Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape

2010 "72 films that changed Britain forever."
7.7| 1h12m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 30 August 2010 Released
Producted By: Nucleus Films
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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A documentary analyzing the furore which so-called "video nasties" caused in Britain during the 1980s.

Genre

Documentary

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Director

Jake West

Production Companies

Nucleus Films

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Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape Audience Reviews

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
Michael_Elliott Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010)*** 1/2 (out of 4)The second documentary after the BAN THE SADIST VIDEOS! series that takes a look at the "video nasties" and the BBFC's attempt to ban horror movies that they felt would ruin the minds of young people and turn them into killers. We get interviews with people involved with the banning or fight against the banning as well as historians like Marc Morris and Kim Newman.If you watched BAN THE SADIST VIDEOS! then you're not going to see anything here that you don't already know but this is still very much worth viewing simply because the subject matter is so interesting. It's amazing to watch the archival interviews as well as the newspaper headlines, which were pretty much brainwashing people into thinking that if you watched ZOMBIE or MANIAC then you'd turn into a murderer or if you saw I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE you'd turn into a rapist.If you're unfamiliar with this era then you're certainly going to be in for a treat as a great number of films are discussed as well as clips from the various battles that happened on television as those against these movies would sometimes go up against those for them. We even get to see clips of all the movies as this documentary starts off, which was fun.
Spikeopath The "video nasty" era of Great Britain fell right in my lifetime arc, I was still at senior school and therefore apparently at risk of being corrupted by the sickening filth that was being trundled out on VHS. Watching this quite wonderful documentary now just confirms how bizarre, bogus and utterly ridiculous the whole thing was.That's not to say I, or any right minded parent, would purposely seek out the likes of I Spit On Your Grave, Driller Killer et al, and then sit down our six year olds in front of the TV, "hey kids, watch this, it's really cool", but the moral panic whipped up by the press and politicians not fit to actually run the country, was at the time like some sort of hysteria. It was like The Sex Pistols saying a rude word on the television was seen as the starting point for the break down of civilised society!Jake Wests' documentary could quite easily have been a loaded piece just arguing about freedom of choice, artistic integrity etc, in fact when you see that respected purveyors of British Horror like Chris Smith, Neil Marshall, Kim Newman and Andy Nyman are lined up for comments, it lends one to think that might be the case. However, and of course they have their own opinions and spleen venting towards the whole thing, West deals in facts, deconstructing the figures and viability of supposed research into what our youngsters were watching back then. And if you believe Tory MP Graham Bright, our dogs as well!Led by the key player, Martin Baker who still to this day is happily awaiting for the government to try and sue him for exposing the truth, this documentary lays it down true. Complete with old footage, stills and newspaper reports, the time period is brought vividly to life (remember those top loading video recorders!), so yes there's obviously a big nostalgia factor for myself and my luminaries; Messrs Marshall etc. This shouldn't detract from the core issue of censorship and the abuse of such, making this an essential viewing for any horror film fan.Hey! Don't get me wrong, in truth 90% of the films that made the infamous banned list were, and still are, pretty naff, where quite often the cover of the VHS was far more scary than anything in the film! But that's not the point is it? 9/10
SmakethDown638 Living in the US, I would read the term "Video Nasty" when it would come to collecting horror films such as the Beyond or Island of Death. I never looked into the term and then I'd come across it more and more. It would always be there when a movie like Horrible would hit DVD and you would see people say things like "finally a Video Nasty gets a DVD release!" Finally, after getting an all region DVD player, I decided to look into this whole "Video Nasty" list and see what I had and needed.This documentary was the big step as it details the Video Recordings Act from 83 and it tells the story of how the powers that be in the UK would have police raid video stores to seize the "Video Nasties" that would morally corrupt society. I already have this fascination with how people react to horror films and how the genre is so different with people compared to other genres. But to see a whole country be affected by a list of horror films? Wow! It takes you through the events and how the legal battles went and everything. Truly fascinating stuff for any horror fan.The extras on the DVD feature every trailer for every film on the list. I can proudly say this documentary was one of the greatest purchases I have made as a horror fan as it made me go after the remaining 33 movies listed on the Video Nasties list. I wish the documentary would get a region 1 release so people here in the States can appreciate a piece of horror history.Not all movies on the list are available on DVD. However, if you look hard enough like I did, you will find them.Everyone should see this. If you are a true horror fan, do yourself a favor and get this documentary. If you are a horror collector, get this documentary and start one of the funnest horror hunts you will ever have as a collector.
Corpus_Vile Video Nasties, eh? Anyone here remember the luridly awesome looking covers at your local fleapit video shop, the type of shop where you just knew the owner was kinda dodgy? They were gonna corrupt us, deprave us, and turn us all into thrill killing time bombs. Or so the powers that be apparently thought at the time, and decided that enough was enough as they certainly knew what was best for us all.This documentary explores this mindset, its consequences, how it affected people and its possible effects in regards to today. Jake West lets each camp equally give their opinion, and is more than happy to give advocates of the Video Recording Act enough rope to hang themselves by coming out with patently ludicrous views. West also highlights the unscrupulous and fraudulent methods used by advocates of the ban and Video Recordings Act, in regards to statistical data to back their claims of films being able to morally corrupt, and how said data was gotten.The doc also features insightful comments from the likes of Neil Marshall, Christopher Smith, Kim Newman, Alan Jones and Stephen Thrower and is well worth checking out for any self respecting horror fan, particularly UK fans and particularly fans who were around at the time of the era.It's nothing especially new- the topic has been covered in the also excellent Ban The Sadist Videos documentaries- but it's a cracking and often amusing documentary all the same.Not much else to say really, except that it's great and is well recommended for any horror fan. 9/10, an absolute treat.