Full/Uncut Version....was it ever available on vhs?

I had for several years a complete, uncut version that was recorded from Cinemax in the mid-80s. The Embassy video release I got later on is cut substantially. I wish I still had the recording! The original video is cut and murky.


Anyway, the main differences are:

In the opening rape sequence, on Embassy's video, the guy slaps the girl around and smokes,etc., then he says some ugly lines to her, then just as he begins to rape her, the dogs show up and attack him. Then, she calls off the dogs and hits him, then it cuts to her eyes, then the credits start.

However, in the uncut version, as someone said, after the set-up, the rape is shown for quite a while before the dogs show up. I remember it as quite disturbing because it is done from the point of view of the woman being raped. The shot is from the ground, looking up, and you see the guy's facial expressions,and hear her cries, for what seems like a couple of minutes. THEN, the dogs arrive, and attack the guy. This attack goes on slightly longer,too. Then, there is a lengthy shot of him laying there with his throat torn open. There is blood all over his mouth and neck, and he is gasping for her to help him. There is also two shots of his leg, on which the flesh has been stripped off to the bone, and he is quivering all over. Then, she, after studying him for a moment, grabs a large rock and starts banging him in the head with it. He starts quivering and shaking all over, as she hits him at least three times that I recall. Then, he finally lays there still. And, THEN it shows her eyes. Then the credits. It is far more disturbing in the uncut version, and runs close to three minutes longer.

The only other noticeable cuts that I recall are when the younger sister of the main character sees some bodies, she runs to a stream and , in the uncut version, we see vomit coming out of her mouth. This is skipped and just shows her by the lake in the cut form. And there is a longer shot of some dead bodies hanging, with blood on them. That shot is still shown, but it a shorter glimpse. I believe a brief glimpse of nudity was cut in a sequence where a guy is feeling a woman's butt in her bikini, as well. Uncut, it showed him groping her bare butt longer.

Anyway, those are the cuts I recall. Maybe if there is ever a DVD, it will feature the uncut version, and a brighter print.

You're welcome. For the Astral video, your best bet is the eBay Canada site. It pops up there from time to time. I should note that Astral's print is really rough. Now that I think about it, all the international tapes I've looked at came from beat-up theatrical prints. American Embassy had the best condition print at their disposal (the only real damage I recall was around the reel changes - cue marks and scratches) - they just messed it up big time when transfering it.

I'm on the opposite coast from my video library at the moment, so I can't double-check anything, but I do have some notes on hand that I made years ago in regards to the trims. Filmscholar had a pretty decent recall, but, as with most of our memories, time has distorted things a little. According to my notes, the cut footage amounts to about 67 seconds, not nearly 3 minutes, and is confined to the one scene at the beginning. There are no changes after the opening credits roll, and the only footage from that point on that is missing on the American Embassy VHS are some frames at the ends and beginnings of the reels.

These are the notes I made in regard to the trims to the rape and the dog attack. 15 shots have been removed, and 2 more have been pared down. The 97 minute runtime commonly given for the unedited cut is not correct. It runs 94 minutes. The U.S. cut runs 93 minutes.



Shots removed (rape) - 28 seconds

1. Tom spreading Ida's legs apart - 3 seconds
2. Ida's POV - Tom starting to rape Ida. Ida screams, "No, Tom!" - 10 seconds
3. Ida's POV - A second shot of Tom raping Ida - 9 seconds
4. Ida's POV - A third shot of Tom raping Ida - 3 seconds
5. Ida's POV - A fourth shot of Tom raping Ida - 2 seconds
6. One shot of a dog racing to the scene - 14 frames (In the unedited version, the 4 Ida POV shots of Tom are intercut with 3 shots of the German Shepherds running to help Ida after breaking out of their pen. In the edited version, the POV shots are of course gone, but 2 of these dog shots remain. The last is removed.)


Shots trimmed (rape) - 22 seconds

1. Ida's POV - Tom finishing up. Ida says, "Oh my god, no," as Tom starts to get off her. The tail end of this shot, in which Tom turns his head as he hears the dogs coming, remains in the edited release, but most of it is gone.


Shots trimmed (dog attack) - 1 second

1. The latter half of a shot in which Tom's mauled ankle is briefly visible


Shots removed (dog attack) - 6 seconds

1. Dog biting Tom's arm - 8 frames
2. Dog biting Tom's face - 2 seconds
3. Dog biting Tom's arm with a bloody wrist visible - 1 second
4. Another shot of dog biting Tom's arm with a bloody wrist visible - 1 second
5. Another shot of dog biting Tom's bloodied arm - 2 seconds


Shots removed (after Ida calls off the hounds) - 10 seconds

1. Tom spitting up blood - 1 second
2. Close-up of Tom's mauled, quivering ankle - 2 seconds
3. Another shot of Tom's face while convulsing. He says, "Help," which is overdubbed into a different shot in the edited release. (The one in which Ida takes her first swing at Tom's head.) - 4 seconds
4. A shot of Ida that followed the previous shot, and was cut for that reason - 3 seconds



Approximate runtimes (not including distributor logo and possibly a few seconds short due to the missing frames at the reel changes):

92:27 - edited
93:34 - unedited
89:47 - PAL unedited

So, if you have a copy that has the shots mentioned above, then you've got the one you want. And, presumably, Paul Lynch's director's cut.