Film Censorship: K

Kichiku dai enkai

Directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri / 1997 / USA / IMDb

There is one report of customs confiscating a DVD of KICHIKU DAI ENKAI in 2004.

In 2004, the conservative British censors passed an uncut KICHIKU: BANQUET OF THE BEASTS with an 18-rating. This indicates that the Australian Classification Board would award it an R18+ rating.

Kidnapped

Directed by Howard Avedis / 1986 / USA / IMDb

In 1987, Hoyts Distribution had to censor KIDNAPPED from 96 to 94m to remove 'gratuitous sexual violence'. The censored 94:32 R-rated tape was released on the RCA-Columbia/Hoyts label.

The videotape was censored as follows.

At 35:38 - Bonnie is held to the bed by her attacker, she pleads with him not to hurt her sister. Around 68s has been removed after this.

Missing is the attacker running his knife over her body, and down to her underwear.

Bonnie crying, "Oh God".

The attacker running the knife up to her bra and cutting it off.

Bonnie crying "Please, No".

The attacker telling her to take her hands away from her breasts, before stabbing the knife into the bed next to her head and telling her to "beg for it".

The Australian version then comes back in with the attacker telling Bonnie to "say her prayers", just before help arrives to save her.

Kidnapped - RCA Columbia Home Video [au] VHS

Killer Nun

Directed by Giulio Berruti / 1978 / Italy / IMDb

14th Mandolin had a 79m videotape of KILLER NUN banned in October 1983, and rated X in July 1984.

A censored 79:57 print was released on 14th Mandolin's King of Video label.

Another censored version running 80:14 premiered on SBS in 1996. Although longer than the King of Video tape, the screening was still missing some footage, notably the needle in the eye scene.

The uncut time for KILLER NUN is 80:55.

Killer Nun - King of Video [au] VHS

Kite

Directed by Yasuomi Umetsu / 1998 / Japan / IMDb

This film has never had problems with the Australian censors. It is included because the distributor released a censored print.

KITE was passed with an R18+ (High Level Animated Violence) rating in August 2005. It was released on DVD by Madman Entertainment the following month.

Thanks to James C for sending in this detailed look at this release.

In the U.S.; KITE has been released in three different versions. An excellent comparison between them can be found at animeprime.com/reports/kite.shtml. After reading these reports, I can only conclude that Madman has released a fourth cut of the DVD in Australia. Essentially we have the heavily cut AnimeWorks version, with a few extended scenes from the Kitty Media uncut/original version.

The report at animeprime.com lists six cut scenes from the AnimeWorks. More details can be found in their report, but they are essentially as follows. I’ve quoted from their report, but updated the times to indicate where these should appear in the Madman DVD.

Scene 1 at 5m 37s
AnimeWorks [Madman] version: Sawa turns down Akai's request for sex and the scene cuts immediately to the bench scene with Kanie and Oburi.

Scene 2 at 16m approx
AnimeWorks version: Many edits to remove any nudity involving Young Sawa and any sexual contact between her and Akai.

This is interesting as the Madman version initially cuts the scene the same as AnimeWorks, then goes on to include some footage from the uncut version. Some of these scenes were not even shown in the less cut Kitty Media release.

The extra scenes are:

15m 57s: Young naked Sawa against wall
15m 59s: Pan up young naked Sawa's body
16m 09s: Young naked Sawa in bed
16m 11s: Akai touches breast
16m 20s: Young naked Sawa in bed, bouncing from unseen Akai

Scene 3 at 26m 30s approx
AnimeWorks [Madman] version Scene is completely missing. When Sawa is falling from the destroyed bathroom (after her flashback), there is a short scene of a boss having sex with one of his young female employees on a desk.

Scene 4 at 29m 30s approx
AnimeWorks [Madman] version Scene is completely missing After Akai scolds Sawa for botching the job, Kanie has sex with a young woman in his apartment. Various toys can be seen around the room. Kanie draws his gun when Akai walks in on them. He continues having sex when he realizes who it is.

