DVD Review - Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide

I originally posted this review on the Killer Reviews website, but they recently removed their movie reviews forums. So, for what it's worth, I thought my review may as well live on here . . .


Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide contains three DVDs with material as follows:

Disc One: A documentary about the video nasty controversy. This has a running time of approximately 72 minutes. There are also 50 minutes of company idents which will give some of us UK citizens of a certain age pangs of nostalgia. This disc ends with an image gallery containing cover art of the 80 titles that were on the Department of Public Prosecution’s section three list. These films were not liable for prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act, but they could be seized by the police. Some of the titles on this list were: The Hills Have Eyes, Friday 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Zombies: Dawn of the Dead.

Disc Two: Introductions and trailers from the 39 “nasties” that were successfully prosecuted in the UK courts and deemed liable to deprave and corrupt. Anyone found supplying these titles could face a fine or a prison sentence. Some of the titles on this list were: Cannibal Holocaust, I Spit on Your Grave, The Burning and Driller Killer. The running time for this section is approximately 4 hours and there’s an option to view the trailers only. There’s also an image gallery containing cover art for the 39 titles.





Disc Three: Introductions and trailers from the 33 “nasties” which were initially banned, but after a number of failed prosecutions, they were dropped from the “video nasties” list because it was thought that further prosecutions were unlikely to succeed. Some of the titles on this list were: The Evil Dead, Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse and The Toolbox Murders. Running time for this segment is approximately 3 hours and 20 minutes. There is also an image gallery containing cover art for the 33 titles.

The first 5000 pressings of this set come in an individually numbered box with postcard sized cover art of Cannibal Holocaust, Nightmares In a Damaged Brain, Driller Killer, I Spit On Your Grave and Zombie Flesh Eaters (these are illustrated left). There’s also a postcard sized representation of the cover art of Marc Morris and NigelWingrove’s book, The Art of the Nasty (also illustrated left).

The documentary segment, Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape, is directed by Jake West (Doghouse and Razor Blade Smile) with documentary producer and author Marc Morris taking the producer’s reigns here as well. He also contributes some talking-head sequences. Visual effects illustrating the various points raised about the technical imperfections of video feature heavily in the opening few minutes of the documentary. Tracking problems, tape deterioration and nth generation duplication all added to the mystique that the “nasties” acquired with tales of snuff movies and grim violence presented in too-squalid-to-be-fake quality. How the press lapped it up . . .

Figures from both sides of the “video nasties” debate are featured in the documentary. It’s interesting to note how the position of the pro-censorship lobby has remained unchanged. Sir Graham Bright, whose parliamentary bill was the basis for the Video Recordings Act of 1984, still maintains that these films were “evil”. Shortly before the Act became law, Sir Graham made this famous quote which is featured in the documentary: “Research is taking place and it will show that these films not only affect young people but I believe they affect dogs as well.”

Peter Kruger was the head of Scotland Yard’s Obscene Publications Squad, overseeing the raids that took place on shops and distributors’ premises during the furore as well as ensuring that thousands of confiscated video tapes were successfully incinerated. I thought it notable that Kruger was highly sympathetic to the views of morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse.

 The documentary has a clear anti-censorship stance. However, none of the journalists whose stories ignited the “video nasties” debacle are interviewed. Nor do we get Sir Graham Bright’s or Peter Kruger’s opinions about the “video nasties” that have since been made legally available uncut in the UK. Nor do we hear their opinions about today’s horror films which often contain more realistic violence than the “nasties”.

Entertaining and informative comments from various academics, film critics, writers and filmmakers are interspersed with archive footage from various news sources. Some of the stories from this age of police raids on video shops and distributors have become almost legendary. There were seizures of titles such as Apocalypse Now (mistaken for Cannibal Apocalypse), The Big Red One (with a title like that it had to be a porn movie, didn’t it) and The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas (ditto). And all those seized tapes had to be watched. Policemen and women who surely would have been better employed catching criminals were instead holed up in their offices watching videos, on the lookout for material that would surely turn the rest of the population into blood-crazed murderers.

The introductions and trailers sections make for interesting viewing, but it would have been even better in my opinion if each film’s current status regarding cuts and bans could have been included. The introductions are given by various genre writers, performers and academics. Perhaps the most entertaining contributors are the writer and critic Kim Newman; journalist and editor Allan Bryce; and author Stephen Thrower. All the contributors to these sections are worth hearing, but their thoughts are punctuated by clips from the trailers and the trailers are then played in full. This repetition can be a little annoying. The introductions and trailers sections are arranged in alphabetical order. However, each film’s segment is easily accessible should you want to be specific about the titles you’re interested in.

Jake West and Marc Morris were also involved in the production of a two-part documentary called Ban the Sadist Videos (2005) which can be found in the UK box set releases, Box of the Banned and Box of the Banned 2. I think the documentaries on these sets have a little more depth than the one under discussion here. This new documentary, however, has the advantage of having more contributions from the main players. It is also, perhaps, lighter in tone.

Looking back, it seems remarkable that these films caused such an outcry. But even now, a number of the “nasties” are still either banned (for example, Mardi Gras Massacre and Frozen Scream) or censored (for example, Cannibal Holocaust and I Spit On Your Grave). Although the censors in the UK have become more liberal over the years, there are still a few outright bans (Grotesque and Murder Set Pieces come to mind from the recent past) and cuts (A Serbian Film and the remake of I Spit On Your Grave are two of the most high-profile recent cases).

Informative and entertaining, Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide is highly recommended viewing for anyone interested in seeing what the fuss was about.