Video Nasty July - A Quick and Dirty Introduction

ban this sick filth or something idk

Would you like to spend the next month with me whilst I yap about a very specific era of UK cinematic censorship? No? WELL TOUGH LUCK BECAUSE HERE WE GO BABY!

Welcome to Video Nasties July, a month-long mini-series in which we’re going to explore the “video nasty” era. Get ready to hear the word “nasty” a whole fucking lot is what I’m saying.

And “video” for that matter.

how is this going to work then

Well, this issue is the primer, a quick and dirty introduction to what it is we’re actually talking about. As we go on this month we’ll fill in more of the history, so that along with covering some of the films affected, we’ll get a holistic view of just how batarse insane this got. So, if it’s not covered in this introduction, rest assured we’ll get to it.

I wanted to take some time to cover this particular era as it’s always been of interest to me. I'm not from the UK, so I only know about this era due to having a very longstanding interest in cinema - it will be interesting to view it from the lens of someone who doesn’t quite understand why Mary Whitehouse (OH WE WILL GET TO HER) got given so much power, amongst other things.

so, spill, wtf is “video nasty”

“Video nasty” is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Organisation (NVALA) in the UK. It refers to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films (this is where we come in - and you’ll see that there are some sharp deviations from that “typically”), distributed on video cassette, that were criticised by the press, social commenters and various religious organisations in the 1980s.

As home video was still a new medium, these video releases weren’t brought before the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) due to a loophole that allowed videos to bypass the film classification review process. The resulting uncensored video releases led to public debate concerning the availability of these films to children, as the market was so unregulated.

So basically:

so what films are we talking about here?

On the list released by the Director of Public Prosecutions (released to assist local authorities with identifying “obscene films”) there are 72 films that the office believed violated the Obscene Publications Act 1959.

The list is divided into two sections - any title seized under section 1 would make the dealer (the person renting it out or selling it) or distributor liable to prosecution for disseminating obscene materials. Titles in section 2 were liable to be confiscated under a less “obscene” charge.

Titles under section 1 include Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (a film which was one of the flashpoints of this whole shebang), Faces of Death, The Burning, Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, I Spit on your Grave, Last House on the Left and Tenebrae (ALL THE HITS, DARLING, ALL THE HITS).

Titles under section 2 include Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (known to the readers of this Stack, of course), Inferno, Don’t Go in the House, Don’t Go Near the Park, Don’t Look in the Basement (disclaimer: I have never heard of these three “Don’t” movies, I just thought it was very funny there were three separate films on this list instructing you to not do a specific thing), The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (aka Don’t Open the Window - bitch, let me live!), Possession and a little movie you may have heard of by the name of THE EVIL DEAD.

A supplementary list was issued alongside the official list, featuring section 3 video nasties that could not be prosecuted of for obscenity but were liable to seizure and confiscation under a “less obscene” charge. Seized tapes could be destroyed after being forfeited. This list includes Profondo Rosso, Dawn of the Dead (!), The Hills Have Eyes, the first two Friday the 13th movies, Night of the Living Dead (!!!!), Phantasm, Prom Night, Scanners, Suspiria, The Thing and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Are you seeing just how insane this was, I know I am. Don’t worry, it gets better and also worse.

So, join me on this… bizarre ride for the month of July. It’s going to be quite something.