Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The

Dir Tobe Hooper / 1974 / USA

The Censorship Board first viewed this in June 1975. The 2286mtr (83m 33s)  print was swiftly Refused Registration. The distributor appealed to the Review Board who upheld the decision in August 1975.

The distributor prepared a 2112mtr (77m 12s) reconstructed version, only to see it banned again in December 1975. So it was back to the Review Board, who again in April 1976 upheld the decision of the Censorship Board. In 1976 even a version missing 5m 21s of footage couldn't score an R-rating!

It would take five years for the film to be presented to the censors again. However the result was much the same. GUO Film Distributors had a 2283.4 (83m 27s) print Refused Registration in July 1981. The reason given for the ban was violence, which was described as:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous 

GUO Film Distributors took the film directly to the Review Board who in July 1981 once again upheld the decision of the Censorship Board. Seven years after it was made, and the film remained banned in Australia.

It was to be the advent of video that finally saw it gain some kind of release. In the early 80's there was no law that compelled distributors to have videotapes classified. For a period, the Censorship Board simply viewed the tapes and passed them as 'Special Condition', the definition of which was:

That the film/tape will not be exhibited in any State in contravention of that State's law relating to the exhibition of films.

In June 1983, Howard Smith Industries had an 80m tape passed in such a way. It was passed again in December 1983, this time the applicant was Mr and Mrs Caggiano.

January 1984 was the month that the film finally received its long over-due Australian rating. The 2276.69 (83m 13s) print that Filmways Australia submitted was awarded an R-rating for:

Violence
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous 

Other: Horror

This 83min print was confirmed as R-rated for video in May 1984. Filmways were again the applicant and the rating was awarded for the same reasons as listed above.

Since the ban was lifted the film has had several Australian VHS and DVD releases courtesy of Force Entertainment. 

In July 2007 Umbrella Entertainment submitted a DVD for classification and were unbelievably awarded an R18+ (High level horror violence). This is the first time that the censors have rated the film in over twenty years and an MA15+ would now seem about right. Remember that the recent remake was passed with an MA15+ (High Level Violence) rating in 2003, and the ultra violent and sadistic uncut version of THE DEVIL'S REJECTS escaped with an MA15+ (Strong violence, Strong coarse language, Sex scene) in November 2005. The Umbrella DVD was released in October 2007.

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, The  

Dir Tobe Hooper / 1986 / USA

Hoyts Distributors had a 2750mtr (100m 31s) print Refused Registration in September 1986. It was banned due to violence, which was described as:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous 

In the 80's, Warner Video released an uncut print on tape in New Zealand. In true exploitation style, the box proudly stated that it was banned in Australia and the UK. 

Back in Australia, there is a confirmation from 1992 of Customs forwarding an uncut print to the OFLC who later released it. It was not awarded a rating, so at the time it was unclear what this meant for the films banned status. 

It remained unseen in Australia until February 2000, when the Arena Channel on the Foxtel Network premiered it as part of their Graveyard Shift show. The print shown clocked in at 95min 36sec, compared with 96min 09sec for the uncut New Zealand tape. The only footage missing was the scene in the radio station where Choptop attacks LG with a hammer, one hit is shown; and then it cuts to his legs shaking. Ironically, the reason this was originally banned was due to scenes of sexual violence, such as Leatherface rubbing his chainsaw against Stretch's body, and not the censored hammer beating. 

In November 2004 it premiered on Foxtel's Showtime Greats Channel. Once again the murder of LG had been toned down, though in a slightly different way. This screening had Paramount opening and closing distributor cards, as opposed to Viacomm when it was shown in 2000. The running time, including the distributor cards was 95min 27sec. 

In 2000 there has also been an unofficial video release on a cheap no-name label. At the time the Classification Board did not view the film, so the R18+ (High Level Violence, Adult Themes, Frequent Coarse Language) rating should be considered a fake. The print is letterboxed and fully uncut at 98min 15sec. This may mean that the tape had been dubbed from an NTSC source, as the runtime is longer than the New Zealand PAL tape. 

The film was finally passed by the censors (after twenty years) on November 30th 2006 in a DVD Special Edition submitted by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was rated R18+ (High Level Horror Violence), and was released in January 2007.

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