History Main / VideoNasties

* ''Film/ChildsPlay 3'' (subject to a censorious press campaign after it was falsely alleged to have influenced the murderers of James Bulger)

* ''Film/PrisonerOfTheCannibalGod''

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 ''The Franchise/EvilDead'' and the Creator/DarioArgento films included on the list).

* ''Franchise/EvilDead''

As time has gone by and society become more liberal about horror movies, many films from the list have been resubmitted to the BBFC. In some cases they were passed with no difficulties, but a few of the more extreme cases were passed only with cuts, only for them to resubmitted again a few years later and released completely uncut in the present day (the most notorious and high-profile case of this being ''TheLastHouseOnTheLeft''). Only a handful of films from the list still remain banned, but usually because they remain so obscure that nobody has bothered to resubmit them. 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 ''Film/{{Saw}}'' and ''Film/{{Hostel}}''. In many cases, some films would have been tame even by ''those'' days' standards; often films were convicted of obscenity [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch based on the cover art or the title alone]]. The featuring of the words "[[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.

* ''Film/TumblingDollOfFlesh''

* ''Film/{{Madhouse}}''

* [[/index]]''Last Orgy of the Third Reich'' [[labelnote:*]]This film once had an article on the wiki, but it was deleted in the purge of pornographic works following Administrivia/TheSecondGoogleIncident.[[/labelnote]][[index]]

* ''[[Film/{{Hell of the Living Dead}} Zombie Creeping Flesh]]''

* ''Film/ZombieCreepingFlesh''

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "Vengeance on Varos" was intended as [[RippedFromTheHeadlines a satire of the Nasty craze]], but due to its unusually dark tone (it was originally written with lots of comedy sequences, but they were all cut, and one scene originally PlayedForLaughs was rewritten to play it straight) and how it contained plenty of {{Gorn}} in its own right meant Mary Whitehouse identified it as proof of how Nasty culture was spreading to children's entertainment. This attention from her led eventually to the show's first cancellation.

* ''Film/{{Xtro}}'' (the other film incorrectly cited as an official Nasty; an attempted seizure of the film by local police was derailed when it was pointed out that the film had a BBFC certificate)

* ''Film/StrawDogs'' (predates the "nasty" controversy, but went through a similar torturous and tortuous sequence of bannings and cut releases)

* ''Last Orgy of the Third Reich'' [[labelnote:*]]This film once had an article on the wiki, but it was deleted in the purge of pornographic works following Administrivia/TheSecondGoogleIncident.[[/labelnote]]

* ''TheNewYorkRipper'' (deported back to Italy because James Ferman decided that the ForbiddenFruit potential was so strong, it was NotWorthKilling)

So in 1984, the Video Recordings Act was passed, which made it illegal to distribute any film that had not been classified. The [[CensorshipBureau British Board of Film Classification]] liased with the Department of Public Prosecutions to build a list of videos that had already led to shopkeepers being convicted for criminal obscenity and hence could not be legally distributed in Britain, to which were added a number of videos that were submitted to the BBFC for classification and rejected. Hence was formed the infamous list of the '''"Video Nasties"'''. This ultimately comprised 72 films, of which 39 had been successfully prosecuted. Video stores renting them were subject to police raids.

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 [[Film/{{Grindhouse}} ilk that would later inspire]] Creator/QuentinTarantino and Creator/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 ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' and ''Film/ISpitOnYourGrave'' could be (and were) rented by children as young as 10.

As time has gone by and society become more liberal about horror movies, many films from the list have been resubmitted to the BBFC. In some cases they were passed with no difficulties, but a few of the more extreme cases were passed only with cuts, only for them to resubmitted again a few years later and released completely uncut in the present day (the most notorious and high-profile case of this being ''The Last House on the Left''). Only a handful of films from the list still remain banned, but usually because they remain so obscure that nobody has bothered to resubmit them. 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 ''Film/{{Saw}}'' and ''Film/{{Hostel}}''. In many cases, some films would have been tame even by ''those'' days' standards; often films were convicted of obscenity [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch based on the cover art or the title alone]]. The featuring of the words "[[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, such as the legendary ''The Franchise/EvilDead'' and the DarioArgento films included on the list).

-->-- '''TheDamned'''

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 ''Film/CannibalHolocaust'' and ''Film/ISpitOnYourGrave'' could be (and were) rented by children as young as 10.

As time has gone by and society become more liberal about horror movies, many films from the list have been resubmitted to the BBFC. In some cases they were passed with no difficulties, but a few of the more extreme cases were passed only with cuts, only for them to resubmitted again a few years later and released completely uncut in the present day (the most notorious and high-profile case of this being ''The Last House on the Left''). Only a handful of films from the list still remain banned, but usually because they remain so obscure that nobody has bothered to resubmit them. 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 films were convicted of obscenity [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch based on the cover art or the title alone]]. The featuring of the words "[[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.

You can see how [[RogerEbert Siskel and Ebert]] reacted to this trend in [[http://siskelandebert.org/video/2MW8BASYDOAM/The-Untouchables--The-Witches-of-Eastwick--Video-Nasties-1987 this video]], starting at about 12:20.

* ''[[TheBoogeyman2 Revenge of the Boogeyman]]''

* ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' (predates the "nasty" controversy, withdrawn voluntarily by its director, StanleyKubrick, due to claims of copycat crimes and threats against him)

* ''{{Scum}}'' (original TV version refused broadcast by TheBBC after being made for them, subsequent film version subjected to an eventually unsuccessful legal claim that {{Channel 4}} had breached its own taste-and-decency rules by broadcasting it)
* ''ShogunAssassin'' (one of two films incorrectly cited as an official Nasty)

* ''Last Orgy of the Third Reich'' [[labelnote:*]]This film once had an article on the wiki, but it was deleted in the purge of pornographic works following TheSecondGoogleIncident.[[/labelnote]]

* ''Film/ChildsPlay 3''

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 ''TheEvilDead'' and the DarioArgento films included on the list).

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) rented by children as young as 10.

* ''TheNewYorkRipper''

* ''ShogunAssassin''

* ''Film/{{Xtro}}''

* ''Film/TheExorcist'' (the BBFC made it unofficially known that it would be banned from home video release for many years, due mostly to the then head examiner's religious {{Squick}} about the film)