Video Nasties: Draconian Days

Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVLA) in the UK to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on VHS in the early 1980s that were criticised by the press, social commentators, and various religious organisations for their violent content. These video releases were not submitted to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) due to a loophole in film classification laws that allowed them to bypass the review process. The resulting uncensored video releases sparked public debate over the availability of these films to children, given the market's unregulated nature. Following a campaign led by Mary Whitehouse and the NVLA, prosecutions were commenced against individuals engaged in trades exploiting allegedly obscene videos. To assist local authorities in identifying obscene films, the Director of Public Prosecutions released a list of 72 films the office believed to violate the Obscene Publications Act 1959. This list included films that had either been previously acquitted of obscenity or already obtained BBFC certification. In addition, a second list was released containing an additional 82 titles that were not believed to lead to obscenity convictions but could nonetheless be confiscated under the Act's forfeiture laws. The resultant confusion regarding the definition of obscene material led to Parliament passing the Video Recordings Act 1984, which required certification of video releases by the BBFC. Because of their accessibility by underage viewers, the implementation of the Video Recordings Act imposed a stricter code of censorship on videos than was required for cinema release. Several major studio productions were banned on video, as they fell within the scope of legislation designed to control the distribution of video nasties. In later years, the stricter requirements were relaxed, as numerous films once considered video nasties obtained certification uncut or with minimal edits. Due to a legislative mistake discovered in August 2009, the Video Recordings Act 1984 was repealed and re-enacted without change by the Video Recordings Act 2010.