The 
A-Z of  
Video  
Nasties

DELIRIUM

AKA PSYCHO PUPPET. Confusing and misogynistic junk that has a Vietnam vet hired to 'clear some scum off the streets’; in his spare time, he likes to hunt down and kill nubile women. Released uncut and banned in 1983.

DEVIL HUNTER

More nonsense from the once-unstoppable Jesús Franco. A confusing and inept tale concerning a model whose clothes keep falling off after being kidnapped by cannibals. 

DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE

A man locks women in a steel room and burns them to death in a twisted revenge against his dead mother. Nasty and downbeat. Scenes of victims being burned alive were enough to put it on the list. 

DON'T GO IN THE WOODS

A sphincter-splinteringly bad movie - and all the more entertaining for it! Again, it beggars belief that this backwoods slasher would have corrupted anyone. 

DON'T GO NEAR THE PARK

The everyday story of two pre-historic teenagers condemned to live for eternity as vampires. A few disembowellings and an early appearance from Linnea Quigley as a girl with the power to make rapists explode (!). 

DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT

This Florida-lensed shocker was originally a big hit at US drive-ins. It's that old the-lunatics-have-taken-over-the-asylum gag again. The release that was banned in the UK already had much of the gore removed. 

Did you know?

In 2014, the follow-up documentary Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide 2 Limited Edition was released. It featured trailers for all of the 'The Section 3 List' - those films liable for seizure but not prosecuted and it features me talking about many of them!

EVILSPEAK

(1981, USA) *

A great worm-that-turned-horror story with Clint Howard as the nerdy student at a military academy who accesses evil through a computer. A little slow at times, but well made. With a knock-out gore-fueled climax not to be missed. 

EXPOSÉ

(1975, United Kingdom) *

Heavily promoted at UK cinemas as a vehicle for 70's British sex-pot Fiona Richmond. Its similar juxtaposition of quaint rural countryside and mean-spirited, bloody violence was reminiscent of STRAW DOGS and attracted the attention of those compiling the ‘video nasties’ list.

FACES OF DEATH

(1979, USA) *

A lamentable Mondo pseudo-documentary produced primarily for the Japanese market. A highly truncated version was released to video in the UK. Despite most of the footage being blatantly faked and being pre-cut, it didn't help it gain a reprieve from the insatiable list.  

FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE

(1977, USA) *

A revenge flick along the lines of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, but made without any modicum of skill. Defended by some as an exposé of racism, it was rejected for a UK cinema certificate and quickly found itself on the list when released to video. 

FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN

(1973, Italy/France) *

Kooky, campy, gory, armpit sucking and originally shown in 3-D! An absolute riot from the beginning to its guts-in-your-face climax. Shot back-to-back with the equally visceral BLOOD FOR DRACULA. 

FOREST OF FEAR

(1979, USA) *

AKATOXIC ZOMBIES. Stoners are turned into toxic flesh-eaters in flares and bandanas after the dope they've been cultivating is blitzed with an experimental herbicide. A few graphic gore fx got it noticed by the fuzz. 

FROZEN SCREAM

(1975, USA)

Frozen zombies are created by a mad scientist and then go on to kill people in gory ways. In the spirit of recycling, Composer H. Kingsley Thurber used the same music from this film in fellow nasty DON'T GO IN THE WOODS.

THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY

(1981, Italy) *

It's short on logic but long on gore, and Fulci actually sustains some suspense and a pervading ambience of unease. Plus, it has the most bonkers bat attack ever committed to celluloid. The release that was banned was the BBFC approved 'X' cinema version.

HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK

(1980, Italy) *

Ruggero Deodato's return to ‘nasty' territory is a vicious story of class warfare, which takes its cue from Wes Craven's earlier THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. It even features the film's main villain, David Hess, in a similarly sleazy role. With a grinding mean-spiritedness, it is grim stuff indeed. 

HUMAN EXPERIMENTS

(1979, USA)

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were a number of women-trapped-in-an-asylum movies. An extension of the popular WIP genre. This is one of them. Passed uncut for a UK cinema release, this inexplicably got caught up in the ‘nasties’ hysteria.  

