The movies of Joe D’Amato that have been cut or banned in Australia.
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals
aka Emanuelle’s Amazon Adventure
Directed by Joe D’Amato / 1977 / Italy / IMDb
In June 1978, a 2535.10-meter (92:24) print of EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS was banned for reasons of ‘indecency and excessive violence’.
Roadshow Distributors was the applicant.
A 2468.70 (89:59) censored version lost a further 2.5-meters (00:06) of ‘excessive violence’ before being awarded an R-rating in September 1978.
In this case, Blake Film was the applicant.
List of possible cuts
Chris reports.
Italian Shock (it) – DVD – 89:21 (PAL)
The majority of the 02:31 of cuts for an R-rating would have been needed to remove ‘excessive violence’ rather than ‘indecency’.
The ‘excessive violence’ would have been in the following three scenes.
11:30 – Emanuelle watches a black and white documentary about cannibals in Africa in which a decapitation and a slow-motion castration is shown.
58:00 – Sister Angela is captured and stripped by the cannibals. Her breast is cut off and eaten before they slice open her stomach and disembowel her.
75:30 – Maggie is stripped naked and tied up by the cannibals. They stab her just above her pubic region, pull out her stomach, and eat it.
There are some other less graphic scenes of violence, including a nurse who escapes from a patient after her breast is bitten off (02:00), the disembowelled body of the native guide (46:00) and Donald being stabbed with a spear (67:00).
The sex is softcore and nowhere near as graphic as EMANUELLE IN AMERICA (1977). The ‘indecency’ that the Film Censorship Board refers to may have included.
05:00 – Emanuelle rubbing between the legs of the girl in the straitjacket.
18:00 – Emanuelle remembering having sex with Mark.
23:00 – Emanuelle and Mark having sex as Isabelle watches and masturbates.
38:00 – Maggie masturbating at the thought of Salvador.
41:00 – Maggie and Salvador having sex.
80:00 – The cannibals having sex with a drugged Isabelle.
Seized at the Border No. 1
There is a confirmed customs confiscation of EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS.
1991 October – VHS.
See NEKROMANTIK (1987) in the Film Censorship Database No. 1 for more information regarding this case.
VHS release
In 1997, Force Video released a heavily censored TV-print on tape under the title EMANUELLE’S AMAZON ADVENTURE.
The running time of 78:48 indicates that approximately ten-minutes was missing. The R (Sex scenes) rating on the cover was fabricated, as the tape was never submitted for classification. This was the case with much of Force Video’s product.
Seized at the Border No. 2
There is at least one more reported customs confiscation.
2006 – DVD(s), Shriek Show (USA).
This information came from a warning on the EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS purchase page of an American DVD mail order site.
March 2006
– xploitedcinema.com [dead link]
Important note to UK & Australian customers.
Some of these DVDs have been confiscated by UK & Australian customs.
Some have made it through but some have been stopped.
Order at your own risk!
Emanuelle Around the World
aka The Degradation of Emanuelle
Directed by Joe D’Amato / 1977 / Italy / IMDb
In August 1978, a 2578.00-meter (93.58) print of THE DEGRADATION OF EMANUELLE was censored by 22.50-meters (00:49) before being awarded an R-rating. The cuts were made to remove ‘indecency and excessive violence’.
This was presumably the softcore version and not the continental cut.
Super Star International was the applicant.
Seized by customs
In March 2007, Severin Films released a 102-minute XXX-Rated European Version on DVD that included some brief hardcore scenes.
There is at least one confirmed customs confiscation of this disc.
2007 – DVD(s), Severin Films (USA).
The information comes from a warning posted on the EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD purchase page of an American DVD mail order site.
August 2007
– Xploited Cinema
Important note to Australian customers.
We have had some of these DVDs confiscated by customs.
Some have made it through but some have been stopped.
Order at your own risk!
DVD release
In June 2008, Umbrella Entertainment had the softer export version passed with an R18+ (High impact sexual violence, themes and sex scenes) rating.
The 99:56 (NTSC) print was classified under the title EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD (LE VICE DANS LA PEAU) and was released in August 2008.
R-rated – 1978 vs. 2008
Chris reports.
