i

Stephen Gerard Doheny

Just how nasty were the video nasties?

Identifying contributors of the video nasty moral panic

in the 1980s

DIPLOMA THESIS

submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Magister der Philosophie

Programme: Teacher Training Programme Subject: English Subject: Geography and Economics

Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

Evaluator Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jörg Helbig, M.A. Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Klagenfurt, May 2019

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Affidavit

I hereby declare in lieu of an oath that

- the submitted academic paper is entirely my own work and that no auxiliary materials have been used other than those indicated,

- I have fully disclosed all assistance received from third parties during the process of writing the thesis, including any significant advice from supervisors,

- any contents taken from the works of third parties or my own works that have been included either literally or in spirit have been appropriately marked and the respective source of the information has been clearly identified with precise bibliographical references (e.g. in footnotes),

- to date, I have not submitted this paper to an examining authority either in Austria or abroad and that

- when passing on copies of the academic thesis (e.g. in bound, printed or digital form), I will ensure that each copy is fully consistent with the submitted digital version.

I understand that the digital version of the academic thesis submitted will be used for the

purpose of conducting a plagiarism assessment.

I am aware that a declaration contrary to the facts will have legal consequences.

Stephen G. Doheny “m.p.” Köttmannsdorf: 1st May 2019

Dedication I

I would like to dedicate this work to my wife and children, for their support and understanding

over the last six years. I would like to extend special thanks to Professor Jörg Helbig for

allowing me to pursue my research interests, and for evaluating this work. I would also like to

thank the professors and tutors from the faculties of English, Geography and the School of

Education for guiding me through my teacher training studies.

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Table of Contents:

Affidavit / Dedication ii

List of Abbreviations iv

1) Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…...…1

What is a video nasty? ........................................................... ..………...….. …1

2) The video nasty as moral panic: a theoretical approach ................................... …..2

3) British Censorship: Historical repitition ............................................................. …..6

3.1 The troubled birth of cinema…..…………………………………....………………..8

3.2 Lady Chatterley’s Lover ………………..…………………………………………..10

3.3 The same rules don’t apply …………………………………....………………18

4) Video Violence and Children Report 1983...................................................... …..21

5) Marketing the video nasties ........................................................................... …..31

5.1 SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976) Synopsis …………………………………………..33

5.2 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) Synopsis …………………………………………..34

5.3 Go Video & Des Dolan ……………………………………………………………..35

5.4 The stunt that started it all………………………...……………………..………….41

5.5 The media gets nasty ……………………………………………………………..43

6) Mary Whitehouse ........................................................................................... …..44

7) Video cover artwork: The AIDA rental experience .......................................... …..52

8) I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) Case study & Defense……………………………………..67

8.1 Synopsis ……………………………………..…..…………………………..………... 67

8.2 History …..………………………………………………………………….….. 70

8.3 Reception ........................................................................................... ….. 73

8.4 Analysis .............................................................................................. ….. 75

8.5 No means No!: Destroying the myths of male sexual violence ................... ….. 77

8.6 Headless women ................................................................................. ….. 78

8.7 Accusing THE ACCUSED (1988) ............................................................... ….. 82

8.8 North, not South: DELIVERANCE (1972) .................................................... ….. 84

8.9 I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE as Anti-cinema ..................................................... ….. 84

8.10 Remakes and Sequels ........................................................................ ….. 87

9) Conclusion ..................................................................................................... ….. 90

Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 91

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List of Abbreviations

AIDA Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (marketing model)

ASA Advertising Standards Authority

BBFC British Board of Film Classification (after 1984)

BVA British Video Association

CARE Christian Action Research Education

DPP Director of Public Prosecutions

GLC Greater London Council

MP Member of Parliament

NVALA National Viewer’s and Listener’s Association

OPA Obscene Publications Act 1959

PGVE Parliamentary Group Video Enquiry

TRU Television Research Unit

VCR Video Cassette Recorder

VRA Video Recordings Act

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1. Introduction

Home video came onto the market in the late 1970s, and quickly became very popular.

It was treated with the same disdain and abhorrence as literature, cinema and comics

when they were first made widely available to working class audiences. The Video

Recordings Act of 1984 demanded all video content be submitted to the BBFC for

classification and censorship. Those who did not comply faced hefty fines and or

custodial sentences. The VRA was the result of the video nasty moral panic, a panic

that was nurtured by moralists and amplified by tabloid newspapers. This paper

focuses its attention on the chain of events and contributors that manufactured the

video nasty moral panic. It also examines historical panics in attempting to identify

recurring themes and investigate why moral panics are quite common in Britain. After

first defining the term video nasty, Chapter 2 considers moral panics from a theoretical

perspective and identifies the video nasty era as a moral panic. Chapter 3 examines

historical panics and censorship, and identifies the notion of class, and its role in moral

panic production. Chapter 4 presents the people and events that contributed to the

release of the Video Violence and Children report in 1983; the document that paved

the way for censorship legislation to pass through the House of Commons

uncontested. Chapter 5 examines how the video nasties were marketed and

chronicles the exploits of Des Dolan of Go Video and the stunt that started it all.

Chapter 6 is devoted to Mary Whitehouse, who was a powerhouse of British moralism

in the 1970s and 80s. She campaigned relentlessly to see distributors prosecuted and

video nasty titles banned. Chapter 7 applies the AIDA model of marketing to the video

rental experience, which analyses the video cover artwork used to promote the video

nasties, artwork that moralists found so abhorrent and depraved. Chapter 8 presents

a detailed analysis and defense of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978), perhaps the most

notorious of all the video nasties. The analysis shows that some of the nasties were

misunderstood and unfairly treated by critics when compared with more polished

Hollywood releases. I begin by defining the term video nasty.

What is a video nasty?

I shall adopt the definition of a video nasty as defined in 2010 by Phelim O’Neill. The

definition appeared in the Guardian newspaper and suggests that

“In a nutshell, [a video nasty] was most likely to be a low-budget horror film,

produced in the US or Italy, that exploited the lack of a rigorous regulatory system

for how rental video cassettes were circulated in the UK… They were everywhere,

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and the most popular (thanks to some incredibly lurid and wonderfully provocative

cover artwork), and conspicuous were the horror films” (O'Neill 2010).

Describing the home entertainment market in 1980 O’Neill continues,

“The home video market had just exploded, almost everyone, in the space of a few

years, had a video recorder in their home and as far as retailers and distributors

were concerned, it was frontier territory. There was no censorship, classification or

regulation. Videos could be bought or rented from almost anywhere: newsagents,

garages, even butchers and barbers” (Ibid).

Video recorders went on sale in Britain in 1978 (Walker 2017, 631), and video content

remained unregulated until the passing of the VRA six years later (Walker 2017, 630).

Cinema releases were obliged to be submitted to the BBFC for censoring and

classification, but no such requirements were in place to police video content (Ibid).

This allowed distributors to release uncut versions of films that had previously been

heavily edited or even rejected by the censors. It also meant that a wave of violent

sexploitation and horror films that had not previously been submitted to the (BBFC)

could be rented from video rental stores up and down the UK. 72 of these titles were

listed by the DPP for obscenity and would become the infamous video nasties.

2. The Video Nasty era as moral panic: A theoretical approach.

This section applies a theoretical approach to the phenomenon of the video nasty

scare of the early 1980s and identifies it as a moral panic. Indeed, this entire paper

works towards identifying the major contributors and their motivations. This section

also serves as a brief chronology of the events that led to the enactment of the VRA

in 1984. The interaction and communication between moralists, public servants and

the press fueled a panic seen nowhere else in Western Europe in the early days of

home video entertainment. In his paper “Are We Insane?” The “Video Nasty” Moral

Panic (2012), Julian Petley ponders as to why Britain was the only EU country (except

for Éire) to introduce “wholesale state censorship” on the medium of home video

(Petley 2012, 35). Petley attempts to answer the question by presenting the notion of

a moral panic, and suggests that events prior to the enactment of the VRA

“need to be understood as a process of communication involving a defiance-

defining elite of politicians, moral entrepreneurs and censorious newspapers, a

process from which the public itself was largely absent” (Petley 2012, 35).

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Petley adopts Stanley Cohen’s (2002) definition of moral panic as a framework to

support his own thesis, that the video nasty scare in the early 1980s was the product

of an orchestrated and connected chain of events. He identifies examples of the

features that Cohen proposes in his definition. It shows that the British print media was

a significant contributor to the video nasty panic and the legislation that was passed to

combat its alleged attack on British morality.

In the third revised edition of his 1972 seminal work Folk Devils and Moral Panics

(2012), Stanley Cohen offers the following description of a moral panic.

“Societies appear to be subject, every now and then, to periods of moral panic. A

condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a

threat to societal values and interests; its nature is presented in a stylised and

stereotypical fashion by the mass media; the moral barricades are manned by

editors, bishops, politicians and other right-thinking people; socially accredited

experts pronounce their diagnoses and solutions; ways of coping are evolved or

(more often) resorted to; the condition then disappears, submerges or deteriorates

and becomes more visible. Sometimes the object of the panic is quite novel and at

other times it is something which has been in existence long enough, but suddenly

appears in the limelight. Sometimes the panic passes over and is forgotten, except

in folk-lore and collective memory; at other times it has more serious and long-

lasting repercussions and might produce such changes in legal and social policy

or even in the way society conceives itself” (Cohen 2002, 1).

Petley (2012), proceeds to show how events in the early 1980s follow the path mapped

out in Cohen’s lengthy description. The “threat to societal values and interests” during

the panic was uncensored home video, which grew rapidly in popularity from the end

of the 1970s (Kerekes & Slater 2000, 7). Video also posed a threat to TV and cinema,

as the British box office sold 15 million fewer tickets in 1981 than it had in 1980. Moral

guardians like the police and customs officers had for decades fought to keep the

violent and gory imagery available on home video out of Britain (Petley 2012, 37).

The next ingredient in Cohen’s recipe for moral panic is the mass media. The

Advertising Standards Authority received complaints about how video nasties were

being promoted as early as 1981 and the tabloid newspaper the Mail ran a story on

the 12th May 1982 titled The Secret Video Show, which informed the British public that

“children, well used to video recorders in school, are catching on to the fact that

their parents’ machine can give them the opportunity to watch the worst excesses

of cinema sex and violence” (Petley 2012, 38).

The British tabloids were fervent in their campaign to stir public opinion and its calls

“for statutory control of the new medium” (Ibid), while the more liberal papers were

strangely silent in denouncing censorship or in their defense of home video as a form

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of entertainment. The same article also provided the perfect platform for people who

were as Cohen describes, “manning the barricades”. A concerned teacher felt that

“video the gives children access to something that the parents may not be able to

control” (Ibid). The Sunday Times published a piece by Peter Chippendale titled How

High Street Horror is Invading the Home on the 23rd of May (Martin 2007,14). This was

the first time that the term “video nasty” appeared in print. In his article Chippendale

warned an unsuspecting British public that the graphic horror found in video nasties

was

“far removed from the suspense of the traditional horror film, dwelling on murder,

multiple rape, butchery, sado-masochism, mutilation of women, cannibalism and

Nazi atrocities” (McKenna 2016, 121).

Petley identifies Cohen’s “stylized and stereotypical fashion” in the way that specific

video nasty titles such as SNUFF (1976) and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) are described

in article” as “horrifyingly convincing” (Petley 2012, 39). Less than a week later, the

Express newspaper printed a story titled “This Poison Being Peddled as Home

‘Entertainment’”. The article follows Chippendale’s lead, and Petley also claims that it

also introduces the next ingredient; the “socially accredited experts”, in the form of the

BBFC. The full-page article informed its readers that Board were looking into the

possibility of introducing certifications for video releases (Ibid).

Petley locates Cohen’s “ways of coping” through the suggestion in the article that video

rental stores should adhere to the same control as sex shops, meaning that they would

have to be granted a license from local councils. The Obscene Publication’s Squad’s

way of dealing with the video nasty attack was to seize a copy of SS EXPERIMENT CAMP

(1976) and send it to the DPP in a combined effort to bring prosecution charges against

the film’s distributors under provisions of the Obscene Publications Act (Petley 2012,

39-40). Prosecutions were successful, but only under section 3 of the OPA which

meant that those found guilty received hefty fines. The police had hoped that the DPP

would evoke section 2 of the act, meaning that successful prosecutions would lead to

lengthy prison sentences (Petley 2012, 57). Someone else manning the barricades

was “moral entrepreneur” Mary Whitehouse. She became a regular feature in tabloid

articles and openly called for the firing of the DPP because of his initial tepid response

to the threat of the video nasties. With ever more articles appearing in the papers, the

DPP reconsidered, and decided that the films could be prosecuted under section 2,

leading to nationwide seizures and prosecution proceedings. These decisions and

events are identified by Petley as the “extension of the law”, as laid out in Cohen’s

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roadmap to moral panic. Petley also opines that by prosecuting the films under Section

2 of the OPA, after originally prosecuting distributors under Section 3 demonstrates

the factor of “escalation” that Cohen lists in his definition. Such escalation needs to be

justified, and this was achieved in the same way that Cohen had observed during the

Mods and Rockers clashes in the 1960s. The press escalated the panic through its

rhetoric of exaggeration and continuous negative depiction of subcultures (Cohen

2002, 67).

Taking the public’s voice.

Petley contends that the position taken by the press; that they represented the opinions

and concerns of the public was never validated through research. Indeed, the findings

of some surveys that were conducted at the time of the panic would seem to indicate

that the views and demands made by journalists did not reflect public opinion. 92% of

those questioned in a MORI poll in 1983 admitted that “they had never been offended

by the contents of a pre-recorded video cassette”, while a later poll in early 1984

unearthed that 65% of respondents “were opposed to the government deciding which

videos were available for home viewing” (Petley 2002, 53). The British press laid claim

to knowing and representing the mood, opinions and fears of the public during the

video nasty era, a coup that Hall et al. (1978) equates to “taking the public voice”.

Assuming such a position then allowed the press to further its own agenda under the

guise of mirroring public sentiment (Hall et al. 1978, 63). The opinions presented by

the press jolted politicians into action and adopt such opinions as their own (Petley

2012 ,54). Politically driven events do not always require public support, as was proven

by events in 1983 and the uninhibited passing of the Video Recordings Bill through the

British House of Commons. The bill had been proposed by an unknown backbench

MP by the name of Graham Bright. The British public did not call to be heard or that

their demands be met, like the press or evangelical moralists. The public, as Ericson

et al. (1987) suggests, did not belong to Cohen’s “deviance-defining elite”, and could

only follow events as they were reported in the media (Ericson et al 1987, 351). The

British public and its opinions were not given any true agency during the panic, and

even they had, there was no real paths of discourse or forums for debate. The TV

debates that pitted defenders of the video nasties and anti-censorship sensitivities like

Martin Barker against moral opportunists like Mary Whitehouse or Malcolm

Muggeridge only served to give the media savvy moralists a platform to bash and

accuse their articulate opponents of being evil and depraved. The VRA completes

Cohen’s checklist as it exemplifies a “changes in legal policy”.

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Based on Cohen’s definition and Petley’s observations, one could argue that the

legislation that was introduced to censor home video in 1984 was the result of a moral

panic, which was realized through the combined efforts of moralists, the media and

politicians. The following chapter will identify and examine historical examples of the

same phenomena. This will unearth aspects of British society and culture.

3. British censorship: Historical repetition

This chapter charts notable and relevant examples of mass entertainment media

censorship in Britain through the ages. In doing so, I hope to expose recurring themes

and opinions that can help to explain the reactions of British politicians and moralists

during the video nasty panic of the 1980s. The examples will illustrate how the class

system that has existed in Britain for many hundreds of years has nurtured a belief that

those in positions of wealth and power are the right people to oversee and dictate how

the lower and poorer classes entertained and distracted themselves. It will also show

how moral panics have been used on numerous occasions in Britain to further

conservative interests.

There have been numerous occasions throughout British history where the so-called

establishment have sought to censor and control the paths of access and consumption

of entertainment to uneducated and working-class people. The wealthy and powerful

felt that these social groups would be depraved or corrupted from exposure to content

of a sexual, violent or rebellious nature, while they would remain immune. The specific

demographics most traditionally cited as those most under threat have been women

and the young. Politicians and wealthy influencers have repeatedly positioned

themselves as pillars of morality and have censored how and even if the working

classes have entertained themselves. As Enid Wistrich (1978) writes

“The desire to control the entertainment of the young, the poor, and those thought

to be socially inferior (including women) has been persistently strong over the

centuries” (Wistrich 1978, 9).

In the 1690s, the founders and members of the Societies for the Reformation of

Manners were concerned with the increase of lewd and disorderly behaviour as well

as profanity among the young and poor people of London. They sought to stem the

trend by bringing offenders before magistrates on the charge of breaking the Sabbath

laws (Roberts 1983, 160). The notion of executive government was still unpopular in

England at the time, as most Englishmen viewed such systems of government as

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tyrannical. This led to establishment of small and Independent policing groups and

evangelical societies who took it upon themselves to police the poor and

impressionable (Ibid). A later example of such an independent policing force is the

Proclamation Society which was founded by William Wilberforce. Wilberforce, who a

popular politician at the time, managed to convince King George III to issue a Royal

Proclamation in 1787 which carried the title of For the Encouragement of Piety and

Virtue, and for the Preventing and Punishing of Vice, Profaneness and Immorality. The

proclamation called for the suppression of all

“loose and licentious prints, books, and publications, dispersing poison to the

minds of the young and unwary and to punish the publishers and vendors thereof”.

With the King’s blessing, Wilberforce and other society members went about enacting

the royal decree. The society was deeply concerned with the way in which the “lower

classes” were neglecting and disrespecting the Sabbath. Sundays were the only days

that most working-class people did not have to work, and many partook in leisure

activities and behaviour that was unacceptable to evangelicals. Charges were brought

against people on the grounds of disrespecting the Lord’s day (Ibid).

The 1780s witnessed the birth and immediate popularity of a new form of

entertainment, the Sunday newspaper. Wilberforce and his evangelical followers were

opposed to such publications being made available on the Sabbath and sought to

control the content. They were fearful that immoral content would corrupt a population

that was slowly becoming more literate. One way in which the society hoped to curtail

the dissemination of ideas was to prosecute the publisher of Thomas Paine’s Age of

Reason (1794), under the conditions of the Royal Proclamation. The legal proceedings

were intended to act as a warning to anyone who felt inspired by Paine’s arguments.

