Horror Films Not Released Theatrically In Australia For Reasons Unknown
Two Horror films that were not theatrically released in Australia as far as I can see are two films produced by Gold Star and Seven Arts. The films are The Frozen Dead ( 1966 ) and It! ( 1967 ). There are two possibilities presenting themselves here as to why they weren't released. The first possibility is they were banned on Horror grounds and as I have no records of Australian banned films from around this period I really don't know. The second possibility is before Warner Bros. - Seven Arts was formed in 1967 Seven Arts released a few titles under the Seven Arts name and not through a major distributor as they normly did. The two images have A Seven Arts Pictures Release printed on them and when the merger took place these two independently made titles were not acquired for release in Australia.
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We will make this possibility number three although that didn't stop worse films than these two from being released in Australia.
The Snake Woman ( 1961 ). A real mystery this one. Firstly no record found of it being originally banned in Australia. There is no record of the film being distributed in Australia or in New Zealand where they were more accepting of horror films. The film was distributed by United Artists in the U.K. and the U.S.A. and also many other countries around the world.
I found a mention on a website that The Snake Woman was released in Australia in 1997 by Chapel Distribution on 35mm. The Australian Film Classification office, on contacting them, assure me that the film listed under this title was ever passed for exhibition in Australia. As Chapel Distribution appear to have folded up I am unable to contact them to discuss this matter with them. The reason this film was never screened in Australia and New Zealand in the 1960's will most likely remain a mystery.
A late inclusion here is that I have just learned that the film wasn't submitted to the New Zealand censor for exhibition there, so possibly this was also the case that the film wasn't submitted for exhibition in Australia either.
I recently located the following information that I had written, which appears to have been a long time ago, and I had forgotten about when I compiled the previously published information above. Some of the information that follows is somewhat similar to what I had spoken about previously, but there is also some brand new facts included as well. It appears following exactly word for word as it was originally written.
''The Snake Woman ( 1961 ). No evidence if this film, which wasn't screened in Australia, was banned here or not. In New Zealand there isn't a record of this film being submitted for film classification or being banned there. Usually horror films weren't banned in New Zealand, leading one to think possibly that United Artists didn't attempt to import this film into Australia and New Zealand for whatever reason. Most likely we will never know if the film was banned in Australia or not?.
The production company Caralan Productions Ltd. who produced this film also produced another horror film in the same year of 1961 titled Doctor Blood's Coffin, which was also distributed by United Artists. Interestingly this film obtained a release in both Australia and New Zealand. In Australia a very censored version, which was cut from 92 minutes to 86 minutes, was given the lesser 'not suitable for children' classification, whilst in New Zealand it received an R16 rating.
A final note in that The Snake Woman by all reports wasn't a very well made low budget horror film.''
The Black Torment ( 1964 ). A British film released in the U.K. by a very minor film distributor Compton-Cameo.
No record found of the film either being released or banned in Australia. It certainly appears it never reached our shores for whatever reason.
I have found that the film was screened on Australian television in Melbourne in 1972 and Sydney in 1978.
Another film New Zealanders did get to see though in the cinemas.
A poster showing a New Zealand censorship stamp.
You can view this film on youtube.