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VIDEO NASTIES

 

Films that never made the Nasties List

 

Any horror fan looking at the titles that made the 'Nasties' list will see some obvious choices and many not so obvious choices. What they may also notice is that certain titles they would assume would make the list are nowhere to be seen…Here are just some UK VHS releases that avoided the list with valid reasons and some that just seemed to have got lucky.

"BASKET CASE" - The UK pre-cert was censored of the stronger moments. But again, even this cut version was gorier than some of the films that made the list.

"DAWN OF THE DEAD" - Seeing as most other Zombie films were getting hit what made this gore classic so special? Simple, the pre-cert VHS was the heavily cut 'X' cinema print. Amazingly this was only passed fully uncut in 2003!

"DAWN OF THE MUMMY" - Once the thing gets going, it delivers the gore. Not in the UK though. The pre-cert was heavily cut. A later '18' was equally butchered. But recently it was passed fully uncut as an '18'.

"DEAD KIDS" - Although it featured a needle in the eyeball similar to the scene in the banned "Dead and Buried" as well as some other bloodshed, this also seems to have been overlooked.

"DEEP RED" - Released fully uncut on VHS, this ultra violent and bloody Giallo was prime 'Nasty' material. Yet it went by unnoticed.
Re-released in 1993 with just 11 seconds cut to remove the girl killing a lizard. So in the UK version it looks like the Father hits her just for the sake of it!

"THE EXORCIST" - Sometimes name checked as a 'Nasty' due to it's banning on video, it was in fact released fully uncut on VHS in the very early days of the format. It was later withdrawn as the VRA came into being, and refused a video certificate for home viewing because of distress it may cause to children who happen to see it.
When the last head of the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification), the late James Ferman, was replaced this ban was overturned and the film was finally released uncut in 1990.

"THE LAST HORROR FILM" - Bizarre, fun but also very gory. The UK cinema release was trimmed but seemingly not the pre-cert VHS release (with a classic pre-VPRC cover photo), but it seems to have been overlooked, as certain scenes would seem to fit the DPP 'Nasty' criteria. Slightly cut 'R' version given an '18' in 2003 as "Fanatic".

"MANIAC" - The old pre-cert VHS would seem like prime 'Nasties' material. But not in the version that hit the UK. Again all the gore was removed. An uncut print was rejected by the BBFC in 1998. It is now available as an '18' with 58 seconds of cuts.

"THE PROWLER" - Released in the UK as "Rosemary's Killer", the VHS was the censored 'X' cinema, removing the most extreme gore. And yet what remains is stronger than quite a few titles that did make the list.

"SO SWEET, SO DEAD" - aka "the Killer is a Sex Maniac", this highly exploitative Giallo was chock full of violence, blood and nudity, including a highly sexual attitude to the murders and the showing of the naked dead bodies. Yet it slipped on by unnoticed and remains one of the most exploitative films to have missed the 'Nasties' list.

"STRAW DOGS" - Given an uncut 'X' for cinema in 1971. The film seems to have been 'softened' right from the very start during the initial editing. When the VRA came about the films infamous double rape was just too much for the heads of the BBFC given the controversial aspect of whether Susan George's character 'liked it' or not. So it was never released on Video.
Amazingly this 'X' version did get a video release on a budget sell-through label in the late 80's, but it was an illegal release, as it had not been submitted. It was quickly withdrawn.
The film remained banned until 2002. It has recently been granted an uncut '18' release.

"TERROR" - This graphic British supernatural/slasher film certainly delivered as much gore as most of the less extreme titles on the list. And yet slipped on through. Available uncut as an '18'

"TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE" - A strange case indeed. Refused a Cinema certificate in 1975. But the film still got released in London as the then 'Greater London Council' had the power to grant a special licensed 'X' for films. This uncut version became legend in the UK.
This same version was later put out on Video. And although it became caught up in the 'Nasties' hysteria it never, amazingly, made the actual list. It was finally granted a BBFC certificate in 2003 as a fully uncut '18'. The Greater London Council (GLC) would later be disbanded by Margaret Thatcher.

"WRONG WAY" - A full on (though not well made) slice of 70's sexual violence here. It's extended gang rapes and general sexual assualts seems to have slipped under the puritan radar.

"ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST" - Purely down to almost all the gore on the video version being removed. It is now available fully uncut as an '18'. An example of a pre-certificate release being the one to avoid.

"ZOMBIE LAKE" - Just slipped on by. Probably due to the low gore content. But given the attitude towards Zombie films it's automatic entry on the list would seem unusual.

Please feel free to Email me or leave an entry in the guest book to add any more info or any more titles that you were amazed never made that dreaded 'Nasties' List.