Gore Gore Girls, The
Dir Herschell Gordon Lewis / 1972 / USA
This was reportedly confiscated by customs from a package of horror tapes in the early to mid-90's. The film was then sent to the OFLC where it was rated RC.
It was back before the OFLC on February 23rd 2005. Siren Visual Entertainment were again awarded an RC rating.
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The following news release was posted on the OFLC website on April 11th 2005.
Review announced for the film The Gore Gore Girls
The Classification Review Board has received an application to review the classification for the film, The Gore Gore Girls, directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Under Section 43(3) of the
The Gore Gore Girls was refused classification by the Classification Board on 23 February 2005.
The Classification Review Board will meet on Monday 18 April 2005 to consider the application.
The Classification Review Board’s decision and reasons for its decision will appear on the OFLC website once the review has been finalised.
The Classification Review Board is an independent merits review body. Meeting in camera, it makes a fresh classification decision upon receipt of an application for review. The Classification Review Board decision takes the place of the original decision made by the Classification Board.
***
The following media release was posted on the OFLC website on April 20th.
The Gore Gore Girls refused classification upon review
A 3-member panel of the Classification Review Board met on April 6, 18 and 20, 2005 and determined, in a 2 to 1 majority decision, that the 1972 film, The Gore Gore Girls, directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, should be refused classification.
A film that is refused classification (RC) is immediately banned throughout Australia. It cannot be exhibited, sold, hired or imported into the country. A film is refused classification if it exceeds the guidelines for the R18+ or X18+ classifications.
The Classification Review Board convened in response to an application by the film’s home entertainment distributor, Siren Visual Entertainment, to review the Refused Classification decision for The Gore Gore Girls, made by the Classification Board on 23 February 2005.
The Classification Review Board received written and heard oral submissions from Mr Nigel Rennard, Managing Director, Siren Visual Entertainment.
Convenor Maureen Shelley said that “the cumulative impact of the violence, including some sexualised violence, was very high, such that under the guidelines the film must be refused classification”. Under the guidelines, films will be refused classification if they contain “gratuitous, exploitative or offensive depictions of violence with a very high degree of impact or which are excessively frequent, prolonged or detailed”.
In the Review Board’s majority determination, The Gore Gore Girls warrants refused classification status because it exceeds the R18+ classification in a number of depictions. These include those of five female exotic dancers who are all murdered while semi-naked. The killings show prolonged and detailed scenes of gore, including removing a face from a skull, removing eyes from their sockets, cutting off the nipples of one victim, and the face of another victim being boiled off with the parts shown floating in a pot of oil.
The minority view was that the film should be classified R18+ as the impact was no more than high, due to the unrealistic, “schlock-horror” nature of the special effects.
In reviewing the classification, the Classification Review Board worked within the framework of the National Classification Scheme, applying the provisions of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Films) Act 1995, the National Classification Code and the Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Films.
The Classification Review Board is an independent merits review body. It meets in camera to make a fresh classification decision when applications to review classification matters previously determined by the Classification Board are made.
***
Australian Government
Classification Review Board
6, 18, 20 April 2005
23-33 MARY STREET
SURRY HILLS, NSW
MEMBERS: Ms Maureen Shelley (Convenor)
The Hon Trevor Griffin (Deputy Convenor)
Mr Rob Shilkin
APPLICANT: Siren Visual Entertainment Pty Ltd (Siren), original applicant
for classification, represented by Mr Nigel Rennard (managing
Director, Siren).
INTERESTED PARTIES: None
BUSINESS:
.. To consider whether the Review Board should exercise its
discretion to accept the application for review of a decision
outside the prescribed period.
.. To review the Classification Board’s decision to classify the
film The Gore Gore Girls (the film) RC (refused classification).
DECISION AND REASONS FOR DECISION
1. Decision
The Classification Review Board (the Review Board) classified the film RC
(refused classification) in a two/one majority decision.
2. Legislative provisions
The Classification (Publications, Film and Computer Games) Act 1995 (the
Act) governs the classification of films and the review of classification
decisions. Section 9 of the Act provides that films are to be classified
in accordance with the National Classification Code (the Code) and the
classification guidelines. Relevantly, the Code in paragraph 1 of the
Table under the heading ‘Films’ provides that films that:
(a) depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or
addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in
such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and
propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they
should not be classified …
are to be classified ‘RC’. The Code also states various principles for
classifications, and that effect should be given, as far as possible, to
these principles. Section 11 of the Classification Act requires that the
matters to be taken into account in making a decision on the
classification of a film include:
(a) the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by
reasonable adults; and
(b) the literary, artistic or educational merit (if any) of the film; and
(c) the general character of the film, including whether it is of a
medical, legal or scientific character; and
(d) the persons or class of persons to or amongst whom it is published or
is intended or likely to be published.
