The DPP 39: Video Nasties Part 3

In 1984, the Video Recordings Act ushered in a terrifying new era in UK home video entertainment. The regulation and subsequent censorship of home videos by the British Board of Film Classification led to a number of films being seized by the authorities and prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act 1959. In total, 39 of these films were successfully prosecuted, over the coming months The Horror Video will look very briefly at the release history of each film and its current status. We’ve already covered the A’s (click here to check out ‘Absurd’, ‘Anthropophagus’ and ‘Axe’) and some of the ‘B’s (click here for ‘Bay of Blood’, ‘The Beast in Heat’ and ‘Blood Feast’), here are the rest!

Title: ‘Blood Rites’ (1969)

Director: Andy Milligan
Uncut running time: 81 minutes
Alternative titles: ‘The Ghastly Ones’

One of the rarer titles on the list and not one that’s been a viewing pleasure of mine. The plot revolves around three sisters required to spend three nights on a remote island before they’re able to read their late father’s will. Along with a Hunchback called Colin - dead bodies and severed heads start to show up before it becomes apparent that someone isn’t who they claim to be and the family secret is revealed. This has been pretty much universally panned due to its low budget of just $13,000 being used by a crew with little imagination or skill to do anything worthwhile with it.

Scorpio released the film in the UK in March 1983 and it ended up on the list in August 1984 where it stayed. Technically it’s still banned but only because nobody has tried to release it.

Current status: Still no release in the UK, available uncut as part of a triple feature on Bayview in the US.

Title: ‘Bloody Moon’ (1981)

Director: Jess Franco
Uncut running time: 84 minutes
Alternative titles: ‘Profonde Tenebre’, ‘Collegialas Violadas’, ‘Die Saege des Todes


Another one that I’ve yet to sit through this is legendary schlockmeister Jess Franco’s attempt at a slasher film which inevitably made the nasties list. It has a typical genre set up, in this case an adult Spanish language school that is teeming with sex crazed women just ripe for picking off. By all accounts it’s not Franco’s best effort and opinion is divided as to whether he intentionally hammed it up or just didn’t care for the plot. It is reputed to be pretty gory, a circular saw in particular troubled the BBFC!

The film was released on video by Interlight in a cut and uncut version, the censored release being the same as the cinema version which was missing 1:38s of blood and gore. It stayed on the list for the duration after being prosecuted in July 1983 before VIPCO waded in with a slightly less cut version, stacking up 1:20s of cuts in 1993. Severin finally dusted off the uncut version and got it past the censors in 2008, bringing out a blu ray release in 2015.

Current status: Uncut in the UK on Severin blu ray rated 18, the same company holding the US uncut rights.

Title: The Burning (1981)

Director: Tony Maylam
Uncut running time: 91 minutes
Alternative title: ‘Cropsy’


This film actually made a loss at the box office thanks to its slightly inflated $1.5million budget. There’s a lot of talent in this ‘Friday 13th’ clone but Tom Savini is the star with some incredible gore effects that raise this above most of the other pretenders. The raft massacre in particular is highly unusual in slasher film lore by offing five people in the space of around 30 seconds! Also ‘starring’ a very young Holly Hunter with music by Rick Wakeman it’s a case of talent overcoming content and, for that reason, it’s become something of a cult classic. You can read my full review by clicking here.

It’s quite possibly that this was banned because Thorn EMI ‘accidentally’ released an uncut version which shopkeepers were unwilling to hand back in place of a cut version! Just 10 seconds were cut for the cinema version but it made quite a difference, mainly from the raft scene. When it was re-released in 1992 by VIPCO they somehow managed to conspire to see it suffer more cuts totalling 19 seconds, finally getting it through in a terrible print but at least it was uncut in 2002. Arrow gave it the five star treatment in 2016.

Current status: Uncut in the UK on Arrow Video, uncut in the US on Shout Factory.