The book that was addressed to the proletariat of Britain questioned and attacked the

notion of institutionalized Christianity (Roberts 1983, 161). These moral groups and

societies had no legal authority to destroy books and were also met with varying forms

of resistance from entrepreneurs who were making money supplying content to

emerging markets, like female and younger readers.

From the beginning of the 19th century, The Society for the Suppression of Vice also

sought to rid British society of vice and to

“check the spread of open vice and immorality, and more especially to preserve

the minds of the young from contamination by exposure to the corrupting influence

of impure and licentious books, prints, and other publications” (Roberts 1983, 160).

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It claimed the existence of “a truth too evident to be denied ... that vice has of late

advanced upon us with almost unexampled rapidity” (Ibid). The society was founded

by William Wilberforce and other evangelical leaders in 1802 (Roberts 1983, 159).

Wilberforce successfully initiated over 620 prosecution proceedings in the first year of

the society’s existence. Most of the prosecutions included charges brought against

younger people and actions that ignored or contravened Sabbath laws. The list of vile

behaviour included bathing while naked, the possession of obscene pictures,

frequenting or performing as a fair entertainer and dancing (Thompson 1968, 442).

The society continued to grow in membership over the next couple of years and

boasted a membership of over 1,200 concerned and influential members by the end of

1804 (Roberts 1983, 163).

3.1 The troubled birth of cinema

The birth of cinema in the United States induced reactions and events that were

remarkably similar to those of the video nasty era and the birth of home video

entertainment. Evangelicals for the medium to be heavily censored and even banned.

The accessibility of cinema to the lower classes, and the location of consumption was

also of concern to moralists (Lewis 2008, 24).

Some of the earliest motion pictures caused members of the wealthy white protestant

class serious worry, including Thomas Edison’s DOROLITA’S PASSION DANCE (1894).

Numerous complaints and consistent pressure finally led to the film’s withdrawal from

public exhibition in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a popular entertainment destination

among the working class at the turn of the 20th century. The main cause for the

concern was the potential influence of questionable film content on simple and

uneducated folk. It was feared that any depictions of crime might lead to mimicry, and

that any violent or erotic content might corrupt or debase the weak-minded and poor.

Cinema was from its earliest days very popular with the lower classes, as it offered an

escape from the drudgery of hard work and everyday life. Film producers and exhibitors

were keen to tap into this potentially huge market. The growth and popularity of cinema

relied on its continued appeal to the proletariat, which included many thousands of

immigrants who flocked to marvel at and experience the technological wonder of

cinema (Lewis 2008, 25). Going to the movies was not expensive and the cinema was

the natural successor to the music halls and cabarets, as people were free to express

their emotions with boisterous laughter and sobbing tears. This was a stark contrast to

the decorum and etiquette expected in opera halls and at dinner parties. Many newly

9

arrived immigrants were not able to speak English, and numerous others were illiterate.

This, however, but this was not an issue, as the storytelling and acting styles in early

cinema were easy to follow and understand, making cinema accessible.

As recorded by the increase in video recorder ownership and video rental market in

Britain from the late 1970s (Walker 2017, 631), it was also the speed at which the

recreational activity of cinema was becoming so popular and widespread with

audiences that drove fear into the hearts of politicians and the wealthy elite. Another

similarity between the would-be censors of the 1890s and the real censors in the 1980s

was in the way they feared that the stylized depiction of crime, violence, and passion

in films was forging subliminal connections between “commercial leisure and antisocial

behaviour” (Ibid). They felt that the exposure of violent and lurid content in relaxed

surroundings would encourage spectators to emulate and repeat the behaviour they

were exposed to on-screen. The controversy that erupted over Edison’s THE KISS

(1896) is worth mentioning, as the protests and disdain it garnered from moralists only

served to make the film even more popular with audiences, eager to see what all the

fuss was about. Some called for the film, and indeed cinema itself to be banned,

prolonging the film’s run for well over a year. This introduced exhibitors to the notion

that protests and panic, if properly channeled, might serve to successfully market films

to wider audiences and increase box office returns. This tactic was employed by video

distributors in the 1980s, as much time was spent creating gory and horrifying video

covers to be displayed on rental shelves.

Moralists were also very concerned in how and where the medium of cinema was being

consumed, particularly among the poor and working class. They were worried by what

Lewis calls the “theatrical-film experience”. (Lewis 2008, 25). Cinemas were public

spaces, yet these darkened arenas afforded people the opportunity and anonymity to

express their emotions communally as a group laughing loudly at physical comedy, or

more intimately in pairs. Taking a date to the cinema became popular among teenagers

and single adults, as it provided an intimate and somehow private environment, which

facilitated amorous activities. Such romantic maneuvers could be triggered by erotic

imagery on the movie screen (Ibid). This fear was mirrored during the video nasty panic

in the 1980s, as the location of consumption became central to the video nasty scare,

only now the location was the living room. Moralists were scared not only that children

may have access to such lurid material, but that the home would provide an

impenetrable environment that could not be controlled or monitored by the state.

10

The Well of Loneliness 1928

Women were seen to be in great danger of becoming sexually depraved in 1928 when

copies of The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall were destroyed by magistrates after

the book had been successfully prosecuted. The book had already received several

damming reviews from noted critics, including one in the Sunday Express by the self-

proclaimed purist James Douglas which carried the title “A Book That Must be

Suppressed”. Shortly thereafter, Hall and her work were dragged before the magistrate

on grounds of obscenity (Seekford 2016). This mirrors what happened to video

distributors in the 1980s after the British tabloid media’s constant berating. Headlines

called for video nasties to be banned, leading politicians to take note and align

themselves with campaigners and moralists in ridding Britain of what they considered

to be potentially corruptive content.

Literature in the 1930s was strictly monitored throughout the 1930s, and the censorship

of references of a sexual nature “was pervasive” (Ibid). Lawmakers and censors quickly

played down the news when an ornately bound edition of James Joyce’s sexually

riddled masterpiece Ulysses was discovered among the papers of a Lord Chancellor,

while trustees were bringing his estate in order (Ibid). This illustrates the consistent

opinion held by the elite; that it is necessary that they view potentially corrupting

content to judge upon it, yet there is no fear that they might be affected by it because

of their education and class. It is only the working classes and the poor that must be

protected from depraved content.

Fig. 1: Douglas’ column calling for The Well of Loneliness to be banned. (19th Aug. 1928).1

3.2 Lady Chatterley’s lover

Literature was again the battlefield in 1960 during the Lady Chatterley trial. Robertson

(2010) opines that the Lady Chatterley trial was the

11

“first symbolic moral battle between the humanitarian force of English liberalism

and the dead hand of those described by George Orwell as ‘the stripped-treasured

ones who rule’” (Robertson 2010).

In 1959, owing to the vigorous efforts of campaigners such as the Society of Authors,

the British Parliament passed an updated version of the original Obscene Publications

Act of 1857, with included a preamble that promised to "to provide for the protection of

literature and to strengthen the law concerning pornography". This protection and

promise was obviously lost on Reginald Manningham-Buller, who was the attorney

general in 1960. Having read the opening chapters of Lady Chatterley's Lover,

Manningham-Buller wrote to the DPP urging the director to prosecute Penguin Books

for printing the work. In his letter he included the sentence "I hope you get a conviction"

(Robertson 2010).

The prosecution’s files were made public years later, and they revealed that the main

reason why the publisher was being prosecuted was because of the price of the book.

Penguin had decided to charge 3 shillings and six pence for an unexpurgated copy of

the book. The same amount would have bought a box of 10 cigarettes at the time,

meaning that working class women, keen to see what all the commotion was about

could afford their own copy. Politicians and the wealthy upper classes were ardent in

their resolve to keep such pornographic filth off British bookshelves. Renting a video

was also not expensive in the 1980s. Titles could be rented for between £2 to £4 per

night (Petley 2011, 18), making them affordable to the working class, single women,

the unemployed, and most worryingly for moral guardians, children.

Before the Lady Chatterley case, publishers had been vulnerable, and publishing

books that were deemed to have a "tendency to deprave and corrupt those whose

minds are open to such immoral influences" could result in custodial sentences for

publishers. Robertson describes how

“Literary standards were set at what was deemed acceptable reading for 14-year-old

schoolgirls – whether or not they could, or would want to, read it” (Robertson 2010).

Britons had to travel to Amsterdam or Paris up to the end of the 1950s if they wanted

to acquire unexpurgated copies of books by internationally renowned authors such as

Cyril Connolly or Henry Miller, while the sexually enlightening Kinsey Report was

seized by British police before it could be gorged upon by easily impressionable women

and feebly minded young men (Robertson 2010).

12

Fig. 2: Unexpurgated 1960 edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover costing 3’6.2

The crown was not intending to hold back during the Lady Chatterley case, and

prosecutors were so arrogant as to ask the all-male jury if they would be happy if their

young children, wives or even their servants were to read the book (Wistrich 1978, 9).

The exact wording used by the crown’s barristers was

“You may think that one of the best ways you can test this book….is to ask yourself

the question…would you approve of your young sons, young daughters – because

girls can read as well as boys – reading this book. Is it a book that you wish your

wife or your servants to read?” (Rolph 1961, 17).

This question is a product of its age, and in British society’s perception of young

women. It also exhibits once again the infatuation of a ruling establishment in its

concern for the moral well-being of the nation’s youth and female contingent. It also

exposes concerns in relation to the working classes gaining access to Lawrence’s

infamous book. The ruling classes were yet again completely convinced that the young,

female and servile class would not be able to process and consume the sexually

explicit content that Lawrence had penned.

The British prosecutors ignored signs that opinions were changing in their stubborn

attempt to keep the book out of Britain. A year before the British trial, an appeals court

in New York had overturned a ban on Lawrence’s book with the explanation that the

book was a work of literary merit and had been written with "a power and tenderness

which was compelling" which also justified the authors decision to include profanity in

describing sexual acts. The prosecution was sure that the inclusion of such for letter

words would tilt the case in their favour. They were sure that a jury made up of 12 God-

fearing, middle-class men would disapprove of such depraved and lurid passages. To

observe transparency, the prosecution requested that a clerk from the DPP should

comb the book and note all examples of swear words. Having acquired the list, the

13

prosecution read it aloud for all to hear during its opening arguments. The prosecuting

barrister noted that

“The word 'fuck' or 'fucking' appears no less than 30 times . . . 'cunt' 14 times; 'balls'

13 times; 'shit' and 'arse' six times apiece; 'cock' four times; 'piss' three times, and

so on.” (Robertson 2010).

Considering the unshakeable evidence that the prosecution was only too willing to

present to the jury, one might wonder how the defendants were finally acquitted. The

new Obscene Publications Act (1959) retained its sensitivity in relation to a book’s

"tendency to deprave and corrupt” but the updated act called for literary works to be

judged “taken as a whole”. Books were no longer to be judged on isolated words or

even lengthy passages. Juries were also to consider the likely audience that a book

might attract, and not the 14-year old girls who had been the industry standard up to

that point. The new act also included a section that provided that even if a book was

deemed by a jury to have corruptive potential, it could still acquit if it believed that the

work "is justified in the interests of science, literature, art and learning or any other

object of general concern". In a lame attempt to explain how the prosecution had lost

the case attorney general Manningham-Buller claimed that lead prosecutor Mervyn

Griffith-Jones had not wanted to sink to the level of the defence and exchange "bishop

for bishop and don for don", but this was far from the truth. The Crown’s prosecutors

had combed British literary circles but couldn’t find anyone willing to testify and support

the cause to see the book banned, while writers were lining up for the defence such as

Helen Gardner from Oxford University, who informed the court that in her humble

opinion “the book was the work of a writer of genius and complete integrity” (Robertson

2010).

As with the video nasties and other case brought against literary or dramatic works, it

was affluent and middle-class lawmakers who were debating over the value and merit

of artistic works, not artists or experts in literary criticism. These white men had

controlled how the working class could entertain themselves for centuries and were

not about to let go of such power. The establishment were not interested in the talent

and craft that Lawrence had woven into the pages of his book, they were merely

concerned with the harmful potential of the book to British social order. Robertson is

adamant that Griffith-Jones’ question to the male members of the jury about how they

would feel if their wives or savants were to read the book was posed “rhetorically and

with utter sincerity” (Robertson 2010). The British middle and upper classes were not

14

about to stand by as a book that was easily available to working class women spread

the notion of romantic and sexual relations between men and women of different class.

Before allowing the jury to retire and consider all the evidence and testimony Justice

Byrne, as the custodian of moral virtue urged the members to consider whether the

work "portrays the life of an immoral woman". He also asked the jury to consider the

meaning of "lawful marriage in a Christian country” and to reflect that "the gamekeeper,

incidentally, had a wife also”. The jury deliberated over the book as a whole, and the

publisher was acquitted.

The verdict was as Robertson claims a “victory for moral relativism and sexual

tolerance, as well as for literary freedom” (Robertson 2010). The trial also backfired in

that the media attention and controversy ensured that curious readers would be lining

up to get their copy. In the three months after the trial three million paperback copies

of the book were sold in Britain. The state’s failed attempt to punish Penguin and ban

the book only served to ensure the book’s commercial success, having survived

prosecution charges. When the impending ban of certain video nasty titles was

rumoured, hordes of horror fans rushed to video stores to find out what was so terrible

in the eyes of the state and judge for themselves. The Lady Chatterley verdict came at

a time when attitudes were slowly changing in Britain. Sexual expression and

experimentation were embraced by artists, writers and filmmakers, and profanity and

the vernacular became more common in cinema and even on the BBC. People looking

to divorce were no longer obliged to provide proof of adultery. Britain, and particularly

London would soon become home to the swinging sixties, where all kinds of

experimentation, fashions and entertainment would be on offer to all. Labelled

permissive and morally polluted by evangelical organizations such as the Festival of

Light, the liberalism, anti-war sentiment and egalitarian beliefs that were widely shared

in the 1960s would trigger a reactionary wave of conservativism in the 1970s and

1980s, where the old establishment sought to re-establish moral order and decency.

The OZ trial of 1971

The events surrounding the trial brought against the chief editors of Oz magazine are

also worth mentioning as they show that children were yet again the hair that broke the

camel’s back, and the trigger for moral panic induced by the British ruling

establishment. Originally founded by Richard Neville while studying at university in

Australia (Brown 2017), the underground and counterculture publication Oz went on

15

sale in Britain in February 1967. The magazine became notorious after the uproar and

trail following the release of the Oz 'School Kids Issue' in 1971 (British Library 2019).

The editors came up with the idea of allowing teenagers to assume editorial

responsibility for one of the magazines issues. They wanted to see what interested

young people at the start of the 1970s and hoped that the stunt would attract some

media attention and new readers. Go Media devised a similar stunt in 1980 when Des

Dolan sent a VHS copy of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) to evangelical campaigner

Mary Whitehouse with a fake letter of complaint. The result of that prank kickstarted

the video nasty scare and resulted in the passing of the Video Recordings Act in 1984.

Fig. 3: Editors posing with Issue 28, London, 1970.3

In an open invitation where the editors promised that ‘you will enjoy almost complete

editorial freedom. Oz belongs to you’, twenty teenagers, all under 18, were given total

editorial freedom on issue 28, which was released in May of 1970 (Brown 2017). The

content of the issue reflected the views of Britain’s youth and the articles and artwork

focused on topics of political hypocrisy, drug use and addiction, sexuality and sexual

freedom, employment, music, punishment, and education (British Library 2019).

The issue’s release led to Oz’s London offices being raided by the Obscene

Publications Squad. All copies were seized, and the editors were arrested and charged

under the provisions of the Obscene Publications Act with obscenity and conspiring to

'debauch and corrupt the morals of young children'. During the longest obscenity trial

in British history, the prosecution focused on the cover of the magazine, and a comic

strip that had been created by a 15-year old contributor. The cover image was a

drawing by Raymond Bertrand, depicting naked lesbian women, which appalled Judge

Argyle. The comic strip depicted the much-loved British cartoon icon Rupert the Bear

sexually assaulting an old granny. The cartoon had been originally drawn by

underground legend Robert Crumb with the head of Rupert the Bear being substituted

for the British release (Brown 2017).

16

Fig. 4: The cover of Oz, issue 28.4 Rupert ravages the Gypsy Granny.5

The defendants were not convicted of conspiring to corrupt, but the three were all

convicted for having published obscene articles and for having sent obscene articles

by British post. Neville, as founder of the magazine was given a 15-month sentence

and Judge Michael Argyle believed Neville should be deported back to Australia after

serving his sentence. The verdict was met with protests from anti-censorship

campaigners and overturned on appeal after it was alleged that Judge Argyle had

misled the jury on no fewer than 78 occasions (Brown 2017). The stunt helped

circulation of Oz to rise to almost 80,000 copies, a huge number for an underground

counterculture magazine in the early 1970s or indeed any time, but this had been

achieved at a high cost. Moral crusader Mary Whitehouse was so incensed by Issue

28 of Oz, that she took the unusual step of taking a copy of the School Kids Issue to

the Vatican, to discuss the matter with the Pope (Ibid). My research was unable to find

and written documentation on the Pope’s opinion of the magazine.

Commenting on the trial in 2017, Geoffrey Marsh, who is the director of the Department

of Theatre and Performance at the Victoria & Albert museum claimed that

‘The Oz trial marks the last time that the state threw the full weight of the obscenity

laws against an artistic enterprise,’ and that ‘It really marks the end of that era of the

Establishment knowing what was best for you.’ (Marsh cited in Brown 2017).

I would argue that Marsh has overlooked the events that surrounded the video nasties

panic in the early 80s, where the tabloid media were instrumental in whipping up a

moral panic, where police regularly raided and confiscated VHS films, and where the

DPP successfully prosecuted film distributors under the provisions of the OPA for

simply providing poorly made horror films to the British public, resulting in hefty fines

and custodial sentences. The events surrounding the Oz trial illustrate how the British

establishment rallied to suppress the freedom of speech and expression among young

people. It sought to erase any trace of sexual deviance from the public arena and saw

itself as the protector of people who could not be allowed to be exposed to such

17

incendiary content. The jailed editors later claimed that they felt that the trial had been

politically motivated and had more to do with the magazines anti-Vietnam stance and

opinions relating to psychedelic drug (Brown 2017). As with the video nasty scare, it

was the distributors that were targeted and successfully prosecuted.

