating sequence, I'll keep this entry alive for now.
Cut Footage	At 42:36 in the extended version, the brain eating scene should have been restored to its full length, but it's not quite clear whether this has in fact been done. The extended version also has many other shots of gore and narrative scenes reinstated. One assumes the new violence was originally either cut for pacing, cut to tone the film down before being submitted to the MPAA, or both.
Reason	Cut to obtain a US R rating.
Uncut Releases	Local DVD (Roadshow), special Sydney Grindhouse screening, US unrated DVD (Dimension).
More Details	View screen captures of extended footage on the German Movie-Censorship site.
Entry Last Updated	7/5/2008

 

Possession (1981)
Director	Andrzej Zulawski
Cut Formats	VHS
Classifications	R
Cut Footage	The 45 minutes of lost footage includes scenes of narrative exposition, violence and weirdness.
Reason	Cut by the studio before release to about 77 minutes.
Uncut Releases	The longer director’s cut is on US DVD (Anchor Bay).

 

Predator (1987)
Director	John McTiernan
Cut Formats	Original DVD release
Classifications	M (22/2/2002 - VHS, 5/3/2002 - DVD)
Cut Footage	Unknown.
Reason	Sourced from a cut UK master.
Uncut Releases	Local VHS, local special edition DVD

 

Predator II (1990)
Director	Stephen Hopkins
Cut Formats	VHS, Film
Classifications	MA (3/3/2005 - DVD), M (22/5/1995, 18/12/1990 - 105 mins film), R (6/12/1990 - 107 mins film)
Cut Footage	Some gory bullet hits and a static shot of a gangland member hung up like meat being stabbed and having his heart hacked out (in long shot) along with some drug taking shots. Gary Busey is also shown being cut in half by the Predator's blade.    The new special edition DVD (Fox) was reclassified by the OFLC down from an R rating to an MA rating. The running time of this disc is 103:34 PAL, compared to the original DVD which is 103:33 PAL, which means both releases contain virtually the same transfer. This will be confirmed when the disc is released.
Reason	Avoid the Australian R rating. [assumption]
Uncut Releases	Australian DVD (Fox) rated R and MA, UK DVD, US R-rated versions. The longer version has 40 extra seconds and a total DVD counter running time of 103:34 PAL, so the OFLC times are suspect.

 

Private Obsession (1995)
Director	Lee Frost
Classifications	Banned (1995)
Uncut Releases	The unrated US DVD may be uncut.
Original Entry	Refused-Classification. [Thanks to RC]

 

The Professional / Leon - Version Integrale (1995)
Director	Luc Besson
Cut Formats	VHS, Film, DVD
Classifications	R
Cut Footage	A scene of Matilda getting drunk in a restaurant, more scenes of Rene taking Matilda on hits, a scene in which Matilda attempts suicide, and a few other moments.
Reason	The shorter version is the result of poor test screenings.
Uncut Releases	Japanese Region 2 DVD, DVD US special edition (Columbia Tristar).
Comments	These are expanded releases, rather than restored uncensored versions. Hence the film has not been 'censored' per se, depending on the exact feedback from preview audiences.    "The 'Integrale' version simply reinstates all of the footage that was jettisoned after miserable test screenings in the US" [M. C. Thomason]

 

Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1989)
Director	Ron Oliver, Peter R. Simpson
Cut Formats	VHS
Classifications	M (30/11/1990 - 94 mins PAL)
Cut Footage	Miscellaneous gore [Heath G.].
Reason	Cut to obtain a US R rating.
Uncut Releases	Unknown. An unrated US VHS is said to exist, but not according to Amazon.com.

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