The Censorship History of Cannibal Holocaust in Australia

The Censorship History of Cannibal Holocaust in Australia

By Michelle Alexander

Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust (1980) was arguably the most notorious of the Italian cannibal cycle of films that were produced in the 1970s and 1980s. With its infamous footage of slaughtered animals as well as graphic depictions of rape, torture and flesh-eating,  the movie’s intensity is heightened even moreso by the then revolutionary device of the majority of the narrative being relayed as found footage artefacts. Unsurprisingly, the film ran into immediate trouble with international censors, including Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), who were quick to ban it. It would take over 20 years (and countless Customs seizures) before Cannibal Holocaust finally saw the light of day in Australia when it was granted an uncut DVD release in late 2005.

Cannibal Holocaust’s plot is thus: A rescue mission led by New York University anthropologist Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman) travels to the Amazon to search for a missing award winning documentary film crew. The team of four had intended to film a TV program on indigenous cannibalistic tribes whose habitat is deep in the jungle. Monroe locates one of these tribes, the Yanomamo. The Yanomamo people at first react with both hostility and sheer terror at Monroe’s presence, until he gains their trust. The village elder ‘gifts’ Monroe with some film cans which had belonged to the documentary crew. Upon his return to New York City, the anthropologist discovers, via the found film reels, the horrifying truth behind both the filmmakers’ disappearance and why the tribespeople were petrified upon seeing him. The crew, a cocky, obnoxious quartet, had been disappointed at the tribe’s docility. Hungry for sensationalistic footage, they decided to set up some acts by embarking on a rampage of unspeakable cruelty – burning huts of natives alive, butchering animals, gang rape - all filmed by their voyeuristic lens. The Yanomamo subsequently extract their own lethal revenge on the ruthless interlopers... 

An uncompromising no-holds-barred critique of the Mondo subgenre, Cannibal Holocaust is typically either revered or despised. Celebrated for being an intelligent, haunting, passionate, outstandingly shot masterpiece of cinema. Hated for its unflinching scenes of violence and sexual abuse and apparent ‘poor’ acting and ‘sloppy’ filmmaking. Whatever one’s views may be about Cannibal Holocaust, it remains incontestably one of the few films that questions awareness and plays with emotions.

Being a lifelong European horror cinema fan based in Australia, I have observed and documented the struggles of securing a legal release for Cannibal Holocaust in this country, and even being able to view the film without the Australian Customs Service interloping (pre-2005). Despite audiences having to sit through ropey, grainy, bowdlerized prints fully of jarring jump cuts, the Italian cannibal subgenre in Australia was fairly lucrative, especially when released in the early 1980s as rental video cassettes. Noting this success, Fox-Columbia Film Distribution submitted an uncut 35mm print of Cannibal Holocaust to the OFLC in May 1983. The film was promptly awarded “Refused Classification”. Fox-Columbia tried again in September of that year with a trimmed 89 minute version, but the Censorship Board would not budge with its initial decision. Arguably the OFLC’s decision would have been heavily influenced with the Video Nasties hysteria occurring in the UK at the same time – Cannibal Holocaust was considered to be one of the ‘worst’ films on the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) list. Another likely factor was the sexual content. Sexual violence alongside graphic gore was - and still is - a particular ire of the OFLC. 

Following the censorship board’s blanket ban of Cannibal Holocaust, local Eurohorror fanatics keen to view the picture after reading tantalising descriptions in essential tomes such as Phil Hardy’s Encyclopedia of Horror, Martin Baker’s The Video Nasties: Freedom and Censorship in the Media and Kim Newman’s Nightmare Movies explored other options, such as the thriving bootleg market. One of the best of these mail order outfits was Phantastique Video, who operated out of Melbourne’s north-western suburbs and specialised in banned and uncut dupes of all matter of horror, cult and obscure cinema. If one was willing to risk the draconian wrath of Customs, there was also the choice of buying or trading from a myriad of international operations such European Trash Cinema, Something Weird, Midnight Video, Cinefear Video and Video Search of Miami.