Theatres Act 1968. “Literacy is not required for comprehension”

Writing in 1978, Enid Wistrich believed that although the medium of film was not

socially exclusive, it was still looked down upon by many as an artform in Britain. It was

viewed as the poor relative of opera and theatre, artistic mediums with long and

colourful histories (Wistrich 1978, 7). As a nation and society, Britain has always been

obsessed with class and hierarchy. Wistrich notes that for many middle- and upper-

class Britons, theatre, as an artform and experience, needed to be appreciated and

studied, while film was cheap fodder, appealing to the working-class masses (Ibid).

Playwrights were aware of the appeal and competitive potential of cinema. Gifted and

visionary filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo

Antonioni, Ken Russell and Alfred Hitchcock to name but only a few, had shown by the

late 1960s that film could be exploited through image and sound to weave aesthetically

beautiful and emotionally jarring narratives that were appreciated by critics and

audiences that were slowly becoming more cineliterate. In response, and to the credit

and power of film, playwrights began to experiment in all areas of theatre to “confront

and involve their audiences by various techniques” (Wistrich 1978, 7).

Theatre was granted a massive reprieve in 1968 with the passing into law of the

Theatres Act (1968), which put an end to all prior theatre censorship virtually overnight.

The contents of the act led to the redundancy of the Office of the Lord Chamberlain,

which had been hitherto charged with the duty of censoring plays and theatrical works

since the 16th century. The act coated the theatre with a glaze of immunity, as private

persons could no longer bring liable action against a playwright or playhouse on the

grounds of obscenity or impropriety (Wistrich 1978, 8). From now on, only the Attorney

General could initiate proceedings, and the final decision was placed in the democratic

lap of a jury, on whether they believed a theatrical work to have the potential to

“deprave or corrupt” (Ibid) The act had been passed Wistrich claims because “theatre

had become accepted in establishment circles as a respected artistic medium”.

Peerages and titles were dispensed to theatre actors at the time in Britain with alarming

ease and regularity. Producers once considered to be shady and greedy entrepreneurs

were the toast of socialite parties. As with all proposed bills, a parliamentary committee

18

was summoned to investigate its plausibility and merit. During its investigations, the

committee found that the respected British establishment, including the Archbishop of

Canterbury and the Arts Council had no objections whatsoever to the bill. These

institutions believed that owing to the urban location of theaters and the inherent cost

patronizing the theatre, most of those attending the theatre were middle class. The

theatre could be freed from the shackles of censorship as its audience was refined,

adult, and educated. Urbanite theatre goers could be trusted to consume theatrical

entertainment and not be corrupted by the images and narratives on stage. (Ibid). The

same opinion was not held about the audiences that cinema attracted to its doors. The

uneducated masses could should be exposed to overtly sexual or violent content, as

they would not be able to digest such content, running the risk of depravity or repetition.

Similar worries would be voiced in the corridors of power and influence during the video

nasty panic. Cinema, comic books and home video were so popular and easily

accessible to working class audiences immediately after their introduction that it led

deviance defining voices in British society to call for the mediums to be censored and

even banned. Before the Theatres Act, playwrights had often been embroiled in long

and heated discussions at the Lord Chamberlain’s Office as to the amount of bad

language or naked flesh that could be included in their works (Wistrich 1978, 15).

Wistrich recalls that the British stage was not swamped in sex or profanity after the

passing of the act (Ibid).

3.3 The same rules do not apply.

Here, I show how unfairly cinema was treated when compared with other art forms

such as literature and theatre. Film versions of successful stage musicals and books

were regularly ridiculed and banned, which would seem to support the argument of the

power of cinema, but also in the way that the elite establishment sought to hinder the

growth of an artform that not only threatened the future of culturally robust forms of

entertainment such as theatre, but in how the cultured elite looked down upon cinema

as inferior and working-class distraction. It also shows that British lawmakers were

accustomed to treating entertainment media quite differently by the time of the video

nasty panic. After the VRA was enacted in1984, both cinema and video content had to

submitted to the BBFC for censoring and classification. The classifications awarded to

video content carried “legal force”, making it a criminal offence to supply video titles to

people under the age of the film’s classification. There were an estimated 3,400

convictions relating to VRA infringements between 1984 and 2007 (Petley 2012,36).

19

British dramatist Kenneth Tynan wrote Oh! Calcutta! in 1968, where it debuted on

Broadway, and opened in London a year later. The work is a collection of sexually

charged comedic sketches and has enjoyed prolific runs and revivals in Britain and in

the United States since the 1970s. The play’s popularity stemmed from Tynan’s

humorous treatment of sex (Wistrich 1978, 37). The sketches poke fun at the wave of

interest and research into sexual behaviour, sexual fantasies and fetishes. Men and

women appear nude at various stages throughout the play and as Wistrich notes, “it

was one of the few films we saw which put men and women on an equal footing in the

sex relationship” (Ibid). I would argue that part of the reason why the film version of the

work was banned was not because of the nudity, but because the film promoted the

notion that men and women were equal in matters relating to sex. The unusual title

was inspired by Clovis Trouville’s painting "Oh Calcutta, Calcutta!", which depicts a

nude woman from behind. The title is a pun on the French “oh quel cul t'as" which

translates in English to "oh what a lovely arse you have" (see fig.5). Owing to the

success of the stage version, producers inevitably decided to release the work as a

film.

Not adverse to saving money on production costs, the producers decided to simply

record a stage performance for the cinema release. After some minor editing delays,

the film version of Oh! Calcutta! was submitted to the BBFC, who subsequently banned

the film (BBFC). The stage show was protected from censorship by the Theatres Act,

while the film, which was nothing more than a filmed stage performance was deemed

to have the potential to corrupt. (Wistrich 1978 10).

The sacrosanct institutions that had welcomed the passing of the Theatres Act in 1968,

had done so with the conviction that theatre was consumed by refined and educated

urbanite audiences that would not be easily corrupted by risky material. The reality was

however, that coachloads of fans from all over the country travelled to see the famously

saucy revue, particularly from smaller towns and rural areas. These same fans could

not enjoy Oh! Calcutta! on film at their local cinema (Wistrich 1978 10).

Fig. 5: Oh! Calcutta! Calcutta! Clovis Touville (1960).6 Oh! Calcutta! stage cast (1969).7

20

Works of erotic literature also have fared better than their cinematic versions. Anne

Desclos’ Story of O (1954), had been condemned by religious moralists for its erotic

content, but the book was freely available in Britain in print after opinions and laws had

become more relaxed in the 1960s, particularly after the Lady Chatterley verdict in

1960. Fans of the work had to wait for over 20 years for a film adaptation which came

out in 1975. The film was immediately banned by the BBFC, although the celluloid

version was far tamer than Declos’ novel in its allusions to the sexual act.

Attempts were made to prosecute Linda Lovelace’s book Inside Linda Lovelace (1974)

in 1976, under the provisions of the updated Obscene Publications Act (1959), but the

charges were dropped as the jury decided that the book, when considered “as a whole

work” did not possess the ability to deprave and corrupt (Utley 2002). The film

adaptation of the book DEEP THROAT (1972) which would go on to gross over $400

million worldwide (Ibid), was never submitted to the BBFC, as it never made it to British

shores. British customs officers prevented the film from entering Britain under their

powers to prevent the import of “indecent articles” to Britain (Wistrich 1978, 10). Some

copies of the film did manage to make their way into the country and were shown at

private screen shows. Charges were brought against a chain of London clubs known

to be exhibiting the film, but the all-male jury decided to acquit the club owners (Wistrich

1978, 49).

Up until the mid-1970s, British lawmakers did not consider the Obscene Publications

Act of 1959 or the Theatres act of 1968 applicable to film, except for those films

exhibited in “private houses” (Wistrich 1978, 18-19). Numerous attempts to prosecute

some critically acclaimed films had failed in the early 1970s, including proceeding

brought against BLOW UP (1966) and LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972) under the Vagrancy

Act and the OPA. From the mid-70s, owing to pressure, cinema was deemed to fall

under the remit of the (OPA) “but the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions is

required before actions can be taken” (Ibid). This reading of the law would soon have

far reaching ramifications for the home video entertainment industry in the early 1980s,

with an over ambitious DPP prosecuting numerous video nasties.

Cinematograph and Indecent Display Bill 1973

The Cinematograph and Indecent Display Bill was presented to Parliament in 1973.

The bill’s backers sought to bring cinema clubs under the jurisdiction and control of

local councils. Cinema clubs were exempt from cinema censorship and this created a

21

loophole where commercially run cinema clubs could function as sex cinemas in

Britain. The bill failed to pass. Prostitution and its related establishments and services

were tolerated far more by the establishment than permissiveness and promiscuity.

Seedy sex cinemas were acceptable while “sexually frank films” or sexual satire

intended for general audiences were not (Wistrich 1978, 19). This episode shows that

moralists were already looking to affect legal change in their quest to control

entertainment media content.

4. Video Violence and Children report

If there is one incident that exemplifies the dogged determination of moralist

conservatives in getting legislation passed to facilitate the banning of the video nasties

from rental store shelves and British living rooms, it is that of the actions of the

Parliamentary Group Video Enquiry (PGVE), and the release of the Video Violence

and Children Report in late 1983. Politicians colluded with theologians and other

influential members of British society to commit theft and fraud, and presented

contrived findings to the media, parliament and British public, which was instrumental

in pushing Graham Bright’s Video Recordings Bill through the House of Commons and

onto the statute books. Bright’s bill became the Video Recordings Act (1984), requiring

all future video material to be submitted to the BBFC for classification and censorship.

It was the legislation that enabled the BBFC to place a ban on 39 films, films that would

be collectively remembered as the video nasties.

In a 1983 TV interview, while highlighting yet again his abhorrence for gruesome and

gory horror films and his intentions to put forward a bill intended to regulate video

entertainment, Graham Bright MP uttered the following bewildering statement;

“I believe that research is taking place and it will show that these films not only

affect young people, but I believe that they affect dogs as well” (Graham Bright

quoted in West 2010, my emphasis).

It is remarkable and highly questionable that the right honorable member for Luton

South should have known the outcome of the research months before the findings

were released, yet his keen interest in seeking to protect the moral fiber of the British

canine population is appreciated. The research Bright was referring to would be

released later that year in the form of a rushed and hushed report titled Video Violence

and Children (Brown 1984, 69). The timing of the report’s release was hurried to

coincide with the committee stage of MP Graham Bright’s private member’s Video

Recordings Bill, which sought to censor and outlaw video nasties, scheduled for the

22

23rd of November 1983 (Brown 1984, 77). The report was published on time, but the

data on which the report was based had not been evaluated by the researchers that

were originally assigned with the task (Murdock 1984, 58). They had been retroactively

dismissed by a hastily appointed Executive the day before the report’s release (Brown

1984, 82).

The enquiry behind the report was comprised of Conservative and Labour MPs, as

well as several influential moral activists that collectively called themselves the

Parliamentary Group Video Enquiry (PGVE), which was chaired by Lord Nugent and

Viscount Ingleby. This impressively titled and entitled ensemble was however, run by

the outspoken Christian theologian Dr. Clifford Hill, who was well known in academic

circles for his research on race and the church. The panel included octogenarian lords

and ladies, including Lady Watherston, head of the Order for Christian Unity, Raymond

Johnston, the parliamentary research Director of CARE campaigns, (formerly the

Nationwide Festival of Light) and Tim Sainsbury MP, the heir to the Sainsburys

Supermarket fortune (ibid). This homogeneous group, with their official sounding title

and far reaching influence, had however, no official status or mandate whatsoever

(Brown 1984, 86). The group used numerous tricks to give the impression that they

were an official entity. MPs and Lords had privy access to parliamentary offices and

the self-appointed enquiry held their meetings and press conferences in government

buildings which meant that they came with the apparent imprimatur of a parliamentary

body.

On the 30th of June 1983, the PGVE commissioned Brian Brown and his research

team to conduct empirical research into the effects of video nasties on young people

(Brown 1984, 72). The decision was taken after an initial and unofficial meeting

between Brown and enquiry members on the 27th of June. The short three-day interim

period between his de facto interview and appointment highlight the speed and

urgency of the undertaking.

Brown, a Methodist minister, had already been investigating the effects of television

on young people and their education at the Television Research Unit (TRU) at Oxford

Polytechnic, which qualified him ably for the task. Although hesitant, Brown accepted

the commission. He had been reluctant owing to statements that were thrown around

by members of the enquiry at the initial meeting on the 27th of June, which was held

at the House of Lords. Brown had received an invitation letter, from which he

understood he was to represent the Methodist Church at the meeting. The letter of

23

invitation also informed Brown that Dr. Hill “was seeking to gather a group of

academics, not enthusiasts, to engage in a serious study of the problem of video

nasties and children” Brown 1984, 69). Dr Hill may have originally sought to “engage

in serious study” but his later actions and methods would test the meaning of the word

engage and cast serious doubt as to the reliability and transparency of the data and

its findings.

During the meeting Dr. Hill informed the enquiry that he had called for the meeting in

light of conversations he had had with concerned members of the public and senior

police officers. The officers had “brought to his attention the problem of the availability

of video nasties” and were “pressing for action against these ‘horrific’ ‘dreadful’ videos

(Ibid). After Hill’s opening statements, one enquiry member alluded to “an urgent and

growing social threat” while another claimed to have access to “police evidence of the

damaging effects of video nasties upon children” (Ibid). There were even rumors that

a sleazy mafialike underworld controlled the video industry. One contributor opined

that “the mass media have pushed the boundaries of acceptability steadily

downwards, and successive governments have acquiesced in their activity” (Ibid). This

statement sums up the opinions of many moralist campaigners like Mary Whitehouse

who believed that television, comics, books and film had dragged British morality into

the gutter and turned Britain into a dangerously permissive society. The Conservatives

had been swept into power in the seventies and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a

good friend of Whitehouse, was looking for a way to appear in control of a Britain that

was embroiled in civil unrest (Brown 1984, 78).

The ruling Conservative Party faced a general election in 1983 and were under

pressure to control the civil unrest that plagued the nation. Riots on Toxteth and Brixton

were physical manifestations of the social and political tension in British society and

the Tories sought to position itself as the party that could restore law and order before

the upcoming national election.

24

Fig. 6: Toxteth Riots 1981.8 Michael Heseltine MP pelted with eggs, Croxteth.9

Raymond Johnston came very well prepared to the meeting and presented a paper

from which he quoted figures that showed that there had been significant increase in

VCR ownership and video rental figures in the UK over the previous 36 months. The

home video market had only existed since late 1979, so data that signaled that the

burgeoning market was growing was hardly surprising. Johnson stated that

“It is a disturbing fact that children between the ages of 6 to 15 are regularly hiring

violent, pornographic and occult horror videos. Serious mental disturbance and

behaviour problems have resulted, as many parents and teachers have reported.

The police in several cases are deeply concerned” (Brown 1984, 69-70).

Johnson’s mention of “occult” horror videos is noteworthy at this point. My research

into the video nasties has revealed that only BLOOD RITES (1967) and EVILSPEAK

(1981), two of the 39 titles that made up the final list of successfully prosecuted nasties

contain any reference to the occult. However, if you had been reading the tabloid

newspapers in Britain in the early 1980s, you would have thought that the nasties were

full of occult flavored narratives. Perhaps the most overt example of the allusion to

black magic and the occult appeared in The Daily Mail newspaper on August 4th, 1983.

The article in question was not one of the numerous front-page headlines that openly

claimed the video nasties to be evil and depraved, calling from them to banned. It

appeared on page 19, nestled beside a longer article titled “The men who grow rich

on bloodlust”, part of the paper’s series titled Ban the Sadist Videos. The article carried

the cryptic title “‘Taken over’ by something evil from the TV set” and claimed that a

young boy had been possessed by a video nasty (Phelan 2014). The article is

symptomatic of the falsehoods and outright lies that the tabloids were spreading about

the new batch of horror films circulating in Britain. The image which accompanied

Vivien Harding’s article was intentionally positioned between the title of the article and

the text to make sure that the eyes of the reader came to rest upon it before they could

read the details of the story. It shows a TV screen on altar with burning candles on

either side and a videotape perched menacingly to one side. The altar is covered in

25

white cloth and a pentagram adorns a circular carpet on the floor below. In front of the

TV screen sits a satanic beast, motionless and transfixed, bathing in the glow of the

screen. The message that the image wishes to convey in combination with the article’s

heading is clear; Videos are evil and expose viewers to the supernatural and incite

them to perform acts of devilry. They take over and transform those who watch them

into willing followers of Satan. Placing the article on page 19 is also significant. I

believe that the editorial significance of the article appearing on page 19 is that by

doing so, the article was peddled as perceived as being factual and serious news, far

removed from the hype of the front pages. Appearing right next to an article that

claimed to expose how sleazy producers and distributors were feeding off depraved

bloodthirsty horror fans, becoming stinking rich in the process, added weight to the

shorter article.

Fig. 7: The Daily Mail 4th August 1983. Page 19.10/11

Manifestations of the notion that video nasties were vessels of the occult soon followed

in the media, the courts and in the public arena. An article written by John Jackson

titled “Pony maniac strikes again”, was published in The Daily Mirror in the autumn of

1983. The article reported on some vicious and senseless equine attacks in the

Dartford area (Barker cited in West 2010). The report ended with the sentence

“A police spokesman at Margate said the maniac could be affected by video

‘nasties’ or a new moon”.

