Video nasty is a colloquial term popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films, typically low-budget horror or exploitation films, distributed on video cassette that were criticised for their violent content by the press, social commentators and various religious organisations in the early 1980s. These video releases were not brought before the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) due to a loophole in film classification laws that allowed videos to bypass the review process. The resulting uncensored video releases led to public debate concerning the availability of these films to children due to the unregulated nature of the market.
This article chronicles the history of British film certificates.
Female Trouble is a 1974 American independent dark comedy film co-composed, photographed, co-edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters and starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, Michael Potter, Cookie Mueller, and Susan Walsh. The film is about a delinquent high school student who runs away from home, gets pregnant while hitchhiking, and becomes entangled in a criminal scheme to prove "crime equals beauty".
The Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) is the organisation responsible for films, television programmes, and some video game classification and censorship within Ireland. Where restrictions are placed by the IFCO, they are legally binding.
Michael Pataki was an American actor of stage, film and television.
The House by the Cemetery is a 1981 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film stars Catriona MacColl, Paolo Malco, Ania Pieroni, Giovanni Frezza, Silvia Collatina and Dagmar Lassander. Its plot revolves around a series of murders taking place in a New England home that happens to be hiding a gruesome secret within its basement walls.
Stephen Stucker was an American actor, known for portrayals of bizarre, larger-than-life characters, notably the manic control-room worker Johnny in the early 1980s Airplane! movies and the crossdressing, rubber-penis-waving stenographer in the courtroom sequence of 1977's The Kentucky Fried Movie.
Eaten Alive is a 1976 American horror film directed by Tobe Hooper, and written by Kim Henkel, Alvin L. Fast, and Mardi Rustam.
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Australian mystery film produced by Hal and Jim McElroy, directed by Peter Weir, and starring Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, Helen Morse, Vivean Gray and Jacki Weaver. It was adapted by Cliff Green from the 1967 novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay.
Sukeban (スケバン/助番) is a Japanese term meaning 'delinquent girl', and the female equivalent to the male banchō in Japanese culture. The usage of the word sukeban refers to either the leader of a girl gang or the entire gang itself, and is not used to refer to any one member of a girl gang.
Bob Murawski is an American film editor. He was awarded the 2010 Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on The Hurt Locker, which he shared with his wife, fellow editor Chris Innis. He often works with film director Sam Raimi, having edited the Spider-Man trilogy, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Murawski is an elected member of the American Cinema Editors, and is the co-founder of Grindhouse Releasing, an acclaimed film distribution company specializing in re-releases of cult films.
Reiko Ike is a Japanese actress, singer, and entertainer. She is best known for her roles in the genre of action/erotic movies known as pink films. Ike also released an album of songs in 1971, Kōkotsu No Sekai. After a drug-related arrest, and another arrest for illegal gambling in the 1970s, Ike dropped out of the entertainment business.
Don't Deliver Us from Evil is a 1971 French horror drama film directed by Joël Séria, in his directorial debut, and starring Jeanne Goupil, Catherine Wagener, and Bernard Dhéran. It follows two Catholic schoolgirls in France who are drawn toward increasingly evil deeds. It is loosely based on the Parker–Hulme murder case of 1954.
Killer's Moon is a 1978 British horror film written and directed by Alan Birkinshaw, with uncredited dialogue written by his novelist sister, Fay Weldon.
The British Board of Film Classification is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works released on physical media within the United Kingdom. It has a statutory requirement to classify all video works released on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and, to a lesser extent, some video games under the Video Recordings Act 1984. The BBFC was also the designated regulator for the UK age-verification scheme which was abandoned before being implemented.
Cinderella is a 1977 American erotic musical comedy film directed by Michael Pataki and starring Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith, Brett Smiley, and Sy Richardson.
The Supergrass is a 1985 British comedy film directed by Peter Richardson, who also wrote the screenplay with Pete Richens. The film stars Adrian Edmondson, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith Allen, Nigel Planer, Alexei Sayle, Ronald Allen, and Robbie Coltrane. The Supergrass was the first feature-length film by the 1980s alternative comedy group The Comic Strip.
The Flowers of War is a 2011 Chinese-Hong Kong historical drama war film directed by Zhang Yimou, starring Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Zhang Xinyi, Tong Dawei, Atsuro Watabe, Shigeo Kobayashi and Cao Kefan. The film is based on a novella by Geling Yan, 13 Flowers of Nanjing, inspired by the diary of Minnie Vautrin. The story is set in Nanking, China, during the 1937 Nanking Massacre in the Second Sino-Japanese War. A group of escapees, finding sanctuary in a church compound, try to survive the Japanese atrocities.
Film censorship in the United Kingdom began with early cinema exhibition becoming subject to the Disorderly Houses Act 1751. The Cinematograph Act 1909 was primarily concerned with introducing annual licensing of premises where films were shown, particularly because of the fire risk of nitrate film. After the Act began to be used by local authorities to control what was shown, the film industry responded by establishing a British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) in 1912, funded by an Incorporated Association of Kinematograph Manufacturers levy.
Evil Dead is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by Fede Álvarez, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rodo Sayagues. Dubbed a "re-imagining" of The Evil Dead (1981), the film is the fourth installment in the Evil Dead film series. It stars Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, and Elizabeth Blackmore. The story follows a group of five people under attack by a supernatural entity in a remote cabin in the woods.
