An ongoing list - Inspired by the fascinating documentary VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP & VIDEOTAPE and our coverage of the 'Video Nasties' era on the MOVIE MATTERS podcast (listen to the episode here) I've decided to put the moronic DPP list of notorios & banned 80s ‘video nasties’ to good use: seeking out and watching/re-watching as many of the films on the list as I can find.

I’ll then rank them in my order of preference to crown one as ‘the greatest video nasty… EVER!". Don’t worry I’ll make sure all dogs are out of the room for fear or moral corruption!

A note of clarification from Wikipedia: “Video nasty” was a colloquial term coined in the United Kingdom by 19821 which originally applied to a number of films distributed on video cassette that were criticized for their violent content by the press, commentators such as Mary Whitehouse and various religious organizations…

“The DPP list of ‘video nasties’ was first made public in June 1983. The list was modified monthly as prosecutions failed or were dropped. In total, 72 separate films appeared on the list at one time or another. 39 films were successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act but some of these films have been subsequently cut and then approved for release by the BBFC. The remaining 33 were either not prosecuted or had unsuccessful prosecutions.

A number of films spent a short time on this list because their prosecutions failed shortly after publication or because it was decided that prosecution was not worth pursuing. Ultimately, the list became obsolete when the Video Recordings Act came into force, and since 2001, several of the films have been released uncut. In the majority of cases below where cuts were made, they were scenes of real-life animal cruelty and/or excessive violence to women, both of which are still regarded with some degree of severity by the BBFC."

DPP List in case you want to join in:

Absurd (original title: Rosso Sangue; AKA Horrible; The Monster Hunter; Anthropophagus 2 — released with 2m 32s cut in 1983, but was withdrawn post VRA, and has never been re-submitted for classification. Has a release in the United States uncut under the title Horrible)

Anthropophagous: The Beast (original title: Antropophagus; AKA Anthropophagous; Antropofago; Gomia, Terror en el Mar Egeo; Man Beast: Man-Eater; The Savage Island — released with approximately 3m of pre-cuts as “The Grim Reaper” in 2002)

Axe (AKA Lisa, Lisa; California Axe Murder; The Axe Murders — re-released uncut in 2005)

The Beast in Heat (original title: La Bestia in Calore) (Banned outright)

The Beyond (original title: E Tu Vivrai Nel Terrore – L’Aldilà; AKA Seven Doors of Death — re-released uncut in 2001)

Blood Bath (original title: Reazione a Catena; AKA A Bay of Blood; Twitch of the Death Nerve — released uncut in 2010)

Blood Feast (re-released uncut in 2005)

Blood Rites (original title: The Ghastly Ones) (Banned outright)

Bloody Moon (original title: Die Säge des Todes — released with 1m 20s cut in 1993, released uncut November 2008)

The Bogey Man (original title: The Boogeyman — re-released uncut in 2000)

The Burning (re-released uncut in 2001)

Cannibal Apocalypse (original title: Apocalypse Domani — released with 2s cut in 2005)

Cannibal Ferox (alternate title: Make them Die Slowly – released with approximately 5m of pre-cuts plus 6s of additional cuts in 2000)

Cannibal Holocaust (released in 2001 with 5m 44s cut to remove most animal cruelty and rape scenes, new version approved with 15s cut in 2011

The Cannibal Man (original title: La Semana del Asesino; AKA The Apartment on the 13th Floor — released with 3s cut in 1993)

Cannibal Terror (original title: Terror Caníbal — released uncut in 2003)

Contamination (released uncut in 2004 with a 15 rating)

Dead & Buried (re-released uncut in 2004)

Death Trap (original title: Eaten Alive — re-released uncut in 2000)

Deep River Savages (original/alternate title: Il paese del sesso selvaggio, Man from Deep River — released with 3m 45s cut in 2003)

Delirium (Alternate title: Psycho Puppet — released with 16s cut in 1987)

Devil Hunter (original title: Il cacciatore di uomini) (Passed uncut November 2008)

Don’t Go in the House (released with 3m 7s cut in 1987)

Don’t Go in the Woods (released uncut in 2007)

Don’t Go Near the Park (released uncut in 2006)

Don’t Look in the Basement (original title: The Forgotten — released uncut in 2005 with a 15 rating)

