Bad Taste
Dir Peter Jackson / 1987 / New Zealand
One of the more strange decisions that the OFLC made in the late 80's was the banning of Peter Jackson's splatter comedy.In 1989 CBS/Fox were refused a rating for an 88min (v) version. A second listing in 1989 showed that the board gave it an M rating when cut to 82mins (v), thankfully this was not released. It wasn't until the following year that a cut 87min (v) print was passed with an R18+. This version can be found on CBS/Fox video, and has an exact runtime of 86m 36s. A fourth listing shows that applicant, Reid and Puskar also had an 86min (f) rated R18+ in 1990. The uncut UK Colourbox tape runs 87m 42s, which means this version was censored by 66 seconds.
A second VHS release appeared in the mid-90's on the JVB label. It runs 86m 25s and is also cut.
There is a confirmed Customs confiscation of this from 1992. A dub of the UK Colourbox tape was forwarded to the OFLC, who released it with no problems. This seems very strange as it was less than two years earlier that they were demanding cuts.
This was back before the OFLC in July 2004, the first time in 14 years. This time they were more sensible, and passed it R18+ (Medium Level Violence). Universal Picture Video released this as a Collectors Edition DVD in September 2004. The film is fully uncut, restoring all the gore missing from the theatrical print, and two previous VHS releases. The longer running time of 91m 33s indicates that this is an NTSC print.
Here are the scenes that were missing from the JVB tape (presumably the same as the CBS/Fox version) which are now present in the Universal DVD. Note that this is not an exact comparison, so there may be more missing footage. The times refer to the points in the Universal DVD where you can view the previous cuts.
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BARRY SHOOTS THE ALIEN 3.26 - 3.34: The Alien stumbling around with the top part of his head missing. |
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DEREK AND THE HAMMER 14.08 - 14.12: Derek hammers the knife into the boot of the alien.
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DEREK AND THE HAMMER 14.27 - 14.28: Derek hits the knife again into the alien's boot. |
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DEREK AND THE HAMMER 15.11: Shot of the knife entering the alien's boot and blood coming out.
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DEREK AND THE HAMMER 15.41 - 15.42: Derek hitting the hammer twice more into the alien's boot.
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GUN IN THE STOMACH 18.53 - 18.54: The alien being shot in the stomach by Derek. |
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GUN IN THE STOMACH 18.58 - 18.59: Derek's gun entering the alien's stomach. |
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GUN IN THE STOMACH 19.11 - 19.19: Derek pushing the gun through the alien's stomach.
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GUN IN THE STOMACH 19.21 - 19.22: Shot of the gun firing through the back of the alien. |
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HAMMER HEAD 22.44 - 22.48: The alien dropping the hammer on the other alien's head.
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HAMMER HEAD 22.58-23.02: The alien's arm being torn off.
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CHAINSAW HEAD 80.07 - 80.08: The alien's head opening up after Derek has used the chainsaw to cut it in half. |
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JVB (Australia) |
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Universal Pictures (Australia) |
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