Alternate versions

The film was rejected for a cinema certificate in 1981 by the BBFC and also for a video rating in 1998. It was finally released in the UK on the Anchor Bay label in 2002 after receiving 58 secs of cuts to a prolonged strangulation scene and to a sexualized stabbing sequence.

The Finnish and Swedish VHS versions is cut with 3 minutes, it's missing the throat slit in the beginning, several scenes where Joe Spinell cuts the dead womens' forehead, Disco Boy's (Tom Savini) head exploding when Spinell shoots it with a shotgun (along with blood spreading to Disco Boy's date), a knife through the body in the ladies room, and of course the final massacre where the wax dolls butcher Spinell (rips his hands, guts, and finally his head off). The cuts have been made in a substitution technique, that when the "shock" scenes start, the frame stops to a freeze-frame, and we can hear the soundtrack going on (this is that the soundtrack wouldn't have to be cut).

The 2008 Korean DVD includes the uncut theatrical version, running nearly 88 minutes. However, even without Korean subs, the Korean title can clearly be seen above the original title.

Although originally released uncut without an MPAA rating. A heavily cut R-rated version missing nearly all of the gore was later released in some parts of the U.S.

German version was heavily cut for violence to avoid being banned, but nonetheless it still got banned anyway. Only in 2020 did the banishment came to an end and the uncut version shortly afterwards was granted a FSK-18 rating.

The director's cut, released on DVD in the US, is actually shorter. Although it contains all the graphic violence, a scene depicting Joe Spinell in a hotel room with a prostitute has been shortened. Another scene showing Joe and the photographer in a restaurant has been completely removed, but is added to the DVD as an extra.

In Australia, the film had originally been banned for 11 months from 1981 to 1982 until a version with 1 minute and 50 seconds removed was eventually given an R rating. This version was released in cinemas and in 1984, given a video release through Video Classics. In 2004, Umbrella Entertainment submitted the uncut version to the Classification Board and it passed with an R rating. The uncut version was released on DVD in 2005.