Video Nasties The Definitive Guide Part 2 - Draconian Days   Starring: various Distributor: Nucleus Films RRP: £24.99 Certificate: 18 Release Date: 14 July 2014

This is a documentary, directed by Jake West, which explores through clips and countless interviews the notorious Video Nasties era of video horror, from 1984 until 1999. It begins with the Video Recordings act and describes the changes which took place at the BBFC under James Ferman. This is a story which you couldn’t make-up but is absolutely true and well-documented. Paranoia reached its height with the James Bulger killing, and the nonsensical banning of Child’s Play 3, along with wholesale cutting to ribbons of countless films. Although I didn’t receive the other two, this is apparently a three-disc set; the other two showing introductions and trailers for each of the 82 films which underwent Section 3 of the Director of Public prosecutions. This follows on from the Video Nasties Part 1 set – Moral Panic, Video Nasties and Videotape.

Not having come across Part 1 of this release, I expected a Grindhouse-type collection of short and confusing clips with no particular continuity. In contrast, this is an entertaining and highly informative detailing of how horror and sex videos were progressively treated throughout the so-called video nasty years. Many younger people, born after this era, would consider what went on as unbelievable, or at least apocryphal.

James Ferman was seen as a fair and responsible man. When charged with the responsibility of watching every classified and unclassified film virtually overnight, he did so with common sense. However, as the years went on, many saw the increasing pressure from politicians and governing bodies – as well as the media – as affecting his judgment to the point where he was cutting whole scenes, and indeed entire films, simply to appease.

Such was the hysteria about gory films affecting our children (children who shouldn’t have been watching in the first place – and probably weren’t!), that it drove the industry underground. This, of course, was a foolish thing for any official body to do, because there was now no control. Videos were copied and sold on the black market, resulting in normal people’s houses being raided by police and the occupants treated like bank robbers. Some fans of these films were driven to make their own movies with gory scenes, and as a result a couple of officials with no idea of how filmmaking with model and prosthetic effects worked, announced to others that the scenes were done for real. Thus, the myth about snuff movies arose. It was only when certain laws were later relaxed to how they are on the continent that a little common sense prevailed.

No matter what you, personally, may think about censorship and its effects, this thought-provoking documentary has the sense and decency to be neutral in its telling. It utilises new interviews with many individuals who lived through and had an effect on the phenomenon. There are ex-government officials and politicians, classification and certification bodies, filmmakers, collectors and fans, critics and reviewers... Many viewers of this site will recognise Kim Newman and Alan Jones. I was a regular reader of Starburst Magazine from its beginnings around 1979, and Alan Jones and John Brosnan would often tackle these issues.

So, to cut a very long story very short, you should buy this if you’re a film fan – particularly a horror one. The release might have actually gained an extra point or two if I had received the whole package to review.

8

Ty Power