Video Nasties: The Movie Guide

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Video Nasties: The Movie Guide

Video Nasties was a term created in the United Kingdom in the 1980s that originally applied to a number of films distributed on video cassette that were criticised for their violent content by elements in the press and commentators such as Mary Whitehouse. While violence in cinema had been a concern for many years, the lack of a regulatory system for video sales combined with the possibility of any film falling into children's hands led to new levels of concern. Many of these "video nasties" were low-budget horror films produced in Italy and the United States. The furor created by the moral crusade against video nasties led to the introduction of the UK's Video Recordings Act 1984 which imposed a stricter code of censorship on videos than was required for cinema release. Several major studio productions ended up being banned on video, falling afoul of legislation that was designed to control the distribution of video nasties. There is currently no legislation in force, owing to a legislative mistake in 1984. In August 2009 it was discovered that the Act was unenforceable, as the European Commission had not been notified about it, as required by Directive 83/189 (see now Directive 98/34). The Act had in fact been technically invalid since 31 March 1984, and any prosecutions still pending in August 2009 were abandoned. This guide features the majority of the film titles that were included as UK Video Nasties. NOTE: Some pages are not yet in the database but will be added in the near future.

More Nastiness: Video Nasties GuideVideo Nasties: The Definitive GuideVideo Nasties: The Definitive Guide Pt. 2

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