In all, 72 films – mostly horror titles – were proscribed on the Video Nasties list, although only 39 were ever successfully prosecuted. The police and Department of Public Prosecutions compiled an ever-changing list of titles deemed prosecutable, or at least potentially prosecutable, under the Obscene Publications Act 1964, for “tending to corrupt or deprave persons”. This newfound freedom soon spawned a moral panic, spearheaded by a collection of sensation-seeking tabloids, god-bothering zealots, raid-happy coppers and pig-ignorant politicians. For a time video stores – essentially cowboy operations – could rent anything to anyone, unexpurgated and unregulated, and the owners of these establishments were quick to realise that the films with lurid sleeve art and tawdry titles moved off the shelves fastest. In 1979, home video arrived – a new medium which briefly enjoyed a period beyond the legal purview of the British Board of Film Censors (as it was then known), whose influence was confined to public exhibition. ![]() ![]() Every Video Nasty ranked from worst to bestĬannibals! Nazis! Cannibal Nazis! Our definitive guide to the most notorious movies ever made.
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