Later that year, lawyers defending rapist Mark Austin (nicknamed The Video Nasty

Killer by the tabloids) claimed that their client’s mind had been possessed and “twisted

by exposure to nasties” which led him “to live out his fantasy”. Meir Zarchi’s rape-

revenge movie I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978), was named as the film that compelled

26

Austin to rape (Holmes 2019). The nasties were conveniently being used to explain

every evil in society. They could explain and be blamed for incidents of rape, deviant

behaviour, child abuse, riots and civil unrest. The nasties had, as Barker observes in

an interview he gave for the 2010 documentary VIDEO NASTIES, MORAL PANIC

CENSORSHIP AND VIDEOTAPE (2010) “a general-purpose explanation of moral decline”

(Barker cited in West 2010). These examples illustrate the extent of the tabloid media’s

intentions to have the video nasties banned. Police chiefs and other public servants

were openly accusing the video nasties as being the root cause of every evil in British

society. Graham Bright regularly referred to the videos as “evil” and Raymond Johnson

certainly did his bit to perpetuate the fallacy when he spoke before the enquiry on the

27th of June.

Brown recalls how the atmosphere at the meeting steadily grew more heated with each

new contribution and unsubstantiated assertion as to the lurid nature of the nasties

(Brown 1984, 69-70). Johnson declared that he had irrefutable proof relating to the

corruptive effects of the nasties on Britain’s youth, a claim that Brown was saddened

to observe, also went unchallenged. Johnson concluded his diatribe with the proposal

“to set up a working party to produce a report within six months”. The resulting report

was to be presented to the public, the government and the media and had three main

goals. These were to describe “the precise nature of the threat to children posed by

exposure to video films, to present “the evidence already available of the harm being

done by such exposure, and finally to suggest “ways in which society should respond

to this clear and present danger” (Brown 1984, 70). This exemplifies the “ways of

coping” as described by Cohen in his definition of a moral panic.

The Obscene Publications Act (OPA) was the legislation that had been used by the

DPP to prosecute video nasty distributors in the early 1980s. Some trials had resulted

in fines being dished out and one distributor was sent to jail for six months. Many of

the lawyers representing the distributors had successfully argued that on the whole,

the films did not have the tendency to corrupt or deprave, and numerous decisions

that had originally found distributors guilty had been reversed on appeal. The OPA

was damned at the meeting as an inadequate piece of legislation and “flawed

instrument” (Ibid) in the fight against the onslaught of video filth. Lawmakers present

at the meeting on the 27th knew that new legislation was needed and were committed

to seeing Graham Bright’s bill become law. From the examples listed, it is

transparently clear that the enquiry, not only having no official mandate, was incredibly

bias and seemed to have already have made up its mind as to the dangers that home

27

video and the video nasties posed to impressionable young Britons. Something new

was needed and the enquiry was on hand to inform, protect and provide solutions.

Brown accepted the task of collecting and evaluating data for the enquiry on the 30th

of June, as he hoped that his work could bring neutrality and a scientific approach to

the study. Brown and his team at TRU immediately began designing questionnaires

and gathering data. Hill made it quite clear to Brown that the entire project was to be

kept under wraps and none of the findings should be leaked prematurely to the press,

a prerequisite that Brown respected. Hill also began to request and later demand

access to data while research was still in progress (Brown 1984, 77). Not satisfied with

such irregular intrusions, Hill began to override research decisions. On one occasion,

after receiving data from the TRU that did not support the opinions of the enquiry, Hill

sent an “illuminating” letter to Brown informing him that “the Prime Minister is taking a

personal interest in it”. Thatcher was sent a personal copy of the enquiry’s report by

Dr. Hill on its release (Brown 1984, 78). From around the end of October 1983, Hill

and his cohorts began drawing up a draft of the report loosely based on the collected

data, which they themselves began leaking to selected media sources which included

religious journals from the 21th of November 1983 (Brown 1984, 80).

The report was presented to the assembled media and the public as planned at a

press conference on the 23rd of November 1983, just in time for use during Bright’s

debate in parliament (Brown 1984, 68). The tone and vocabulary used to present the

findings are not those commonly found in research papers. The report resembled a

campaign pamphlet that moral crusader Mary Whitehouse might have created and

been proud of. It was full of hysterical and foreboding assertions (Brown 1984, 79).

The lack of academic tone and data evaluation in the report is apparent in passages

that Hill himself penned which claimed that

“Boys appear to be more keen on the violent video films than girls. Among many

boys from working class backgrounds, watching the nasties has become a test of

manliness. To be able to sit through the more violent and gory scenes of horror

has become an important status symbol among school children of all ages, from

about nine years upwards. There is clear evidence from the survey that their social

values are being moulded by what they see. Many children are watching reruns of

their favourite scene time after time so that they are strongly imprinted upon their

minds” (Brown 1984, 79-80).

This reference to “time after time” and “strongly imprinted on their minds” relates to the

temporal power that video presented to viewers. The technology enabled users to stop,

28

pause, rewind and replay scenes. As the quoted excerpt suggests, this was one of the

main concerns among moralist campaigners.

The study defined “nasties” as

“films that contain scenes of such violence and sadism involving either human

beings or animals that they would not be granted a certificate for general release

for public exhibition in Britain” (Murdock 1984, 60).

This definition shows the lack of consistency and overview as the list contained several

titles that had been passed by the BBFC for general exhibition including THE BURNING

(1980) and THE EVIL DEAD (1982) (Ibid).

The overall aim of the enquiry and the report was blatantly clear. Hill repeatedly

mentioned in the report that the enquiry sought “to bring about a major strengthening

of censorship through a toughened Obscene Publications Act” (Brown 1984, 81).

Some of the claims made in the report were manufactured specifically to arouse the

interest of newspaper editors and find their way to the front pages of Britain’s press.

The report claimed that 37% of children under 7 years of age had admitted to having

seen a video nasty, and further claimed that the figure rose to 40% of children under

the age of 16 had been exposed to video nastiness in their home (Brown 1984, 68).

The enquiry panel assembled at the press conference proudly told reporters that to

ensure accuracy, over 6,000 pupils and parents had been interviewed and that at least

2 schools in every county in England and Wales had been visited and polled during

research. The report ended with the assertion that unless the dissemination of video

filth was curtailed, Britain was “priming a timebomb of violence which will explode on

the streets of Britain” (Brown 1984, 80).

Brown and his team read through the report and were astonished at the conclusions

that Hill and the enquiry had reached and published. Hill had not consulted Brown on

the structuring of the report and had blatantly ignored the advice and considerations

that Brown and his team had expressed throughout the various research stages

(Brown 1984, 81-82). Brown also could not work out how the enquiry had worked out

that almost 40% of children 7 and under had seen a video nasty. None of the data that

Brown had collected had pointed to such results. At the time the report was released,

the inquiry group had received only 46 questionnaire replies from 6-year old’s, of which

3 had seen a combined total of 17 nasties. This, brown worked out was how the group

arrived at a total of almost 40%. This claim has never been refuted by Hill or any

member of the PGVE. The purposely fashioned and easy to remember statistic was

29

perfect for the front pages of the tabloids, and the shaky statistics were cited endlessly

in parliamentary debates (Brown 1984, 82). Based on the concocted findings of the

report, news bulletins dutifully reported the shocking statistic that around 3million

children had seen a nasty, and other claims of the report were paraded around by

moralists and conservatives as solid empirical evidence (Brown 1984, 84).

Much dismayed, Brown alerted the management committee at the TRU who accepted

Browns full report a few days later, in which Brown completely disowned the report.

An Executive had been hurriedly formed on the 22nd of November among the members

of the enquiry who retroactively dismissed Brown and Oxford Polytechnic from any

involvement (Ibid). It also transpired that while Brown had been on leave in Dublin, Hill

had entered the offices at the research unit early on the 25th of November and removed

all the data and questionnaires relating to the research, as well as all private and

business written correspondence between the enquiry and the research institute. Hill

had even remembered to wipe the computer files (Brown 1984, 79). Brown did not

hear again from Hill or any other member of the enquiry again.

Desperate for what was hailed as irrefutable empirical evidence, Brice embraced the

findings of the report, which he and other censorship campaigners subsequently and

“constantly referred to during the Video Recordings Bill’s passage through parliament”

and in future interviews and debates (Murdock 1984, 58). Months later, in an interview

for the Times which appeared on 8th March 1984, Bright acknowledged that the way

in which the data was collected in Birmingham did not comply with traditional scientific

practices admitting “I do question the validity of the research. It points at the problem,

but I do not think one can take that as concrete evidence” (Murdock 1984, 65). Other

eminent campaigners were quick to deflect attention away from the report’s

methodological shortcomings. Speaking before the House of Lords, the Bishop of

Wakefield reminded his peers that “Particular doubts about this bit of research should

not blind us to the very real dangers that are before us. After all, much research has

been carried out on the social effects of violence shown on the television screen”

(Murdock 1984, 65). The bishop was correct, research had been conducted, but he

failed to mention that the findings were also inconclusive. Newspaper and television

outlets played their role in feeding the manipulated data to the British public with catchy

and easy to remember figures and percentages. The statistics and claims fueled

tabloid campaigns get the video nasties banned (Brown 1984, 68).

30

Fig. 8: Graham Bright’s Video Recording Bill (1983).12

An academic by the name of Guy Cumberbatch was suspicious of the claims made in

the report. As a researcher, he was unsatisfied at the methods used and the

conclusions that had been drawn. Cumberbatch decided to test the validity of the data

and findings. He went to some schools in the Birmingham area with a list of video

nasty film titles and asked the children which titles they had seen. Cumberbatch had

included several fictitious titles to the list. Some of the fake titles on the list included

Vampire Holocaust and Zombies from Outer Space, chosen for their similarity to actual

titles such CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979), VAMPYRES (1974) and ZOMBIES LAKE (1980)

(Murdock 1984, 64). The Birmingham children proudly stated that they had seen many

of the films, including some of the non-existent titles. Having evaluated the data

Cumberbatch was able to reveal that 68% of children asked claimed to have seen

video nasties that did not exist. One of the titles that the interviewees claimed to have

seen most was HOSPITAL OF HORRORS (Barker quoted in West 2005). Although

admittedly non-conclusive, Cumberbatch’s experiment highlights several issues. The

reliability of the original questionnaires and the data gathered from them was

unreliable and should not have been paraded around by politicians as empirical

evidence. It also exposes poor empirical execution by Dr. Hill. The inclusion of fake

names and options is a standard element of self-completion questionnaires and is

intended as a control mechanism (Murdock 1984, 64). Cumberbatch’s findings were

published in the Guardian newspaper on the 25th of April 1984 in an article titled

“Sorting Out Little White Lies from Nasty Pieces of Work” (Murdock, 1984 123), but

were not given much attention by politicians or moralists.

To their credit, the Roman Catholic and Methodist Church formally withdrew their

association and support from the PGVE in February 1984, on learning how Brown and

his team had been treated. The representatives were very uncomfortable when it

became known that the hastily established Executive which counted Dr. Hill, Lady

Watterston and the Bishop of Norwich among its esteemed members, had sanctioned

the removal of all data from the TRU offices and the unit’s firing from the project (Brown

1984, 82-83).

31

Without any parliamentary mandate, a group of motivated politicians and conservative

moralists were able to convince the British media, church leaders and

parliamentarians that they had fresh empirical and solid data that video nasties were

a severe threat to British children, and that legislation was urgently needed to stop the

moral decay. The self-appointed and anointed enquiry were willing to steal documents

and cover their tracks to achieve their aims. The contents of the report were anything

but empirical or transparent and did not seek to further the discourse. The credibility

of any academic paper relies on the integrity in which way the documentation is

prepared and the transparency of the research methods and data to allow its

replication (Brown 1984, 69). Video Violence and Children failed miserably in both

criteria. The right-wing partisan report contributed significantly to Bright’s bill passing

through the House of Commons unopposed, resulting in legislation that became

famously known as the Video Recordings Act (1984), that compelled titles to be

submitted to the BBFC for censorship and certification (Brown 1984, 85-86).

5. Marketing the Video Nasties

Film historians often refer to the time before home video content was regulated as a

“golden age” (Newman 1996, 132). It is remembered as the pre-cert era, a brief and

wonderful period where uncensored versions of violent horror films could be procured

from video libraries without impunity until the evil press and prudish politicians spoiled

the party with the implementation of the VRA in 1984.

Encoding the press and policymakers as the bad guys in this scenario, makes it very

easy to present the video industry, the distributors and the videos themselves as the

innocent parties (Egan 2007, 47). In her book, Trash or Treasure: Censorship and the

Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties (2007), Kate Egan proposes that although

the tabloid media and the British establishment certainly played their part in creating

and escalating the video nasty carnival, there were other factors and contributors that

eventually led to the video nasty crackdown (Ibid). Egan maintains that elements and

practices within the video industry were instrumental in drawing attention and disgust

from moral leaders, politicians and the public. Egan points the finger squarely at

several of the four dozen or so video distributors operating in Britain in the early 1980s.

Most of these new companies were run by savvy entrepreneurs who exemplified the

neoliberal ideologies of Thatcherite Britain (Egan 2007, 50), and were ready to go the

extra mile to make a profit. The Conservative government actively encouraged

companies in all industries to be vigorous in generating demand for their products and

32

services. Small and independent video distributors used provocative and intentionally

goading marketing campaigns to promote their titles, and as a result, alerted the media

to the apparent onslaught of depravity available on home video. The marketing

campaigns and stunts that distributor Go Video employed were particularly

provocative, and gave the home video industry a bad image, largely in part to the

company’s video covers that lined video library shelves and full-page ads that it ran in

trade and consumer magazines (Wingrove & Morris 1998, 5). Go Video created some

of the most incendiary and gruesome video covers for titles such as SS EXPERIMENT

CAMP (1976) and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979). These intentionally eye catching and

shocking images were generally far more gruesome than the films they were

promoting, and they created the desired perception not only in the imaginations of the

intended audience of exploitation and horror fans, but also in that of politicians and

moral entrepreneurs, making their crusade to censor and ban the films even fiercer

(Brewster et al. 2005, 05). The static images that adorned the video nasty boxes could

be held aloft and ridiculed in parliament and on television, representing the low moral

character of the films and the home video industry (Egan 2007, 48). Video distributors

devised and implemented marketing campaigns that were so “excessive and

infamous” that it was inevitable that they would be met with protest and disdain by

conservative and establishment voices (Ibid).

In their book Great Britain Limited (1991), John Corner and Sylvia Harvey opine that

at the start of the 1980s Britain was permeated by two “ideological tenets” that caused

“tension” and “contradiction” (Corner & Harvey 1991, 10-12). It was not as some might

expect, an ideological standoff between the permissively liberal left and the

conservative right. Entrepreneurs were encouraged to be brash and creative in getting

their businesses off the ground and noticed by the public, but the 80s was also an era

where the government believed in policies that propped up a “heavily centralized and

frequently authoritarian state” (Egan 2007, 48). These wildly opposing approaches

created the tension that resulted in the moral panic surrounding the video nasties and

the wide fissure between those embraced the get up and go mentality, and market the

new and exciting entertainment medium to the British public, and those who sought to

maintain and strengthen right wing political ideologies that had regained sway in the

1970s. The permissiveness of the 60s could not be allowed to regain momentum and

infect public opinion.

To enable readers to get a sense of the quality and type of films that Go Video released

in its very early days, I first present a short synopsis of Italian director Sergio Garrone’s

33

1976 Nazi sexploitation and rape revenge video nasty SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976)

and Ruggero Deodato’s CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979). These were also among the

films that sparked the video nasty panic.

5.1 SS EXPERIMENT CAMP: Synopsis

Nazi soldiers and doctors are torturing young and attractive female prisoners at a POW

camp during World War II. Those not willing to swear allegiance to Hitler are murdered,

and their bodies burned. There seems to be no escape from this man-made hell for

the captives. A fresh batch of female POWs is delivered to the camp. They are

immediately stripped and sent for a communal shower. The latest additions are told to

abandon all hope. Mirelle (Paola Corazzi), one of the new prisoners, catches the eye

of Helmut (Mircha Carven), a handsome German solider. Mirelle is very attractive and

there is immediate chemistry between the two. Helmut has been recalled from the front

to take part in a top-secret experiment. He and five other soldiers have been

handpicked to have sex with prisoners under laboratory conditions. The goal, the camp

doctor claims, is to further “the proliferation of the German Empire”. The commanding

officer Colonel von Kleiben (Gorgio Cerioni) has an ulterior motive for having Helmut

stationed at his camp. He wishes to take Helmut’s testicles, as he lost his own while

raping another prisoner, when she bit them off while resisting the attack. The

experiment begins, and Helmut is assigned Mirelle as his partner. Female prisoners

not willing to take part are tortured and killed and those women deemed unsuitable for

the experiment are sent to work in the camp’s brothel. A young girl is delivered to the

brothel and raped by a ruthless Nazi sergeant (Serafino Profumo). The blood on her

thighs proves rumors of the girl’s freshly violated virginity. The young woman is filled

with rage. She grabs a fork and stabs her attacker. As punishment, she is strung up

upside-down naked in the courtyard for all to see. (This infamous image would later

adorn the Go Video rental cover).

Helmut falls for Mirelle and asks to stay on at the camp once the experiment is over.

This fits in nicely with the commanding officer’s plans to relieve Helmut of his testicles.

Von Kleiben says he will let Helmut stay if he takes part in another experiment. Helmut

agrees. Dr. Steiner (Attilio Dottesio) protests but is convinced to perform the operation.

Helmut awakens from the procedure and realizing what has happened goes after von

Kleiben. Dr Steiner commits suicide when confronted by Helmut and the colonel is

34

overpowered and killed by some female prisoners. Mirelle and Helmut escape from

the camp but are almost immediately mowed down by machine gun fire.

Garrone’s film is an eclectic mix of “themes and trends found in Italian exploitation”

(Kerekes & Slater 2000, 256). The actors are well tanned and are more concerned

with superficial beauty than escaping, let alone surviving the daily hell at the camp.

Camp guards are astonished when prisoners try to make their escape and Dr. Steiner

turns out to be Jewish. SS EXPERIMENT CAMP is not a good film, but it is notorious. Its

title, video cover and promotional campaign ensured that it was one of films that the

DPP shortlisted for prosecution in 1983 (Kerekes & Slater 2000, 256-257).