I MISS YOU HUGS AND KISSES

(1978, Canada)

Another film that probably got into trouble more for its packaging than its content. The video blurb asked potential viewers if they were "..those who like their sex served up with some violence?" It contains little sex and violence, and what there is is presented in an almost abstract fashion.  

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE

(1978, USA) *

Another of the more notorious titles on the list. This rape/revenge saga has been declared as everything from “… a feminist feature" to “... a misogynistic, degrading experience." I suppose it could be seen as a little of both. 

INFERNO

(1980, Italy)

A magical sequel to SUSPIRIA. Beautiful, surrealist and non-linear, INFERNO is the work of Dario Argento at the height of his experimental powers. A few flashes of gore were enough to get this fingered by the law despite its obvious artistic merits. 

ISLAND OF DEATH

(1975, Greece) *

A sleazy little flick that certainly lives up to its depraved reputation. A heavily cut version hit British screens but was released uncut on video. A young couple torture, rape and murder their way around a small Greek island. Has something to offend everyone. 

NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS

(1975, France/Spain)

Essentially, it is THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT set on a train. Aldo Lado’s requisitely sleazy and nasty Euro thriller is one of the better examples inspired by the Grindhouse success of Wes Craven’s infamous 1972 film. Refused a certificate in 1976 for cinema release. It was released in both cut and uncut versions on video.

THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE

(1974, Italy/Spain)

George Grau's excellent Living Dead movie. Set incongruously in the English Lake District, flesh-eating zombies prowl after being awakened by sonic waves from an experimental pest control device. Atmospheric, suspenseful and damned gory in its uncut version.  

LOVE CAMP 7

(1968, USA) *

This early Nazi sexploitationer is tamer than some of its later Italian counterparts but is still pretty tasteless. It is also inept and boring.  It was refused a certificate by the BBFC for home video release in 2002 and even as late as 2020 for its "sexualised violence". Yet it can easily be bought via Amazon UK. Go figure.

MADHOUSE

(1981, Italy) *

Italian film that copies the US slasher movies popular at the time rather than employ the more traditional Giallo style. Filmed in the US, it’s the story of two sisters: one nice and the other murderously mad and who has just escaped from the asylum. Packed with gory - if not especially convincing - death scenes.  

MARDI GRAS MASSACRE

(1978, USA) *

Low rent semi-remake of BLOOD FEAST (1963). A killer stalks New Orleans and scoops out the hearts of victims (the film's one major gore effect, which is repeated ad nauseum). Always terrible and often hilarious. 

NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES

(1968, Mexico) *

A daft Mexican mad scientist saga. Things go horribly wrong when a gorilla-to-human heart transplant goes awry. Packed with cheap gore fx that wouldn’t shock a five-year-old. IFS’ bloody video cover probably got it on the list. 

NIGHT OF THE DEMON

(1980, USA) *

A wonderfully awful and hugely enjoyable Bigfoot, backwoods slasher turkey! There's gore, and none of it is very convincing - including a biker having his cock ripped off. A fun time for bad movie enthusiasts.

POSSESSION

(1981, France/W.Germany)

If the Arthouse thought it was just the Grindhouse that was at risk from the hysteria that surrounded the whole 'video-nasties' debacle, it was dead wrong. Andrzej Zulawski's surrealist tale of a woman's neurosis' becoming flesh still managed to offend the Daily Mail and end up on the list. 

PRANKS

(1982, USA)

AKA THE DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD. Prime era slasher, where a group of college students stay behind during the Christmas holidays to catalogue items in a condemned dorm building. Naturally, they are stalked and murdered by an unseen assailant. Effective low-budgeter with a downbeat ending.  

PRISONER OF THE CANNIBAL GOD

(1978, Italy)

Ursula Andress slums it here big time, along with Stacy Keach and director Sergio Martino, in this fairly early entry in the Cannibal cycle. Filmed in Sri Lanka, this is pretty feeble stuff but contains the usual depressing cruelty to animals. 

REVENGE OF THE BOGEYMAN

(1982, USA)

 Spends much of its time flashing back to the original (hence it joining it on the 'nasties' list). The only interesting thing is the semi-parody of Hollywood, in which Ulli Lommel plays a director attempting to make a fictionalised version of events in the first film. Plus, it has a death by electric toothbrush!  

