Video Nasties

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by chip75

You may want to add BD tags to your first post:

United Kingdom and Ireland Video Nasties Releases

How do I add tags etc?

[Mattklong]

I've always wanted to see The Werewolf and the Yeti (La Malediction de la Bestia) I've never been able to find it anywhere in any format. Is it actually any good?

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by Mattklong

I've always wanted to see The Werewolf and the Yeti (La Malediction de la Bestia) I've never been able to find it anywhere in any format. Is it actually any good?

I've got a DVD-R of the Spanish (clothed) version [Spanish with subs] which I got at Westminster film fair last year. It's good quality print.

Someone told me that the English language (unclothed) version DVD-R they have is terrible print wise but as a collector it's good to have both versions.

Overall it's a really good paul Naschy Waldermar Daninsky film.

[Mattklong]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

I've got a DVD-R of the Spanish (clothed) version [Spanish with subs] which I got at Westminster film fair last year. It's good quality print.

Someone told me that the English language (unclothed) version DVD-R they have is terrible print wise but as a collector it's good to have both versions.

Overall it's a really good paul Naschy Waldermar Daninsky film.

Thanks for the reply. I haven't seen any of his other films so have no idea on quality or content. Still intrigued. I've been going through the video nasty list as best I can for about 15 years now. This is a really great thread!

[chip75]

Originally Posted by fatboyslim142

How do I add tags etc?

Go to each title and copy the BDs ID (it's the numbers add the end of the address), then click the [BD] icon in the reply post box (it's next to the Spoiler tab).

For example Anthropophagus is 126948 just add [BD] [ /BD] tabs around it (with no space between the / and B).



Just copy the text from my post and add it to yours for the ones I've done already (quote my post like you did, then copy the text and numbers, then Edit your original post).

[Trampled]

Originally Posted by Mattklong

I've always wanted to see The Werewolf and the Yeti (La Malediction de la Bestia) I've never been able to find it anywhere in any format. Is it actually any good?

I have not seen it in a while but it's nothing special from what I remember. The one part of The Werewolf and the Yeti that I always remember is after the pre-credits sequence and the credits themselves the film cuts to some stock footage of the river Thames and the Houses of Parliament and there are loud bagpipes playing on the soundtrack to emphasise the fact the film has switched to London but bagpipes are far more associated with Scotland and I always found that little scene very funny and it was obviously put together by Spaniards who did not do their research.

Originally Posted by chip75

You may want to add BD tags to your first post:

United Kingdom and Ireland Video Nasties Releases

What about Nightmares in a Damaged Brain? And Night Train Murders too?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Trampled

What about Nightmares in a Damaged Brain?

I missed that one! I've added it now.

[dallywhitty]

Terrific idea for a thread. I wasn't around when the video nasties controversy kicked off (I was born in '94) but I've always been fascinated by it. I actually wrote an essay in Film Studies once about the lasting impact it has had on British censorship today.

It's worth noting that the 'American Horror Project Vol. One' set includes The Witch Who Came from the Sea, so I'd recommend adding it to Chip's list. I think I own all those with the exception of Bloody Moon (which I intend to pick up eventually) and The Man from Deep River aka Deep River Savages (which is up for pre-order).

[HotRats]

The Sex And The Censors documentary got Channel 4 reported under the Obscene Publications Act and it was a very close call whether there would be a prosecution. Channel 4 gave an undertaking not to repeat the programme.

Also worth seeing (some are on Youtube) Fear, Panic And Censorship, Empire Of The Censors, Dear Censor, Banned In The UK. The book Seduction Of The Gullible is a must.

[stigdu]

Censored by Tom Dewe Matthews and Killing for Culture by Davids Kerekes and Slater are also fascinating reads.

[drterror666]

Originally Posted by HotRats

The book Seduction Of The Gullible is a must.

I've got a signed first print of this. Invaluable!

[nastiesexpert]

Originally Posted by HotRats

The Sex And The Censors documentary got Channel 4 reported under the Obscene Publications Act and it was a very close call whether there would be a prosecution. Channel 4 gave an undertaking not to repeat the programme.

Also worth seeing (some are on Youtube) Fear, Panic And Censorship, Empire Of The Censors, Dear Censor, Banned In The UK. The book Seduction Of The Gullible is a must.

The 2 part documentary "Ban the Sadist Videos" ( a genuine Daily Mail headline of the time) was included with Vipcos otherwise lacklustre Box of the Banned sets although it's also included as a bonus disc with the US Bluray of "Expose" AKA House on Straw Hill.
There was certainly significant footage included in "Sex and the Censors" as C4 actually showed scenes that the BBFC had specifically cut from various films including Ken Russells "Crimes of Passion" aswell as others. I think C4 thought that seeing the footage out of context was enough to clear them of any wrongdoing. It was the first time I realised just how much the BBFC had cut from Death Wish 2.

One of the most contentious moments was an interview with Derek Jarman while footage showing an erection from one of his movies (Sebastiene IIRC) played in the background as it was that moment the BBFC cut on the grounds it was classed as obscene.

