- Although the print submitted was the heavily edited U.S R-rated one, UK cinema and video versions were cut by a further 1 min 25 secs by the BBFC with edits made to shots of nudity and heavy cuts to the belt strangulation scene. While the 18-rated version of the film was the BBFC-approved cut version, Warner did in fact issue an uncut version rated X prior to this in the early 1980s.
- The region 1 U.S. DVD release is the fully uncensored version, containing all gore that was originally cut. The DVD sleeve still bears the "R" rating but it is in fact the unedited "X" version.
- In order to get an R-rating, around 13 seconds of most of Tom Savini's special gore fx scenes were cut altogether (with the exception of the climatic gunshot in the head). The scenes are the decapitation of the man in the early scenes, the throat slitting of the guy in the car, and the stabbing of the woman in the car all of which omit the blood gushing from their neck and chest wounds, but the scenes exist in at least one European version print.
- The R-rated release has six cuts to the FX scenes.
- A shot of the killer slicing off a victims head with a cleaver has been removed.
- The twitching hand shot of the headless body has been shortened.
- When Debbie discovers what's in her fish tank, two shots have been removed. The first is head in fish tank. The second is the next shot, which is her reacting to seeing that (obviously removed because there was nothing to cut it to). So in the rated cut, the head in the fish tank is only shown three times, while in the unrated cut, it is shown four times.
- When the man in car is knifed in the throat, another two shots have been removed. The first is the impact shot. The second is the knife being pulled out and him stumbling away from the car. Also, the shot showing his head bobbing back has been shortened.
- A closeup of the woman in car getting her throat slit is removed.
- The shot of the woman in car dying has been trimmed, removing the second half of it where the wound is shown. The shot runs for almost 20 seconds in the unrated cut, and 10 seconds in the rated.
- The Australian video release on the Warner label is fully uncut with all the footage removed from the US release included.
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