FANGS FOR THE MEMORY - Video Nasty

The video nasty scare was something dreamt up by Fleet Street during a time when the street was still synonymous with newspapers and the editors needed something to get outraged about. Things kicked off in 1982 when Vipco took out a series of full page ads to publicise forthcoming video release, Driller Killer and may complaints were sent to the advertising authoritie which brough moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse into the fray. Later Go Video anonymously contacted Mary Whitehouse to complain about their own forthcoming film, Cannibal Holocaust - no publicity if bad publicity you see. And soon The Daily Mail started a campaign against the violent video films that the paper claimed were being watched by children as young as eight.

The exposure of nasties to children began to be blamed for the increase in violent crime amongst youths and all manner of social ills. The growing media frenzy only served to increase the demand for such material among adolescents. At the suggestion of National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, the Conservative MP Graham Bright introduced a Private members Bill to the House of Commons in 1983. This was passed as the Video Recordings act 1984 which came into effect on 1 September 1985.

Under the 1984 Act, the British Board of Film Censors was renamed the British Board of Film Classification and became responsible for the certification of both cinema and video releases. All video releases after 1 September 1985 had to comply with the Act and be submitted for classification by the BBFC. Films released on video before that date had to be re-submitted for classification within the following three years. The increased possibility of videos falling into the hands of children required that film classification for video be a separate process from cinema classification. Films that had passed uncut for cinema release were often cut for video. The supply of unclassified videos became a criminal offense, as did supplying 15 and 18 certificate videos to under-aged people. As well as the low-budget horror films the Act was originally intended to curb, a number of high profile films which had passed cinema certification fell foul of the Act. This resulted in films like The Exorcist and Straw Dogs being banned after they failed to receive certificates.

Earlier in 1983 a list of so called video nasties was drawn up by the department of public prosecutions. The list was modified monthly as prosecutions failed or were dropped. In total, 72 separate films appeared on the list at one time or another. Thirty-nine films were successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act but some of these films have been subsequently cut and then approved for release by the BBFC. The remaining 35 were either not prosecuted or had unsuccessful prosecutions.in order to help the public to avoid the films. It was hoped the public would avoid the films on the list, but it had the opposite effect and film fans were eager to see what all the fuss was about. This resulted in a lot of tacky low budget crap that would have been otherwise ignored received a large audience.

THE FULL DPP LIST IS PRODUCED BELOW (THANKS TO THE WIKI)