SHOGUN ASSASSIN

(1980, USA)

Made from two shorter Japanese films in a popular series, edited down for the American market. Hence, it is a little fragmented and not particularly linear. However, it is a visual treat. A jaw-dropping ballet of violence and choreographed blood-letting. 

THE SLAYER

(1981, USA)

Pre-dating Wes Craven's A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) by a number of years, this eerie slasher has a nightmare villain manifest in reality and kill vacationing couples. Its splatter movie deaths put it on the list after it was released uncut on video.  

SNUFF

(1976, USA/Argentina) *

Notorious Grindhouse filmmaking married pair Roberta and Michael Findlay tried to pass up an Argentinian Mansonploitation flick as a snuff movie by tacking on a phoney-looking ending. That’s not the most incredible thing about this release. It's the fact that anyone actually believed it was the real McCoy and sought to get it banned! 

TERROR EYES

(1981, USA)

AKANIGHT SCHOOL. The director of CHITTY, CHITTY, BANG-BANG (!) made this addition to the slasher stakes. A head-hunter is decapitating young women in the Boston area. There are no onscreen decapitations and precious little blood. Rachel Ward has the emotional range of a fresh corpse. The only trouble is she is meant to be playing the supporting lead. 

THE TOOLBOX MURDERS

(1978, USA)

This was cut for a 1979 X-rated cinema release and subsequently banned on VHS in 1983. Front-loaded with gore with the infamous bathtub death scene, although presumably most of that was missing in the censored version that was yanked from the shelves - although there were rumours that some copies did contain the full uncut version. 

UNHINGED

(1982, USA)

Released uncut to British cinema screens in 1983 and banned the same year on video. Pretty dull slasher with three leads who sure weren't chosen for their acting abilities. Attempts a little TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE intensity at the end but mostly fails. It gained notoriety in the UK after being featured on BBC News during a report on the availability of uncertified video films. 

VISITING HOURS

(1982, Canada)

 ​ The BBFC cut over a minute for its 1982 cinema release. Despite this being the same truncated version released to home video, it was banned in 1984. An effective and moderately sleazy Candian slasher with Michael Ironside as the skeezy killer stalking Lee Grant through a hospital - albeit one without a huge amount of graphic bloodshed. 

THE WEREWOLF AND THE YETI

(1975, Spain) *

Released uncut in 1982 on the Canon label. Pretty standard loopy lupine goings on in Paul Naschy's eighth outing as the Wolfman. Although having a little more and nudity than usual this one was banned, but none of the others in the series were. A mystery for the ages.  

THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA

(1976, USA)

A real mid-70s oddity from director Matt Climber - the one-time husband of ill-fated blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield. Despite featuring razor blades and castrations, it wasn't all that graphic. Another one whose sensationalist video cover caused it to come to the attention of the DPP.   

WOMEN BEHIND BARS

(1974, France/Belgium)

Jesús Franco - the list's favourite director - appears once again with a cheerfully inept women's prison palava. Released uncut on pre-cert video on the Go label and briefly banned. Some nudity and a couple of torture scenes, but otherwise pretty mild for a Franco WIP pic.

XTRO

(1982, United Kingdom)

Just to prove that the UK could provide its own homegrown 'nasties', this is a gory, sometimes surreal story of alien abduction. Guaranteeing itself in the hallowed halls of infamy, it includes a scene where a woman gives birth to a fully grown man. The polar opposite to the same year’s ET! 

ZOMBIE CREEPING FLESH

(1980, Italy/Spain)

AKA HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD. Bruno Mattei jumped on the zombie bandwagon with this dog-eared take about a female reporter finding zombies in the jungle. Terrible but a lot of fun. Cut ahead of a planned UK cinema release and further cut for its video. It didn’t matter, as it was banned in 1983.

ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS

(1979, Italy) *

Lucio Fulci’s gore classic started off as a rip-off of DAWN OF THE DEAD but transcended its inspiration. One of the most infamous of all the ‘nasties’. It suffered nearly two minutes of cuts for its UK cinema release. This cut version was put out on video, but VIPCO followed in 1981 with a ‘Strong Uncut Version’ released to stores and subsequently banned in 1983.