Violence aside, the outdated Obscene Publications Act really does need to be scrapped. it's been useless for years as it's description of what is obscene is so vague and open to interpretation.
Thanks to one porn company appealing one of their movies back in 2000 hardcore porn was effectively legalised overnight yet we still have the stupid rules that ban sale from anywhere except licenced premises and a ban on sending it via mail order so while you can legally import hardcore from any country you can't have it sent from any company based in the UK.

What's even more annoying is that despite 2 very public cases where footage of fisting and other "obscene" content was cleared by a jury the BBFC continue to cut this material from R18 titles and the CPS refuse to acknowledge that this content should no longer be banned.

Even worse, when the Dangerous Pictures Act came into force a few years back it was supposed to be a way to ban violent porn but during the creation of this law some busybody somewhere decided to add a few extra bits to it making possession illegal of content that had not been before.
I don't think a single person has been convicted under the DPA where the offender was originally being investigated for that.Usually what happens is that computers are routinely seized by police investigating all manner of crimes and once they find a 10 second clip of animal porn stashed away somewhere that's it - you're in hot water.
Prosecutions have even happened when people have been sent clips lasting several seconds without asking for them yet because they forget to delete them they get convicted and as if in homage to the stupidity of the nasties era possession of animal porn is now on par with possession of child porn.
In one typically stupid case a guy was prosecuted for a video apparently showing someone having sex with a tiger.
The CPS took it to court , wasted public funds and once there finally played the whole clip which showed the tiger talking and revealing it was a complete fake.
The CPS should be held accountable and pay compensation to people who have to go through such trials because of their stupidity

[nastiesexpert]

Originally Posted by Fnord Prefect

No sure that's quite right. I remember him stating that he got around that BBFC decision by simply projecting the movie in 1:85 ratio in the UK rather than the intended 1:33. Probably played havoc with the frame composition but what could you do in such a situation?

Either way, it had to be removed because the BBFC would not have allowed it.
The BBFC were not averse to requesting reframing or even doing it themselves.
IIRC the original video release ( can't recall if it was the same for the cinema release) of Pulp Fiction required a shot showing a needle being injected into someone reframed to remove the detail.

It's quite laughable to think of the cuts and the reasons they would sometimes give.
The famous "eye" scene from Zombie Flesheaters for example. That was missing for decades. Watching it made you wince but precisely what did the BBFC think they were achieving by removing it?

James Ferman was the biggest boil on the arse of film fans for more than 2 decades. Fellow examiners would disagree with his decisions and end up sacked. Why nobody stepped in and said "hang on a minute" before 1998 is a mystery.
His re-edit of the house invasion sequence in Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer is an all time low I think

Going back to the C4 documentary: I recall the scene showing the Video Packaging Review Committee. What a bunch of knobs they were. And how depressing that such nonsense was allowed to happen. What a loony country the UK is.

I always wondered why the MP's who spent thousands of tax payers money on jollies they called "fact finding missions" never took one to Denmark or Holland to find out exactly why freely available porn of all varieties and no censorship on video had not turned those countries into the violent cesspools they seemed to think the UK would become if we could watch I Spit On your Grave uncut

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by nastiesexpert

James Ferman was the biggest boil on the arse of film fans for more than 2 decades. Fellow examiners would disagree with his decisions and end up sacked. Why nobody stepped in and said "hang on a minute" before 1998 is a mystery.
His re-edit of the house invasion sequence in Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer is an all time low I think

The snobbery of that guy is/was hilarious. Didn't he say that it was acceptable for educated, upper-class individuals to watch The Texas Chain Saw Massacre but 'what if a factory worker from Manchester was to see it?'

It's crazy to think that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was banned simply because of its association with the original film.

I've never seen this 'Sex and the Censors' documentary but it sounds interesting. Obviously the two Marc Morris-Jake West features ('Fear, Panic and Censorship' and 'Draconian Days') are brilliant and I liked 'Ban the Sadist Videos'.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by nastiesexpert

I always wondered why the MP's who spent thousands of tax payers money on jollies they called "fact finding missions" never took one to Denmark or Holland to find out exactly why freely available porn of all varieties and no censorship on video had not turned those countries into the violent cesspools they seemed to think the UK would become if we could watch I Spit On your Grave uncut

That's what always irked me with the British censorship: the fact that there never was any proof that banning certain videos and violent images had some effect in the public, i.e. some measurable decrease in violence.

Living through the video boom in Denmark in the 1980's was not all honky-dory, though: lazy distributors would often just get their masters from the UK, so while we have had no real adult censorship since 1969, we would unfortunately sometimes still get stuck with a cut version - especially from the mid-late of the decade and on.

[fatboyslim142]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Terrific idea for a thread. I wasn't around when the video nasties controversy kicked off (I was born in '94) but I've always been fascinated by it. I actually wrote an essay in Film Studies once about the lasting impact it has had on British censorship today.

I was born the year after all the Video Nasty controversy & 1 year before Feguson became United manager. November '85.