The Driller Killer (released with cuts in 1999 — re-released uncut in 2002, now considered to be public domain1415161718)

The Evil Dead (re-released uncut in 2001)

Evilspeak (re-released uncut in 1999)

Exposé (re-released with approximately 30s cut in 2006)

Faces of Death (released with 2m 19s cut in 2003)

Fight For Your Life (Banned outright)

Flesh for Frankenstein (AKA Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein — re-released uncut in 2006)

Forest of Fear (AKA Toxic Zombies; Bloodeaters (Banned outright)

Frozen Scream (Banned outright)

The Funhouse (Released uncut in 1987, re-classified 15 in 2007)

Gestapo’s Last Orgy (original title: L’ultima orgia del III Reich) (Banned outright)

The House by the Cemetery (original title: Quella villa accanto al cimitero — re-released with 33s cut in 2001, released uncut in 2009)

House on the Edge of the Park (original title: La casa sperduta nel parco — released with 11m 43s cut in 2002)

Human Experiments (released with 26s cut in 1994)

I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (released with 1m 6s cut in 1986)

I Spit on Your Grave (original title: Day of the Woman — released with 7m 2s cut in 2001)

Inferno (re-released with 20s cut in 1993 — re-released uncut in September, 2010)

Island of Death (original title: Ta Pedhia tou dhiavolou — released uncut September, 2010)

Killer Nun (original title: Suor Omicidi — re-released uncut in 2006)

The Last House on the Left (passed uncut on the 17th March, 2008)

Late Night Trains (original title: L’ultimo treno della notte — released uncut in 2008)

The Living Dead (original title: Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti; AKA The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue; Let Sleeping Corpses Lie;

Don’t Open the Window — re-released uncut in 2002)

Love Camp 7 (refused a certificate in 2002) (Banned outright)

Madhouse (original title: There Was a Little Girl — released uncut in 2004)

Mardi Gras Massacre (Banned outright)

Night of the Bloody Apes (original title: La Horripilante bestia humana — released with approximately 1m of pre-cuts in 1999)

Night of the Demon (released with 1m 41s cut in 1994)

Nightmare Maker (AKA Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker; Night Warning on the credits of some versions) (Banned outright)

Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (re-released with pre-cuts in 2005)

Possession (released uncut in 1999)

Pranks (AKA The Dorm That Dripped Blood; Death Dorm — re-released with 10s cut in 2001)

Prisoner of the Cannibal God (original title: La montagna del dio cannibale; AKA Mountain of the Cannibal God — released with 2m 6s cut in 2001)

Return of the Boogeyman (original title: Boogeyman II — released with additional footage in 2003)

The Slayer (re-released uncut in 2001)

Snuff (Passed uncut in 2003, however it has not yet been re-released)

SS Experiment Camp (original title: Lager SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur — released uncut in 2005)

Tenebrae (original title: Tenebre — re-released uncut in 2003)

Terror Eyes (original title: Night School — released with 1m 16s cut in 1987)19

The Toolbox Murders (released with 1m 46s cut in 2000)

Unhinged (released uncut in 2004)

Visiting Hours (released with approximately 2m cut in 1986)

The Werewolf and the Yeti (original title: La Maldición de la Bestia) (Banned outright)

The Witch Who Came From the Sea (released uncut in 2006)

Women Behind Bars (original French title: Des diamants pour l’enfer) (Banned outright)

Zombie Creeping Flesh (original title: Virus; AKA Hell of the Living Dead — released uncut in 2002)

Zombie Flesh Eaters (original title: Zombi 2; AKA Zombie — re-released uncut in 2005) (alternate title: Zombie)

Although commonly thought of as part of the DPP list, the following two titles never actually appeared on the DPP’s official “nasties” list:

Shogun Assassin (re-released uncut in 1999)

Xtro (Released uncut in 1987, re-classified 15 in 2007; Xtro was a common title seized during police raids in the North of England prior to the official list being published.)

Breakdown of the list

Of these 72 films:

37 have been released uncut.
23 have been released cut.
1 has been released with additional footage.
11 are banned in the UK because they have not yet been resubmitted for classification by any distributors or been rejected for classification.

Unless noted otherwise, all films that have been released have been rated 18. Also note that a large number of these movies caused additional controversy with the cover art of the original big box releases seen in the video shops of the early 1980s.