Collecting Pre-Cert Tapes: Hunting the Forbidden
By itsonlyamovie
Collecting pre-cert tapes — those released in the UK before the introduction of the Video Recordings Act in 1984 — are more than just an outdated format from the dawn of home video. They’re physical remnants of a chaotic, unregulated era when horror, exploitation, and low-budget sleaze were being pushed onto shelves faster than anyone could censor them. Before the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) was required to rate tapes for home release, almost anything could be distributed, and that’s exactly what happened.
This period, up until mid-1984, became a sacred ground for collectors. These tapes weren’t polished or mass-produced. They were often uncut, and sometimes distributed in small quantities — JVL only released 200 copies of its Beast In Heat, making it a holy grail amongst collectors – Its also one of the most ‘booted’ films so be wary of the 1000s of them that are out there! The term “video nasties” became infamous, and many of these tapes were banned or seized, making the originals increasingly rare and collectible.
Clampdown Records and the Early Days
I started out by collecting copied versions of these hard-to-find horror films, I was still at High School, so I didn’t have the budget or the contacts to find the originals. I was always hunting through second-hand stores, market stalls, and the legendary Corn Exchange in Manchester, back when it was still a treasure trove for music, film, and underground culture. They had some great 80s horror t-shirts amongst the weird and wonderful items on sale!
Hidden in the basement was the legendary Clampdown Records, among the vinyl and punk memorabilia were copies of video nasties. They had other imported horror titles too, some of which I’d never even heard of. At £15 a tape, it felt steep back then but I didn’t care, they were unavailable in the UK and they were often completely uncut.
That’s where I picked up a 2nd Generation copy of Anthropophagous the Beast — a violent Euro-horror that had already built a reputation as one of the original video nasties. At 14, walking out of there with that tape, felt like smuggling something genuinely dangerous at the time.
Old horror fanzines and books such as Deep Red, Cold Sweat and The Gore Score were a valuable and often ‘only’ source of information to the UK horror fan. They were sold in a handful of shops around Manchester, usually around the Corn Exchange or Afflecks Palace. I loved The Gore Score, it contained reviews of all the major European horror movies and contained graphic imagery and content. They had a dual scoring system with a score out of 10 for the gore and also a score for the film itself. This was ideal if you just wanted blood and guts with no plot!
I used to “favourite” the titles I wanted to watch and go out and hunt the film down. A few of the horror magazines ran adverts in the back for 2-on-1-tape copies of the video nasties and other imported, uncut horror tapes, so this was usually my first port of call. I had a library of 100s of horror films recorded onto Scotch E180s – from Cannibal Holocaust, through to Nekromantik 2.
Amongst these adverts were ads for genuine horror tapes, original VHS versions of the nasties – just send them a SAE (Self-Addressed Envelope for the newbies) for a list of titles. There was no internet back then, so this was the only way! I used to eagerly await these lists and check the titles and the prices, some of which were well out of my price range. I think I had a budget of around £20 per tape. Titles such as Snuff on the Astra video label were fetching upwards of £100 at the time – although, this tape has since been the subject of various debates as to its authenticity. Oh the joys of collecting pre-cert tapes!
Pre-Cert Video Labels To Collect
This is where I started to switch my focus to collecting originals rather than copies of all the hard to find horror films. Collecting pre-cert tapes was a natural progression to my love of 80s horror! We owned a video rental store from the early 80s until the mid-nineties and had amassed a load of old pre-cert tapes. There were a lot of run-of-the-mill titles on regular pre-cert video labels such as Thorn EMI and Embassy, but there was also some rarer video labels in there too such as Videospace, Palace and Go Video.
It was a pretty basic collection to start with but there was an Evil Dead, City of the Living Dead, Mausoleum and Funhouse in there, so not too bad a start! Over the next 5 years of collecting pre-cert tapes, I came across some real rarities like Cannibal Ferox, Island of Death and the full carton releases of Expose and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (London).
Before the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) and the Video Recordings Act of 1984, there was a period in the early 1980s when video tapes were released for home viewing without formal certification. This meant that many films, particularly low-budget or exploitation movies, could be distributed and rented out without being officially classified for age ratings. The term pre-cert video comes from this era when the tapes were released before the certification system was fully in place. The following pre-cert video labels were key players in the explosion of horror films that became infamous during the video nasty era.
VIPCO (Video Instant Picture Company)
VIPCO were a video company that was best known for distributing obscure and cult horror films as well being the leading distributor of the video nasties and previously banned films in the UK. Founded in the late 70s, VIPCO were infamously known for several video nasties.
Intervision
Intervision were one of the earliest pre-cert video labels in the UK. The company distributed major film releases and distributed releases by Alpha Video and Inter-Light Video.
Go Video
Go Video were a pre-cert video distributor trading in the UK in the early 80s. They released a number of Horror, Italian thrillers, Adult, Martial Arts and most famously a number of exploitation films from the 70’s and 80’s.
Replay Video
A British video company who were associated with video distributor VPD. They became infamous for releasing some the video nasties with a pure black cover, with a warning notice. Nice!
Pre-Cert VHS Video T-Shirts
Inspired by the video labels of the 70s and 80s
Pre-Cert VAMPIX T-Shirt Unisex Classic Tee M-5XL
★★★★★ from £18.99
Intervision VHS T-Shirt Unisex Classic Tee M-5XL
★★★★★ from £18.99
GO Video Logo T-Shirt. Pre-Cert Unisex Tee
★★★★★ from £18.99
Unisex VIPCO T-Shirt M-5XL Classic Tee
★★★★★ from £18.99Top 5 Valuable Pre-Cert Tapes to Collect
- Anthropophagous the Beast (Video Shack)
- Beast in Heat (JVL)
- Island of Death (AVI)
- Death Trap (VCL)
- Gestapo’s Last Orgy (VFP)
Collecting pre-cert tapes isn’t about pristine condition or shrink-wrapped perfection. It’s about the wear and tear, the rental shop stickers – all the things that tell a story. These tapes survived a period of hysteria, media-fuelled panic, and police raids. They weren’t supposed to last, but they did. And now they live on in collections like mine, cherished not just for the films themselves, but for what they represent: rebellion, nostalgia, and a time when horror still felt truly dangerous.