Three essential principles underlie the use of the 2003 Guidelines for the
Classification of Films and Computer Games (the Guidelines), determined
under s.12 of the Act:
• The importance of context
• The assessment of impact;
• And the six classifiable elements – themes, violence, sex, language,
drug use and nudity.
3. Procedure
a) Siren application made out of time
The Review Board met by teleconference on 6 April 2005 to determine as a
preliminary matter whether to exercise its discretion to hear the matter
under section 43(3) (b) of the Act as the application was made out of
time.
The classification certificate for the film was issued on 23 February
2005. On 7 March 2005, the applicant wrote a letter to the Director of the
Classification Board about the decision. The letter was received by the
OFLC on 10 March 2005. A response was sent from the OFLC on 30 March 2005.
On the same day (30 March), Siren contacted the OFLC by e-mail about a
review. Siren submitted a written application on 6 April 2005.
The Review Board found that there was a genuinely held but mistaken belief
by the Applicant that a review could be undertaken through representations
to the Director of the Office of Film and Literature Classification. The
evidence suggests that the Applicant was actively pursuing his review
rights but had not followed the correct
technical procedure. Given the continuous efforts of the Applicant to seek
a review of the classification, the Review Board unanimously determined
that it would exercise its discretion to allow the application to be
considered out of time. The Review Board then adjourned.
b) Consideration of application
The Review Board reconvened on 18 April 2005 to view the film and consider
the application, having previously determined that it was in receipt of a
valid application.
A determination on classification was unable to be reached at this time
and the meeting was adjourned. The Review Board reconvened on 20 April
2005 by teleconference and made its decision.
4. Evidence and other material taken into account
In reaching its decision the Review Board had regard to the following:
(i) Siren’s application for review;
(ii) Siren’s written and oral submissions;
(iii) The film (including original, director's commentary and other
extras);
(iv) The relevant provisions in the Act;
(v) The relevant provisions in the Code, as amended in accordance with s.6
of the Act
(vi) The Classification Board’s report; and
(vii) The Guidelines for the Classification of Films and Computer Games
2003.
5 Synopsis
The film is in the 1970s “schlock horror” genre. The basic story line
is that someone is murdering and mutilating women who work as exotic
dancers in a nightclub. A private investigator, Abraham Gentry, is hired
by a newspaper through the intervention of reporter Nancy Weston to solve
the crimes. Together the private investigator and the reporter work to
find and expose the killer.
The killer turns out to be a woman who was a body builder who turned to
exotic dancing. Through an accident her face and breasts are damaged. She
is hired as a waitress in a nightclub. She then becomes a killer,
attacking the women who are hired as exotic dancers in the club. She
mutilates their faces and breasts in the attacks.
6 Findings on material questions of fact
The Review Board found that the film contains aspects or scenes of
importance, under
various classifiable elements:
(a) Themes – the film does not appear to seriously deal with any themes.
By its nature the issue of serial killing and mutilation of women is
raised but is not dealt with in any depth by the film. The director
describes the film as an “exploitation” movie.
(b) Sex – there is only one scene of explicit sexual reference in the
film. At approximately 16 minutes a woman is shown stimulating and
caressing her breasts, whilst wearing underpants, in front of a mirror.
She is murdered and mutilated shortly afterwards. At the conclusion to the
film, Abraham and Nancy embrace on a couch but a blind is drawn with
Abraham addressing the camera saying “You’ve seen enough”.
(c) Drug use – There was limited drug use within the film. At
approximately 1 minute a person says “I have a drug here, LSD perhaps
you have heard of it”. At approximately 16 minutes a man is depicted
smoking what appears to be a marijuana cigarette. He appears to be
affected by the cigarette.
(d) Language –there is only mild coarse language in the film. “I may
be a bitch but I’ll never be a butch”.
(e) Nudity – There is no complete nudity in the film. There are several
scenes of partial nudity including several of the women exotic dancers
stripping to nipple tassels and g-strings. In one scene, a murder victim
is shown caressing her bare breasts before a mirror. She is wearing
underpants. Shortly afterwards she is murdered.
