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Discover The Infamous Video Nasties

Blog Categories: Video NastiesVideo Shops Horror Movie Database

Table of Contents

This section is dedicated to the infamous video nasties, the films that shocked a nation, outraged the censors, and became cult classics in the process.

From brutal slashers to sleazy exploitation, we dive into the titles, the artwork, and the media circus that followed.

The Birth of the Video Nasties. The Home Video Boom in the early 80s.

Part 1:
The Home Video Boom

In the early 80s, Home videos were the most popular form of home entertainment, and video rental shops popped up all around the UK and beyond!

In the beginning there was no enforced film classification system like they had at the cinema. The industry had just started and no real regulations were put into place regarding video releases of film material.

The Home Video Boom of the 80s saw the mass import of a new breed of horror film, sick and disturbing video material known as Video Nasties. Here’s where it all began!

Driller Killer Video Nasty film cover
Video Nasties: SS Experiment Camp UK VHS cover

Part 2:
The Video Nasties Media Frenzy

The whole Nasties Media Frenzy began in February 1982, VIPCO and Go Video ran double page adverts in video trade magazines featuring stills from new releases ‘Driller Killer‘, and ‘SS Experiment Camp‘. This went down like a lead balloon!

The press, government and pressure groups fronted by Mary Whitehouse were all baying for blood, seeking to blame the horrors of video on any collapse in society. The video nasty hysteria had begun, and they soon became public enemy number one!

Part 3:
The DPP List of 72 Video Nasties

In total, 72 titles appeared on the official DPP list of video nasties at one time or another, but only 39 films (known as The DPP39) were successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act.

Tapes prosecuted under the Obscene Publication Act became known as the DPP list of video nasties (or the DPP39 list), the remaining 33 films were eventually dropped to the Section 3 Nasties List. This led to the introduction of the Video Recordings Act in 1985, and a rebrand of the BBFC!

  1. Absurd
  2. Anthropophagous the Beast
  3. Axe (California Axe Massacre)
  4. The Beast in Heat
  5. Blood Bath (A Bay of Blood)
  6. Blood Feast
  7. Blood Rites
  8. Bloody Moon
  9. The Burning
  10. Cannibal Apocalypse
  11. Cannibal Ferox
  12. Cannibal Holocaust
  13. The Cannibal Man
  14. Devil Hunter
  15. Don’t Go in the Woods… Alone!
  16. Driller Killer
  17. Evilspeak
  18. Exposé
  19. Faces of Death
  20. Fight for Your Life
  21. Flesh for Frankenstein
  22. Forest of Fear
  23. Gestapo’s Last Orgy
  24. The House by the Cemetery
  25. House on the Edge of the Park
  26. I Spit on Your Grave
  27. Island of Death
  28. The Last House on the Left
  29. Love Camp 7
  30. Madhouse
  31. Mardi Gras Massacre
  32. Night of the Bloody Apes
  33. Night of the Demon
  34. Nightmares in a Damaged Brain
  35. Snuff
  36. SS Experiment Camp
  37. Tenebrae
  38. Werewolf and the Yeti
  39. Zombie Flesh Eaters

  1. The Beyond
  2. The Bogey Man
  3. The Evil Dead
  4. Cannibal Terror
  5. Contamination
  6. Dead and Buried
  7. Death Trap (1976)
  8. Deep River Savages
  9. Delirium
  10. Don’t Go in the House
  11. Don’t Go Near the Park
  12. Don’t Look in the Basement
  13. Frozen Scream
  14. The Funhouse
  15. Human Experiments
  16. I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses
  17. Inferno
  18. Killer Nun
  19. Late Night Trains
  20. The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue
  21. Nightmare Maker
  22. Possession
  23. Pranks (aka The Dorm That Dripped Blood)
  24. Prisoner of the Cannibal God
  25. Revenge of the Bogey Man
  26. The Slayer
  27. Terror Eyes
  28. The Toolbox Murders
  29. The Witch Who Came from the Sea
  30. Unhinged
  31. Visiting Hours
  32. Women Behind Bars
  33. Zombie Creeping Flesh

View All DPP39 Bio’s >View the ‘Dropped’ Nasties >

Part 4:
The Section 3 Nasties & Other Banned Films

This supplementary list of 82 films was issued along with the official video nasties list, and featured a list of so-called Section 3 Nasties. Titles on the Section 3 list could not be prosecuted for obscenity but were liable to seizure and confiscation under a ‘less obscene’ charge. Tapes seized under Section 3 could be destroyed after distributors or merchants forfeited them.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Section 3 Nasty
The Slayer Section 3 Nasty
The Evil Dead Section 3 Nasty
Silent Night, Deadly Night

  1. Abducted
  2. Aftermath
  3. The Black Room
  4. Blood Lust
  5. Blood Song
  6. The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll
  7. Brutes and Savages
  8. Cannibal
  9. Cannibals
  10. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
  11. The Child
  12. Christmas Evil
  13. Communion
  14. Dawn of the Mummy
  15. Dead Kids
  16. Death Weekend
  17. Deep Red
  18. Demented
  19. The Demons
  20. Don’t Answer the Phone!
  21. Enter the Devil
  22. The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein
  23. The Evil
  24. The Executioner
  25. Final Exam
  26. Foxy Brown
  27. Friday the 13th
  28. Friday the 13th Part 2
  29. GBH
  30. Graduation Day
  31. Happy Birthday to Me
  32. Headless Eyes
  33. Hell Prison
  34. The Hills Have Eyes
  35. Home Sweet Home
  36. Honeymoon Horror
  37. Inseminoid
  38. Invasion of the Blood Farmers
  39. The Killing Hour
  40. The Last Horror Film
  41. The Last Hunter
  42. The Love Butcher
  43. The Mad Foxes
  44. Mark of the Devil
  45. Martin
  46. Massacre Mansion
  47. Mausoleum
  48. Midnight
  49. Naked Fist
  50. The Nesting
  51. The New Adventures of Snow White
  52. Night Beast
  53. Night of the Living Dead
  54. Nightmare City
  55. Oasis of the Zombies
  56. Parasite
  57. Phantasm
  58. Pigs
  59. Prey
  60. Prom Night
  61. Rabid
  62. Rosemary’s Killer
  63. Savage Terror
  64. Scanners
  65. Scream for Vengeance!
  66. Shogun Assassin
  67. Street Killers
  68. Suicide Cult
  69. Superstition
  70. Suspiria
  71. Terror (Norman J Warren)
  72. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
  73. The Thing
  74. Tomb of the Living Dead
  75. The Toy Box
  76. Werewolf Woman
  77. Wrong Way
  78. Xtro
  79. Zombie Holocaust
  80. Zombies Lake
  81. Dawn Of The Dead

View All Section 3 Nasties >

Censorship Gone Mad:
Horror Cover Art and The VPRC

Roughly 3 years after the Video Nasties ‘scare’, the BBFC decided that the horror movie cover art should also be subject to the censors approval. The VPRC was set up, and would reach laughable levels of censorship.

Pre-cert cover art had already caused controversy in Video Trade Mags, and had appeared frequently in the tabloids along with the latest article concerning the infamous video nasties! So its quite surprising how long it took for them to come scrutiny.

Cover Art Censorship

Stunning DPP Cover Art