5.2 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST: Synopsis

While filming a documentary in the jungles of South America, a group of young film-

makers goes missing. After hearing nothing for many weeks, a search party is sent to

find out what has happened to the team. The decomposed body of one of the guides

is quickly discovered, and with some help from a local tribe, the skeletons of the rest

of the team are found amongst some abandoned camera equipment. The search party

also finds some film cans which they take back to the TV station who commissioned

the documentary in New York. The TV station decide to try and edit a coherent story

from the found footage and ask professor Monroe (Robert Kerman) to lend his name

to the venture to give the project some scientific integrity and gravitas. Monroe agrees

and to get a feeling for the deceased film crew, he watches one of the teams earlier

works: The Last Road to Hell. The film was shot in Africa and depicts numerous horrific

acts such as a firing squad shooting and killing some men and a boy being shot at

close range in the chest. Monroe is told that the team instigated the events for the

sake of the production. Monroe considers this revelation as he watches the jungle

footage. The film, when finished, is to be titled The Green Inferno.

The narrative now follows the film team through the footage as it is pieced together.

The camerawork is shaky and handheld with cuts that remind you it is documentary

footage. We get to know Alan Yates (Gabriel Yorke), Faye Daniels (Francesca Ciardi)

Mark Tomaso (Luca Giorgio Barbershop) and the rest of the film team. The rolls of film

show the team venture deeper and deeper into the jungle. A large poisonous spider

crawls up Faye’s arm at one point and is only helped by the team after they have

filmed the creature move up the screaming woman’s arm. Filipe, the team’s guide, is

bitten by a snake. The men try to save his life by amputating his leg, but the guide dies

from the procedure. The crew comes across a tribe and shoots one of their hunters in

35

the leg so that they can follow him more easily, leading them to his village and the

Yacumo tribe. The team terrorize the tribe and herd them into a hut which they set on

fire. They film the burning and intend to claim that the atrocity was the result of an

attack from a nearby hostile tribe. Alan and Faye are filmed as they have wild and

physical sex.

Monroe is ignored by TV executives when he tells them of his concerns, and a female

producer tells him over lunch that “Today, people want sensationalism” and “the more

you rape their senses, the happier they are”. Monroe finally manages to convince

some senior executives to view some edited-out scenes before the documentary is

aired. The executives and Monroe take their seats in a private screening room and

watch the redacted footage. The first spectacle is an occasion when members of the

film team catch a young native and rape her. A short time later, while forging on

through the jungle the team come to a clearing where they see a young woman has

been impaled on a stake. Alan is heard saying how the killing of the woman was an

“unimaginable horror”. His face however, shows that he is delighted that the team have

stumbled upon the horrific spectacle. The footage and the narrative jump to a scene

where the team are surrounded by hostile natives. Jack Anders (Perry Pirkanen) is hit

by a spear and is immediately shot dead by Alan. Tomaso films on as the natives

dismember Jacks body. They chop his body in two, castrate him, and feed on his guts.

“Keep rolling. We’re gonna get an Oscar for this” is heard as the natives eat Jack’s

raw flesh. The natives capture Faye and Alan is badly injured while Tomaso films on.

He captures Faye’s rape on film and does not flinch as she is bludgeoned to death.

Mark turns the camera on himself as he is finally captured and beaten to death. The

footage ends on Mark’s severed head as it stares into the camera lens. As the lights

are switched back on in the screening room, one of the senior executives jumps out

of their seat and immediately orders all the found footage to be destroyed. As Monroe

leaves the station he stares at the crowds of New Yorkers bustling around the city and

asks himself” I wonder who the real cannibals are?”

Italian director Ruggero Deodato’s found footage movie is not an easy film to watch.

The handheld camerawork does give the effect that the footage is real and had many

people fooled that the film was a snuff movie by the special effects and Des Dolan

spreading such rumors. The two main narratives are edited together very well, and

film does try to make some social commentary. However, the dialogue used to make

such points is weak and pretentious. Ironically, Deodato’s film considers the effects of

viewing violence on audiences.

36

5.3 GO Video

Here, I present the history of Go Video, one of the most infamous of the small and

independent distributors operating in the early days of the home video boom in Britain.

This is intended to support the argument that Go Video and its founder Des Dolan

(Martin 2007, 156), must accept some of the blame for first drawing attention and later

scorn from conservative campaigners and politicians, attention that led to DPP

prosecutions in 1983 and the VRA in 1984.

Legendary distributor Go Video started out as Video7 in South London in 1979 (Go

Video Ltd 2018). It was set up by Des Dolan (Flint 2018), a savvy entrepreneur who

gave up working as a record company executive to make it big in the burgeoning home

video entertainment industry. Dolan was one of the many encouraged by the then

Margaret Thatcher, to take the initiative and become their own boss. Video7 began

releasing public domain films from as far back as the 1930s, including WHITE ZOMBIE

(1933), which put the distributor on the map, and gained the fledgling enterprise

respect from horror fans. However, Dolan didn’t release WHITE ZOMBIE because he

wanted to rekindle interest in a forgotten horror classic, he released the Bela Lugosi

vehicle because it was free and available (Flint 2018). Dolan’s company initially

released 21 public domain titles including dramas and comedies. Hollywood studios

were still hesitant to embrace video in the early 1980s, as they felt it threatened their

box office and TV rerun residuals, so the growing market was hungry for anything

distributors could secure the rights for (Brewster et al. 2005, 4). The advertisement in

Fig. 9 for distributor InterVision, which appeared in Variety trade magazine in 1980

reminded British video rental store owners that they would not make their fortune by

only stocking Hollywood hits and box office favorites.

Fig. 9: Variety magazine May 7th,1980.13

37

Dolan’s start-up changed its name to Go Video in early 1981, and moved to larger

premises in Soho, central London. Dolan travelled to Europe and closed some astute

licensing deals, picking up four cheap soft-core and exploitation titles including

CELESTINE (1974) and Jess Franco’s THE DEMONS (1972). THE DEMONS is considered

by many critics to be one of the “trashiest, sleaziest films on video in the UK” (Wingrove

& Morris 2009, 49). These would be the first titles released in Britain by the company

under its new name. The crudely cut-out cover design for THE DEMONS clearly shows

that the company was not run by passionate film buffs, but by a businessman out to

save money where possible and make a quick profit (Flint 2018). Go’s other early

video covers are so shoddy and cheap that it could be argued that the tacky look was

intentional.

Fig. 10: CELESTINE (1974).14 THE DEMONS (1972).15

Dolan also released two kidvids in late 1981. These were videos with child appropriate

content aimed at parents looking to entertain and distract their children. This shows

the eclectic diversity of the company’s titles, and indeed of the entire home video

industry which was still its infancy. Distributors were still desperate to acquire any new

titles whatever the genre and were not thinking about corporate identity or customer

loyalty. Dolan was also motivated to release child appropriate content to clean up the

company’s image and reputation after its initial releases. Other distributors would later

add kidvids to their range when the market became flooded and distributors were

looking for titles that promised reliable rental figures (Walker 2017, 632-633).

38

Fig. 11: Go Video’s VIDEO COMIC (1981).16

Dolan believed that the key to penetrating the market was to feature his covers in the

numerous consumer magazines that were springing up in the early 1980s. Dolan also

had the brash and ingenious idea of issuing pubs with free beer mats that depicted

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST’S video cover artwork (Brewster et al 2005, 192). He was

determined that Go covers would be unique and instantly recognizable, a plan that

could have come from his marketing days before venturing into home video

distribution. Video magazines boasted loyal and growing readerships, and Dolan was

convinced that if his adverts generated interest among VCR owners, then video

libraries up and down the country would be compelled to stock his range of titles (Ibid).

The tactic worked, and Dolan would use trade magazines to advertise his range of

titles in the future. Once the major studios started to realize that there might be a way

for them to cash in on the home video boom, Dolan knew that small distributors would

have to get tough to survive. In an interview for Video Today magazine Dolan

proclaimed that

“The going is likely to get a lot tougher for independent video labels this year,

now that the majors have got themselves together. The Indies will have to

respond very positively. Any independent which is not very aggressive in its

marketing stance – and in the way it competes with the majors – won’t be here

next year” (Des Dolan, Video Today 1982).

Following up on these statements, Dolan paid for full-page advertisements to promote

SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976) and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979), in Music & Video Week

and Television and Video Retailer in January 1982(Brewster 2005, 5), (Martin 2007,

14). These two films would later become regular whipping boys during the video nasty

panic. The artwork for Go’s Nazi exploitation film depicted a young almost naked

woman in an inverted crucified position with Nazi emblems hanging from her body,

with the bust of a stern Nazi officer looming behind her. The artwork for CANNIBAL

39

HOLOCAUST sees a wide-eyed dishevelled cannibal devouring some raw intestines,

with the tagline “EATEN ALIVE” printed in large yellow letters.

SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976) advert.17 SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976) video cover.18

FIG. 12: CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) advert.19 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) video cover.20

In early 1982, the editor of trade magazine Television and Video Retailer received

some letters of complaint about the ads for SS EXPERIMENT CAMP and CANNIBAL

HOLOCAUST, which the magazine reproduced in its next issue (Martin 2007, 14). In an

interview that accompanied the printed letters, Dolan reacted first by saying that the

advertising had to be effective in serving to “warn off the unwary (Ibid). He claimed

that he was not oblivious to decency and proudly told the interviewer that “we imposed

our own moral censorship” by covering the genitals the crucified and tortured woman

in a pair of skimpy black panties (Wingrove & Morris 2009, 10). He also said that there

was no sense in him “toning down” the lurid and eye-catching nature of his promotional

material unless other distributors were also forced to do so. Dolan ended the interview

by remarking that he felt what the industry needed was “some sort of guidance that

video advertisers can follow or at least refer to” (Martin 2007, 14). Dolan (perhaps

intentionally or naively) reacted to the controversy from a business perspective, void

of moral contemplation. The magazine’s editor sympathized somewhat with Dolan’s

assertions, suggesting that

40

“as the industry gets fatter and the publicity material spreads wider and wider, there

must be a case for public moral acceptability” (Wingrove & Morris 2009, 10).

The intentionally impudent statement regarding the panties did nothing to appease the

anger felt by moralists and SS EXPERIMENT CAMP, along with Go’s other infamous nasty

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST would become two of the first titles to be prosecuted by the DPP

under the OPA in 1983 (Flint 2018). Based on his knowledge of the industry, the editor

concluded the article by saying that he felt that there was a slim chance that

distributors would come together and be willing to agree on a voluntary code of

practice. There were some halfhearted attempts at self-regulation, but commercial

greed kept distributors from committing to any measures that would give their

competitors an advantage (Wingrove & Morris 2009, 10). Dolan’s goading advertising

also caused concern among members of the Advertising Standards Authority who

received numerous complaints from the public and pressure groups (Walker 2017,

632). The authority conducted an enquiry in May 1982 into the state of home video

advertising and the complaints were upheld. The ASA found that the advertising for

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST went “beyond the bounds of decency”. In response to the SS

EXPERIMENT CAMP’S marketing material, the authority stated that they

“regret that some editors should be prepared to publish advertisements in which

increasingly films of a violent or sexually perverted character were described in

terms which, like the films themselves, were calculated to appeal to only the most

degraded tastes” (Martin 2007, 14).

Dolan and other distributors realized that they had to be careful any could not count

on the ASA for support. However, nobody in the industry was willing to do anything

too drastic and give competing distributors and titles an advantage. The two

advertisements for THE DEMONS (Fig.13), appeared in the May and June ‘82 issues of

Continental Film and Video magazine. The ad which appeared in the June issue is a

perfect example of the cheap and dirty style of self-censorship that Dolan thought

would suffice to allay the steadily growing number of complaints. A hand-written note

covers the naked nun’s tortured genital area, as if that was the only problem with the

image for Christians. Dolan makes sure that punters are aware that the content is only

suitable for adults by taking the magnanimous steps of underlining the word adult and

punctuating his taglines with exclamation marks.

41

May Issue. 21 June Issue.22

Fig. 13: Des Dolan’s style of self-censorship: Continental Film & Video magazine 1981.

5.4 The stunt that started it all.

Des Dolan shall forever be associated with the video nasty panic for a stunt that

shocked and infuriated campaigners and politicians so much that it sparked a media

fueled moral panic which ultimately resulted in legislation being passed to censor and

ban the video nasties.

In an ill-fated attempt to generate free media publicity, Dolan, sent a copy of director

Ruggero Deodato’s previously unscreened (Wingrove & Morris 2009, 21) CANNIBAL

HOLOCAUST (1979), along with a fabricated letter of complaint to the then 74-year-old

Mary Whitehouse in March 1982 (Phelan 2014). This was no random delivery, and

the recipient had also been chosen specifically. Dolan also instigated a whispering

campaign fueling rumours that the film was a snuff movie, with some viewers and

politicians believing that people had been killed during the production of the film

(Martin 2007, 156). The moviemakers had employed some primitive yet effective

special effects and the documentary like camera work and the poor quality of

multigenerational copies added to the uncertainty and infamy surrounding the film. The

quality of the image was also degraded by constant the constant pausing and

rewinding of particularly scenes. As mentioned elsewhere in this paper, this control

over the image was of great concern to moralist campaigners. The snuff rumours were

of course false, but the hype and naivety of audiences and campaigners helped to

elevate the film to near legendary status among horror and exploitation fans (Martin

42

2007, 108). Initially, the stunt seemed to have achieved its aim. In an interview given

to a British newspaper Dolan said that

“Nobody had heard of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST until I wrote to Mary Whitehouse

complaining about it. Once she got in on the act, I couldn’t run off enough copies

to meet demand” (Des Dolan cited in west 2010).

Whitehouse’s reaction to the gory video was expectedly, one of utter disgust. Dolan’s

stunt launched her into a crusade to see Britain rid of violent and obscene films.

Although she was over 70 years of age as the video nasty panic started to gain

momentum, Mary Whitehouse did not appear before the cameras and the Christian

masses like a dour and terrified pensioner. She appealed to Christians, and the media

because of her wild assertions and stage presence which resembled the optimism and

buoyancy of an evangelist. Whitehouse appeared invigorated to be spearheading the

campaign against violent, pornographic and permissive video content.

Whitehouse used her right-wing connections to screen some video nasties (including

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) to Conservative MPs at their party conference (Petley 2011,

27). This helped to turn many MPs against the films. Her tireless efforts were

supported by a tabloid campaigns to “Ban the Sadist Videos” and “Ban the Video

Nasties”. Whitehouse also went on breakfast television to warn the public about the

threat video nasties posed to British morality and children. When presenter Nick Ross

asked her how she could be so opinionated about video nasties without ever having

watched one she replied,

“I have never seen a video nasty. I wouldn’t ... I actually don’t need to see visually

what I know is in that film” (Mary Whitehouse).

This not only shows Mrs. Whitehouse’s astounding supernatural abilities, but also the

impact of the video covers, as they represented what was on the videotapes inside. I

believe that Mrs. Whitehouse made this statement based on her exposure to lurid and

offensive covers that accompanied films like CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) and THE

DRILLER KILLER (1979).

43

Fig. 14: THE DRILLER KILLER (1979).23

Whitehouse would probably have eventually become aware of video and the video

nasties sooner or later, but by sending her a copy of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST in March of

1982 Des Dolan triggered a chain of events that escalated for the next 19 months until

the VRA was passed into law in early 1984. Once legislation was in place in 1984 to

regulate exactly which titles were suitable for British audiences, the authorities wasted

no time in prosecuting numerous small and independent distributors which resulted in

hefty fines and even jail time for video dealer Roy May in January 1984 (Brewster 2005,

178).

The video industry realized that it had a serious problem on its hands and that it

needed to act swiftly if it were to retrieve some respectability. As so often, when an

entertainment medium faces controversy and ridicule from moralists and

policymakers, the first reaction was to initiate internal self-censorship. The British

Video Association (BVA), which had been founded in 1980 to represent publishers

and video rights owners of pre-recorded home video entertainment published a hurried

statement where they stated their intention to

“Introduce new safeguards to protect members of the public from inadvertently

buying or renting videograms which might be grossly offensive to some adults or

seriously disturbing to children” (Brewster 2005, 174).

This vague statement was however, not followed up by any subsequent or significant

action, leaving the distributors at the mercy of the media, moral crusaders and

politicians (Ibid).

5.5 The media gets nasty

By sending Whitehouse a copy of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, Dolan had awoken a sleeping

bear. Whitehouse’s incessant campaigning and scheming attracted more and more

media attention. The first article to report on the video nasties in the British print media

44

appeared in the Sunday Times in June of 1982, where it specifically named Go Video’s

SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976) as an example of the “lurid exploitation movies” that were

freely available (Brewster et al 2005 174). The campaign logo (Fig.15) that

accompanied every article relating to the video nasties showed the cover of CANNIBAL

HOLOCAUST. The article spurred Scotland Yard into action who promptly acquired and

sent copies of the films to the British Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to see if

the video content was in breach of the law and warranted prosecution (Ibid). Within a

matter of days distributors including Go Video were being raided by the police in the

guise of the Obscene Publications Squad. Go was forced to immediately hand over all

copies of SS EXPERIMENT CAMP to the authorities (Martin 2007, 17). Constant raids and

prosecutions against Go and its early titles hurt the company. Rental store operators

preferred to stay away from the infamous label and its oft prosecuted titles. By 1983,

the majors had gotten over their initial fear of home video and were embracing the

format, pushing out smaller distributors. Go, along with many other small labels could

not compete with the major studio labels, and by the end of 1983 had gone out of

business (Flint 2018).

Fig. 15: The Daily Mail’s: Ban the Video Nasties campaign 1982.24

Go video was only in business for little over three years, but within that time Des Dolan

helped to make hitherto unknown B-movies like CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and SS

EXPERIMENT CAMP infamous and legendary video nasty titles. The marketing campaign

and stunts that Dolan and his team employed drove other distributors to compete and

design their own lurid and controversial video covers. His commercially driven model

was however, responsible for attracting the attention of concerned moralists, the

media, the police, the DPP and politicians to home video, whose combined efforts

would lead to prosecutions, prison sentences and legislation that would see home

video releases heavily censored and even banned.

