Top 10 Banned Horror Films
One of the most interesting aspects of the horror genre is that it has often been met with criticism and demonization. Child’s Play 3 was blamed for a murder of an infant by two 10-year-old boys who had never seen the movie. The harmless early 2000’s flick Queen of the Damned was blamed as the cause of a murder which ended with stabbing, bloodsucking and eating of the victim’s head. The killer said he watched Queen of the Damned over 100 times and that the main character came to him in a dream and commanded him to kill. Silent Night, Deadly Night famously was protested which really caused a Streisand Effect bringing more viewers to the movie and causing it to spawn 5 sequels.
Horror movies from their inception have been met with backlash. The mere existence of horror cinema is what in part led to the Hayes Code. Now, I don’t mean for this list to be a history lesson on the Hayes Code although I do intend for it to be a history lesson of sorts on the Video Nasties.
The lady above is Mary Whitehouse, in 1984 in England she led a moral campaign with the goal of prosecuting video releases for obscenity based on an old 1959 Obscene Publications act. Very similar to the PMRC in America in 1985, led by Tipper Gore in an attempt to censor lude and crude music who was hilariously destroyed by Dee Snider of Twisted Sister and Strangeland fame. The big difference between Tipper Gore and Mary Whitehouse was that Tipper only ended up getting a label added to “offensive” records (Including an instrumental Frank Zappa record). Mary Whitehouse’s effort on the other hand led to the prosecution of 39 Films, 33 other films that were outright banned but not prosecuted and an additional 82 films that if found could be confiscated. Most of which being horror films. See, there was a loophole in the rating system back then where films released in cinema were rated, but VHS tapes were not and there was great fear that the circulation of these tapes unregulated would reach the children and harm them. Therefore, they must be banned.
Interesting that this happened in 1984.
Some of these films were released with heavy editing many years later, some films with only 5 seconds worth of edits. Some of these films have never been released fully uncut in the UK and due to the current business model of international distribution, some of these films have unfortunately been completely lost as re-releasing around the strict rules of the UK becomes a hassle. You may be thinking, “Oh, it’s probably just low budget trash or Faces of Death type movies.” Yes, but also classics by Tobe Hooper, Dario Argento, Wes Craven and John Carpenter.
At the end of this list I will be including a comprehensive list of all the 72 Video Nasties and where you can find them online. It’s important as horror fans to watch these movies, advocate distribution companies like Arrow and Shout Factory to re-release them and for streaming companies like Shudder to obtain the rights to stream them. If film is art, we cannot allow art to be destroyed or lost due to fascistic laws of the state. Ok, Ill get off my soap box now.
Before I dive into the list I must make a few points on how the list was constructed:
All but one of the films is from the Video Nasties list. There have been protested films and films banned in a few different countries across the world, but tons of things are banned in Singapore and North Korea for example. A ban of a film in a modern, liberal, progressive country like the UK holds much more weight.
I will not be including any films that were created just to be banned or cause controversy. No Human Centipedes, no Serbian Film, no 120 Days of Salo. Obvious troll is obvious. I believe strongly that these films were created for the sole purpose of being controversial and to get them selves on a Top 10 Banned list.
Clearly The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the #1 banned film of all time. These are the other 10.
NUMBER TEN - TENEBRE
Regarded as the most tame and confusing films to be included in the Video Nasties is the Dario Argento classic, Tenebre. This film only had 5 seconds cut to initially pass for rating, even so it was eventually added to the list and prosecuted. Tenebre is very high brow horror. A throwback to the Italian Giallo style of horror that is more Hitchcock than a splatter film. In 1999, the film was re-released with 1 second of the film cut, which seems absurd. The final uncut version was released in the UK in 2003. Tenebre is streaming on Shudder.
NUMBER NINE - ANTHROPOPHAGUS
Also known as The Grim Reaper, this is the most insane movie on this list. If you want to know how you get your film banned or censored, include cannibalism. If you want to know how to get it super banned? Include a scene with self-cannibalism. And that’s not even the most ridiculous over the top scene in this movie, watch at your own risk. Hell, read the Wikipedia synopsis at your own risk. You may be thinking, why was this film included even though it is so over the top? It’s because of the story. If there was ever a reason to turn into a flesh hungry cannibal who eats their own intestines, the reason the main character Klaus has is probably the best excuse. Check it on Tubi TV, listed as The Grim Reaper.
NUMBER EIGHT - CANNIBAL FOX
I know what you’re thinking, do I really mean Cannibal Holocaust? Nope, I mean Cannibal Ferox and for one reason alone, this film has still not been released completely uncut in the UK and Cannibal Holocaust has. Tons of blood ripping gore including two, yes TWO castrations, one of which is shown in graphic detail on screen in which the cannibals eat the penis. Oh yes, Cannibal Ferox, the best Cannibal Movie of all time. Cannibal Ferox is streaming on Shudder.
