In the early 80′s the self appointed moral guardians in the UK where highly offended by what was showing up on the video shelves in those early days of the censor free video market. Lurid video sleeves for titles like S.S. Experiment weren’t going down too well with the church attending minority in England. An uproar quickly ensued which was fueled by a national newspaper, the Daily Mail; a common advocate for the destruction of a free society in England. It was a minority, but a very vocal minority, and unfortunately they ruled the airwaves. From the heat of this fire a list of approximately fifty titles was forged, and this list changed the face of the video market in England.

As with all methods of censorship, the creation of the list, which was later to be referred to as the Video Nasties list, was just a simple method of avoidance. Those in high positions that can affect real meaningful social change and address the real issues facing society prefer to avoid those difficult and often politically unpopular issues and find solace in laying blame on an easy target. In this case, the lurid titles and sleeves of a number of horror titles really got people worked up – I say sleeves and titles, because many of the titles that came under scrutiny weren’t even viewed by those that were objecting. Much like a modern day witch hunt, they seemingly used the same kind of methods to deem a film a video nasty as those methods use to condemn a woman to the fate of a witch back in the 16th century. Blind, irrational hatred is never far from the surface it seems.

The Video Nasties list gave way to the Video Recordings Act, and it suddenly became illegal to own or sell any of these titles. All video recordings now had to be classified. Police spent tax payers money running around raiding the stores who were selling or renting the titles, but it didn’t stop there. The homes of private individuals who were suspected of actually owning these Video Nasties were raided. To put some perspective on the issue, this all happened as real criminals were allowed to walk the streets while the police put their efforts into rounding up films that were just harmless entertainment. Most other countries in the world saw these kinds of films as harmless entertainment, and those other countries were not crumbling under the weight of video’s on the shelves. It begs the question of just what really was behind the video nasty fiasco. Some have claimed the mainstream studios weren’t all that crazy about the sales these small independent labels received from their exploitative titles, but that’s a conspiracy theory unto itself.

All this happened in the early 1980′s when the video market was beginning it’s boom. The Video Recordings Act was put in place in 1984, and it is still in effect today – although it recently had to be adjusted after the European Commission deemed the original bill unenforceable. The censoring body which plays moral guardian in the UK is the BBFC, and it is their job to ascertain what the video and cinema viewing public are capable of handling without turning into homicidal maniacs. But time has been unkind to the BBFC. Their stance on the Video Nasties and other titles (such as The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre which received outright bans from the video market for decades) has had to change. They have been forced by current mainstream horror cinema to stay somewhat current with modern, more extreme trends. The new breed of horror cinema has made most of the Nasties seem like Saturday morning cartoons, with a much more realistic portrayal of horror and violence than most of the alleged Nasties put together. Still, there are a few titles on the Nasties list that pack their mighty punch, but for us it is the altogether different style of film making that gives the Nasties their charm, and power. They just don’t make them like they used to.

In an effort to look at the bright side of these dark days. Censorship always creates a certain kind of demand from those looking for the forbidden, those of us not content with what the mainstream tries to force down our throats. And this is just what happened. Normally, a list such as the Video Nasty list isn’t par of the course, and we’d have to compile a list of our own. The moral guardians were in one sense kind to us, they gave us a list of specific titles that really offended them. Oh, the irony of it! What else could you ask for? We should have been sending them flowers!

As the video’s disappeared from the shelves, becoming unobtainable by the masses, the titles quickly entered cult status. When a title gains that cult status, it basically lives forever, and it is obvious the moral guardians weren’t aware of the beast they were breeding. Many of the titles on the Video Nasty list are films that should have disappeared into obscurity, and in all likelihood would have been forgotten had it not been for a little help from our friends at the BBFC. Titles like Night of the Bloody Apes (1969), Beast in Heat (1977), and Island of Death (1975) shouldn’t have survived like they did. Although, unfortunately others films like Dead and Buried (1981), and Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (1974) didn’t receive the wider attention they should have.

I might be giving too much weight to the significance of the Video Nasties list, but the list really is the perfect snap shot of an under appreciated genre. A list only someone on the outside could compile. The genre is never going to be perfect, for every Texas Chainsaw Massacre there is an Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. This is exactly what the Video Nasties list is, a mixed bag of delights. It should be embraced, and it quickly becomes the starting point for those looking to stumble into the excesses of the genre. The list spans the golden era of horror and exploitation cinema, from Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast (1963) through to Xtro (1983). Three decades of decadence.

The video nasty list doesn’t present us with everything the genre has to offer, but it’ll quickly lead you down a multitude of different avenues, opening the door to Zombies, Cannibals, Nuns, Nazi’s, Slashers, Stalkers, Perverts and more… While we might all be familiar with the majority of the titles on the list, there might still be some leftovers to discover. Over a series of posts in the coming weeks I’ll be briefly going over the titles in the Nasties list, and we can journey through the list together, wading our way through the blood, brains, and bodies (in various states of dress) as we discover our own personal Nasty.

