Mondo Shockumentary movies that were cut or banned in Australia.
Pre-November 1971 decisions are here.
Mondo Sexualis USA
Directed by David Adnopaz / 1985 / USA / IMDb
In April 1987, a 95-minute tape of MONDO SEXUALIS USA was banned due to ‘gratuitous sexual violence’.
Palace Home Video, the applicant, likely intended it to be part of their Explosive Video range.
What gratuitous sexual violence?
Matt reports
Hermes Video Home Entertainment (gr) – VHS – 95:16
The Mistress Antoinette bondage footage is not particularly explicit, while the transvestite attempting to put his testicles up his anus is painful to watch but hardly constitutes ‘sexual violence’.
The sex-change operation is indeed graphic and LET ME DIE A WOMAN (1977) lost a similar scene in 1981 which the Film Censorship Board described as ‘gross surgical detail’. However, by 1983 they passed SHOCKING ASIA (1974) with an M-rating, commenting that it contained ‘surgical procedures’.
Given this precedent, I cannot identify any instances of ‘gratuitous sexual violence’ and do not understand the Film Censorship Board’s issue with MONDO SEXUALIS USA. It is reasonable to conclude that Palace Home Video could have easily removed any offending scenes for an R-rating.
Death Scenes
Directed by Nick Bougas / 1989 / USA / IMDb
In 1990, an 87-minute VHS of DEATH SCENES was banned by the Censorship Board. The applicant was John Nelson.
This decision is missing from the National Classification Database.
Review
Simon reports
Wavelength Video (us) – VHS – 86:26 (NTSC)
Anton LaVey narrates this collection of vintage crime-scene and morgue photographs taken by Los Angeles police officers between 1920 and 1940. Though the images are graphic, they are all in black and white due to their age.
Inhumanities II: Modern Atrocities
Directed by Wesley Emerson / 1989 / USA / IMDb
In 1990, a 76-minute VHS of INHUMANITIES II: MODERN ATROCITIES was banned by the Film Censorship Board.
Family Home Entertainment, the inappropriately named applicant, made an unsuccessful appeal to the Film and Literature Board of Review.
Both decisions are missing from the National Classification Database.
April 11, 1991
Title: INHUMANITIES II
Applicant: Family Home Entertainment Ltd
Decision Reviewed: Refuse to classify by the Flint Censorship BoardDecision: INHUMANITIES II is a compilation of newsreel footage of atrocities, murders, natural disasters, aircraft accidents, and other spectacles involving violent death or extremes of human suffering. Much of the footage has been shown previously on television, where this kind of material is distressingly familiar; some of it, so the Board was told, had not been seen before. The extracts seem to have been chosen solely for their shock value and strung together at random. There is a commentary of more than the usual banality and sententiousness. The Film Censorship Board determined by majority that the video should be refused classification because of its prolonged and relished depictions of violence and cruelty.
The applicant, Family Home Entertainment Ltd argued that because the material had already been shown on television it should not be restricted on video; it was an honest and unvarnished depiction of certain harsh realities, admittedly unpleasant but none the less part of real life. Similar videos were available in other countries and at least one (THE WORST CRIMES OF THE 20TH CENTURY) [PG (Adult concepts), 30 January 1990] had been circulated in Australia. INHUMANITIES II was no more shocking than much of the material regularly seen by TV audiences and should not be banned. The applicant offered to remove from the video any portions which the Board found especially offensive.
The Board of Review was unanimous in concluding that the video had no documentary or artistic value. We acknowledged that viewing such material might be a necessary part of training police officers, rescue workers or others in similar occupations, but felt in this case that such considerations were not relevant. We were in no doubt that INHUMANITIES II was intended to exploit a prurient appetite for violence, and that the depictions of killing, corpses, death and putrefaction was meant to be relished and enjoyed.
