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Has anyone seen this documentary?   I've heard how insane the "Video Nasties" list was..but damn, The UK went into full Nazi mode with that nonsense.   its funny how the Video Recording act of 1984 (how ironic/coincidental) is still on the books today but mostly dismissed and unenforced by law enforcement today since anyone in the UK can download and/or buy copies at their fingertips.

I have to say, the censors were smart not to publish the list publiclally.  However, the list did leak out and went viral. which told lots of kids exactly what movies to buy.

Anyone in the UK in the 1980s have any trouble with the "Video Nasties" law?

I remember the time well. Suddenly I was no longer allowed to watch any horror film I wanted. It took until my 20's before I was able to find a copy of Evil Dead to watch (even though as a kid I'd watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and found it to be no big deal).

The list, part one:
1. ABSURD (1981)
2. FLESH FOR/ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN (1973)
3. ANTROPOPHAGUS/THE GRIM REAPER (1980)
4. BLOOD FEAST (1963)
5. THE GHASTLY ONES (1968)
6. BLOODY MOON (1981)
7. THE BURNING (1981)
8. CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS/CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE (1980)
9. CANNIBAL FEROX (1981)
10. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980)
11. THE CANNIBAL MAN (1972)
12. DEVIL HUNTER (1980)
13. DON'T GO IN THE WOODS (1981)
14. THE DRILLER KILLER (1979)
15. EVILSPEAK (1981)
16. TRAUMA/HOUSE ON STRAW HILL/EXPOSE (1976)
17. FACES OF DEATH (1978)
18. FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE (1977)
19. THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981)
20. THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK (1980)
21. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978)
22. ISLAND OF DEATH (1976)
23. THE BEAST IN HEAT (1977)
24. NIGHT OF THE HOWLING BEAST (1975)
25. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)
26. THE GESTAPO'S LAST ORGY (1977)
27. AXE (1974)
28. LOVE CAMP 7 (1969)
29. MARDI GRAS MASSACRE (1978)
30. NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES (1969)
31. NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1980)
32. NIGHTMARE/NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN (1981)
33. SNUFF (1975)
34. SS EXPERIMENT LOVE CAMP (1976)
35. TENEBRAE/UNSANE (1982)
36. MADHOUSE (1981)
37. TOXIC ZOMBIES (1980)
38. A BAY OF BLOOD/TWITCH OF THE DEATH NERVE/CARNAGE (1971)
39. ZOMBIE/ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS/ZOMBI II (1979)
40. THE BEYOND (1981)

It is still odd what was on the list and what was not. 

Part 2:
41. THE BOOGEY MAN (1980)
42. CANNIBAL TERROR (1980)
43. CONTAMINATION/TOXIC SPAWN (1980)
44. DEAD AND BURIED (1981)
45. DELIRIUM (1979)
46. DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE (1979)
47. DON'T GO NEAR THE PARK (1979)
48. THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD/PRANKS (1982)
49. EATEN ALIVE/STARLIGHT SLAUGHTER (1976)
50. THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
51. DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT (1973)
52. FROZEN SCREAM (1975)
53. THE FUNHOUSE (1981)
54. HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD/VIRUS (1980)
55. HUMAN EXPERIMENTS (1979)
56. DROP DEAD, DEAREST/I LOVE YOU HUGS AND KISSES (1978)
57. THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER/SACRIFICE! (1972)
58. INFERNO (1980)
59. THE KILLER NUN (1979)
60. LAST STOP ON THE NIGHT TRAIN (1975)
61. LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE/LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE/DON'T OPEN THE WINDOW (1974)
62. SLAVE/MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD (1978)
63. NIGHT SCHOOL (1981)
64. BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER/NIGHT WARNING (1981)
65. POSSESSION (1981)
66. BOOGEYMAN II (1983)
67. THE SLAYER (1982)
68. THE TOOLBOX MURDERS (1977)
69. UNHINGED (1982)
70. VISITING HOURS (1982)
71. THE WITCH WHO CAME IN FROM THE SEA (1976)
72. WOMEN BEHIND BARS (1975)

Wasn’t Life Returns, a 30’s melodrama with a short scene of scientists recessitating a dog, also on the list?  Or was that banned in the 30’s & never unbanned?

if you look on wiki you can see there are approx 100 more films in addition to the 72, that could also be seized, just under a slightly lesser charge...

the fact that PIECES (1982) is nowhere to be seen in either list is hilarious because that's probably the single most blatant example of what I would assume a "video nasty" would be classed as.

NEW YORK RIPPER was banned, but for some reason was not included on either list. why? probably because nothing ever makes sense.