6. Mary Whitehouse: The moralist entrepreneur

45

This section chronicles the tireless work of blue rinsed moral crusader Mary

Whitehouse and her organization, the Nationwide Festival of Light. This is intended to

support the claim that the former headmistress (BBC 2014), was a major contributor

to the moral panic surrounding the video nasty scare. She was one of the people

“manning the barricades” in Stanley Cohen’s (2002) theory of moral panic (Cohen

2002, 1). Her efforts, and that of people close to her helped to get legislation passed

that demanded the retroactive and future classification and censorship of all video

content. The middle-class mother of two, campaigned relentlessly for over thirty years

to keep sex, violence and depravity out of cinemas, and off TV and home video.

Whitehouse was a household name, a feat which she herself carefully orchestrated

through her sensational claims, stunts and demands. She appeared regularly in the

tabloids during the video nasty panic, exemplifying a symbiotic collaboration among

Cohen’s “deviance defining elite” (Ibid).

Whitehouse was well known in Britain as the “self-appointed mouthpiece for the moral

minority” (O’Neill 2010). She had been catalyst behind the Clean Up TV campaign in

1964, which had evolved into the much more structured and focused National Viewer’s

and Listener’s Association (NVALA) by 1966 (Petley 2015, 523). Whitehouse and her

cohorts complained and demanded the suspension of popular TV shows like the

perennially and now internationally popular cult series Dr. Who (O’Neill 2010). She

was a leading figure in the Christian conservative movement known as the Nationwide

Festival of Light, that campaigned to have films like Ken Russell’s THE DEVILS (1971)

banned in Britain and boasted a membership of over 1,250,000 by 1971 (Petley 2015,

524-525). Whitehouse and her followers felt that Britain should return to conservative

values and turn its back on the permissive society of the 1960s. Whitehouse had

friends in high places and her energy and tenacity held no bounds.

As chairperson of the Film Viewing Board for Greater London Council (GLC) in the

early to mid-1970s, Enid Wistrich had numerous run-ins with part time pensioner and

fulltime moral crusader. Wistrich suggests that Whitehouse achieved popularity

particularly among middle-aged and older Britons owing to the confusion and

uncertainty experienced by both men and women in British society in relation to

shifting gender and sexual roles in the 1960 and 1970s. Whitehouse cleverly marketed

herself as a “nanny figure” who sought to reassert British values. She rallied against

the sexual permissiveness and ambiguity of the swing sixties and beckoned a return

to British norms of inhibition and restraint (Wistrich 1978, 11). In December 1973

Whitehouse staged a pre-planned walkout from a public screening of BLOW OUT/ LA

46

GRANDE BOUFFE (1973) (Wistrich 1978, 31). In an interview in the Daily Mirror,

Whitehouse did not mince her words and stated that she thought the film was

“totally disgusting…the most revolting film I have ever seen” (Ibid).

One might assume from her statement that the film exposed audiences to depraved

and twisted imagery. Chief reviewer Enid Wistrich was of a different opinion and felt

that BLOW OUT was

“a clever French film which set out to shock and outrage not so much with its sexual

episodes but by an emphasis on eating and over-eating which is intended to

illustrate the decadence of food conscious French society. The sexual scenes,

which included some variations from the orthodox, were implied rather than

explicit.” (Wistrich 1978, 30).

The warning placard that the GLC had asked the exhibitor to place in clear view in the

cinema foyer described BLOW OUT as “A black comedy about four world weary

pleasure seekers who decide to eat themselves to death in an orgy of high cuisine and

sexual indulgence”, To this the GLC added “The GLC advises that this film contains

material which may offend some people” Wistrich 1978, 53). Cinema staff later

reported that cinemagoers had mentioned their appreciation for the notice and that

there had been no objections or complaints from the public. Not one to be outdone

and showing her resourcefulness and stamina, Whitehouse later attempted

(unsuccessfully) to sue the cinema owner using the Vagrancy Acts of 1824 and 1836,

on grounds of indecency in a public place (Wistrich 1978, 31). Wistrich became certain

that Whitehouse and her anti-pornography movement were not interested in structures

or safeguards that “forewarned and protected” from offence. Wistrich felt that the moral

crusaders wanted any film that they found offensive to be outlawed for everyone

Wistrich 1978, 53).

Although a competent orator, Whitehouse was not concerned with nurturing or

participating in debate about pornography and its alleged effects on societies morals

(Wistrich 1978, 125). This is exemplified by actions that took place in advance of a

planned seminar organized by the Film Viewing Board of the GLC, to debate

pornography and film censorship in 1974. It had been announced that scenes from the

controversial film DEEP THROAT (1972) were to be screened and debated upon at the

seminar. In a typical display of her far-reaching ability to apply pressure, Whitehouse,

with the assistance or tireless anti-pornography campaigner Lord Longford, placed

numerous calls to the office of the Customs Officer, informing them of the organizer’s

intentions. Whitehouse also demanded that the film not be allowed entry into the

47

country. As a result, the Customs Office viewed the film and decided that it was indeed

indecent and would be confiscated if brought into Britain, rendering the seminar

redundant (Wistrich 1978, 48-49). Later that same year, Whitehouse, not known for

accepting defeat lightly, tried to discredit the U.S. Commission Report on Obscenity

and Pornography in 1974, after the lengthy and comprehensive study could find no

connection between pornography and criminality Wistrich 1978, 60-61). As the

Secretary of the NVALA, Whitehouse went so far as to publish a pamphlet where she

made unsubstantiated claims that the Commission had ignored and suppressed valid

data and that many (unnamed) psychiatrists had indeed observed a connection

between exposure to pornographic imagery and criminality (Wistrich 1978, 66).

Whitehouse was also adept at wrangling her followers fears and emotions. She led

thousands of Christians at Trafalgar Square in song and prayer at the National Festival

of Light rally in1973. She could convince hundreds of fellow crusaders to endure the

rain and cold and protest outside town halls and council meetings for hours on end

(Wistrich 1978, 70). She was also not averse to politicizing pornography. She accused

the far left of encouraging the dissemination of pornography into British society in the

Sunday Times 19th Oct 1975. She felt that the left had made a conscious effort “to

destroy Britain’s morale and character” (Wistrich 1978, 79). This was giving lip service

to the theory that decadent and permissive societies historically exhibit declining moral

values. Legendary Men’s magazine publisher and porn producer David Sullivan was

so annoyed by Mary Whitehouse and her constant campaigning that he launched a

soft-porn men’s magazine with the title Whitehouse in 1974.

Fig. 16: Whitehouse Men’s Magazine #15 (1978).25

When considering exposure to scenes of violence, Whitehouse expressed her concern

in an interview with the Guardian newspaper on the 6th of June 1974. She feared that

exposure to horrific images of murder and violence in war documentaries and

uncensored war movies would “sap the national will to wage war” (Wistrich 1978, 131).

48

She feared that the British public would become conditioned to be repulsed when

repeatedly exposed to gruesome and violent imagery just like the character of Alex in

Stanley Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971), (Ibid). Censorship therefore, was a

necessary tool to facilitate military offensives and conflicts, and bolster morale. Nightly

reports and body counts on the evening news during the Vietnam war were

instrumental in turning public opinion against American involvement in South East Asia

in the 1960s. Whitehouse’s fear also exposes a link between censorship and

authoritarianism (Wistrich 1978, 139). Those in power throughout history have

traditionally censored access of art, media entertainment and technology to the

masses.

The Festival of Light: A very dark place.

The beginning of the 1970s witnessed a seismic shift in British politics and society.

The era played host to what former Greater London Council member Enid Wistrich

(1978) refers to as a “backlash against the liberalising trend of the 1960s” (Wistrich

1978, 21). One product of this shift was the incarnation of the conservative and

rightwing leaning Nationwide Festival of Light in 1971 (Wistrich 1978, 21), which was

a grass roots movement that quickly gained traction and widespread membership.

Christians, weaned on the crutch of spiritual guidance were looking for “reassurance,

authority and certainty” after the sexually permissive, and morally bankrupt 1960s

(Wistrich 1978, 11). The organization reacted accordingly and with Mary Whitehouse

at the helm, positioned itself as a moral compass, providing “faith and purity in an

impure world” (Wistrich 1978, 12).

Along with journalist and reformed womanizer Malcolm Muggeridge, the pornography-

allergic Lord Longford and squeaky-clean chart topper Cliff Richard, Mary Whitehouse

was instrumental in transforming the collection of concerned Christians into a national

movement, boasting a membership of over 1,250,000 by early 1972 (Petley, 2015,

523). Top on the list of the festival’s aims, which quickly mutated into demands owing

to swelling membership and prominent support, were “to protest against the

exploitation of sex in the media and the arts, and to evangelize on behalf of Christianity

as a means of national moral rearmament” (Ibid).

49

Fig. 17: Crusading against violent videos in Australia, July 1984.26

The Festival issued several proclamations at a 30,000 plus strong rally in Trafalgar

Square on the 25th of September 1971 (Ibid), including one that was directed at those

controlling the British media. It urged media bosses and decision makers as

summarized by Phelps (1975) “to discourage the commercial exploitation of violence,

dishonesty and sex” and “to ensure that their productions do not “offend public feeling’’

or “incite to crime and disorder’’ (Phelps 1975, 203). The movement also campaigned

for the establishment of a statutory film council to oversee and decide on issues of film

censorship (Petley 2015, 523). To free themselves of the thankless task and evade

the Festival’s continuous ridicule, Greater London Council formally requested that the

Government set up an enquiry to investigate whether there was “a more appropriate

executive body than local authorities” to perform the task of film censorship in 1972.

No such enquiry was ever set up (Wistrich 1978, 22), but the wish would be fulfilled

12 years later in 1984, when the BBFC was officially appointed by law to classify and

censor all video content submitted for release in Britain. This was an ironic

development, given the Festival’s continued attempts to undermine the legitimacy of

the BBFC’s decisions throughout the 1970s when the opinions of the Board did not

comply with that of the movement.

The Festival engaged in numerous well-organized activities where it hoped to

influence public opinion and the attitudes of local councils, who had the power to ban

the exhibition of films in their boroughs and were not bound by BBFC decisions.

Cinemas that did not comply could be fined or have their licenses revoked. The

Festival published open letters that sometimes appeared in daily newspapers where

they claimed, “The state of contemporary society cried out for restraint” and that

“Central and local Government have a duty to protect ordinary citizens from

exploitation and corruption” (Wistrich 1978, 65).

50

Whitehouse and other crusaders utilized negative press articles directed at films like

THE DEVILS (1971), and LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972). These films had already been

granted an X rating by the BBFC, which restricted those under the age of 18

(accompanied or otherwise) from viewing the movie in film theatres. This was

unacceptable for the evangelical right, and Festival members set about affecting

change at local levels of government. Newspaper clippings were posted to local

councilors who sat on film review boards (Petley 2015, 524). The Festival were

successful in drawing the attention of councilors to controversial films, often resulting

in special screenings and councils overriding BBFC decisions (Ibid).

In a reaction letter published in The Times newspaper on the 3rd of May 1972, (Petley

2015, 525), Stephen Murphy, then head of the BBFC, commented on his concern in

the way certain organizations were seeking to influence local councils in saying

‘we have become aware of a quite deliberate campaign by certain pressure groups

to discredit the work of the board with local authorities’ (Stephen Murphy, The

Times 3rd May 1972).

Naming the Festival as one of these groups, Murphy also mentioned that he had read

in NOVA, the Festival’s own newsletter, that it had over 180 regional officers and

organizers dotted throughout the country, ready to act (Petley 2015, 525).

“The technique employed, so far as we have been able to discover, is that material

is centrally compiled and then distributed to regional members who are invited to

write individually to local authorities, and thus to create an impression of

spontaneous public dismay. This, it seems to me, is a perfectly legitimate method

for a pressure group to use in seeking to make its views known. What must cause

the board some concern is that material prepared centrally is sometimes

inaccurate and misleading” (Murphy, The Times 3rd May 1972).

One interesting example of effecting change is that of the film OH! CALCUTTA! (1972).

The film was banned by the BBFC for its depictions of graphic nudity and sex. The

members of the Film Review Board in Greater London Council ignored the BBFC

recommendation who had banned the film. GLC granted a cut version of the film a

license to be shown in the borough, one of the most densely populated boroughs of

London at the time (Wistrich 1978, 21-22). The Festival of Light sprang into action and

succeeded in having the issue referred for consideration by the entire council. The film

review board’s original decision was revoked convincingly by the ninety-member

strong council by a majority of two to one (Ibid). Whitehouse and her minions managed

to have a decision overturned, ironically back to that of the original verdict handed out

by the BBFC.

51

The movement witnessed a decline in membership after only two years of existence,

as the campaign became too evangelical, alienating Catholics and people who were

not devout church going Christians (Capon 1972, 123). The movement however, did

not totally disappear but transformed over time and was renamed Care Action

Research and Education (CARE) in 1983, and continues to peruse a conservative

agenda on issues relating to assisted suicide, embryo research, homosexuality and

abortion (Petley 2015 527).

Raymond Johnston, the first parliamentary research Director of CARE, played an

important and questionable role in seeing Graham Bright’s Video Recordings Bill sail

through parliament in 1983. CARE have repeatedly made wild and sensational claims

over the years to stay visible in the public media and consciousness and were labelled

“a bunch of homophobic bigots” in parliament by the openly gay and Christian Labour

MP Ben Bradshaw in 2000 (Ahmed 2000).

Whitehouse gets nasty

Whitehouse’s ire was ignited once again in March 1982 when Des Dolan, the head of

Go Video sent Whitehouse a copy of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979) with the intention of

drumming up some free publicity. Dolan fully expected Whitehouse to be incensed

and complain in the press. This shows how well-known Whitehouse was for her morals

and her modus operandi of running to Fleet Street and the tabloids to publicize her

displeasure and mount a counter offensive. The Majority of the British press was a

willing accomplice and mouthpiece for politicians, pressure groups and even the

Director of Public Prosecutions in calling for censoring and banning some video titles

in the early 1980s. (Petley 2011, 18-19). Owing to her notoriety, vast campaigning

experience and media savvy, Whitehouse quickly became the spearhead of the

moralist campaign against the video nasties and was invited to appear on talk shows

and even breakfast television, where she lost no time presenting the video nasties as

corruptive and evil to Britain’s children. When asked in a television interview on

breakfast television how she could judge a video nasty having admitted to having

never watched such a film, Mary Whitehouse gave the following response

“I have never seen a video nasty. I wouldn’t ... I actually don’t need to see visually

what I know is in that film” (Mary Whitehouse cited in West 2010).

It was statements like this that led many rational thinking people to dismiss her and

her campaign, but O’Neill argues that this would prove to be a mistake, as she

crusaded on and forged alliances with likeminded civil servants and MPs, even

52

boasting to be on best terms with Margaret Thatcher (O’Neill 2010). This claim was

supported when the Telegraph newspaper ran a story on the 2nd of March 1983 where

it quoted Prime Minister Thatcher’s response to Whitehouse’s demands for political

action where she said that

“Like you I deplore those who seek to profit out of exploiting the weakness of

others, and in doing so undermine our traditional standards of decency and respect

for family life” (Margaret Thatcher cited in Petley 2011, 27).

Whitehouse was perfect for the newspapers. She could be relied upon to say

something controversial or demand something that many right leaning conservatives

could accept. She was also a source of amusement for those who did not take her so

seriously. Whitehouse understood the importance of media attention and orchestrated

her own stunts and issued statements to ensure that both she, her organization and

her aims were regularly mentioned in the British media. The Telegraph newspaper

was only too happy to report on the 8th of April 1983 that Whitehouse had gone to the

extreme of writing personally to every member British MP looking for their support

(Petley 2011, 27). She was well practiced in campaigning and by the 1980s, she had

a network of influential friends to call on for help. Whitehouse’s primary contribution to

the video nasty moral panic was that she was instrumental in driving the panic forward

and keeping it in the papers (Petley 2012, 40).

Fig. 18: A trilogy of conspirators: Bright, Whitehouse and the Daily Mail (1983).27

7. Video cover artwork: The AIDA video rental experience

While perusing numerous websites for information and material for this paper, I noticed

that the video nasty era, the VHS format, even the 80s decade itself are all

remembered with hazy nostalgia and pride. Now all well into their forties, these

eyewitnesses recount wistful memories of the good old days “where aisles upon aisles

of ghoulish box art imprinted itself upon their imaginations” (Nastasi 2015).

“Tapeheads” as early fans of home video entertainment are referred to, remember the

53

physicality, the purity and the thrill of the pre-cert and video era and the unforgettable

video covers that lined the rental shelves (Ibid). The provocative and potentially

offensive artwork on video nasty covers was one of the main reasons why the films

were attacked and ridiculed by the British establishment and tabloid media in the early

1980s. Politicians were appalled by the images that they considered depraved and

lurid (Brewster 2005, 4). This chapter examines the marketing tactics employed by

distributors and apply the theoretical AIDA model of marketing when analysing several

video nasty covers, and to the video rental experience of the 1980s.

The analysis intends to show that the design of video nasty artwork was not accidental

(McGarrigle 2017) and explains why some cover designs remain burnt into memories

of horror fans who adored, and moralist politicians who abhorred the video nasties and

their sleeve covers (Brewster 2005, 5). The impact of the covers was so immense,

that it drove moralists, (in tandem with the tabloid press), to demand and compel

politicians to pass legislation mandating the censorship of all video content.

My research into the video nasty phenomenon has enabled me to identify distinct

features and trends in the way videos, and particularly horror videos were marketed

to consumers in the early days of home video entertainment in Britain. Renting a video

in the 1980s was a physical and an emotional experience. I liken it to a visit to an art

gallery, where people stand and linger in front of paintings and other artworks for long

periods of time. Many art lovers return over time to gaze at their favourite images.

Paintings remain hanging on gallery walls for years, silently inspiring and giving joy.

Walking into a video rental store was a similar experience, particularly when you

ventured into the horror aisles. Video box covers lined the shelves facing potential

consumers, each with their own distinctive imagery to entice. The lengths distributors

went to in urging punters to choose their titles for that evenings viewing entertainment

sparked a moral panic that was fueled by the press and amplified by moralists. It is

also one of the reasons why certain videos were targeted by the authorities for their

obscenity and depravity, landing them on the video nasties list (Brewster 2005, 5).