The Video Nasties List Part 1

Anthropophagous Beast (1980)
(aka Anthropophagus; The Man Eater, The Grim Reaper; Maneater – Der Menschfresser; The Savage Island)

Joe D’Amato’s slasher movie madness is perhaps one of the highlights of the Nasties list, not because it is a good film, but because of a couple really unique scenes that have to be seen to be believed. The first of which is when cannibalistic madman George Eastman rips the fetus out of a pregnant woman and chows down. George doesn’t care where it comes from, and if you need any further proof, later in the film he eats his own intestines! Now that’s what I call hardcore cannibalism! I don’t think there are many films that include such memorable set pieces, it just unfortunate that those scene really are the highlight in an otherwise pretty boring movie, but at least there’s something to look forward too. The film also stars Tisa Farrow, sister of Rosemary’s Baby Mia Farrow. Horror fans will recognize Tisa from her previous appearance in Lucio Fulci’s far more entertaining Zombie Flesh Eaters.

Last House on the Left (1972)
(aka Krug and Company, Sex Crime of the Century)

Wes Craven’s directorial debut is probably his most powerful film to date, and was the beginnings of a different kind of film making. On a young girls first day as that of a woman, her sixteen birthday, she heads to see an Alice Cooper style band in the big city with a street wise friend. Things don’t go quite as planned when they try and score some weed for the occasion. They are captured after being lured into the dragon’s den by the young dealer they approach. They end up being tortured at the hand of the criminals. Last House is a very powerful film, we are as tortured as the girls on the screen as they are forced to kiss each other or piss their pants for the amusement of the gang of thugs. Things don’t end nicely though, especially for the thugs when the young girls parents find out what has happened. Last House is a film of legend, and it lives up to it’s legend. This is a pure example of a film that they just don’t make anymore… gritty, grim, gruesome, and powerfully shocking. Last House recently suffered the remake syndrome, but the original cannot be surpassed so why waste your time?

Blood Bath (1971)
(aka A Bay of Blood, Antefatto – Ecologia del delitto, Bloodbath, Carnage, Chain Reaction, The Last House on the Left, Part II, Twitch of the Death Nerve)

Blood Bath, or A Bay of Blood or Twitch of the Death Nerve – however you want to refer to it – is part giallo and part – what will later be termed as – the slasher film. The late great Mario Bava’s masterpiece was one of his final films, and way ahead of it’s time. So no, Halloween (1978) is not that revolutionary after all, and Friday The 13th lifts most of it’s murder set pieces from Blood Bath. So throw those turkey’s away and get yourself a copy of this far superior film! The film revolves around the inheritance of a bay and its surrounding area. After the murder of the Countess which is made to look like suicide, her family are all out for themselves and the inheritance she leaves behind. Things don’t quite go to plan for the family, but especially not for a group of kids out for a good time that get caught in the middle of the proceedings – one gets a knife to neck, another to the face and two lovers are speared to their bed in an eternal embrace. While most slasher films get boring very fast, Blood Bath manages to hold the viewers interest with its giallo-esque greed and murder theme. This is a very dark and nihilistic film which leaves very few of the cast remaining… but then everyone has what’s coming to them in one gore drizzled way after another!

SS Experiment Camp (1976)
(aka SS Experiment Love Camp, Lager SS Adis Kastrat Kommandantur; Horreur Nazis)

Another one of those highly offensive but highly entertaining German concentration camp films, where the poor inmates are poked and prodded in the name of science and German perfection. This one is a particularly fine example, although male viewers might cringe at the testicular transplant scene, even if the things are the size of eggs. The greatest moment comes when one of the German soldiers used in the sexual experiments yells “what have you been doing with my balls?” at a camps commandant, who was the lucky receiver of the poor officers bollocks. This film isn’t nearly as shocking as people like to make out, and is also better made than you might think. It is still complete and utter schlock, and I for one would have it no other way. If paired with the superior Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS (1975) this is all that you really need from the Nazi Camp sub-genre, but if like myself, you have a certain weakness for strong female characters and insanely pointless experiments there are dozens of these films out there to keep you shamefully engaged.

Killer Nun (1978)
(aka Suor Omicidi, Deadly Habits)

Anita Ekberg stars in this odd mix of nunsploitation and the giallo genre. Strangely enough this odd blend works extremely well. Once all the bland elements of a nunsploitation movie have been removed we are left with the more risque elements which is what we watch them for anyways, and then add to that all the excessive murders of a good giallo… It really does sounds like a nice combination, doesn’t it? Killer Nun is meant to be based on a true story – yeah we’ve heard that before so I’m not sure who they think they are kidding – and tells the tale of a slightly demented Sister Gertrude (Ekberg). She believes that she is on death’s door, so much so she becomes addicted to morphine, and in her fragile state, heroin. In her perilous journey into drug addiction she stoops at just about anything in an effort to get her next fix – this includes sneaking out for some kinky sex, and sadistically murdering anyone that gets in her way. Sister Gertrude is quite simply off her rocker, and we can only sit back and enjoy every minute of it. Also starring Joe Dallesandro (Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula).