In 1980s UK, the public faced Thatcher, a wide wage gap, and the notorious Video Nasties. Conservative activists targeted horror and exploitation films like Cannibal Holocaust and The Evil Dead, citing the Obscene Publications Act of 1959. The 72 Video Nasties range from groundbreaking horror to a film its director admits is an Alien rip-off. Since the British Board of Film Censors and the Director of Public Prosecutions banned these movies, horror fans have been sorting the gems from the trash. We've watched and ranked them, excluding the straight-up nasty ones. Vote for the Video Nasties you think are worth watching.
About this list
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The Evil DeadMoviesOn one hand,The Evil Dead is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.The Evil Dead is a horror classic. It created many films and catchphrases. A woman suffers sexual assault from evil trees. College students get hacked after evil spirits possess them. This explains why the British Board of Film Censors disliked putting the film in theaters.
The Evil Dead is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.The Evil Dead was banned globally when it first came out. However, its release in Britain included...numerous cuts to get an X rating.These cuts allowed the film to play in theaters. When the X-rated version appeared on video, shops in England seized it despite its official rating. In 1990, more cuts reduced the rating to "18." By 2000, the film was available in its full form.
If you look at the Video Nasties list, everyone has seen this one movie.The Evil Dead is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.More entries in this series increase the silliness and the absurd supernatural. The original film, however, offers an unsettling look at an old horror trope.
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The BurningMoviesThis summer camp slasher features a disfigured killer. He uses garden shears for his dirty work. This fits what you want in a low-budget 1980s horror film.The Burning is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.The Burning resembles many slashers from that time, especially...Friday the 13th is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.The Evil Dead and the lesser-known but truly insane are on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.Madman is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching., but it emphasizes gore using makeup and special effects expert Tom Savini.
The Burning is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.The Burning is a straightforward film on the Video Nasty list. Britain banned it only because an uncut version of the film...was released on home video.. Police later visited the publisher and took all copies. When an edited version appeared, the police confiscated those too. They did not want the public to see what happened at an American summer camp.
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Lucio Fulci directed the story of a deadly secret inside a New England home. A family moves into a spooky house owned by the notorious Doctor Freudstein. They become victims of a killer who moves through the house.
Bodies get mutilated; throats are slashed; eyes are gouged out with pokers. A Fulci movie would not feature someone losing an eye. Fulci knows how to make an entertaining film. He shows no restraint with gore. This is why this film made the Video Nasty list in 1984, and audiences still watch this tribute to H.P. Lovecraft.put on the Video Nasty list in 1984.The House by the Cemetery is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching because audiences still flock to this nasty little tribute to H.P. Lovecraft in 1984.
If you like blood and guts mixed with ghost stories, watchThe House by the Cemetery is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.This entry is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.
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Wes Craven's work includes The Last House on the Left.The Last House on the Left is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.This is a rough watch. It remains an important piece of horror filmmaking. Craven's take onThe Virgin Spring is on the list of Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.The action moves from Sweden to Westport, Connecticut. Two girls suffer sexual assault and murder by two sadistic escaped felons who end up at the family home of one of the girls they killed.
The film was banned.Britain banned it across the board.It did not play in theaters. The film appeared on the Video Nasty list when it hit home video. Only in 2008 did the film finally release its uncut version.
Craven's entry into genre filmmaking lets horror fans examine exploitation cinema history. It is not high art, but it shows how horror explores humanistic themes other genres avoid. You will not want to watch this more than once.
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I Spit on Your GraveMoviesThis classic rape-revenge film appears on the Video Nasties list. Long scenes of sexual assault put this film on the BBFC's naughty list. However, the gruesome revenge by final girl Jennifer Hills might drive off new horror fans.
I Spit On Your Grave(orDay of the Womanif you prefer) did not get a release in British cinemas. It went straight to home video uncut.A heavily edited versionreleased in 2001 with an "18" rating. Various edits followed, but the film never got a completely unedited release.
The film's use of sexual violence may shock viewers. Still, it is a well-made film. It forms the basis for later genre films likeRevengeandPromising Young Woman.
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The BeyondMoviesThe BBFC somewhat unfairly placed Dario Argento's work on the Video Nasty list. His friend and fellow Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci fought regulatory boards to let audiences see his films.The Beyondis a surreal nightmare. A woman inherits a hotel that sits atop a gate to hell (spoiler: it does).
The BeyondFulci gives audiences what they expect: eyes get gouged out, faces melt, and one character has his face eaten by tarantulas. The whole thing plays like a fever dream matched by Nobuhiko Obayashi'sHouseAn edited cut actuallyreleased on home video. It saw an unedited release in the 2000s in the UK.It finally got an unedited release in the 2000s.
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Bay of BloodMoviesHorror fans new to 1970s European films will be surprised after watchingA Bay of Blood(AKAEcology of Crime, Chain Reaction, Carnage, Twitch of the Death Nerve,andBlood Bath) Mario Bava made this low-budget Italian horror.
Bava's film has great influence.It shapes every slasher that followed. The plot is simple: Four students break into a mansion, which is the scene of an alleged murder-suicide. A mysterious killer picks them off one by one. The blood flies, and the kills are extreme, offering a model for theFriday the 13thsof the world.
A Bay of BloodThe UK denied theatrical and home video release for this film. An edited version got release in the '90s. The uncut version finally appeared in England in 2010.
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The FunhouseMoviesThe FunhouseThe Funhouse is not as disturbing as other films nearby, but it is a great film horror fans should see fast. The film shows friends staying at "The Funhouse" overnight on a dare. Things go wrong, and the friends get killed one by one. If you like slashers, you will like it.The Funhouse.
Why is this tame movie on the Video Nasty list? People who made the list think they made a mistake.made a mistakethey mistook Tobe Hooper's film for 1977's.Last House on Dead End Streetreleased in the UK asThe Fun HouseWhatever the case, Hooper'sThe Funhousereleased uncut on home video in 1987.
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Dead & BuriedMoviesDead & BuriedDead & Buried is a gem from early '80s horror. The film takes place in a small town where dead bodies revive. Stan Winston adds creepy, atmospheric effects. The script by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusset has undead weirdness. Robert Englund makes one of his few non-Freddy Krueger appearances. This is good stuff.
The BBFC never prosecutedDead & Buriedthe way it didCannibal Holocaustbut they edited less than a minute fromthe film's home video releasein 1990. An uncut version of the film is now available for anyone wanting to visit this creepy town.
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TenebraeMoviesWhat does the British Film Board have against Italians? Or Italian films specifically? Is it thatgiallofilms are all filmed without audio and dubbed later? Is it their odd weirdness? Maybe they focus on white gloves and long investigation scenes. Whatever the case, many Video Nasties come from Italy. This does not make it clear whyTenebraeis included here.
Argento'sTenebraeconcerns an American author in Rome promoting his new mystery novel. He gets distracted when a serial killer starts killing based on his work. Helping the police investigation is not his job, but movies, plots, etc., matter.
The film is an interesting start intogiallo, a genre that can behard for audiences to grasp. Even when the film gets violent, none of it feels real like the violence inI Spit On Your GraveandThe Last House on the LeftThe Last House on the Leftfeels like a snuff film. People think the eroticism of the violence inTenebraeis why it was added to the list. But watch the movie, and you see that sexualizing violence in horror films is the point.Tenebraeis the reason it was added to the list. Watching the movie shows that sexualizing violence in horror films is the point.
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Zombi 2MoviesThere are zombie movies, and then there isZombi 2Lucio Fulci’s gory film 'Zombi 2' puts a zombie fighting a shark. The movie shows the daughter of a scientist stuck on an island where zombies return to attack the living. This film is a masterpiece of gross-out horror.
The film features a scene where a woman's eye isimpaled with a large splinter.Does that scene deliver? The film got multiple cuts and released under at least 10 different titles. This is the best.Zombie Flesh EatersNightmare IslandandThe Dead Walk Among UsWhen the UK released the film in 1980, it immediately clashed with the Obscene Publications Act. It was labeled a Video Nasty and banned. Fulci used this ban in later home video releases.
The film is absurd, gory, andveryItalian,Zombi 2Every gorehound must watch this.
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Cannibal HolocaustMoviesAn uncut version ofCannibal HolocaustThe UK never released this film. They banned it in 1980 for its unfiltered animal cruelty and sexual violence. Even non-horror fans know about this real Italian horror film.
The film shows several animal deaths, including a turtle and a monkey. It has gore that will turn your stomach afterA French magazine claimedmany of the on-screen deaths were real.Cannibal HolocaustThe film was essentially rejected in theaters and on home video shelves globally. It stayed banned until 2011 when a mostly uncut version appeared in Britain.
Cannibal HolocaustWatch Cannibal Holocaust to prove you survived the viewing, but you might want an empty stomach first.
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InfernoMoviesAfter wowing the horror world withSuspiria, Dario Argento followed that with a story about a college girl traveling to Rome to check on a violent coven of witches. Stylish and savage,InfernoInferno is a good entry in the Italian giallo genre.gialloBut that is not why Video Nasties added it to the list.
The BBFC worried about animal cruelty. A shot of a cat being shoved into a bag and a shot ofA live cat eating a live mousewere enough for England to ban the film. Argento later cut that scene and continued his story.
InfernoInferno is a strange film that likely came from Argento. For Video Nasties, it is a must-see unless you love cats. Then, you might watch the edited version.
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Eaten Alive!MoviesTobe Hooper's follow-up toThe Texas Chain Saw MassacreThe film follows a hotel owner in East Texas. He feeds annoying customers to a crocodile living in a swamp near the place. It loosely mirrors Joe Ball, a bar owner and serial killer who allegedly fed his victims to an alligator. This is a black comedy.Eaten Alive!Eaten Alive! is moreThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2than it isThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
The film premiered in the UK in 1978 under the titleEaten Alive!, when it was released asDeath TrapHome video from 1982 faced prosecution under Britain's Obscene Publications Act due to intense violence. Stores removed every tape until 1992, then it re-released with less than a minute of edits.
Eaten Alive!This is pure redneck horror in the best way. Watch it if you like films like Tourist TrapandMotel Hell.
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PossessionMoviesToday, Possession's themes involve marital breakdown and loss earned this French/German co-production the label "elevated horror." However, in 1981, it became another Video Nasty. The film shows a woman named Anna leading a double life away from her husband.
Unlike many Video Nasties, Possession explores a relationship breakdown more than titillation or gore, though it has those elements. The film's latter half features a very sexual tentacle monster, which likely caused the UK ban.Possession This film attacks its audience directly. If you seek horror exploring the pain of ending a marriage and the social issues in 1980s West Germany, this is the movie.
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Don't Go in the HouseMoviesA British slasher features a villain using a flamethrower to kill victims. Donald Kohler acts like Norman Bates if he is a firebug, driven to burn women alive because his mother held his bare arms over an open flame as a child.
Don't Go in the House This is wild but not pure gore like other Video Nasty films. It tells a story more than it shocks. Still, it ended up on the Video Nasty list because it was advertised as a "true nasty," which angered the Department of Public Prosecutions.
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Cannibal FeroxMoviesCannibal Ferox, orMake Them Die Slowly, is rough even for hardcore gore fans. Gloria travels through the rainforest with her brother and a friend to prove cannibalistic South American tribes are a myth. Surprise, Gloria proves them wrong.
Bodies burn, limbs get cut off, and in a painful scene, a woman hangs from a tree by hooks. This film is not for the faint of heart. In 1982, the film violated the Obscene Publications Act after the UK released it uncut.An uncut version existsGrindhouse Releasing put it on Blu-ray.
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Let Sleeping Corpses LieMoviesLet Sleeping Corpses Lie(AKAThe Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue, Zombi 3, andDo Not Speak Ill of the Dead) is one of thebest zombie movies You have never seen. Like many Video Nasties, this film shows police officers failing at their jobs. Their job happens to be investigating a series of hippie-related slayings.
The hippies are innocent; the real killers are Undead creatures are brought back to life using pesticides.. Gore fans will like the second half of this film once the viscera flies. The film's home release had to be cut before it left the Video Nasty list, but even the edited version is worth seeing.
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ContaminationMoviesContamination/Alien Contamination/Toxic Spawn/Larvaeisan Italian rip-off ofAlienA creature lays eggs across Earth. People touching them explode. Luigi Cozzi directed this film; Goblin scored it. This is a movie you want to watch with friends.
The BBFC strongly objected to the extremely bloody scenes where bodies explode in slow motion, even though most surface material wears a bulky costume. The scenes of bodies exploding are exactly why you should see this movie.
Also ranks #11 on 12 Movies That Ripped Off Alien
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The Driller KillerMoviesThe Driller KillerThis film jumpedstart the Video Nasties list because of its amazing title and its story about a guy who kills people with a drill. Though this film did not get an uncut release in the UK until 2002, it is not as gory as the whole Video Nasty tag suggests.
The film follows Reno Miller, a broke New York artist in an existential crisis. He starts brutally killing various derelicts. It is bloody and scuzzy like other films on the list, but it tries to rise above underground cinema. It ismore of an art film than a straightforward slasher, but horror fans will not be disappointed by this formerly banned film.
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Blood FeastMoviesHerschell Gordon Lewis deserves a spot on the Video Nasties list. He brought gore to the masses.Blood FeastThis film follows an Egyptian caterer. He uses the body parts of his female victims to build the perfect vessel for the goddess Ishtar. Fans ofHosteland theSawseries should check out this banned movie. It acts as a template for the torture porn films of the 2000s.
Lewis was a very provocative filmmaker in the 1960s. He mixed strange plots with extreme gore.Blood FeastBlood Feast is not Lewis's goriest film, but it ishis only film on the list.. As clunky and lopsided asBlood Feastit is the height of '60s exploitation. It is trashy, it is gross, and it is covered in gallons of fake red blood.
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Fight for Your LifeMoviesFight for Your LifeThis film is one of the sleaziest on the Video Nasty list. That is saying something. The film follows agroup of threeescaped convicts—a super racist white guy, a man of Asian descent, and a Latinx man—who hide in a Black minister's house.
The film is viscerally mean, intending to shock all viewers. Calling it one of the "best" exploitation movies of the '70s is inaccurate, but it fits with films likeVixen!andThe Last House on the LeftFilmmakers aimed to show humanity at its worst. They achieved that goal. The film never hit the UK, but fans of grindhouse and exploitation cinema will find a history treasure here.
Also ranks #303 on Movies 1977
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Flesh for FrankensteinMoviesFlesh for Frankenstein is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching., or Andy Warhol's Frankenstein is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.This absurd horror film, directed by Paul Morrissey and filmed in 3D, shows the monster with a pumped-up libido and a need for violence. It is a departure for this famous monster.
This film is one of the more interesting on the Video Nasty list. Its lack of a script is the only drawback.Flesh for Frankenstein is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.The lack of pacing in Flesh for Frankenstein is forgiven by the over-the-top gore and lewd sexual acts.The film features over-the-top gore and lewd sexual acts.These acts inspired the BBFC to ban the film outright.
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Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching. (Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker later released as Night Warning.Night Warning is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.Night Warning is a thriller. A young man gets caught in a murder investigation after his aunt kills a man in their house. The main detective thinks the boy committed the crime as part of a gay love triangle.
The film's inclusion on the Video Nasty list lacks a clear reason. The main character's aunt harboring sexual feelings for him likely caused it. This early LGBTQ+ cinema needs re-examination in the cult film world. Get in on the ground floor.
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Faces of DeathMoviesFaces of Death is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.Faces of Death is not a good movie like The Evil Dead.The Evil Dead is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.The Evil Dead is good, but it is important exploitation history. Anyone going through all the Video Nasties must find a VHS copy of this bad movie. Make it as grimy as possible.Ludovico Technique is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching.Use Ludovico Technique to go through this grim compilation of misfortune with disturbed friends. If you skip the stilted dialogue in this faux documentary, just put it on in the background at a party. Then you will know your real friends.
The film shows a mix of human and animal suffering, some real, some fake. All of it is incredibly hard to watch. The monkey brain feast footage is the most discussed part (animal lovers, this is not real). The whole concept of a trashy documentary about death and dying is so silly; you must see it at least once. If any film was tailor-made to be a Video Nasty, this is it.Ludovico Technique is tailor-made to be a Video Nasty.it'sFaces of Death is in the list Banned Horror Classics Worth Watching..
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