Once the video rental industry was up and running, film fans no longer had to write off

to post office box addresses to buy, swop and share titles. Renting a video meant

getting up and going down to the local video rental store to browse the shelves. It could

involve getting a hot tip from the owner or other tapeheads on a new release or

unknown gem. You entered a space where a visual war was being waged for your

attention and your interest which would, after the person had passed through the four

54

stages of the AIDA process, eventually lead to a video title being rented for that night.

Distributors knew that the video box cover was on the front line in the battle against

other distributors and titles, and they had complete control over how to exploit this

advertising space to market their films. Distributors began employing talented artists

and graphic designers to create video covers that were like a great work of art, once

seen, not easily forgotten. These artists employed simple colour schemes, legible font

and centered imagery to draw the attention and awaken the interest of the casual

browser, the first steps of the AIDA model.

Rental shop owners did not put tapes in their original boxes for their customers to take

home for the night. One reason for this was the fear that the covers would be stolen

or copied and used to produce bootlegs which would not be good for business.

Another reason was based on simple yet clever marketing. The video cover was how

the film was communicated and marketed to movie fans, and the movie shelves were

the silent battlegrounds where video covers fought for the attention of those browsing

for their fix of horror. If a video cover lay on a living room carpet in front of a VCR

overnight somewhere, then it could not do its job. It would be like a lost soldier, unable

to serve his regiment. There would just be an empty space between two other video

covers on the shelf. If on the other hand the video was rented but the video box was

still on the shelf with a little slip of red paper with the words on loan slipped under the

plastic of the cover, (as was the norm), then the title immediately became more

attractive and appealing. Someone else had gotten their sooner and was already lying

on or hiding behind their couch enjoying the movie. The cover stayed in the store and

was free to be taken down, inspected, and held in awe. You could still flip it over and

read the synopsis, and the artwork on the front had the job of catching your eye and

pulling you in to that film’s universe. This exchange between the VHS cover and the

consumer exemplifies the execution of the AIDA marketing model.

AIDA is a marketing model that was first presented by E. St. Elmo Lewis in 1898

(Hadiyati 2016, 51). It is a model that identifies the “cognitive stages an individual goes

through during the buying process for a product or service” (Hanlon 2013) and

proposes that advertising messages need to accomplish several tasks or stages to

move a consumer to action, which in this case is the rental of a video title. The model

is often likened to a funnel that channels consumers towards an item and includes four

stages represented by the four-letter acronym AIDA. The letters stand for Attention,

Interest, Desire and Action (Ibid).

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Attention

The first stage of the AIDA model involves making the consumer aware of a product

or service. It also aims to affiliate itself with the desired audience (Hanlon 2013). The

advent and growth of the video home entertainment market quickly saw the shelves

of video rental outlets awash with titles, all longing to be taken home for the night. By

1980, there were already over 4,500 video titles available for rental or purchase in

Britain (Brewster et al 2005, 4). Distributors looked for new ways to give their titles the

edge over the wealth of worthy competition. The new wave of horror films that entered

Britain with the advent of home video sought to shock and push the limits. The desire

to be notorious and memorable washed off on the distributors and cover artists who

attempted to capture the essence of the movies they promoted in a single image. I will

begin by analysing covers (see fig.19) from two of the most infamous video nasty titles,

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974). The first

thing that my analysis unearthed is the fact that video nasty covers are predominantly

illustrations. This could have been employed to allow artists the freedom to create lurid

and shocking imagery that would have been expensive or impossible to capture in a

photograph. Illustrations can also distance an image from reality, keeping the image

and the emotions it elicits out of the real world. As some of the images are so disturbing

and violent, the use of illustrations may have been used to separate reality from the

imagined worlds alluded to on the video covers.

The next important observation is that the protagonist or human figure is always

central in the image. In the I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE COVER, a woman with athletic body

and ripped clothes moves stealthily away from the observer into the undergrowth with

a sharp blade in her hand. The cover image also hints at the movie’s exploitative

tendencies, as the woman’s head and face are not visible, and her aesthetically

pleasing physical form is bare in all the right places.

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Fig. 19: I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978).28 THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974).29

In Texas, a centrally positioned masked figure runs towards the observer, also with a

weapon in his hand. A woman’s face fills the background and her eyes mirror the

horrors that she will surely endure in the film. Both images are shocking and grab our

attention instantly. This use of central imagery can be found in portrait composition of

great masters such as Da Vinci and Rembrandt (see fig. 20).

Fig. 20: La Gioconda: Leonardo da Vinci (1503).30 The man with the Golden Helmet: Rembrandt. (1650).31

The cover images are not muddled or convoluted with multiple messages or layers.

They are clear and instantly digestible. They announce that fear and horror await

anyone brave enough to watch this movie. The font and wording are bold and easily

legible. The colour red connotes blood and violence. The general colour schemes of

video nasties are simple and dark with only two or three colours being applied. This

pattern of dark, centralized and shocking imagery is evident in other horror titles such

as John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN (1978) (see fig.21) and MONKEY SHINES (1988) (see

fig.22). American distributor Anchor Bay prides itself as a leading distributor and expert

in 70s and 80s horror cinema. The marketing department at Anchor Bay had the

wisdom to alter almost nothing to the cover when they rereleased Carpenter’s

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phenomenally successful, yet wildly overrated slasher movie in 2001. Anchor Bay kept

the simple colour scheme, centralized image and bold clear lettering.

Fig. 21: HALLOWEEN (1978) original poster.32 HALLOWEEN (1978) DVD ANCHOR BAY EDITION (2001).33

The same can unfortunately not be said for MGM’s 1999 rerelease of MONKEY SHINES

(1988). The cover seems to be advertising a documentary about some small species

of monkey that are being captured and illegally experimented upon by cosmetic firms

or genetic scientists. The tagline “An experiment in fear” only goes to support my

reading of the MGM cover as a film about animal testing and lab experiments. The

cover includes a photo of a monkey, immediately conveying a more documentary like

and realistic mood. This film would most certainly not have triggered an AIDA chain of

marketing phases if it had graced the rental shelves and fought for the attention of

horror fans back in the 1980s (Hall 2015).

Fig.22: MONKEY SHINES VHS (1988).34 MONKEY SHINES DVD rerelease.35

The power of such simple devices becomes transparent through analysis of

contemporary horror film artwork. The visual campaigns created to market GET OUT

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(2017), clearly shows how important the visual impact of a DVD cover or thumbnail

can be to the film’s ability to communicate with audiences. In the cover on the left is

creative and hints that something is badly broken, but the observer’s gaze cannot

settle on any one part or the cover, and is confronted with conflicting emotional states

(see fig. 23). Two men embrace in the top right while the couple in the bottom left are

smiling brightly. The cover is not clear in the message it is trying to convey, and feels

more like a cover for a family drama. The cover on the right shows a cover much more

in line with 1980s video covers and the AIDA marketing model. The protagonist is

located in the middle of the image, his face gripped in sheer panic. The font is clear

and big, and the designers used only two basic colours for the entire image.

Fig. 23: GET OUT (2017). An unclear message.36 Classic nasty simplicity and composition.37

Interest

This step aims at generating enough consumer interest in the product so that the

potential customer is willing to invest time into researching the product further (Hanlon

2013).Once a person’s attention has been comandeered, the next stage in the model

involves awakening the interest and curiousity of the potential consumer. Browsing the

aisles in the 80s, horror fans searched for a film that would give them a cocktail of

entertainment and scares. Video cover artwork fed off such desires by presenting film

fans with images that subverted norms and expectations, surprising them and making

them curious. Designers did this by uprooting familiar conventions and relocating them

to unusual settings and environments. The conventions are thus liberated from their

tradtitional coding and are free for reassignment. They become twisted and terrifying.

The subversion of expectaions leaves the horror fan wanting to know more about the

film, increasing the likelihood of them renting the movie.

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The cover for the video nasty EVILSPEAK (1981) takes the desktop computer and

transforms it into a gateway of evil, as a pentagram beams from the computer screen

(see fig.24). The centrally positioned figure is possessed by the satanic power

eminating from the much loved appliance that was finding its way into offices and

middle class homes everywhere. The cover informs the observer who is really in

control. The font is large and coloured red. The overall tone of the cover is dark and

the illustrated image is simplistic.

Fig. 24: EVILSPEAK (1981).38

SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT (1984) takes the children’s convention of Santa Claus and

turns him into a faceless axewielding killer, still possessing the traditional ability to

scale down your chimney and enter your home silently in the dead of night. The trend

of playing on words is evident on the video box cover (see fig. 25), as the title alludes

to the opening lines of Franz Gruber’s Christmas carol Silent Night (1818). The tagline

“SANTA’S HERE” refers to the famous “They’re here” tagline and quote from Tobe

Hooper and Steven Spielberg’s horror hit POLTERGEIST (1982). Both taglines chillingly

inform us that the danger is not out there somewhere lurking in the dark, but already

in our homes. The poster campaign refers to another classic horror film. “You’ve made

it through Halloween, now try and survive Christmas” is a reference to John

Carpenter’s protoslasher HALLOWEEN (1978). If you had the stomach to watch and

survive Carpenter’s movie, then the poster dares you to watch TRI-Star’s holiday

season horror offering.

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Fig. 25: SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT (1984).39

The artwork for the Hollywood production POLTERGEIST (1982) also displays classic

AIDA attention grabbing elements, such as the centralized protagonist, black

background and clear font (see fig.26). It also places the familiar and trusted TV set in

a subverted paranornal setting, creating interest in those browsing the shelves of their

local video rental shop. This shows the influence of video nasty covers which were

designed by small and independent distributors on the major studios. The subversion

of familiar objects is also present in the artwork for GET OUT (2017) . The fact that the

man could be experiencing so much fear or pain sitting in the centrally positioned

comfortable leather armchair arouses interest. Cosy armchairs ar more normally

associated with comfort and snozzing grandfathers on a Sunday afternoon.

Fig. 26: GET OUT (2017).40 POLTERGEIST (1982).41

Some video nasties also came with covers that grabbed interest by subverting

expectations. FUNHOUSE (1981), takes a harmless toy, a jack in the box, and

transforms it into a menacing masked murderer. The puppet grins omonously out at

us and is about to grab us with one hand, holding an axe in the other. Stephen King

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also subverted our conventions and norms five years later with his novel and

subsequent film IT (1986). INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (1972) takes the

convention of farming, farmers and pitchforks and subverts them into visions of horror.

A farmer is seem forcing the prongs of his trusty tool into a woman’s neck instead of

a hay bale, in the middle of sun rippened field of corn (see fig.27).

Fig. 27: FUNHOUSE (1981).42 INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (1972).43

The pure and wholesome environment of farming life is subverted into a world of

violence and murder. The location of the corn field has been subverted in many horror

films as a location of terror and fear.

Desire

Now that attraction and interest has been achieved, and the consumer is investing

time to inform themselves more about the film, the model moves into its third phase;

that of desire. The notion of desire aims at creating an emotional connection between

product and consumer by providing proof and revealing the products uniqueness and

personality. This should move the horror tapehead to liking the product and create a

desire to purchase or consume the product (Hanlon 2013). The cover needs to back

up claims made by the front cover image with tangible information and proof. This is

achieved by the synopsis located on the back cover of the box or reviews that are

incorporated into the overall cover design. It may also be achieved by including still

images from key scenes the reverse or spine of the cover. Together, the text, reviews

and stills should give the audience a taste of what is to come. For horror fans, this

could include visions and promises of blood, gore, dark humour and possible nudity.

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The early years of home video entertainment in Britain were unregulated and

distributors took advantage of the lax in legislation regarding home video releases of

cinematic content (Brewster 2005, 4). Horror fans were crying out for as much blood,

violence and gore as directors and film distributors could deliver. Limits were pushed

and severely tested in Britain with the release of the films with video covers like THE

DRILLER KILLER (1979) and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979), (see fig. 29).

Fig. 29: THE DRILLER KILLER (1978).44 CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1979).45

This sparked a trend in the United States where distributors began placing warnings

on their covers which they wore like a badge of pride, making the films even more

desirable to horror fans. Other covers boasted of how they contained uncut versions

of films that were banned or censored in numerous countries around the globe.

The cover of MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY (1981) which was a video nasty released in

Britain as CANNIBAL FERROX, came with a large red and yellow warning, stamped

asymmetrically on the front of the cover for added impact. It also bragged that the film

had been banned in 31 countries (see fig.30). Not satisfied that this would be enough

to entice horror fans, the distributors placed another large warning on the back cover

printed in uppercase which read

This motion picture is one of the most violent films ever made. There are 24

scenes of barbaric torture and sadistic cruelty graphically shown. If the

presentation of disgusting and repulsive material upsets you, please do not view

this film. (MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY/ Thriller Video 1981).

Reading these warnings must surely have felt thrilling and exciting to fans of gore and

horror in 1982. Anyone who rented this version of the film would be privy to scenes of

depravity and violence that nearly three dozen governments had deemed too horrific

for their citizens. Other desire arousing triggers that were presented as warnings

included the Too gory for the silver screen stamp, that claimed the film had been

deemed too bloody and violent for theatrical release. Such enticing claims created

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ample desire among horror fans eager to witness the gore on offer for just two pounds

per night. The claims and warnings escalated without any regard for the sensitivities of

those who were beginning to take offense to the artwork.

Fig. 30: MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY USA / CANNIBAL FERROX UK (1981).46

Action

The final phase in the AIDA model is that of action. This is the phase where the

consumer is finally moved to purchase a product and avail of a service (Hanlon 2013).

The three previous phases are meaningless to a distributor or rental store owner if

their combined efforts do not result in the rental of a video title. As with the desire

phase, the synopsis on the back-cover functions like a no-frills elevator sales pitch.

The other way that distributors try to close a sale is by incorporating directives into the

cover design that speak directly to fans. YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT TO BELIEVE IT! is stamped

assertively on the cover of BURIAL GROUND (1981). It is telling anyone brave enough

to take this film home that the movie is scarier and more horrific than anything they

can imagine. It is throwing down the gauntlet, taunting people to pit the depths of their

imagination against that of the writers and directors of the film, and only by

experiencing the film can a victor be determined. Rank Video, the distributors of the

video nasty BLOOD BATH (1975) were certain that their film was TWICE AS TERRIFYING

AS YOUR WILDEST DREAMS!

Some film titles functioned as directives to horror fans. Knowing that generally, people

what they cannot have, distributors often renamed their films with titles that sounded

like something your parents shout after you as you borrowed the car keys on a

Saturday night. Some video nasty examples are DON’T GO INTO THE HOUSE! (1979),

DON’T GO INTO THE WOODS ALONE! (1980), DON’T GO NEAR THE PARK! (1979), and

DON’T GO IN THE BASEMENT! (1973).

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Fig.31: DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE (1980).47

Other directives feigned concern for the psychological well-being of viewers, luring

them to test their mettle. Astra Video’s BLOOD FEAST (1963), an old Herschell Gordon

Lewis movie was rereleased during the video horror boom. The front cover of the video

sleeve was adorned with the information that

“You’ll Recoil and Shudder as You Witness the Slaughter and Mutilation of

Nubile Young Girls - In a Weird and Horrendous Ancient Rite!”

Just for good measure the distributor added that there was “NOTHING SO APPALLING IN

THE ANNALS OF HORROR!” (see fig. 32). These statements challenge viewers to prove

the distributors wrong. They claim to know the limits of the human mind and know in

advance how viewers will react. What young horror fan would not love to prove such

claims as falsehoods. The only thing that stands in their way is the cost of a night’s

rental charge.

Fig. 32: BLOOD FEAST (1963).48

The cover of SAVAGE WEEKEND (1979), speaks directly to audiences informing them

that

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“YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN. YOU ARE DOOMED. PREPARE YOURSELF FOR…… SAVAGE WEEKEND”.

The person standing in the aisle reading the cover has no choice in the matter. It has

already been decided by powerful and dark forces that they have indeed been chosen.

The best thing to do is just rent the movie and get it over with. The grim reaper’s finger

pointing out from the cinematic plane into the real world dispels any misunderstanding

as to who has been selected. Should that not be enough impetus to cause the

audience to act and watch the film, a final claim awaits those who dare to peruse the

back cover. Not to be outdone, in the absence of a synopsis, the back cover informs

us in blood dripping certainty that IT WILL SCARE YOU TO DEATH (see fig. 33).

Fig. 33: SAVAGE WEEKEND (1979).49

Renting a movie today does not require much physical effort or emotional investment.

It is possible to rent or purchase a movie in a matter of seconds and just a few swipes

on your smartphone or clicks on your Smart-TV’s remote control. Browsing for video

entertainment is, like so many other online procedures, an event that does not

necessitate human interaction. The internet has made true the adage of everyone’s a

critic. Anonymous experts condense their reviews to under 120 characters and

logarithms utilize your choices to create lists of similar content that may interest you

on your next visit to the site. Renting a film in the 1980s involved interaction with not

only the store owner and other film fans but also with the video covers that grabbed

the eye’s attention with their purposely designed images and directives that challenged

horror fans to test their mental stamina by watching the film cradled within the cover.

Distributors were, owing to a lack of regulation, creative and bold in their claims and

methods. They flaunted their titles like freakshows, using reverse psychology to make

their films even more attractive. The lack of regulation and legislation allowed

distributors to fight hard in a flooded market, all looking for a home for the night. The

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rental shelf was an interface between the image and the viewer, and the image was

well equipped to win the confrontation.

Independent and small distributors like Astra Video and Go Video created the distinct

video nasty look, which proved popular with fans and outraged conservative moralists.

As horror films were flying of the shelves in video libraries in the early 80s, major and

more respected distributors like Thorn EMI copied the nasty style when designing

covers and advertizing slogans for their horror titles. The cover of GIRLS NITE OUT

(1981) has a centralized image of a young woman gripping a blanket in fear as she

stares directly out towards the viewer (see fig. 34). The font used for the title is large

and easy to read. It is also coloured red in reference to the colour of blood. The cover

includes a mini synopsis which reads “The terror begins as one by one, each girl is

mystreriously murdered by a sadistic maniac”. The back cover includes a production

still of three girls running towards the viewer full of fear and panic. These are all classic

elements of video nasty imagery.