At approximately 74 minutes Nancy is shown wearing her pantyhose under
a mini-dress. She is prone on a couch and it can be seen that she isn’t
wearing underpants. Her pubic hair is visible through the pantyhose.
(f) Violence – the film contains several prolonged, detailed and gory
scenes of violence. This violence is sexualised in that all the killings
are of women exotic dancers. Some of the women perform a “strip tease”
shortly before they are murdered and most are partially naked when they
are murdered. The murder and mutilation of the women concentrates on their
faces and breasts.
Prior to the credits rolling, at approximately 2 minutes a woman is shown
sitting looking at herself in the mirror. The killer comes up behind her
and pushes her face into the mirror. In a scene that takes approximately 1
minute the bloodied face is shown in detail. The face appears pale and
pasty in colour, the blood is extensive.
At 16 minutes a woman is standing in front of a mirror stimulating her
breasts. A shadow is shown. The shadow arm hits her on the head and then
the arm slashes at her throat. For approximately 1 minute hands are shown
removing the bloodied facial tissue from the skull of the woman. There is
significant detail, there is blood, bone, flesh and gore. The head is a
pulpy mass. The scene is in mid shot and is prolonged and detailed. The
length of time that the gory head is shown is gratuitous.
It is the majority view that the scene is very high in impact. The
minority view was that the scene was gory yet unrealistic, with no part of
the woman's face identifiable.
At approximately 42 minutes a woman wearing a bra and underpants under an
open shirt screams as her throat is cut. Blood is shown coming from the
cut, she has blood on her face and hands. The killer rolls her over and
removes her underpants with a carving fork. The woman’s buttocks are
then repeatedly attacked with a meat mallet until they are a bloodied
mass. Fast military-style music starts to play. The killer puts what
appears to be salt and what the director describes as “seasoning” onto
the pulped flesh. The buttocks are pulpy and the blood flows freely. The blood drips
down the woman’s arm and onto the floor. As the killer manipulates the
pulpy flesh there are sucking noises. The killer removes the woman’s
eyes from the sockets with a knife and fork. The bloodied head then has
the brain removed and other organs are placed beside the head. More blood
drips are seen.
The length of the scene and the details are gratuitous. It was the
majority view that the scene is very high in impact. The view of the
minority was that the scene was no more than high in impact because it was
unrealistic looking and silly.
At 46 minutes Abraham is shown putting his finger onto the bloodied meat
mallet held by a police detective. He licks his finger.
At approximately 50 minutes the killer slashes another woman’s throat.
The killer puts an iron on the woman’s face and removes her shirt. The
killer burns both sides of the woman’s face with the iron and the iron
is depicted being put into the eye socket of the victim. In a scene that
the director later describes in an interview as “the most outrageous”
that he has filmed, the killer then cuts the left nipple of the woman off
and a fluid comes from the nipple. The killer then cuts the right nipple
off and a different coloured fluid comes from the nipple. The killer collects the
fluids in two glasses. The director says in his commentary that the left
nipple contains milk and the right nipple contains chocolate milk.
At approximately 52 minutes the killer attacks another woman and puts her
face into a pot of boiling oil that is heating on the stove. The face is
shown whilst still in the pot of oil. The eyeball is shown as being cooked
and parts of the face float off and mix with the chips in the pot.
At approximately 76 minutes the killer is exposed as the sharp spoken
waitress from the strip club. As Abraham pursues her she falls from a
second storey window whereby she is decapitated. Her head is shown being
run over by a car. The face is visible and is shown between the car tyre
and the road.
7 Reasons for the decision
The Review Board based its decision to refuse classification ‘RC’ the
film The Gore Gore Girls based on the content of the film as set out
above.
The Gore Gore Girls is a film in the “schlock horror” genre. Many of
the depictions are almost slapstick in nature and the effects used are
generally crude. However, the majority of the Review Board determined that
the detailed, prolonged and graphic depiction of the killings and
dismemberment of the five partially-naked women in the sexualised context
of their work (and in juxtaposition of their strip routines at the club) is undertaken in such a way that the film is offensive to reasonable
adults.
Whilst the scenes are not glamorised and it is clearly the film-maker’s
intent that these murders are in the “schlock horror” or “B grade
movie” mode, the material presented is beyond what can be classified
under the Australian system.
The Review Board carefully considered any artistic nature that the film
may have had particularly given the submissions of the editorial staff of
Fiend magazine (and the educational qualifications of those staff), its
general character as a “schlock horror” film and that any likely
audience would be educated and dedicated “schlock horror” fans.
