In our very latest video blog legendary horror critic, writer and co-founder of Film4 FrightFest, Alan Jones, talks to New Empress about the days of the Video Nasties scare, which led to Video Recordings Act.
Marc Morris and Jake West’s Video Nasties: Draconian Days will be released as part of a 3-disc box set entitled ‘Video Nasties: A Definitive Guide part 2’ on July 14 to mark the 30th anniversary of the passing of the Video Recordings Act 1984
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in the hysteria of film censorship back in the early eighties
where morality was at it’s highest where there were violent
atrocities going on in England like the coal miners strikes
in cities and violence of protests going on in Utoxteth
and Brixton and the war in the Falklands over its control
of between England and Argentina and mass employment
that former factory and mine workers took their severance
pay by starting up in the video rental service due to the birth
of home cinema was booming with it’s war between vhs and beta
that vhs won hands down but their were no censoring on graphic
horror movies including nightmares of a damage brain that led distributor
David Hamilton grant went to prison for 18 months due to hosting an
distasteful guess the weight of a human brain contest that tied in with
the illegal uncut version at his trial film columnist Derek Malcolm was asked
by the qc about what he thought of the films merit and Malcolm said it was
an well executed film so the judge exploded well executed and the judge continued
about some Nazi atrocity in Poland was well executed and that lead the path of
the department of public prosecutions issue an motion of the video recordings act
lead by conservative politician graham bright to censor graphic horror with campaigner Mary Whitehouse as collaborator by labelling it under the obscene
Publicaton’s act 1957 the same treatment as horror comics by the hysteria of turning children into serial killers and fabricating a list of real titles with made up ones for school children as research lead by guy Cumberbatch but Clifford
hill was furious with the research and author and professor martin barker
was set up by the newsociety magazine a government funded publication
but tricking him to sumerise an article about female revenge horror
I spit on your grave so he got tormented by the press for three weeks
that lead these stories as fine ingrediants for an tell all documentary
compendium dvd set back in 2010 and now in 2014 comes the continuation.
Frankie Dandridge Smales
smalestv uk