Nor were we impressed by the argument that most of the footage had already been shown on TV. The depiction of atrocities in bona-fide news programs could, in our view. be justified (within limits), especially when the events were of topical interest. But the repetition and concentration of such depictions ran the risk of trivialising the events and desensitising viewers’ reactions. There is a body of evidence to suggest that when violence is made to seem routine-or worse, an acceptable form of entertainment-emotional reactions are dulled. What ought to be normal and humane responses to the suffering of others-pity, shock, compassion, indignation-are diminished by familiarity and over-exposure. To some extent this is inevitable in a violent world, and no member of the Board would argue that people should be sheltered from the knowledge of ugliness and cruelty. (Given the growing diligence and intrusiveness of the media there is little chance that they will be) But seemliness and a decent respect for the feeling of others demand that human suffering should not be gloated on or exploited by others for gain. The Board of Review accordingly upheld the decision of the Film Censorship Board to refuse to classify the video INHUMANITIES II.
– Film and Literature Board of Review
Review
Simon reports
Platinum Productions [us] – VHS – 76:07 (includes 02:06 trailer)
The report from the Film and Literature Board of Review does a good job of detailing what you need to know about INHUMANITIES II: MODERN ATROCITIES. It is the usual collection of news footage, with an over-earnest narrator talking nonsense.
You would not have seen some of this material on TV back in the early 1990s. However, it now looks somewhat tame against the atrocity footage that is just a mouse click away. The closing credits promise a never-produced INHUMANITIES III.
New Zealand VHS
Prior to the Australian submission, Family Home Entertainment had succeeded in getting INHUMANITIES II: MODERN ATROCITIES past New Zealand’s Censorship Board. The 76:11 VHS was awarded an R18 classification in January 1990.
The original INHUMANITIES (1989) had been similarly rated in October 1989, but was never submitted in Australia.
Executions II
Produced by Dead Alive Productions / 1995 / USA / IMDb
In May 1998, DLA Movie Distributors and Wholesalers had a 58-minute VHS of EXECUTIONS II banned by the Classification Board. This was a cheap cash-in on EXECUTIONS (1995), which had received an R (Contains scenes of real executions) in 1995.
Around the same time as the refusal, the applicant secured R-ratings for STAR HUNTER (1996), PASSIONATE REVENGE (1996) and INNER ACTION (1997). Presumably, EXECUTIONS II was destined for the same video label.
In the UK, a 55-minute version received an 18 (Contains strong reality footage of violent deaths) in 2005. The BBFC demanded cuts to scene to remove ‘lingering and close-up details of man being shot repeatedly, his death throes and his mutilated face’. Additionally, scenes of ‘a bloodily wounded man virtually torn in half at waist’ and ‘two restrained and conscious men having their hands sawn off at wrist’ were entirely excised.
The Amazing Shocking Asia
Produced by Flatline Productions / 1996 / USA / IMDb
A 73-minute VHS of THE AMAZING SHOCKING ASIA was Refused Classification in May 1998.
Peacock Films were the applicant.
Peacock’s other shockumentaries
L.A. GANG VIOLENCE (1993) received an R (High level violence) in January 1994. The front cover of Peacock’s VHS promoted it as ‘Banned in the U.K.’. However, there is no evidence of any submission to the BBFC.
Their cover of PARAMEDICS promised ‘Gunshot victim, gang violence, stabbings, bloody accidents, train runs over man’, while PARAMEDICS 2 had ‘Drunk driving accidents, gang violence, gunshot victims, helicopter crash’.
Peacock Films released both PARAMEDICS on VHS with R (High level violence) ratings. Neither decision is in the National Classification Database.
Banned from Television
aka Banned From TV
Produced by Joe Francis / 1998 / USA / IMDb
In August 2007, a DVD of BANNED FROM TELEVISION was Refused Classification.
In their Annual Report, the Classification Board described it and FACES OF DEATH 2 to 4 (1981-1990) as rated RC due to ‘gratuitous depictions of violence to humans and animals’.
August 31, 2007
– Classification Board
Film 1(a): The film is classified RC in accordance with the National Classification Code, Films Table, 1. (a) as films that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena 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 classified.”
Zeal Entertainment, the applicant, resubmitted a censored version, but that too was banned for the same reasons on 22 November 2007.
Review
Matt reports
This is your usual compilation of news and amateur footage showing animal attacks, death, car crashes, shootings, executions, etc. Many of the scenes are repeated, with the narrator saying, ‘let’s see that again in slow motion’.