However, the majority of the Review Board found that these matters did not
outweigh the community’s concern over the depiction of violence
particularly sexualised violence contained within the film.
The minority formed the view that the crude, unrealistic, "schlock
horror" nature of the effects and production values, together with
the non-menacing, over-the-top storyline and slapstick elements, meant
that the impact of the gory violence was markedly less than in other more
serious and realistically filmed violent movies. The minority did not
consider the violence to be sexual or sexualised in nature, there was no attempt by the killer to engage in any form of sexual activity with any
of the victims and there was no attempt to glamorise or eroticise the
violence. The minority formed the view that although the film was
"gross" and there was occasional breast nudity, the impact of
the film did not exceed high and was best accommodated in an R
classification.
8 Summary
In a two/one majority the Review Board determined that the classifiable
elements and the impact in the overall context of the film The Gore Gore
Girls warrant a refused classification (RC). They depict, express and deal
with matters of sexualised violence and violence in such a way that they
offend against the standards of decency and propriety generally accepted
by reasonable adults to the extent that the film should not be classified.
***
The following press release is from Siren Visual Entertainment.
IN
A GLASS CAGE AND THE GORE GORE GIRLS, REFUSED RATING BY OFLC!
'The
Gore Gore Girls'
is a thirty-year-old film that has been exhibited worldwide.
'In
a Glass Cage' has been
treasured by cult and horror fans over the years as one of cinema's most
beautiful atrocities committed to celluloid.
Clearly,
the OFLC does not agree, as we just got the phone call informing us that
these two great films were rejected, and refused rating.
The
OFLC, at times, seem to be very serious and narrow-minded since they are
banning these two great films.
But
here's what Herschell Gordon Lewis had to say about the banning of his
film...
"To
ban a thirty-year-old film that has been exhibited worldwide, and has been
available in cassette and DVD form for some years, is on its face
ludicrous.
"The
Gore-Gore Girls" was intended as a parody, and from its first release
audiences have accepted it as such. The film has been exhibited at horror
and science fiction film festivals in many countries, without incident.
Singular
selection of any target while ignoring many others is a dangerous step
some might regard as fascistic, an attempt to draw favorable attention to
the censors rather than to draw negative attention to whatever is being
censored. Were this "ban" to be applied universally, any film
directed by Quentin Tarantino and many by John Carpenter and Wes Craven (every
one of which post-dated this movie) would be snared in the same net ...
plus the Australian-produced "Mad Max" classics, which in no way
shared the sense of humor that saturates this film.
I
add my voice to those who see no sense nor benefit from this attack."
Well said Herschell...We agree.
***
The decision to ban THE GORE GORE GIRLS is a very big step backwards for the OFLC. In 2004 it really did look like things were getting better, and that were at last moving to a true system of classification, and not censorship. The Classification Board saw fit to award R18+ ratings to films such as MANIAC, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, and ICHI THE KILLER. All are much more extreme than anything you can find in THE GORE GORE GIRLS.
This is a film that even the notorious British censors passed uncut in February 2002. Compare this with the treatment they gave MANIAC (May'02 cut by 58sec), LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (July'02 cut by 31sec), and ICHI THE KILLER (Nov'02 cut by 3min 15sec), NEW YORK RIPPER (Jan'02 cut by 22sec). The OFLC passed all of these uncut!
ICHI THE KILLER even contains some nipple-slicing violence far more brutal than the comparable scene in THE GORE GORE GIRLS.
Less than a month after the Review Board confirmed the ban, the Classification Board again passed BLOODSUCKING FREAKS R18+ (Medium Level Violence). Is one really worse than the other?
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Classification Board & Classification
Review Board
Annual Report 2004-2005
Page 39
Classification Board
Films – sale or hire – complaints
Two complaints were received about the RC decision for the film The Gore Gore Girls
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Classification Board &
Classification Review Board
Annual Report 2004-2005
Page 94
Classification Review Board
Complaints
Two complaints were received about the RC decision for the film The Gore Gore Girls and one complaint was received about the RC decision for the film Tras El Cristal (In a Glass Cage). These complaints addressed the decisions of both the Classification Board and the Classification Review Board.
***
Something Weird in the US, and Tartan in the UK both have DVD's of the full version. The US disc is the better of the two as it contains a commentary with the Director, Herschell Gordon Lewis.