• Absurd (original/alternate titles: Rosso Sangue, Anthropophagus 2 — released with 2m 32s cut in 1983, but was withdrawn post VRA, and has never been re-submitted for classification. Has a release in the United States uncut under the title Horrible)
• The Anthropophagous Beast (original title: Antropophagus — released with approximately 3m of pre-cuts as "The Grim Reaper" in 2002)
• Axe! (original title: Lisa, Lisa — re-released uncut in 2005)
• The Beast in Heat (original title: La bestia in Calore) (Banned outright)
• The Beyond (original title: E tu vivrai nel terrore - L'Aldilà — re-released uncut in 2001)
• Blood Feast (re-released uncut in 2005)
• Blood rites (original title: The Ghastly Ones) (Banned outright)
• Bloody Moon (original title: Die Säge des Todes — released with 1m 20s cut in 1993, released uncut November 2008)
• The Boogeyman (re-released uncut in 2000)
• The Burning (re-released uncut in 2001)
• Cannibal Apocalypse (original title: Apocalypse Domani — released with 2s cut in 2005)
• Cannibal Ferox (alternate title: Make them Die Slowly - released with approximately 5m of pre-cuts plus 6s of additional cuts in 2000)
• Cannibal Holocaust (released in 2001 with 5m 44s cut to remove most animal cruelty and rape scenes)
• Cannibal Man (original title: La Semana del Asesino — released with 3s cut in 1993)
• Cannibal Terror (original title: Terror Caníbal — released uncut in 2003)
• Contamination (released uncut in 2004 with a 15 rating)
• Dead & Buried (re-released uncut in 2004)
• Death Trap (original title: Eaten Alive — re-released uncut in 2000)
• Deep River Savages (original/alternate title: Il paese del sesso selvaggio, Man from Deep River — released with 3m 45s cut in 2003)
• Delirium (Alternate title: Psycho Puppet - released with 16s cut in 1987)
• Devil Hunter (original title: Il cacciatore di uomini) (Passed uncut November 2008)
• Don't Go in the House (released with 3m 7s cut in 1987)
• Don't Go in the Woods (released uncut in 2007)
• Don't Go Near the Park (released uncut in 2006)
• Don't Look in the Basement (original title: The Forgotten — released uncut in 2005 with a 15 rating)
• The Dorm That Dripped Blood (Alternate title: Pranks - re-released with 10s cut in 2001)
• The Driller Killer (released with cuts in 1999 - re-released uncut in 2002)
• The Evil Dead (re-released uncut in 2001)
• Evilspeak (re-released uncut in 1999)
• Exposé (re-released with approximately 30s cut in 2006)
• Faces of Death (released with 2m 19s cut in 2003)
• Fight For Your Life (Banned outright)
• Flesh for Frankenstein (Alternate title: Andy Warhol's Frankenstein - re-released uncut in 2006)
• Toxic Zombies also known as "Forest of Fear and "Bloodeaters" (Banned outright)
• Frozen Scream (Banned outright)
• The Funhouse (Released uncut in 1987, re-classified 15 in 2007)
• Gestapo's Last Orgy (original title: L'ultima orgia del III Reich) (Banned outright)
• The House by the Cemetery (original title: Quella villa accanto al cimitero — re-released with 33s cut in 2001, released uncut in 2009)
• House on the Edge of the Park (original title: La casa sperduta nel parco — released with 11m 43s cut in 2002)
• Human Experiments (released with 26s cut in 1994)
• I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (released with 1m 6s cut in 1986)
• I Spit on Your Grave (original title: Day of the Woman — released with 7m 2s cut in 2001)
• Inferno (re-released with 20s cut in 1993 — re-released uncut in September, 2010)
• Island of Death (original title: Ta Pedhia tou dhiavolou — released uncut September, 2010)
• Killer Nun (original title: Suor Omicidi — re-released uncut in 2006)
• The Last House on the Left (passed uncut on the 17th March, 2008)
• Late Night Trains (original title: L'ultimo treno della notte — released uncut in 2008)
• Living Dead At Manchester Morgue (original title: Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti — re-released uncut in 2002)
• Love Camp 7 (refused a certificate in 2002) (Banned outright)
• There Was a Little Girl (1981 film) (UK title: Madhouse - released uncut in 2004)
• Mardi Gras Massacre (Banned outright)
• Night of the Bloody Apes (original title: La Horripilante bestia humana — released with approximately 1m of pre-cuts in 1999)
• Night of the Demon (released with 1m 41s cut in 1994)
• Nightmare Maker(Also known as 'Butcher/Baker/Nightmare Maker' and Night Warning on the credits of some versions) (Banned outright)
• Nightmare in a Damaged Brain (re-released with pre-cuts in 2005)
• Possession (released uncut in 1999)
• Prisoner of the Cannibal God (original title: La montagna del dio cannibale — released with 2m 6s cut in 2001)
• Revenge of the Bogey Man (original title: Boogeyman II — released with additional footage in 2003)
• The Slayer (re-released uncut in 2001)
• Snuff (Passed uncut in 2003, however it has not yet been re-released)
• SS Experiment Camp (original title: Lager SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur — released uncut in 2005)
• Tenebrae (original title: Tenebre — re-released uncut in 2003)
• Terror Eyes (original title: Night School — released with 1m 16s cut in 1987)^[11]
• The Toolbox Murders (released with 1m 46s cut in 2000)
• Twitch of the Death Nerve (original title: Reazione a catena — released with 43s cut in 1994)
• Unhinged (released uncut in 2004)
• Visiting Hours (released with approximately 2m cut in 1986)
• The Werewolf and the Yeti (original title: La Maldición de la bestia) (Banned outright)
• The Witch Who Came From the Sea (released uncut in 2006)
• Women Behind Bars (original French title: Des diamants pour l'enfer) (Banned outright)
• Zombie Creeping Flesh (original title: Virus — released uncut in 2002)
• Zombie Flesh Eaters (original title: Zombi 2 — re-released uncut in 2005) (alternate title: Zombie)

Although commonly thought of as part of the DPP list, the following two titles never actually appeared on any government list:

• Shogun Assassin (re-released uncut in 1999)
• Xtro (Released uncut in 1987, re-classified 15 in 2007; Xtro was a common title seized during police raids in the North of England prior to the official list being published.)

Last House on Dead End Street, also known as The Fun House, was confused with Tobe Hooper's similarly titled film The Funhouse and avoided being placed on the list.