Scene 5 at 32m 30s approx
AnimeWorks [Madman] version: The scene is edited to remove the shots that show the young woman servicing Akai. While Akai talks on the phone and to Kanie, the young woman that Kanie was having sex with gives Akai a blow job. Although you can really see anything, it's obvious what she's doing.

Scene 6 at 39m 50s approx
After Akai and Kanie thwart Oburi and Sawa's attempts to kill them, Akai forces Sawa to have sex with him. She resists until kanie threatens Oburi's life. During the sex, Sawa has flashbacks to when she was raped by Akai as a young girl. Her expressions change throughout the scene.

AnimeWorks version: Scene is completely missing, except for the dialog between Sawa and Akai at the end. In the AnimeWorks version, they removed the shot of them naked in bed together and replaced it with close ups of their faces.

Again the Madman version differs slightly from the AnimeWorks print, and contains footage from the uncut version.

The extra scenes are:

39m 57s: Older naked Sawa in bed with cop as they talk (Sawa facing away from him)
40m 30s: Akai rubs older Sawa's thigh
40m 48s: One close up of older Sawa's face
40m 50s: One close up of Akai's face followed by shadow of Sawa getting up

You may be also be interested to read Madman's take on it all. These comments originally appeared on their message boards in response to queries about the uncut status of MEZZO FORTE and KITE.

12.07.04
"We will be releasing an edited version of both movies as they would be refused classification if they were to be submitted uncut."

They also go on to state that they will be releasing the AnimeWorks version:

".....we are releasing this version
www.animecritic.com/kite/anr-kite.html
All you're missing are sex scenes."

When questioned on the possibility of uncut versions being released in the future, this was posted.

14.07.04.
"As I've said it probably would not get past the OFLC so why take the risk?"

Kite - Madman Entertainment [au] DVD

The Krays

Directed by Peter Medak / 1990 / UK / IMDb

This film has never had problems with the Australian censors. It is included because the distributor chose to censor it to achieve a more commercial rating.

In July and August 1990, THE KRAYS was rated R18+ (Occasional graphic violence) in two separate submissions of 116m 35mm prints. Palace Entertainment Corporation was the applicant.

The introduction of the MA15+ rating was still three years away, so Palace decided to censor THE KRAYS down to 115m for a more commercial M (Occasional coarse language, Violence) rating. It was awarded in September 1990, and it was this print that played theatrically.

Palace released both the censored M-rated version, and uncut R-rated print of THE KRAYS on VHS.

Kung-Fu Executioner

Directed by Lam Chin-Wai / 1981 / Hong Kong / IMDb

In September 1981, 42s of footage was removed from a 97m 35mm print of KUNG-FU EXECUTIONER to achieve an R-rating. The cuts were required for frequent, gratuitous, medium intensity violence and animal cruelty. Joe Sui International Film Co was the applicant.

The film was classified again in October 1988 when Mareith Investments received an M-rating for a 92m videotape. We cannot confirm if this version was uncut, or if any video release eventuated.

KUNG-FU EXECUTIONER: Review

Thanks to Matt for this review.

The DVD-R that I viewed of KUNG FU EXECUTIONER ran 80:12. It had opening credits, which are great by the way, but no title card. The end credits were totally missing. In addition, I found a review that mentioned a severed dog’s head being left as a warning. This was missing from this print. The 80m running time is quite a bit shorter than the two versions that went before the censor. However, the film does not seem to be cut. I can only assume some plot was removed, because what I saw was non-stop action.

The violence is standard martial arts fighting, with a touch more brutality than normal. These include, at 18m, Hung Chun Fai stabbing a guy in the hand, at 65m Donny killing a guy by sticking a crane picker in his body and lifting him up, and finally, at 74m when Chan Yim Hung has her throat slashed and blood splatters on the lens. I would not have thought the censor would have been troubled by these scenes, but speculate that they must have made up some of the 42s cuts.

The animal cruelty is a little easier to identify. This is at 18m, when Kuen Wei’s home is attacked. The windows are smashed, and there is a very brief shot of a pet bird flapping on the ground with a wooden spike through it. I suspect the aforementioned dog’s head scene should have been included around this point. The Hong Kong filmmakers are unlikely have gone to the trouble of building a fake dog head, so maybe this was also considered as cruel by the censor.