Navigation

VIDEO NASTIES

1993

An Account Of My Personal Experience

 

Early 1993

Following the horrific murder of 2 year old James Bulger by two 10 year old boys, and the unfounded allegations that violent videos and "CHILD'S PLAY 3" in particular were partly to blame, the media hysteria and self serving, fundamentalist Politicians and Civil Servants all created the chance for Trading Standards to saddle up and carry out raids on anyone selling any, even remotely, spurious movies……

I'm at home (my home at the time, my Parent's house) with the TV on.
On the news is a report about Trading Standards raiding houses and seizing 'nasty' films that people are selling.

Under the VRA ('Video Recordings Act') of 1984, it is illegal to sell ANY video that has not got a BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) certificate on it. Even 'Dumbo' without a 'U' on it…is illegal to sell.
But who cares about that? Letter of the Law may say it's illegal, but films that have not been prosecuted as being obscene, tapes that are old versions, but are available now uncut anyway, or films that contain no extreme content at all…Surely no one at Trading Standards will really be bothered about titles like those???
Surely common sense and knowledge of the titles would dictate what to bother with and what not to bother with???

No.

As I sit there watching the said TV reports, there comes a knock on the door. I open it to find two Trading Standards Officers with a Male and Female Police back-up (WITH HUGE GREAT RIOT VAN ACROSS THE STREET!) standing on the doorstep.
They announce who they are flash the warrant and in they come.
"I've just been watching the news about you" I remember saying. They nod and smile politely.

Up to the bedroom they go…And soon they are rummaging around my precious collection.
There are indeed some 'Nasties' and many horror titles.
Yet something is not right. These two guys actually know nothing about what they are investigating..

One of them picks up a film called "THE KILLERS"...Yes, the Lee Marvin movie! He then proceeds to ask all about it, obviously just going by the title.
The same thing happens to Kubrik's classic crime Noir "THE KILLING".

Are we seeing a pattern here? Anything with a remotely 'violent' title is being zeroed in on.
That is the level of knowledge and training these two fools have brought with them.

They proceed to take a few titles and put them in a box.
God knows what my Parents are thinking downstairs with their Police chaperone.

So downstairs we go…To sit around the dining room table. A little microphone is placed in the centre of the table. I am read my rights.
What evil crime has your writer committed??? Has he killed someone? Robbed someone? Beaten someone up? Sold drugs? Hell…even sold porn?
No…It seems all I have done to warrant this intrusion is to put an ad in a magazine selling some old videos. And that was all.

Now…I know the status of 'Nasties' in the UK. And I know that raids happen. So I did not (even if I wanted to sell them) put any 'Nasties' or extreme horror on the list.
All there was were old none explicit not banned, pre-certs and some Hong Kong action films.
THAT'S ALL.
As surely, like I said above, they will not bother their time with such films being for sale…Oh dear.

They produce my list with a flourish. It seems they replied for a copy pretending to be a buyer.
"Well that's entrapment" says my Dad. They agree, but don't miss a beat.

Soon (And this was a long time ago so details have faded) I am being grilled about the titles on the list, my film collecting hobby, my views on films in general. Fishing…Fishing.
They go on about the other raids and the Press/news coverage.
My Dad goes off to make a phone call.
I won't give too much away on here…But my Dad has connections with some newspapers.
He comes back, and confronts them with the fact that (as he spotted some familiar faces outside) they had TIPPED OFF the local paper so they would be there to capture the brave actions of Trading Standards.
Nice.

At the end, they leave with their Police back-up (riot van parked outside all this time in the street please remember), taking the box of tapes, and announce they will be in contact. One of them leaves his office phone number.

Now comes the really bad part. Waiting..... And waiting.
If any of you have waited to see if any legal action is to be taken against you, you will know how hard it is. It's scary and it holds up your whole life.

But other things are even worse. The local paper's headlines (and I hold a hateful grudge to this day) were the sensationalists crap you can imagine (and will know about if you have read the rest of these articles)
And although not named, it's mentioned that 'a house in ******* was raided'.
And let's not forget that riot van parked outside for so long.
The coverage was blanket. All the raids throughout the Country were lumped in together. So of course we had the ever-present 'sick' and 'snuff' words. But the most damaging was the 'Porn Ring' remark.
NO porn of any kind, at all, was in my collection. I have nothing against porn. But I do like the truth.

Yet this stuck. Certain friends of my Mum's suddenly gave her the cold shoulder and it hurt her. It upset her and it made me feel responsible.
My Dad took it on the chin, as did I. And I had a lot to take. Certain work colleagues were suddenly making sarcastic remarks about porn and what I was up to. And it went on for a long time.
In fact a year or so later I was seeing this woman. One day I get a tearful phone call from her.
Someone has said to her that she is going out with someone who was dealing porn…. I hold that grudge against the Press as hard as ever.

After many weeks and numerous phone calls, I am informed that no action is being taken, just a 'Caution'.
But if I do it again…. The Caution will be upholded to legal action.
This despite there being no banned/nasty or porn films on my list or in what they had taken.

In the end, just to show that they had not completely wasted everyones time and money they confiscated a few of the films. And what were these evil things???
Well the ones they confiscated were…HOLD ON, WAIT FOR IT……..

"THE SILENT FLUTE" - The mystical, tame martial arts film with David Carradine!
"PROUD AND CONFIDENCE" (the translation, not my typing) - a Hong Kong action/police drama.
"ONE DARK NIGHT" - A pre-cert version of the almost bloodless supernatural flick with Meg Tilly. Which at the time was also available as an uncut (nothing to cut anyway!), legal BBFC '18'. The film would easily get a '15' now.

All this…For that.
All that time. All that money. All that crap in the local paper. All those hostile looks and remarks. All that anguish. For that!

And what did I learn?...... The lack of knowledge at Trading Standards was jaw dropping. The scheming between them and the Press was revolting. The blanket, hysterical, sensationalist coverage and lies in the papers was damaging and unfair, and the reactions of some people a hurtful disappointment.

This sorry affair can all be summed up with this sentence.
After the blazing 'PORN RING', front page headlines…. The announcement in the local paper that 'no charges were brought and no pornographic material taken from the house in *****' was a tiny, tiny, tiny, little box at the bottom of a page, in the middle of the paper.