The Australian softcore films FANTASM (1976) and FANTASM COMES AGAIN (1977) were both originally banned, before being cut for R-ratings.
Fantasm
Directed by Richard Franklin / 1976 / Australia / IMDb
In July 1976, a 2350.00-meter (85:39) print of FANTASM was banned because of ‘indecency’.
Later that month, Filmways Australasia censored it down to 2212.40-meters (80:38) and received an R-rating.
2004
– Producer, Antony I. Ginnane
In those days the film censorship authorities were extremely draconian. They thought they were god. They didn’t like the R-rating, it was imposed on them, so they did everything they could to sabotage it. They simply didn’t like sex, and once you got past a certain level of nudity, or a certain level of simulated sex, bingo, bango, you had to cut it. It was a nasty bunch of self-dealing, megalomaniacal monsters.
– ‘Fantasm’ Penetrated (2004)
What was censored?
Antony I. Ginnane mentions approximately three minutes of trims in the DVD commentary track However, the Censorship Board’s record show that it was closer to five.
2004
11:00 – …the Australian release print [of FANTASM] which was trimmed by the Australian censors, and we’ll get to that in a minute, by about three, to three and a half minutes, and as you go ahead, there are a couple of sequences that received quite aggressive cuts. The rest of the sequences were just trimmed by a few seconds here or there.17:00 – The idea was to allow the sexual content to be to a level that would allow it to pass the then availing Australian censorship.
…but there were still some restrictions, and clearly at that point of time there was no ability to bring anything triple X into a conventional theatrical release.
…we did end up having to cut the film down by two to three minutes.
24:00 – …it was harder than you think for Vince [Monton] and Richard [Franklin] to shoot in such a ways that we didn’t run into censorship problems.
49:00 – …this sequence [FRUIT SALAD] is one of the most cut in any version that have been floating around in the U.S. or elsewhere when we get into the underwater sequence.
…when they [John Holmes and Maria Welton] got into the pool together that was heavily cut in earlier versions that were around. I think it runs about one to three seconds, where as you see it goes much longer.
..this [Welton pulls Holmes penis to her mouth] was all cut from the version that was previously circulating.
– Producer, Antony I. Ginnane
– DVD commentary track, Umbrella Entertainment
Other likely cuts include a brief shot of John Holmes erect penis and an underwater penetration between Holmes and Maria Welton in FRUIT SALAD. The rape of Felicity (Rene Bond), at 34:00 in NIGHTMARE ALLEY would also have been a likely target.
Banned in Queensland
On 20 July 1976, the censored R-rated version of FANTASM was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was T.L.N. Film Productions and Filmways Australasian Distributors.
2004
Producer, Antony I. Ginnane – The beauty of it [the Queensland ban] was that it was so much publicity for the rest of Australia, that whatever we lost in Queensland, we certainly mad up for South of the border.Director, Richard Franklin – I think the film was banned in Queensland because my parents drove me to Tweed Heads [NSW] to see it. My Mother thought it was wonderful, but she always does.
– ‘Fantasm’ Penetrated (2004)
2004
– Producer, Antony I. Ginnane
…[Queensland] banned FANTASM after five days of it running at the Capri Cinema in Brisbane, and to this day it has never had a theatrical release. It ran four and a half days and was pulled.
– DVD commentary track, Umbrella Entertainment
Censored video releases
In the early 1980s, Video Classics released the censored version on their Movies at Midnight label.
Towards the end of the decade, this was followed by a second release. Although nothing is listed on the cover, this appears to be related to Video Excellence.
Finally, in 1990, FANTASM was rereleased on the Movie Greats label.
The 77:43 running time indicates that it was again a cut print.
X-rated version
July 1984 saw FANTASM twice passed with the newly introduced X-rating.
The reason given was sex, which was described as being:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
The applicants for these 87-minute tapes were FG Film Productions and Video Classics. On the 2004 FANTASM DVD commentary, producer Antony I. Ginnane claims the uncut version has never been released on tape. This appears to be true, as neither of these X-rated videos has yet surfaced.
For a brief period from 1984 to 1985, violence was allowed in the X-rating. However, subsequent reforms mean that the rape scene and other violence in FANTASM would now prevent it from receiving the same classification.
Uncut DVD release
A 79-minute version was passed by the OFLC in March 2004 with an R (Medium level sex scenes, Some sexual violence) rating. This was for the Umbrella Entertainment DVD where it was double-billed with the sequel FANTASM COMES AGAIN (1977).