Umbrella Entertainment – DVD – 99:56 (NTSC)
This is the softer export print, not the Continental version.
The print submitted in 1978 ran 94:14. Presumably, this was either a different version or had been pre-cut, as it is 2:30 shorter than the Umbrella disc. The one R18+ rated in 2008 would have been heavily modified back in 1978.
These are the controversial moments in the Umbrella DVD, which may have caused issues in 1978. They are followed by comments from the IMDb that describe the extra footage in the hardcore ‘Continental Version’.
46:00 – Cora is beaten by a group of men and stripped in preparation to be raped.
Continental Version – ‘The rape of Cora is longer and features a close-up of an erect penis.’
51:00 – The man with the deformed face rapes the girls. There must be something missing here, as one-minute they are being raped, then at 51:52 it cuts to the girls saying ‘they got what they deserved’ as they get into a taxi.
Continental Version – ‘The scene is substantially longer, but not explicit.’
65:00 – The infamous bestiality scene briefly shows a snake being put on a vagina and a German Shepherd mounting a woman.
Continental Version ‘… is explicit, not just implied as in the theatrical cut’.
75:30 – The orgy scene that Emanuelle spies on contains an ultra-brief shot of a real blowjob (76:13) and the start of a shot of a banana being put in a vagina (76:17).
Continental Version – ‘…features close-ups of penetration, oral sex, and a banana being inserted into a vagina’.
88:00 to 93:30 – Miss Ohio is stripped, made to dance naked for a group of homeless men, punched in the stomach and raped. This scene also includes Emanuelle being captured by one of the men and made to perform fellatio with a gun at her head.
Finally, the IMDb says that in the Continental Version the ‘…lesbian scene between Mary and Emanuelle is longer, but is not explicit’.
Movie-Censorship has a detailed comparison that shows the Continental version runs 04:41 longer than the softer export print.
Emanuelle in America
Directed by Joe D’Amato / 1977 / Italy / IMDb
In October 1977, a 2720.80-meter (99:11) print of EMANUELLE IN AMERICA was banned for reasons of ‘indecency’.
A censored 2560.80-meter (93:21) version lost a further 21.7-meters (00:47) before being passed with an R-rating in December 1977. The extra cuts were for ‘indecency and indecent violence’.
Blake Films was the applicant.
Advertising censorship
Blake Films commonly modified their advertising material to comply with the regulations of the Film Censorship Board. This usually involved adding a bra to conceal naked breasts.
EMANUELLE IN AMERICA was no exception, with the several of the lobby cards having their nudity hidden behind white and black underwear.
All the indecency & indecent violence
Chris reports.
Blue Underground (us) – DVD – 99:56 (minus StudioCanal logo)
This running time indicates that the version Blake Films initially submitted was either uncut or very close to it. This is surprising, as they must have known it would have major problems securing an R-rating.
The seven-minutes of cuts must have come from some or all of the following scenes.
22:00 – This is infamous bestiality sequence of Pedro the horse having his penis stroked by a naked woman. It lasts for approximately one-minute, so if the film were pre-cut before submission, then this would have been the obvious scene to remove. Blake Films would have known there was no way the censor would allow this to pass.
52:00 – After the party, there is an orgy that features lots of softcore sex. However, it also includes an extended sequence of a hardcore blowjob.
62:00 – Emanuelle spies on a couple in a straw hut having sex. It includes hardcore scenes of a blowjob, penetration, and a cumshot.
65:00 – Emanuelle spies on a woman and two men on a bed. She watches them have sex, which again includes hardcore scenes of a blowjob, penetration, and a cumshot. Once more, this definitely would have been cut.
68:00 – Emanuelle spies on a woman being whipped by a man. There is a graphic female masturbation shot that I suspect would have caused problems.
69:00 – Emanuelle spies on a couple watching a snuff movie on a projector. The footage lasts less than a minute and is not particularly graphic.
82:30 – Emanuelle and a man watch a porn film together that includes a very brief shot of an erection.
83:45 – Emanuelle watches the snuff film with the man. This is the first graphically violent scene in the film and involves naked women being tortured by prison guards. It includes shots of the guards lifting a naked woman up and down on a huge sharpened dildo. The whole scene lasts around a minute and would have definitely been the ‘indecent violence’ that the censor mentions.