NUMBER SEVEN - HAXAN
I felt like I was giving the British a bad rap by making the list predominately about them and the video nasties, so I figured I’d do a little research on banned films in America but unfortunately there aren’t many probably because of our unique freedom of speech and expression laws. My options were Pink Flamingos or this gem and although the scene with Divine eating dog shit is terrifying, Haxan is an actual horror movie. I’m a sucker for old horror movies, especially the silent ones. If we are going to talk about Cannibal Holocaust being the proto-found footage horror movie, I will kindly direct you to Haxan which is part movie about witch craft, part documentary about witchcraft. Banned in the US for obscenity. Years ahead of its time as a documentary/horror film. One of the best silent horror films of all time. Check it out on YouTube.
NUMBER SIX - EATEN ALIVE
Tobe Hooper is such a damned red neck. First, Texas Chainsaw Massacre then this nonsense movie and then finally, Lifeforce the proper British Sci-Fi flick where the air force pilot from Dallas with the thick southern accent saves the world. Eaten Alive, with the return of Marilyn Burns of Chainsaw fame and starring a young-ish Robert Englund as the underage girlfriend having, kinky sex freak too kinky for a prostitute character, Buck. You may have never seen this movie but all you need to do is look at that poster and you know exactly what this movie is all about. A hillbilly murderer who feed his victims to his giant crocodile in his basement. Technically Eaten Alive was never banned, it passed cinema ratings with zero cuts. It was when the movie was released on VHS, retitled as Death Trap, when it was banned. Confusing, I know. For this one they went and confiscated this VHS from every retail store that had it. Can you imagine? Eaten Alive is streaming on Tubi TV.
NUMBER FIVE - HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY
Lucio Fulci, the Godfather of gore directed this one and with a moniker like that it’s no wonder his films ended up on the Video Nasties. As most people know, House by the Cemetery is the third film in Fulci’s Gates of Hell Trilogy the first two being City of the Living Dead and The Beyond, which was also prosecuted and banned. If that’s not enough to get you to check this trilogy out I don’t know what is. This movie is fantastic. The imagery, the over the top gore, the music. All of it! The original release was subject to 4 minutes of cuts and did not get an uncut release in the UK until 2009. House by the Cemetery is currently streaming on Shudder.
NUMBER FOUR - BLOOD FEAST
I’m including Blood Feast for one reason and one reason alone. The pure absurdity of censoring, banning and prosecuting this movie. To start, the movie was almost 20 years old by the time Mary Whitehouse took notice and even by 1980’s standards this movie was outdated as far as gore goes. The neon colored blood, the 60’s style special effects of simply not showing what is going on and the overall bizarre story line. This is an obscure film and while there are some obscure films that were banned, they were recent releases. In 2005 Blood Feast, after 42 years, was finally released uncut in the UK, the same year as the release of Saw 2 and Hostel. Absurd indeed. Blood Feast is streaming on Shudder as well as part of The Last Drive-In July 2018 Marathon if you’re interested in Blood Feast trivia as only Joe Bob Briggs can supply.
NUMBER THREE - LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
The lengths some went in the censoring of this film is incredible! Per Wes Craven, people were demanding that the footage be destroyed after watching the movie. It’s rumored projectionists were making their own cuts to the movie while watching it. To this day the infamous rape scene is one of those scenes where you think to yourself, “should I be watching this?” The Streisand Effect is in full force with this movie as it spawned an entire genre of Rape-Revenge Exploitation Horror films that exist to this day. The Last House on the Left is streaming on Amazon Prime.
NUMBER TWO - THE EVIL DEAD
Sami Rami don’t give a fuck. He made this movie over the top with no regards for censorship. To this day, there are still some countries who have this movie banned or X rated. Its truly interesting how times have changed, come Halloween this is favorite in my household with even my 6-year-old watching it, loving it and saying, “I’ll swallow your soul”. The eerie cabin, the weird zooming in on the eyes, that cool camera trick that has been used over and over again, and of course the splatter filled finale. JOIN US in watching The Evil Dead, streaming on Tubi TV.
NUMBER ONE - THE BURNING
The Burning is the greatest slasher that isn’t those other great slashers and it’s the #1 banned film that isn’t that other #1 banned film. The Burning and its famous Raft Scene is a thing of horror legend. A video nasty that was prosecuted and didn’t have a complete uncut release until 30 years after the original release. This is including the United States where some of the gore was trimmed to achieve the R rating. Some call it a Friday the 13th knock off, if being set in a summer camp makes a movie a knock off. The Burning needs a remake or a sequel or something because it is just too good to be a singular entry. Staring a young Jason Alexander in his first movie role, The Burning is can be found on YouTube.
A top 10 list a difficult, it probably took me more time organizing this list 1 through 10 than it did to write the comments about each film, some honorable mentions include: The Beyond, Killer Nun, Contamination, Zombi 2 and Evilspeak.
I’ve made a publicly accessible Google Doc which has a comprehensive list of where you can find and stream each of the Video Nasties. For those listed as “lost” it simply means that they cannot be found streaming anywhere or on DVD/Blu-Ray. I currently have a feeler out to the guys over at The Video Nasty Project to see if they can track any of them down. If you know where to find them to stream or for VOD please send me a tweet! I will do my best to make this a living document.
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Written by Bud
As always, follow along with me on twitter
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