The DPP 39: Video Nasties - Part 5

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. To view the rest of the series…

Part 1: ‘Absurd’, ‘Anthropophagus’ and ‘Axe’, click here
Part 2: ‘Bay of Blood’, ‘The Beast in Heat’ and ‘Blood Feast’, click here
Part 3: ‘Blood Rites’, ‘Bloody Moon’ and ‘The Burning’, click here
Part 4: ‘Cannibal Apocalypse’, ‘Cannibal Ferox’ and ‘Cannibal Holocaust’, click here

Title: ‘The Cannibal Man’ (1980)

Director: Eloy de la Iglesia
Uncut running time: 98 minutes
Alternative titles: ‘Week of the Killer’, ‘The Apartment on the 13^th Floor’, ‘La Semana del Asesino’

A former slaughterhouse worker is attacked by a taxi driver and ends up killing him in self-defence. This sets in motion a series of events that results in more killings as he keeps trying to cover up his crimes. Surprisingly political, it does have a certain down and dirty feel about it but is nowhere near as exploitative as the UK title suggests…for starters there’s no suggestion of cannibalism and most likely came under fire from the authorities due to its title and the opening scenes which features real life footage of animals in the slaughterhouse.

Intervision put the film out completely uncut in 1981 and had a decent run before it was seized and banned in July 1983. This one is particularly rare as it was released in a brittle cardboard slipcase rather than a big plastic box so suffered rips and tears. Redemption Video put out a version that was missing just three seconds and hasn’t been re-released since.

Current status: Unavailable but remains passed by the BBFC with 3 seconds of cuts, uncut in the US since 2007 on Blue Underground.

Title: ‘The Devil Hunter’ (1980)

Director: Jess Franco (Credited as Clifford Brown!)
Uncut running time: 102 minutes
Alternative titles: ‘The Man Hunter’, ‘Mandingo Manhunter’, ‘Sexo Canibale’, ‘Il Cacciatore di Uomino’, ‘El Canibale’, ‘Junfrau unter Kannibalen’


The most frightening thing about this terrible film is that anyone sat through it long enough to discover if there was anything worth banning it for. In what sounds like a made for Sci-Fi Channel movie starring Tyra Banks, a model gets kidnapped by cannibals and is taken into the jungle resulting in a hunter being recruited to find her. It’s complicated by the fact that a ‘Devil God’ may also be involved, cue a huge amount of people scratching their heads wondering around in the jungle, looking lost with a little stock footage thrown in.

This became one of the rarest and collectible of the video nasties after it was seized and prosecuted in August 1984, towards the end of the moral panic. It had previously been available in a pre-cut version on Cinehollywood. It’s a mystery as to why this was banned, probably because of Franco’s reputation and that it bore a passing resemblance to other cannibal movies but it really is very tame. An uncut DVD was put out by Severin in the UK in 2008.

Current status: Available in the UK and US uncut on Severin.

Title: Don’t go in the Woods (1979)

Director: James Bryan
Uncut running time: 82 minutes
Alternative title: ‘Don’t go in the Woods…Alone!


Another film that had no business being on the nasties list. The extremely flimsy plot simply involves a bunch of kids backpacking in the woods and being picked off by a maniac in a number of gory ways. It probably sounds better than it is and there are some laughs to be had but largely because it’s so inept. A budget of just $20,000, they clearly had fun filming but I think it’s fair to say that it’s only available in such a good package to buy now because it was placed on the shopping list by the DPP back in the early 80s. Most of the gore was shot afterwards to make the film more interesting!

Released uncut on the Video Releasing Organisation label in March 1982 it was banned a year and a half later. It didn’t get another release until February 2007 where the passage of time and restoration of the collective sanity within the BBFC saw it get through uncut with a ‘15’ certificate. Film 2000 put it out first before 88 Films (the cover has an 18 certificate) put the film out with a number of bonus features including two commentaries.

Current status: Available uncut on 88 Films in the UK, uncut on Vinegar Syndrome in the US