Many horror and slasher movies were, at some time or other, declared 'video-nasties' in the UK in the early 1980s. Prior to the 'Video Recordings Act of 1984 (VRA), the onus was on the courts to prosecute a film if it was likely to "deprave or corrupt" the viewer. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) drew up a list of videos that were liable for prosecution. Below are the 72 films that were cleared from video store shelves. For many years, most of these films were unavailable in the UK outside of grey market bootlegs, or in highly truncated versions. Times have changed and today many have been released uncut on Bluray and even 4K. Here they are, the original, the infamous, the banned, the … ‘video-nasties’!
(1981, Italy)
Arguably, Lucio Fulci's finest movie. A surrealist zombie tour-de-force with eye-popping gore fx. The version that was banned was the already censored 'X' UK cinema version. It was further butchered by the BBFC for its post-VRA re-release but is now available uncut.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1971, Italy) *
AKA A BAY OF BLOOD, Mario Bava's hugely influential black comedy Giallo set around a lake. A gory body-count movie driven by fatal greed. Without it, arguably, the FRIDAY THE 13TH series wouldn't exist. The DPP didn't see the joke & it was banned In February 1983.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1963, USA) *
Herschell Gordon Lewis' seminal gore epic is the oldest film on the list. It also provides a testament to the ridiculous morality and collective stupidity of a censorious society that could find a film as campily hilarious as this offensive or obscene. Banned on video in 1983.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1980, Spain/W.Germany) *
Never one to let a movie trend go by without exploiting it, this is legendary Spanish director Jesús Franco's take on the slasher/body-count movie. Hokey gore, disco dancing and more fast zooms than you can shake a bloody stick at. Cut for a UK cinema release, the uncut video got it added to the list.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1980, USA) *
Ulli Lommel's often intriguing mixture of themes from THE EXORCIST (1973), THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979) and, of course, HALLOWEEN. Chock-a-block full of gory designer deaths. Despite being passed uncut for cinema distribution, its video release was banned.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1981, Italy) *
AKA MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY. One of the nastier of the ‘nasties’. Revels in hokey but disturbing gore made all the more so by unforgivable, actual animal mutilation. Proudly proclaimed being "Banned in 31 countries!" Both the cut and uncut versions were successfully prosecuted.
(1979, Italy) *
Ruggero Deodato's film is a powerful and disturbing work, but like CANNIBAL FEROX relies on the shock tactics of the Mondo cycle (including the regrettable real animal killings). The version banned in the UK was not uncut; it had already undergone severe trimming at the hands of its distributor.
(1972, Spain) *
The 'cannibal' tag got this one noticed, but this is actually a variation on the themes from Roman Polanski's REPULSION (1965). It may have escaped attention had it not been connected to Deodato's and Lenzi's gut-munchers by its opportunistic English title.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1980, Italy/W.Germany)
Luigi Cozzi's cheap and cheerful (unofficial) sequel to ALIEN (1979). Also lifting elements from INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1958) (and its 1978 remake), CONTAMINATION is an enjoyably gory and daft romp. Although released with 2.40 minutes of cuts, it was still banned.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1972, USA)
CANNIBAL FEROX (1981) may be the more brutal and graphic film, but Lenzi hardly does the developing world any favours with this gut-muncher. Again, using real-life animal butchery for lazy shock value.
(1975, UK) *
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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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 pre-cut, it didn't help it gain a reprieve from the insatiable list.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1981, USA)
Tobe Hooper’s excellent fairground set slasher. There was not a great deal in the way of grue, but it was suggested that the DPP got this and Victor Janus' genuinely nasty LAST HOUSE OF DEAD END STREET (which had been doing the rounds as a bootleg under the same name) mixed up.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1977, Italy) *
An exercise in poor taste. A Jewish survivor of the concentration camps returns to be voluntarily humiliated by a former SS officer. A low-rent riff on THE NIGHT PORTER that boasted of being the "The Sickest Entry in the Nazisploitation Genre".
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1978, Italy)
A long way from LA DOLCE VITA, Anita Ekberg plays the eponymous, denture stomping 'killer nun' in this Italian would-be-sleazy epic. She takes drugs, has sex with men and then kills them. Its cover hints at Joe Dallesandro being fellated by a nun, which was probably enough for it to get noticed by the DPP.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1972, USA) *
Wes Craven's ultra violent reworking of Ingmar Bergman's THE VIRGIN SPRING. Two girls are kidnapped, tortured, raped and eventually murdered. Despite being over ten years old, it was one of the most notorious ‘nasties’. Inspired a whole slew of Italian exploitation movies, some of which also ended up on this list!
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1981, USA) *
Excellent psychological slasher with an awe-inspiring, gonzo performance by Susan Tyrell as an unbalanced woman who jealously protects her nephew with bloody results. Well-acted and intelligently written. Has a fair amount of gory bits towards the end.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1981, USA/Italy) *
Another Italian director’s take on the US slasher movie. Cheap but effective psycho-drama. Sleazy and incredibly graphic gore propelled this to infamy and unbelievably led to the distributor being jailed for six months - even though the version released to tape in the UK wasn’t even uncut.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
(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!
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1980, USA/Japan)
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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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!
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1976, Italy) *
Yet another title where the lurid cover artwork invited controversy. It became a byword for depravity in the tabloids during the early 1980's. Quite some achievement for another mildly incompetent Italian bad-taste sexploitationer with some of the most hilarious dialogue in trash cinema.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1982, Italy) *
Seemingly somewhat influenced by the graphic gore in US slashers at the time, Dario Argento upped the violence in his exemplary return to the Giallo. However, this caught the eye of the DPP. The irony is that the version that was banned was the same cut version that had played at British cinemas with a BBFC certificate.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(1981, USA)
AKA NIGHT 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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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 nudity than usual, this one was banned, but none of the others in the series were. A mystery for the ages.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
(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.
(1982, UK)
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!
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK(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 released on video, but VIPCO followed in 1981 with a ‘Strong Uncut Version’ released to stores and subsequently banned in 1983.
AMAZON US AMAZON UK