And yet DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT was on the ban!

I don't know if this is 100% true or not, but I am told the whole video nasty thing was started when some older people who hadn't seen any horror films since the '60s watched (what were then) newer horror movies and freaked out.

I think it was more that Mary Whitehouse started a campaign against them and the uk gov were more than happy to ban away.

M. Whitehouse is bent


that goes to show how inconsistent it all is

apparently FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE is on the list because of bad language!

You should watch the documenary.  It cites very close as to why the government was eager to jump on the Censorship bandwagon.  Thacher put hundreds of thousands of people out of work which caused a spike in crime (as it always does in history)   They didn't want to address the root of the problem.. so they had an easy out:  horror films.  Blame them for children wanting to turn to crime.

ah good it's on youtube... will watch it later on!

http://youtu.be/-WOEgQfwdXU (http://youtu.be/-WOEgQfwdXU)

I'm pretty sure I have seen 45 of the 72 that russel posted above. what about everyone else?

my top 3 favourites would be...

TENEBRAE
BLOODY MOON
CONTAMINATION

just watched the doc...

wow, Graham Bright... what an odious not-so-little twat that guy is. absolutely in love with (a) himself and (b) how much effort he made trying to ban all these films. what a tosser!

funny how he says he made his own 'highlights reel' of 'obscene' moments from the films then played it in parliament for all his tory pals so they could see how 'awful' it was... I'm sure there were teenagers doing exactly the same thing to impress their school mates!!!

summed up well by a guy at the end: it's not so much about censorship to protect, it's done as a form of control

What did I miss?

The only one I have ever seen is 53. The Funhouse (1981)
And if the rest are lke that one, then I did not miss much.

Of those listed I know I've seen 9 for sure, I may have forgotten some or watched them under different titles.

 ^ Watch them all. Not for the same reasons.

Check the imdb link for clarification on why it was banned/plot/current status in the UK.
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls051364249/ (https://www.imdb.com/list/ls051364249/)

Inspired by this thread, I checked out this doc on YouTube last night (thanks for the tip y'all!)... it was a fun watch.

I'm not British, so I didn't experience the "Nasties" panic first hand, but I remember hearing about it back then and thinking it was similar to the P.M.R.C. hysteria that was going on here in the US around the same time, which targeted rock music. So while the British were trying to keep "Cannibal Holocaust" videos out of the hands of five year olds, Tipper Gore and her friends were trying to keep Motley Crue albums out of K-Marts. :D

I took a quick glance at "The List" of films that were officially classified as "Nasties," and I've seen about twenty of them over the years, none of which have me into a criminal, a deviant, or a killer (so far). So hey, up your nose with a rubber hose, Mary Whitehouse! :D

For those who might be interested, there's another good 2-part doc on the same subject called "Ban The Sadist Videos!" which I believe is also on YouTube, I saw that one a couple of years ago.  

The British censors were on a par with the South African censors in banning things for stupid reasons.

Siskel and Ebert did segment on Video Nasties I found on YouTube a while ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7fINHOibX0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7fINHOibX0#)

and I found this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnXb4zYRE6c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnXb4zYRE6c#)

I wrote earlier I watched them all- but I haven't.
I just counted how many I've seen. 53.
Yes, my life has been empty. Unless I was in jail! That was always intense!

apparently THE FUNHOUSE was included by mistake, as it was also an alternate title for LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET (which was supposed to be on the list, and the film they meant to ban)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LastDeadEndStreet.jpg

I was curious of why the FUNHOUSE was on there. Tobe Hooper lost his teeth after EATEN ALIVE. Two good films does not make a great director. I knew LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET was first released as the FUNHOUSE.

 I enjoyed it if only for the startling  brother from another mother look of star/director Roger Watkins to Bill Hader!

(https://i.imgur.com/ro2BNDw.jpg) (https://lunapic.com)

(https://i.imgur.com/sa8ujHE.gif) (https://lunapic.com)

I've seen 12 of those.

I've seen 10 of those.

The Video Nasties list was far more oppressive and invasive than The PMRC.  The censorship board in the UK arrested distributors of the movies on this list - except of course Thorn/EMI.  They had the $$ to fight back.  it was scary what that list did to people. 

Mind you, censorship on any level is pointless.

Agreed. I got to see most of the films on this list regardless of them being 'banned'. I never figured out why my parents refused to let me watch Evil Dead though, other than being caught up in the wave of hysteria.

they definitely went after the little people with the list... what about the stomach bursting scene in ALIEN? if Fulci had done that I'm sure it would've been lights out time... what about Hitchcock's FRENZY?

