History Main / VideoNasties

* ''Last Orgy of the Third Reich'' [[labelnote:*]]This film once had an article on the wiki, but it was purged due to the new content guidelines.[[/labelnote]]

In the 1980s, newly arisen video distribution companies in Britain got the idea to [[StepThreeProfit make a fast buck]] by adapting for VHS cheesy, low-budget and, for the time, rather violent Italian and American horror films of the [[{{Grindhouse}} ilk that would later inspire]] QuentinTarantino and RobertRodriguez. Unfortunately, at the time there was no law that required videocassettes to be classified before being rented and anyone of any age could legally rent any video; so films such as ''CannibalHolocaust'' and ''ISpitOnYourGrave'' could be (and were) [[HarmfulToMinors rented by children as young as 10]].

* ''TheTexasChainSawMassacre1974'' (banned from home release by the BBFC for many years but never on the official "nasty" list)
* ''{{Xtro}}''

->''Catch catch the horror taxi!\\
I fell in love with a video nasty!\\
Catch catch the horror train!\\
Freeze frame gonna drive you insane!''

It really doesn't take a genius to know what the result of Mary's hissy-fits and the bans were; people wanted to see these films. [[BileFascination Naughty little boys, spurred by the media's allegations that these were reprehensible, disgusting, Gorntastic shlockfests that were corrupting the youth]] [[ForbiddenFruit and which had been banned for the good of the nation]], flocked to video stores in hopes of getting their grubby hands on a copy before the police buried them in landfills. [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity Their infamy instead took on a nearly legendary status]]; many would have faded into obscurity as generic money-sucking horror drivel and nowadays nobody would know they had ever existed (however, several of them were already wildly successful in their countries of origin and beyond, such as the legendary ''EvilDead'' and the DarioArgento films included on the list).

* ''Film/EvilDead''

Freeze frame gonna drive you insane!''\\
--'''TheDamned'''

* ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre'' (banned from home release by the BBFC for many years but never on the official "nasty" list)

* ''Last Orgy of the Third Reich''[[labelnote:*]]This film once had an article on the wiki, but it was purged due to the new content guidelines.[[/labelnote]]

* ''Last Orgy of the Third Reich''[[hottip:* :This had an article, but it was purged due to the new content guidelines.]]

* ''Film/DawnOfTheDead''

* ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead''

* ''Film/LastOrgyOfTheThirdReich''

* ''Film/{{Mikey}}'' (still banned from home video release due to its subject matter and perceived similarities to the James Bulger murder)

* ''{{Scum}}'' (original TV version refused broadcast by TheBBC after being made for them, subsequent film version subjected to an unsuccessful legal claim that Channel4 had breached its own taste-and-decency rules by broadcasting it)

* ''Film/StrawDogs'' (predates the "nasty" controversy, cut on initial release and still available in the UK only in cut form due first to the existence of the rape scene and later to the implication that the victim might have "enjoyed" it)

* ''Film/AClockworkOrange''

* ''Film/TheExorcist''

* ''Film/{{Mikey}}''

* ''{{Scum}}''

* ''Film/StrawDogs''
* ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre''

'''The following films were not included on the list, but are sometimes mistakenly thrown in because they were controversial in earlier or later eras. Not all of them were ever actually banned in Britain.

* ''Film/{{Tenebrae}}''

So in 1984, the Video Recordings Act was passed, which made it illegal to distribute any film that had not been classified. The BBFC decided that some films, however, were so violent that they would not be classified at all and instead be banned outright. Hence was formed the infamous list of the '''"Video Nasties"'''. This ultimately comprised 72 films, of which 39 were successfully prosecuted. Video stores renting them were subject to police raids.

As time has gone by, films from the list have been resubmitted to the BBFC wherein the ban on them has been lifted albeit with cuts, only for them to resubmitted again wherein they are released completely uncut in the present day. Only a handful of films from the list still remain banned; on account of the fact that nobody has bothered to resubmit them more than anything else. If you are able to find and view these films (most used to be incredibly rare and obscure; what were once considered holy-grails amongst collectors are now widely available in this age of DVD) you will probably be shocked at how tame ''some'' of them are compared to today's standards what with films the likes of ''{{Saw}}'' and ''{{Hostel}}''. In many cases, some films would have been tame even by ''those'' days' standards; often the BBFC would stick films on the list [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch based on the cover art or the title alone]]. The featuring of the word "[[ImAHumanitarian Cannibal]]", "[[ZombieApocalypse Zombie]]" or anything associated with [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] in the title of a film almost guaranteed inclusion on the list. Other films though, such as ''Cannibal Holocaust'', retain the power to shock and horrify.

It really doesn't take a genius to know what the result of Mary's hissy-fits and the bans were; people wanted to see these films. [[BileFascination Naughty little boys, spurred by the media's allegations that these were reprehensible, disgusting, Gorntastic shlockfests that were corrupting the youth]] [[ForbiddenFruit and which had been banned for the good of the nation]], flocked to video stores in hopes of getting their grubby hands on a copy before the police buried them in landfills. [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity Their infamy instead took on a nearly legendary status]]; many would have faded into obscurity as generic money-sucking horror drivel and nowadays nobody would know they had ever existed (however, several of them were already wildly successful in their countries of origin and beyond; for instance, one of them is the legendary ''EvilDead'').

(Anyway... the 72 films classified as video nasties are as follows below. (Bear in mind that most if not all of them have up to a dozen or so alternate titles; the following are the titles by which they were known specifically in the United Kingdom.)

!!Commonly Misidentified as Nasties

!!Depicted in fiction
* The ''DoctorWho'' serial ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E2VengeanceOnVaros Vengeance on Varos]]'' has the villain Sil forcing the Varosians to watch these.

* ''[[Film/NightOfTheDemon1980 Night of the Demon]]''

* ''TheExorcist''

* ''DawnOfTheDead''

* ''NightOfTheLivingDead''

* ''SilentNightDeadlyNight''

* ''TheTexasChainSawMassacre''

Most of those [[TastesLikeDirt are so nasty they become over-the-top.]]

* ''Film/EvilDead'' (Though it was passed very early)

* ''Film/EvilDead''

* The ''DoctorWho'' episodes ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E2VengeanceOnVaros Vengeance on Varos]]'' has the villain Sil forcing the Varosians to watch these.

* ''TheDrillerKiller''

* ''EvilDead''

* ''FightForYourLife''

* ''LastOrgyOfTheThirdReich''

* ''TheLastHouseOnTheLeft''

* ''PrisonerOfTheCannibalGod''

* ''TheToolboxMurders''

* ''[[{{Zombi 2}} Zombie Flesh Eaters]]''

* ''CannibalFerox''
* ''CannibalHolocaust''