1960s American horror movies that have been cut or banned in Australia.
The Ghastly Ones
Directed by Andy Milligan / 1968 / USA / IMDb
In October 1983, Prestige Video had THE GHASTLY ONES passed with the Special Condition ‘that this film/tape will not be exhibited in any State in contravention of State’s law relating to the exhibition of films’.
Compulsory classification begins
In October 1984, the 71:14 Prestige Video tape of THE GHASTLY ONES was banned due to violence, which was described as being:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
The violence consists o four unconvincing and poorly shot gore scenes.
03:00 – Colin (Hal Borske) murders the young couple.
56:00 – Don (Richard Romanos) being disembowelled.
63:00 – Bill (Don Williams) getting a pitchfork in the neck.
70:00 – Hattie (Maggie Rogers) getting a hatchet in the head.
Despite the ban, the tape remained on the shelves of many video stores.
Back after 20 years
In August 2005, THE GHASTLY ONES was passed with an R18+ rating as part of a double-bill with Milligan’s SEEDS OF SIN (1968).
The consumer advice for the combined titles was ‘High level violence, High level sex scenes, Adult themes’.
Siren Visual Entertainment released the DVD in September 2005 as part of their Something Weird range. The running time of THE GHASTLY ONES was 71:41.
Further reading
See also the database entry for Andy Milligan’s FLESHPOT ON 42ND STREET(1973).
