Diary of a Serial Killer
Dir Otto Chan / 1995 / Hong Kong
First submitted by Yau's Entertainment in August 1995 in a 35mm print running 89min. It was banned by the censors. An 84min cut version was prepared and was finally passed for public exhibition with an R18+ (High Level Violence, High Level Sex Scenes) in September 1995.
The censored film went on to play in Raymond Yu's Australia Cinema in Sydney, and no doubt in other Chinese language cinemas around the country.
Here is what the OFLC had to say about the film in their Classification Board and Classification Review Board-Annual Report 1995-96.
"Diary of a Serial Killer, a Hong Kong, Chinese-language film with depictions of the torture, murder and mutilation of young women, was refused for some gratuitous and relished depictions of cruelty and sexual violence which the board considered would be regarded by reasonable persons as indecent. A revised version with cuts made to problematic scenes was subsequently classified R by the board"
The 1995 Hong Kong VHS on the Universe Laser and Video label seems to be uncut. The running time of 91m 03s indicate that it is NTSC. Using this as a guide it is easy to see what scenes the Classification Board had problems with. These would have to include:
13m approx - The murder of the prostitute in the shower. There is a flashback to this at 62m 30s approx.
14m 30s approx - The murder of the second prostitute, Cheung Mai-Bo. He gags her and puts a firecracker inside her.
26m approx - Suffocates, and stabs a prostitute. Ties her up and cuts her breast. There is a flashback to the bound and gagged prostitute at 41m approx. There is also a flashback to the breast cutting at 55m approx.
53m approx - Uses rope to control the dead, naked prostitute like a puppet.
65m 30s approx - Has sex with the dead prostitute.
70min approx - Has sex with the prostitute, suffocates her, burns her with iron, and then cuts her.
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Universe Laser and Video |
