The DPP 39: Video Nasties List - Part 7

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
Part 5: ‘The Cannibal Man’, ‘The Devil Hunter’ and ‘Don’t Go in the Woods’ click here
Part 6: ‘The Driller Killer’, ‘Evilspeak’ and ‘Expose’. Click here

Title: ‘Faces of Death’ (1978)

Director: Conan Le Cilaire (John Alan Schwartz)
Uncut running time: 104 minutes
Alternative titles: ‘The Original Faces of Death’

In the 70s a very strange and macabre sub-genre emerged known as ‘Mondo Movies’. These were documentaries that claimed to show genuine footage of death, accidents, animal attacks and bizarre sacrificial ceremonies. ‘Faces of Death’ was one of these and has such a reputation that many horror fans avoid it out of principal. It claims to have been banned in 40 countries, knock the ‘0’ off and you have a more realistic figure and yes, the UK was one of those countries alongside Norway, Finland, Australia and New Zealand. Around a third of the movie is fake but there are some seriously nasty moments caught on film, most notably the aftermath of a road traffic accident between a truck and a cyclist and some pretty gnarly slaughterhouse footage.

It was something of a hit worldwide, taking $35million at the box office, not including VHS sales where it really coined it in! In the UK, the first version brought out by Atlantis Video Productions in September 1982 was cut by a massive 32m36s (almost a third of the film!!!) yet was STILL prosecuted and removed from the shelves in July 1983. It wasn’t re-released until 2003 when Screen Entertainment got it through the BBFC missing 2m19s of animal cruelty, namely dog fights and a monkey being beaten to death.

Current status: Available in the UK from Screen Entertainment cut by 2m19s, uncut in the US through Gorgon on blu-ray.

Title: ‘Fight for your Life’ (1977)

Director: Robert A Endelson
Uncut running time: 82 minutes
Alternative titles: ‘I Hate Your Guts’, ‘Held Hostage’, ‘Staying Alive’, ‘Getting Even’, ‘Bloodbath at 1313 Fury Drive’


Almost universally panned, this is a strange one in that it is the only film on the nasties list that was prosecuted due to language rather than violence. It plays out as a rape revenge movie but it’s the unbelievable level of racism that caused offence as three convicts attack, beat and generally violate an entire black family, forcing them to fight back. I don’t know if it was an attempt at a Blaxploitation movie that was horrendously misjudged or a deliberate attempt to offend but it really is bad on every conceivable level.

This fared terribly in the UK where it was refused a theatrical certificate in 1981 but, incredibly, it was available on VHS through Vision On who brought out an uncut version in 1982. It festered on the shelves until September 1984 before it was seized and prosecuted as obscene. It’s one of the more highly sought after VHS tapes because it has never received a release since and one of the few that is still banned in the UK. I’d be surprised if it ever saw the light of the day due to its reputation, I can’t see one of the more well-known labels risking their reputations on it.


Current status: Unavailable in the UK and still banned, uncut in the US on a region free DVD through Blue Underground.

Title: Flesh for Frankenstein (1973)

Director: Paul Morrissey
Uncut running time: 95 minutes
Alternative title: ‘Andy Warhol’s Young Frankenstein’, ‘The Devil and Dr. Frankenstein’, ‘The Frankenstein Experiment’, ‘Up Frankenstein’


Bordering on camp on occasion, this odd attempt at re-imagining the Frankenstein legend from Andy Warholl and Paul Morrissey caused a lot of controversy in its day. Another one that, strangely, got itself into trouble thanks to its dialogue although, in this case, it was a single line as our titular mad scientist proudly proclaims that “You don’t know life until you’ve f~@ked death in the gall bladder”! This gained the interest of the moral guardians within the UK sensationalist press and drew attention to its gruesome and, in many places, sexual violence. Overall a very well made and acted film, it really should have been left alone but that was a sign of the times.

It suffered greatly at the hands of the BBFC who removed 8 minutes from its initial cinema release. Video Gems pushed through an uncut VHS in 1981 which was still the only way to see an uncensored print after the BBFC again insisted on cuts totalling 2m08s for a 1982 cinema re-release. VIPCO failed to get an uncut VHS release through, instead falling back on the truncated cinema release, however it still fell foul of the authorities who prosecuted in March 1984. There it remained until First Independent brought a VHS out in 1996, however it was still missing 56 seconds, but these and all other cuts were finally waived in 2006 for Tartan’s DVD. It’s crying out for a good blu-ray release!


Current status: Unavailable in the UK due to the Tartan DVD being out of print, uncut on Image DVD in the US