In regards to my own tracking down of Cannibal Holocaust back in 1996, I happily stumbled across this forbidden fruit in inner-Melbourne counterculture store Polyester Books’ stash of bootleg tapes. Needless to say I was shocked and stunned by Deodato’s brutal masterpiece. Being a horror-savvy and already cinematically jaded teenager at the time, Cannibal Holocaust was another dimension altogether. Its overall effect is best described as being on a super-fast, jolting in all directions amusement park ride – a combination of satisfaction, bewilderment and queasiness. The dupe’s muddy, blurry nth generation quality and Spanish subtitles only added to its devastating impact, giving it a ‘snuff movie from bedlam’ feel. 

More absurdity from the powers that be wore on into the twenty first century. In 2001 The Melbourne Underground Film Festival had intended to screen Cannibal Holocaust following a censorship panel debate, however the festival director backed down after police warnings of a hefty fine or possible jail term. Upon the release of the Dutch EC Entertainment DVD in 2002, many fans jumped at the chance to upgrade their scuzzy copies of Cannibal Holocaust, including myself. However Customs swooped, confiscating the disc I’d ordered from the USA. Rather than dealing with the red tape involved with arguing the case, I simply obtained the DVD a few weeks later via another avenue. 

Finally, in October 2005 the Australian Classification Board came to its senses, passing Cannibal Holocaust completely uncut with an R 18+ rating. The successful applicants were Siren Visual Entertainment, who subsequently released the movie on DVD in April 2006. It was truly a surreal moment to see, after over two decades of stringent bans and overzealous Customs seizures and raids, this much-maligned work of cinematic art sitting prominently on the shelves of retail outlets. To further add to this turnaround, Cannibal Holocaust was broadcast uncut on the pay-TV World Movies channel in 2013 as part of its “Films that Shocked the World” week. Advertisements for the screenings stated: “They’re the movies that changed the face of cinema. They’ve been banned around the world and have been the cause of arrests, court cases and protests. They’ve caused moral outrage and countless newspaper headlines. Now, over one controversial week, World Movies brings you the ‘Films That Shocked The World’ – all for the first time on Australian television”. 

There have been countless varying viewpoints over the years regarding the historical and cultural significance of Cannibal Holocaust, but one defining characteristic connects them all and that is the argumentative nature of the movie. Is it groundbreaking? Is it an important cultural document or a comment on a society bereft of morals? A remark on sensationalism in the media? The other angle sees the film as nothing but worthless rubbish, a wasteland of morally bankrupt filmmaking, offering nothing but sadistic shock value and completely devoid of any redeeming qualities. In hindsight, it appears that the Australian Classification Board were in unanimous agreement with the latter opinion for many years.  The moral questions raised in the film about the media and our bloodthirsty society since Cannibal Holocaust’s initial release have only been made more poignant through the passage of time.

Perhaps, in the post-2000 climate of hyper-sensationalised reality TV shows and instant gratification via one click or swipe, the decision makers on the board had an epiphany and realised the significance and place in celluloid history Cannibal Holocaust has, not only for the movie’s hardcore fans, but for all serious students of cinema.

References

 “Cannibal Holocaust (DVD).” Australian Classification, http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/View.aspx?sid=vlxhzCmcM%252fsEgt0346tcTg%253d%253d&ncdctx=42RDtyHlCgsY2W67A9o32qn7QnMEwT1Y%252fkUpA7KhbBTITXnKO8bnJuMHOJVCWbnZ6cQbEjvY5QauhztRn755DQ%253d%253d.

“Cannibal Holocaust.” IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078935/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1.

 “Cannibal Holocaust.” Refused Classification, http://www.refused-classification.com/censorship/films/c.html#cannibal-holocaust.

Koha, Nui Te. “Banned films to screen at festival.” Herald-Sun, 27th June 2001, p. 9.