Mary Whitehouse frequently admitted (proudly no less) that she had never seen a single one of the "video naties" nor intended to in her lifetime.  She didn't need to .. "God" told her the movies were "evil" personally.

Funny how often what god tells these crusaders happens to match exactly what they already happen to think.

Well, God is a good source, I reckon. I mean-like he's God and all.
I never met him in person, and when I ask him something, he doesn't answer. I suppose he's doing God business. Like making water into wine. Which he hasn't done for a long time. I guess he did it once, because it was written in the Bible someplace, so it must be true!

let's not have that derail now....  :wink:  :teddyr:

btw I thought there was a bit in that doc where it said M Whitehouse compiled a selection of 'worst scenes' that she showed people? during the bit where it showed her on a train... maybe not

I know Graham Bright (my new least favourite person in the world) said he did that as well.

Mrs Whitehouse reminds me of the people in SA post 1994 who went on a pro censorship crusade when it was announced that there would be no place for "apartheid style censorship" in a democratic South Africa.

Umm... we still have a censor board.......  :buggedout: :buggedout:www.fpb.org.za (http://www.fpb.org.za)

on one level I can agree with wanting to protect young children from watching potentially upsetting and violent scenes,  but forbidding adults to watch pretend gore and simulated sex is unforgivable.

the kind of people who go full into some censorship crusade like morality warriors are probably the people with the biggest skeletons in their own closets imo

Not the fist time the British had a ban on horror films. They came up with an "H" rating in 1937, after the Lugosi/ Karloff film the RAVEN.

https://www.spookyisles.com/h-for-horrific-the-forgotten-horror-film-certificate/#:~:text=Naturally%20the%20BBFC%20soon%20caught,to%20enforce%20this%20or%20not. (https://www.spookyisles.com/h-for-horrific-the-forgotten-horror-film-certificate/#:~:text=Naturally%20the%20BBFC%20soon%20caught,to%20enforce%20this%20or%20not.)

In the 50's the Brit censors gave films like the BLOOD OF DRACULA an 'X'!

(https://i.imgur.com/kUam1AI.jpg) (https://lunapic.com)

H for Horrific! never heard of that one...  :buggedout:

films with an X certificate had this mythical status when I was at school ( that must've been at the very end of when the X rating was still a thing). I never saw one though.

 there was also XX and XXX ratings but I only found out recently that those weren't official ratings... the studios themselves invented them as a publicity stunt

the phrase "X rated" to describe explicit scenes is still a thing though...

The first X rated film in the USA was not porn or horror.
It was the 1968 Brian DePalma GREETINGS starring a young Robert DeNiro.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063036/ (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063036/)

I looked it up. It ended in 1982!
Of course it stopped nothing, as the video nasty ban happened later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_British_film_certificates#1982%E2%80%931985

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932) Was banned in England until 1958.And then only released later with an X rating.

(https://i.imgur.com/xFtTjr8.jpg) (https://lunapic.com)

I find it ironic and funny that even though the people on the Cencorship board knew if the list got out in public, it would just fan the flames of desire to watch all those "nasty" movies.   The list did manage to slip out...and it did exactly that, give teenagers a burning desire to watch all those "nasty" movies.   I'm 99% certain that none of those teenagers who watched all those banned movies grew up to be cannibal serial killers.   

I do believe a handful were inspired actually to be filmmakers.

exactly...

very occasionally a specific movie will get mentioned as being the 'cause' of a murder... the one I remember being CHILD'S PLAY 3 which was attached to the Jamie Bulger murder in 1993... but that's still just media conjecture

murder was a thing before movies were a thing.

I strongly suspect the teenagers who did not watch the "Video Nasties" movies, grew up to be on the Censor board...and worse.. Chartered Accountants - for the Censor board!

Back in the '90s we had a Prime Minister who ran away from the circus to become an accountant. That theory might just explain him.

That is a bizarre story... I love it.. It would be almost unbelievable...but humans are unbelieveable.

I'd have to confess that I have never checked to see if that story was 100% true, but I liked it so much I'd much rather just believe that it is.

 he ran away from the circus to join a freakshow...

I'd have to confess that I have never checked to see if that story was 100% true, but I liked it so much I'd much rather just believe that it is.
[/quote]

Ditto

John Mayer. He didn't really run away; he "left school at age 16 to help support his family." https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Major (https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Major)

Also, I'm not sure he was ever in the circus. His dad was in a circus at one time, but he may have retired before having kids.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1098817973484105729/ECyNxjXX_400x400.png)

doesn't look the circus type to me....


there's another weird story about Margaret Thatcher inventing whipped ice cream before she became PM. something like that anyway

Anyone can be the "Circus type" with clown makeup... :P