The actual running time of FANTASM on this DVD is 86:53. This is a highly recommended release as it contains uncut versions of both films, as well as ‘FANTASM’ PENETRATED (2004) and a commentary track with Antony I. Ginnane.
In November 2008. Umbrella rereleased it as part of a six DVD collection titled OZ-PLOITATION BOXSET VOL 2.
No hardcore version
During the FANTASM COMES AGAIN (1977) commentary, Antony I. Ginnane discusses the lost hardcore footage that they filmed for the sequel. He goes on to say that, the DVD of FANTASM is uncut because nothing extra was shot. This was because it was primarily aimed at the Australian market, where, at the time, hardcore was banned.
2004
– Producer, Antony I. Ginnane
At the time Australia had a very tight censorship regime as well, and none of the adult movies, the triple X movies, that had become sort of porno-chic in the States, the DEEP THROAT(S), THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES, and the like, had actually played down in Australia. They were not allowed into the country, but the actors, the principal actors that were in those films were known to Australians, and had a certain sort of controversy about them. So we figured if we could cast FANTASM with what we called the ‘Superstars of Triple X’, and bring them down to Australia, we’d have a piece of material that would be very controversial to Australian audiences which was what we were primarily aiming for in terms of recruitment.
– DVD commentary track, Umbrella Entertainment
Navigating the Censor
Antony I. Ginnane is an independent film producer and former distributor who works mainly in the exploitation field. As such, he had a number of run-ins with the Censorship Board, and has always been an outspoken critic of their decisions. Here are some of his reminiscences of the experience.
January 1974
CP – Do distributors or exhibitors cut ‘R’ certificate films to fit other categories?AIG – It is quite common for distributors to authorise the censor to cut certain material to fit certain categories. We have never cut a film that we knew the producer or director really cared about, although we are thinking about cutting THE CORPSE GRINDERS – which is a straight exploitation film, and I know the producer and director would be in accord with us in reducing the film to censorial level that would maximize its return at box office.
CP – Are films rated ‘R’ because of violence, likely to make less money than films rated ‘R’ because of sex.
AIG – Definitely yes – violent exploitation films that don’t have anything else going for them would definitely succeed better as an ‘M’ than an ‘R’. In my experience the major audience for violent films are children between the ages of 10 and 17 who can’t see ‘R’ material.
– Antony I. Ginnane interview
– Cinema Papers No 1
14 February, 2009
FBF – Getting back to censorship. Did you do battle with Dick Prowse, the one armed [Chief] censor, was he in the bottom of an arcade in Sydney his offices.AIG – I think its Castlereagh Street; I’m a Melbourne boy so I don’t know.
FBF – Did you ever have to go in there and argue the toss?
AIG – Well I don’t know if it was ever the toss, but we did have to go in there and argue quite a bit. Look, they were very, very reluctant. The film censors at that point did not embrace the R-certificate. The R-certificate was forced on them by government. It’s impossible to think back, and think how conservative the actual exhibitors and distributors were at that point. They didn’t realise what a good thing they were being opened up to. Village did, part of Village’s very early rise to growth was based on the little cinemas in Melbourne and Sydney where they were running. But, most exhibitors they were like something out of some Pentecostal throwback group, so we had trouble.
We had trouble in Queensland, we were banned in Queensland with the first FANTASM, but of course, that helped us in the rest of Australia. We were trimmed, as it were, in Australia with the first FANTASM. Our artwork, our advertising…
FBF – Wouldn’t you want to be banned in the first instance [inaudible] Queensland?
AIG – Well it’s only good to be banned if you get unbanned, and we were banned in Queensland so that was fine. But we wouldn’t have wanted to be banned across Australia, otherwise, that wouldn’t have been good. The film was cut, the version that Umbrella have now out on the double pack FANTASM and FANTASM COMES AGAIN is the original version. It was the first time in Australia that that version had actually ever been seen. When we had it on pay-TV a couple of times it was the cut version. It was probably the first time that Queenslanders had ever seen it. We fought with them [the censor] on that. We fought with them on FANTASM COMES AGAIN. They approved every piece of key art, they approved trailers, even on PATRICK [1978], they had and interest. You remember that line from CARRY ON ROME [CARRY ON CLEO] or whatever it is, ‘infamy! Infamy!, they’ve all got it in for me’. Well, Prowse certainly had that view, not just with me, but the Filmways people, Robert Ward, Mark Josem, all of us who were pushing the envelope at that time.