BANNED FROM TELEVISION was the first work of Joe Francis’ Fall Line Entertainment, who went on to produce the GIRLS GONE WILD SERIES. This explains the extra element of sex that is often absent from other shockumentaries. Following their February 1999 refusal of the UK VHS, the BBFC commented that the sexual content reinforced the impression that the whole thing was simply to ‘provide entertainment’.
In this case, it includes undercover filming of sex in a lap dancing club, sex on stage at a 2 Live Crew concert, and a corrupt cop getting a blow job from a hooker. This latter scene features a badly censored shot of the cop’s erection which seems to move in and out of view as the fogging struggles to keep up.
Had this not been refused, then Zeal Entertainment would no doubt have issued BANNED FROM TELEVISION II (1998) and BANNED FROM TELEVISION III (1998). Instead, they went on to distribute the GIRLS GONE WILD in Australia. A number of titles in that series also ran into problems with the Classification Board.
No Body is Perfect
Directed by Raphaël Sibilla / 2006 / France / IMDb
In November 2007, an 80-minute DVD of NO BODY IS PERFECT was banned by the Classification Board. A majority found it contained ‘sexual activity accompanied by fetishes or practices which are offensive or abhorrent’. A minority view was that it could be accommodated with an R18+ (High level sexual activity, high level themes, disturbing images).
Accent Film Entertainment was the applicant.
November 5, 2007
SYNOPSIS
The film depicts a range of strong sexual fetishes, including body modification, bondage, the use of candle wax, “golden showers”, spanking and scarification. It also includes scenes of explicit and obscured sexual activity.REASONS FOR THE DECISION
When making decisions the Classification Board (the Board) follows the procedures set out in the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995, (the Act). The Board also applies the National Classification Code and the Classification Guidelines, while taking into account the matters set out in section 11 of the Act,In the Board’s majority view this film warrants an ‘RC’ classification in accordance with item 1(a) of the films table of the National Classification Code:
“1. Films that:
(a) depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena 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 classified;” will be refused classification.The Guidelines state that films containing “sexual activity accompanied by fetishes or practices which are offensive or abhorrent” will be refused classification.
The Guidelines also state that at the X 18+ category “fetishes such as body piercing, application of substances such as candle wax, ‘golden showers’, bondage, spanking…are not permitted”.
In the Board’s majority view this film contains actual sexual activity at approximately 5 minutes, 17 minutes and 35 minutes.
It also contains a number of depictions of strong fetishes.
These include the following:Bondage at approximately 20 minutes and 24 minutes;
Candle waxing at approximately 21 minutes;
Body “modification” in the form of scarring the body and bisection of a penis at approximately 42 minutes;
“Blooding” at approximately 47 minutes: a group of three women is shown on stage and covered in blood. One female kneels on the floor. A female stands above her and cuts her wrist with a knife and the blood flows into the face, mouth and onto the head of the female kneeling below.
Golden showers at approximately 55 minutes;
Body piercing – in the form of inserting hooks into the back and suspending the body in the air – at approximately 50 minutes, 53 minutes, 68 minutes and 73 minutes.
The fetish of “apotemnophilia” (sexual arousal from having a healthy body part amputated) is discussed at approximately 71 minutes. A male shows his toeless foot and fingerless hands and discusses how he “gets a tool and snip and his finger drops off”. He states that he would be willing to have this filmed.
And at approximately 73 minutes a young female and male stand apart back to back and have the hooks which are inserted into their backs chained together. They then have a tug of war and the flesh is stretched to the point of tearing and blood oozes out.
The Board notes that the above scenes are not necessarily inclusive of the content warranting an ‘RC’ decision. All depictions and references to violence, the after effects of violence or the threat of violence prevent the film from being accommodated within the X 18+ classification.
Minority view
In a minority view of the Board this film warrants an R 18+ classification with consumer advice for high-level sexual activity, high-level sexual themes, disturbing images.This view holds that the film is a bona fide documentary that catalogues a range of unusual sexual practices and fetishes that while offensive are not offensive to the extent that they should be banned. This view notes that “some material classified R 18+ may be offensive to sections of the adult community”.
Also, the sexual activity in the film is sufficiently obscured, lacking in detail or brief such that the general rule at R18+ of “simulation, yes – the real thing, no” can be set aside.
DECISION
– Classification Board report
This film is Refused Classification.