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VIDEO NASTIES

 

The 'VPRC' (Video Packaging Review Committee')

 

The VRA (Video Recordings Act) had been playing havoc with an adults right to watch a simple Horror film for roughly 3 years when the then head of the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) the late James Ferman, decided that Video covers themselves should also be subject to the Censors approval.

It was a voluntary scheme, but only in name. You did not have to hand over your cover for approval, but many big Retailers would not take a Video that did not have the 'VPRC' logo on the cover. Catch 22.
But more serious allegations about not submitting your cover were made by Norman Abbot Director General of the BVA (the organisation the represents Distributors) who said the BBFC were holding up the classification of films by Companies who had not signed up to the VPRC.

It is actually surprising how long it took for the powers that be to close in on the problem of Video covers as, during the 'Nasties' hysteria of 1982 that led to the dreaded VRA itself in 1984, they had caused controversy in Video Trade magazines and had been printed frequently in tabloid newspapers alongside the latest 'Ban These Evil Films' headline.
Perhaps the two most infamous being the 'GO Video' cover for "SS EXPERIMENT CAMP" with it's crude rendering of a crucified, upside down, topless Woman and "DRILLER KILLER" cover on 'Vipco' which was a still from the gory forehead drilling sequence.

The idea of the VPRC is on the surface a good one. Although to horror fans and collectors the pre-VRA covers on many films had been a thing of cheeky delight (and were in some cases warped works of art) some of them were, just like their films content, not suitable for children's' viewing.
It would be a shame to lose some of these exploitation delights (though in truth many of their films had already been banned and or deleted anyway) but common sense dictated it would sadly have to happen,

But again, as with the crass, unqualified, knee jerk reaction, personal moral and religious bias Policing of the VRA, the VPRC set up would go way overboard and reach laughable levels of censorship.

This was also another hurdle for small Distributors to overcome and more expense heaped upon them.
A small Company distributing an obscure film will use artwork to grab the publics' attention. The VPRC would make that hard.
It was best summed up by Robert Starks of UK indy Distributor 'Colourbox' who stated that the big film Companies could put out their well known films with just the titles slapped on a white cover and it would still sell. Not so for small Companies like 'Colourbox'.

 

Some inane decisions of the VPRC and some of their consequences:

The heavily censored re-release of Lucio Fulci's "HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY" was further censored in a very different way when the VPRC insisted a tiny, tiny, tiny, thin line of blood was removed from the blade of a knife on it's cover. The World was a safer place.

The VHS release of Clive Barker's "HELLRAISER" had a clever bit of artwork around the edge of it's back cover. A hook was pulling down the top corner, like skin. Revealing the 'flesh' underneath.
The VPRC took great offence and promptly ordered a change. The offending revealed 'flesh' was changed to a rather Alien looking bright green.

The re-release of Dario Argento's "TENEBRAE" had to have the slim trickle of blood on the neck of the dead girl replaced by a fetching red ribbon. Talk about dressing up death.

The famous ad artwork for "RE-ANIMATOR" showing Herbert West looking at Dr Hills' severed head in a dish as Hill's decapitated body looms behind him was just too much for the tender folks at the VPRC and so most of the head was removed, resulting in barely more than the side of it's face remaining in the dish.
'Heads' and "Re-Animator" were never a suitable thing in the UK, as the infamous sequence between Hill's head and the naked Barbara Crampton was completely cut out of the film itself.

The aforementioned 'Colourbox' had one of the most infamous example of laughable cover censorship when their heavily cut version (so bad in fact the Company put an apology for the cuts on the back of the box!!!) of "HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS" had the word 'Chainsaw' removed and a picture of a chainsaw put in it's place! Not only was it ridiculous but the loss of 'Chainsaw' in the title also made the film sound like a porn flick.

Many very small, and sometimes very dubious, Video Distributors popped up in the UK during the 90's releasing 3rd rate transfers of, normally, heavily cut films (like a truly appalling looking, butchered into incomprehension, version of Fulci's "The Naples Connection" under it's "The Smuggler" title for example) and this shoddy attitude to the transfer was carried on into their covers.
Though given the cost involved at doing another cover, it was probably understandable.
The VPRC you see also took offence to many of the movie stills put on the back of covers, resulting in many removals.
Where this would mean most Companies would have to re-design the cover, cheap Distributors would simply put black squares over any offending stills resulting in many covers on a low budget label (normally found for sale on market stalls) being turned into a dreadful looking mass of black boxes.