FBF – Filmways were bringing in lots of films that were just banned outright.
AIG – Well they were. I mean PATRICK we had trouble with the ads, with the trailers; we had to pull them back. About the only thing we didn’t have a problem with was BLUE FIRE LADY [1977], except they were concerned about the title.
FBF – What about the late Don Chipp, was he an ally at all?
AIG – Oh, totally an ally. I mean he was a great liberal, a libertarian, and somebody who believed that Australian cinema audiences, and not just film of course, but books and music and other things, that adults should be treated as adults. So, when you think back now and you see that now, thirty something years later that a film like SALO gets banned. You know the censorship battle isn’t won, it has been largely won.
FBF But SALO is a weird situation because eventually that got released, and now it is banned again.
AIG – Reactionaries are like bush fires. You think you have got them out, then they crop up again.
– Antony I. Ginnane interview
– Film Buffs Forecast, RRR Radio
Fantasm Comes Again
Directed by Colin Eggleston / 1977 / Australia / IMDb
In August 1977, a 2682.60-meter (97:47) print of FANTASM COMES AGAIN was banned for reasons of ‘indecency’.
A 2614.00-meters (95:17) ‘reconstructed version’ lost a further 79.70-meter (02:54) before being awarded an R-rating in December 1977. These extra cuts were made to remove ‘indecency’.
The Australian International Film Corporation was the applicant.
2004
FANTASM COMES AGAIN was not the success that FANTASM was. There were probably plenty of reasons. Certainly, the most overt was that the market had changed substantially in Australia in twelve months.You have to remember how censored Australian cinema was prior to the R-certificate. Apart from South Africa, we were the most censored country in the world. A lot of people [at the time of the original film] hadn’t seen naked people doing naked things.
– Producer, Antony I. Ginnane
– ‘Fantasm’ Penetrated (2004)
What was trimmed for the R-rating?
Antony I. Ginnane discusses cuts during the DVD commentary.
2004
– Producer, Antony I. Ginnane
67:00 – I don’t know what the Australian censors had against underwater ballet, but this [Bill Marigold sex scene in THE KISS OF LIFE] was trimmed by about a minute and a half for the Australian release print.
– DVD commentary track, Umbrella Entertainment
Presumably, the rape in DOUBLE FEATURE (30:00) and the brief rear shot of Serena’s vagina during TRUE CONFESSIONS (92:00) would both have been censored.
Banned in Queensland
Unlike the original film, the sequel was not initially off limits in Queensland.
It would take over three years, on 27 March 1981, before the censored R-rated version was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review. The distributor was Filmways Australasian Distributors.
Censored video releases
In the early 1980s, Video Classics released FANTASM COMES AGAIN on their Movie at Midnight label. This was likely the same censored theatrical print.
This 90-minute tape was reviewed in February 1984 and confirmed with an R-rating.
In 1990 it was rereleased on VHS on the Movie Greats label. The tape ran 89:09.
X-rated version
In August 1984, FANTASM COMES AGAIN was passed with the newly introduced X-rating. The reason given was sex, which was described as:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
The applicant for this 99-minute tape was FG Film Productions. Presumably, this was the uncut version. There is no evidence that it was ever released.
Uncut after 26-years
The 98:31 uncut version of FANTASM COMES AGAIN made its debut in 2004, when Umbrella Entertainment issued it on a double-bill DVD with the original film. The censorship history is discussed during the commentary track and in the FANTASM PENETRATED (2004) documentary.
Umbrella rereleased it in November 2008 as part of a six DVD collection titled OZ-PLOITATION BOXSET VOL 2.
The lost hardcore version
The original FANTASM did not include any hardcore footage as it was aimed at the domestic market where such material was banned. However, when overseas distributors began asking for it, it was decided to shoot more explicit inserts for the sequel.
During the DVD commentary, Antony I. Ginnane discusses how none of the actors were employed on the basis of providing hardcore as it would have cost too much. However, a couple of days after filming ended they shot around nine to ten minutes of hardcore footage in an Los Angeles motel room. This was done so that it could then be edited back into the film if needed. It never ended up neing used because the couple of distributors who requested it refused to pay the extra post production costs.
The hardcore material, with the film can labelled FANTASM ’99, was lost when the lab where it was stored went out of business. The material has never been seen since.