87:45 – Emanuelle dreams she is at the prison camp watching the women get tortured. This is also a very graphic scene and shows women having their breasts cut off. It runs for over a minute and is more ‘indecent violence’ that would have been trimmed.
The Film Censorship Board may have also objected to the fact that those who view the snuff footage are shown being turned on by it.
Banned in Queensland
On 6 January 1978, the censored R-rated version of EMANUELLE IN AMERICA was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributors were Blake Films and Roadshow Distributors.
Beyond the Darkness
Directed by Joe D’Amato / 1979 / Italy / IMDb
BEYOND THE DARKNESS was never picked up for Australian theatrical or video release.
A secure border
There is one confirmed customs confiscation.
1991 October – VHS.
See NEKROMANTIK (1987) in the Film Censorship Database No. 1 for more information regarding this case.
Australian premiere
In November 2014, a 94-minute DVD and Blu-ray of BEYOND THE DARKNESS was passed with an R18+ (High impact violence, blood and gore and disturbing sequences) rating.
The classification matrix described,
High impact: themes, violence
Strong impact: nudity, sex
Mild impact: language
Umbrella Entertainment was the applicant.
The discs were released in June 2015.
Anthropophagous: The Beast
aka Savage Island
Directed by Joe D’Amato / 1980 / Italy / IMDb
Force Video is rumored to have released a very heavily cut version ANTHROPOPHAGOUS: THE BEAST on VHS in the late-1990s. It had reportedly been retitled SAVAGE ISLAND.
There is no entry in the National Classification Database; however, this does not prove it is untrue as Force Video frequently failed to submit their product for rating.
However, we have yet to see any evidence that this tape exists.
Protecting Australia’s borders
There is a confirmed customs confiscation of ANTHROPOPHAGOUS: THE BEAST.
2005 May – DVD(s), Relax Publishing (Germany).
May 2005
– Seizure Notice
This DVD portrays scenes of Cannibalism in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be imported.
– Australian Customs Service
Hard Sensation
Directed by Joe D’Amato / 1980 / Italy / IMDb
In December 1983, an 87-minute video of HARD SENSATION was banned because of sex.
It was described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
The X-rating was introduced in February 1984. That month, the same version of HARD SENSATION was passed with the new classification. It awarded for the same reasons as it had been refused only two months earlier.
Consolidated Exhibitors was the applicant. We do not believe they ever released it theatrically.
This version could no longer achieve an X-rating as the guidelines were rewritten in the mid-1980s to remove acts of sexual violence. They were further tightened in September 2000 to remove any depiction of violence.
Video release
HARD SENSATION was issued on Video Classics short-lived Xtra Hard Video label. This tape is now very rare and collectable.
Simon reports.
Video Classics – Xtra Hard Video – 86:19
Hardcore sex and sexual violence would both have contributed to the film being refused in 1983.
The following are the scenes that would have caused the problems.
07:00 – Graphic female masturbation scene.
21:00 – Incestuous lesbian sex scene between three sisters.
37:00 39:00, 53:00 & 81:00 – Bobo forcing the women to give him a blowjob.
66:00 – Bobo forces Clyde to rape one of the women, although nothing is explicitly shown.
70:00 – Bobo having hardcore sex with one of the women.
There is no way that HARD SENSATION could now [2012] receive an X-rating, as all of the hardcore sex scenes with Bobo are essentially non-consensual.
Caligula: The Untold Story
Directed by Joe D’Amato / 1982 / Italy / IMDb
In February 1984, a 2605.00-meter (95:13) print of CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY was passed with an R-rating.
The same classification was awarded for a 95-minute video in May 1984.
In both cases, Video Classics was the applicant. Their tape that followed was the ‘soft-version’ that ran 90:49 (PAL).
It is understandable why they did not submit the 102-minute hardcore version, as it also includes bestiality footage involving a horse.
DVD release
CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY was issued on DVD in Australia by a ‘no name’ label.
It appears to have been released in the late 2000s/early 2010s.
The R18+ (Sex scenes, Violence) rating on the cover is fabricated. It is unclear what version it contains, although the cover states it runs 90-minutes (NTSC).