Fig. 34: Thorn EMI’s teen-slasher: GIRLS NITE OUT (1982).50

One Thorn EMI title that made it onto the DPP’s list of deplorable nasties was THE

BURNING (1982), which exhibits video nasty like artwork. The burning figure is central

in the frame with big red lettering that is eye-catching and easy to read. The cover

includes a not too humble statement that claims the film is “The most frightening of all

maniac films” (see fig. 35). The back cover lists a mantra of things that viewers must

not do, if they hope to survive the experience. The directives, as with several other

video nasty titles all start with the word “Don’t”. This immediately challenges the

observer, making the film instantly more desirable to horror fans.

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Fig. 35: Thorn EMI’s maniac video nasty: THE BURNING (1981).51

Through the application of the AIDA model, I have endeavored to show that

distributors used aggressive marketing techniques and intentionally offensive and eye-

catching imagery to convince potential video consumers to rent their titles. There was

no code of conduct to adhere to and distributors pushed the limits of what was

acceptable. As a result, the Advertising Standards Authority began to receive

complaints in 1981. This would lead to media interest and protests from self-appointed

moral guardians and the passing of crippling and censorious legislation, putting many

of the small distributors out of business.

8. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978): A case study and defense.

I have elected to present a detailed case study of Meir Zarchi’s legendary rape-

revenge video nasty I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978). I chose Zarchi’s film as it is

“perhaps the most famous of the nasties” (Wingrove & Morris 2009, 26), and the most

notorious of all the films that were prosecuted by the DPP (Kerekes & Slater 2000,

188). I shall argue that I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, hereafter referred to in abbreviated form

as ISOYG (except when discussing the origin of the film’s title), is not as critic Roger

Ebert wrote in 1980 “a vile bag of garbage” (Ebert cited in Oldridge 2003, 113-114),

and depraved piece of exploitation, but a film that merits artistic recognition and

challenges the very tropes and viewpoints of those it was accused of and banned for.

Arguing a case for one of the most notorious video nasties is intended to function as

a framework to highlight how the media, evangelists and politicians got it wrong, and

that their motivation for banning the nasties did not purely stem from the content or

narrative of the films.

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I begin with a synopsis of the film as a starting point for later analysis and comparison.

I then chart the film’s history and how it was received on its initial release in America

and in Britain. This is followed by a section devoted to analysis and comparison to

other films.

8.1 Synopsis

Jennifer Hill (Camille Keaton) is an attractive young writer, who is in the middle of

writing her first novel. She needs to concentrate on her book and distance herself from

the bustle of city life, so she rents a secluded country house for the summer and looks

forward to some rural tranquility and hours of uninterrupted and inspired writing.

On her three-hour drive upstate, Jennifer stops in for fuel at a lazy and run-down

roadside filling station and is quite a distraction for Joey (Eron Tabor), the store’s pump

attendant, who is instantly attracted to the young woman and ogles Jennifer’s athletic

body. Johnny has the company of his two idle friends, Andy (Gunther Kleemann) and

Stanley (Anthony Nichols), who spend their time hanging around the station with

nothing to do other than make jokes and fool around, marginally managing to vent

their pent-up sexual energy. Jennifer is friendly to the attendant and during their small

talk innocently reveals where she will be staying. Shortly after her arrival at the summer

house, Jennifer decides to refresh herself by going skinny dipping in a river that runs

along the rear of the property. She orders some groceries from the local store which

are delivered by Matthew, who is simple but harmless, and takes an instant liking to

Jennifer who is friendly and kind to the young man.

Later, back at the filling station, the pump attendant and his friends make fun of

Matthew who proudly cliams that he caught a glimpse of Jennifer’s breasts. Having

consumed all the entertainment (such as bowling and cinema) that their small town

has to offer, the four young men stroll off into the warm evening looking for distraction.

With nothing much else to do, the group of men take an interest in Jennifer, and begin

to prowl the vicinity of the summer house and monitor her movements. Their interest

becomes more intense and they embark on a series of visits which irritate and distract

Jennifer from her tranquility and her work. The four men eventually abduct Jennifer

(only wearing a swim suit) and chase her deep into the surrounding forest. Jennifer

fights and screams but there is no one to hear her cries for help. She is pushed around

and toyed with by the men and is blocked from making her escape by Johnny, still

wearing his work overalls. Johnny and his friends pin Jennifer to the ground and call

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on Matthew to rape her. Matthew remains rooted where he stands and refuses. With

the other men still holding Jennifer down, Johnny rapes Jennifer instead. Having

finished Johnny dismounts from the sobbing and defiled Jennifer, who crawls away

into the thick undergrowth. A brief pang of guilt flash across the faces of Johnny’s

accomplices. Johnny shows no remorse for his actions and urges Matthew to seize

the opportunity and not die a virgin. The mentally immature Matthew is torn between

decency and lust, but eventually allows Jennifer to escape into the forest. Jennifer

stumbles shell-shocked through the trees clutching her dirty and bloodied body. She

hears diegetic music coming from somewhere in the forest. Jennifer follows the music

to its source which is a clearing where Andy (one of her abusers) sits perched upon a

large rock casually playing his harmonica. The rest of the gang circle Jennifer who is

then once again pinned down over a rock and is brutally sodomized. Once the men

have had their way, they leave Jennifer stretched over the rock and the gang of four

head for their motorboat without saying a word to each other or to Jennifer. They dump

her bikini in the water and set her kayak afloat to delay her.

Jennifer summons what little strength she has left and finds her way back to the

summer house. Her ordeal is not over however and is prevented from alerting the

authorities by the gang who have been waiting for her. The men beat up Jennifer who

eventually passes out from exhaustion.

The gang pour alcohol into Matthew, which alters his character. He becomes tipsy and

loses his inhibitions. He strips down to his socks and willingly mounts Jennifer and

proceeds to rape her while she lies motionless on the floor. Jennifer regains

consciousness, only to see Matthew writhing on top of her, in a pathetic rape attempt,

cheered on by the other men. While rummaging around the house one of the

assailants finds Jennifer’s manuscript and reads a passage aloud in a sarcastic tone

before ripping up the pages. Jennifer passes out again, but this does not put an end

to the terror as Stanley now steps up and brutally violates Jennifer with a beer bottle.

The gang finally cease their abusive attacks and leave, but almost immediately decide

that Jennifer must be killed to silence her forever. After some convincing, and armed

with a blade, Matthew is sent back to the house to kill Jennifer. Matthew cannot bring

himself to murder the young woman, although he allows the gang to think that he has

been successful by coating the blade of the knife in blood. Satisfied, the gang leave

the scene in their motorboat. Jennifer slowly gets her strength back and nurses her

wounds. In a symbolic scene, she tapes the pages of her manuscript back together

and sits for hours thinking about what has happened to her. Weeks pass, and the men

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begin to wonder why the murder has not been reported. The men begin to doubt if

Matthew did indeed kill Jennifer. Andy and Stanley are sent by Johnny on a

reconnaissance mission to the house to check the crime scene. They find Jennifer

sitting at the base of a tree at the back of the house. Jennifer is not phased, and simply

stares at the men as they pass by in their motorboat. The pair return and report to

Johnny, who ostracizes Matthew from the gang for lying to them and putting them in

danger.

Dressed totally in black, Jennifer leaves the house and drives to an empty church.

She kneels and prays before blessing herself and rising to her feet with a newfound

sense of resolution and purpose, having asked for forgiveness for the revenge she is

about to dispense. She returns to the house and sets her plan of revenge in motion.

She orders some more groceries, and as the store’s delivers boy, Matthew is sent to

deliver the order. He cannot refuse to go, as this would raise alarm. He steals a knife

from the store and cycles out to the house with the intention of killing Jennifer. Jennifer

is now much slower and deliberate in her movements and maneuvers him right to

where she wants him. Matthew is visibly nervous to be in Jennifer’s presence and

berates her for bringing him and the town bad luck. While wielding a knife Matthew

apologizes for what he has done, but Jennifer placates his rage and his murderous

intent by undressing before him and inviting him to sleep with her. While Matthew is

distracted by sex, Jennifer wraps a noose around the simpleton’s neck and hangs him

from a tree. Jennifer watches as Matthew’s body shudders in its final death throes, his

trousers dangling pathetically about his ankles. Her plan is now clear, she seeks to

exact murderous revenge on all her assailants. Johnny is the next on Jennifer’s list.

She easily lures Johnny into the woods with the promise of sex. She suddenly changes

tact and produces a gun from under her clothes and commands Johnny to strip at

gunpoint. He begs her to stop and tries to make a case that the attacks and the rape

were not his fault. He puts the blame on Jennifer for prancing around in a bikini and

parading her legs when she first arrived into town. Jennifer appears to accept Johnny’s

arguments and invites Johnny back to the house for a good time. She joins him for a

bath and begins to fondle his genitals under the water while openly admitting to having

murdered Matthew, which Johnny laughs off and doesn’t believe. She allows him to

enjoy the event for a few seconds before picking up a knife she had concealed under

a bath rug and castrates Johnny as he sits in the bath. Owing to the large amount of

suds that rests of the surface of the bathwater, Johnny only realizes what Jennifer has

done when the bath water begins to turn red. Jennifer gets out of the bath and locks

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Johnny in the bathroom to bleed to death. She puts on some music and settles down

in a rocking chair staring emotionlessly at the bathroom door. The classical music

drowns out Johnny’s screams, which grow quieter, then less frequent, and finally stop.

Shortly thereafter, Stanley and Andy return to the house looking for Johnny. Jennifer

swings in her hammock like a spider waiting patiently for its prey. After pushing Stanley

out of his boat and taking an axe away from Andy, Jennifer circles the men several

times as they flail about in fear and panic. Jennifer plunges the axe into Andy’s back

and he sinks below the surface of the water. Jennifer then uses the boat’s propeller to

kill Stanley. The final shot of the film sees Jennifer heading upstream in Johnny’s

motorboat with a detached look on her face which is only interrupted by slightest of

wry smiles.

8.2 History

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) was written, directed, produced and edited by Meir Zarchi

(Kerekes & Slater 2000, 191). Zarchi was inspired to make a film which dealt with

issues of rape and justice after experiencing the bureaucracy and insensitivity

displayed by police after he had driven a rape victim to a police station (Kerekes &

Slater 2000, 190). The title which is immediately and intentionally offensive was not

the original title of the film, nor was it the first film to sport the notorious title. Zarchi’s

film was already the third film to be released in America as I Spit on Your Grave. The

legendary and aptly named American exploitation film producer Jerry Gross borrowed

the title twice from the 1959 anti-racist French Noir movie J'IRAI CRACHER SUR VOS

TOMBES (1959), which translates into English as I Spit on Your Graves. The film had

been adapted from French author Boris Vian’s 1946 noir crime novel of the same

name. Vian was not a fan of the adaptation and died of a heart attack while loudly

sharing his displeasure with the audience at the film’s premiere in Paris in 1959 (Rolls

& Walker 2018, 32). The film was shown at drive-ins in the US from 1963 as I SPIT ON

YOUR GRAVE. Seasoned in the art of exploitation, Gross wanted a title that would stand

out and generate publicity, a goal he achieved on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1975,

Gross changed the title of the Indian exploitation film CAMPER JOHN (1973) to I Spit on

your Grave when it opened in Detroit (unknown 2017). Meir Zarchi’s 1978 production,

which originally bore the title DAY OF THE WOMAN on the drive-in circuit was also

renamed I Spit on Your Grave by Gross for its video release in 1981 (Wingrove &

Morris 2009, 26, Kerekes & Slater 2000, 191-192).

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Fig. 36 J'irai cracher sur vos tombes / I Spit on Your Grave (1959).52 CAMPER JOHN aka I Spit on your Grave (1973).53

Fig. 37: DAY OF THE WOMAN aka I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978).54

Zarchi’s film was distributed in Britain on video by Astra Video, a small, independent

label, and was released in January 1982, just as the video home entertainment market

was beginning to boom in Britain (Oldridge 2003, 113). ISOYG was one of the label’s

first releases, and a distribution deal with the American copyright owner Novocom,

made Astra the sole distributor of ISOYG outside of the US (Brewster et al. 2005, 217).

Other early titles that were released as part of the Novocom deal included zombie

legend George A. Romero’s feminist horror flick SEASON OF THE WITCH (1972), a

documentary that carried the title THE BEST OF THE NEW YORK EROTIC FILM FESTIVAL

(1973), and an absurdly eclectic collection of film trailers and clips that was released

under the title THE BEST OF SEX AND VIOLENCE (1982) (Brewster et al. 2005, 217-218).

Being released by the same distributor of the latter two titles and sporting such a

provocative and potentially offensive title did not do ISOYG any favours, and the film

was damned through association without having been seen by the majority moralist

campaigners or journalists that campaigned so vehemently against it (Barlow & Hill

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1985, 175). The film had not been shown in British cinemas before its video release,

as it had never been submitted to the BBFC for classification (Oldridge 2003, 113).

This could be attributed to the fact that the film had been met with disparaging reviews

and had caused controversy on its initial theatre release in the United States in 1978

(Brewster et al. 2005, 217-218). Influential TV critic Roger Ebert detested the film and

in 1980 wrote that

“I Spit on Your Grave is a vile bag of garbage that is so sick, reprehensible and

contemptible that I can hardly believe that it played in respectable theatres. But it

did. Attending it was one of the most depressing experiences of my life…. At the

film’s end I walked out of the theatre quickly, feeling unclean, ashamed and

depressed” (Ebert cited in Oldridge 2003, 113-114).

Not satisfied with such a wicked review, Ebert used the platform of his PBS TV show

Sneak Previews to encourage cinemagoers to boycott cinemas that were screening

the film. The public did not heed his advice (Kerekes & Slater 2000, 188), some may

even have attended a screening based on Ebert’s plea. ISOYG was the first title to

achieve commercial success on video in America and was among the 25 bestselling

video titles in the US in 1981 (Oldridge 2003, 113).

8.3 Reception in Britain

ISOYG was constantly named in the British tabloid media campaign calling for the

banning of the video nasties from the time of the film’s release in Britain on VHS in

1982 (Martin 2007, 15), up to 1984, when the film was eventually banned (Oldridge

2003, 113). It was among the first of the video nasties to be prosecuted under the

Obscene Publications act “which led to 234 copies of the film being confiscated from

the warehouses of Astra Video in May 1982 by police” (Oldridge 2003, 114). It

appeared on the original list of 17 films drawn up for prosecution by the Director of

Public Prosecutions (DPP) in July of 1983 and appeared on all subsequent lists right

through to December of 1985 where it was still listed alongside other notable nasties

such as DRILLER KILLER (1979), SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976) and FACES OF DEATH

(1979) on the infamous DPP 39 list (Brewster et al 2005, 180-181). These 39 films

would become infamous for decades to come as the “true” video nasties (Brewster et

al 2005, 5).

The film was also reviled in Britain by Mary Whitehouse and her fellow campaigners.

Their efforts kept the film in the focus of the British print media. Owing to its video

cover and title the film became representative of the depravity that the video nasties

were becoming notorious for (Martin 2007, 130). The film was ultimately banned in

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Britain ensuring that the film earned an iconic status. Teenagers and horror fans

flocked to rental stores before the ban was in place, elevating the rape revenge movie

to the top of the UK’s rental charts (Brewster et al. 2005, 217).

As part of their relentless tirade against the video nasties, the British tabloid media

disseminated numerous falsehoods about ISOYG that went unchallenged from more

liberal journalists and these lies were willingly included by politicians in the

government working party report on video violence which was published in 1985. The

report included a distorted plot summary and referred to a scene that wasn’t even in

the film (Oldridge 2003, 115). The report’s creators admitted that they had not actually

viewed the film but had pieced things together from reading the descriptions in trade

magazines and the taglines and texts that adorned video box covers (Barlow & Hill

1985, 175).

Even those who proclaim to be against the notion of censorship have continuously

been slow or nonexistent in their defense of ISOYG. Writing in 1994, author Tom

Dewe Mathews believed that the film “tarred” other and better films with the “nasty

brush” (Mathews, 1994, 249). Martin and Porter (1986), thought that Meir Zarchi’s

film was

“an utterly reprehensible motion picture with shockingly misplaced values…one of

the most tasteless, irresponsible and disturbing movies ever made” (Martin &

Porter 1986, 704).

Kim Newman was more concise with his words, dismissing the film as among “the

most loathsome films of all time” (Newman 1988, 57). Some commentators were

undecided. In his book Dark Romance: Sexuality in the Horror Film (1986) David J.

Hogan felt that “Unpleasant as this film is, it at least shows a woman fighting back”

(Hogan 1986). Few voices have defended ISOYG, but one person who took the time

to watch the movie and reflect upon its possible artistic merit was Marco Starr. In his

1984 article defending ISYOG titled J. Hills is alive: a defense of I Spit on your Grave

(Starr 1984, 48-55), Starr claims that

“I Spit on Your Grave is actually a very good movie – well made, interestingly

written, beautifully photographed and intelligently directed” (Starr 1984, 49).

His opinion is not only based on the cinematic craft displayed by Zarchi in constructing

his film but also because in Starr’s opinion the film exhibits a “militant stance…in

favour of the women it is supposedly degrading” (Ibid).

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The notion that a video nasty could find a morsel of redemption for being well made

was obliterated by comments made by judge Christopher Beaumont during an

obscenity trial in 1984 (Barker 1984, 109). The distributors of video nasty NIGHTMARES

OF A DAMAGED BRAIN (1981), were on trial for the possession of obscene material. The

defense called noted film critic Derek Malcolm to give evidence on the film’s skilled

camerawork and production value. Malcolm had just noted that the film had been

“well executed” (Barker 1984, 109), when judge Beaumont rudely interrupted him and

cried “You might say the German tank invasion of Poland was well executed. Does

excellence and camerawork help the jury to come to a conclusion in the case”

(Kerekes & Slater 2000, 50). Distributor David Hamilton-Grant was found guilty by the

jury and was sentenced to six months in prison (Kerekes & Slater 2000, 49).

8.4 Analysis

In this section I consider the arguments and theories of various authors and

researchers in attempting to understand why the film was met with such vehement

hostility in 1the early 1980s from male critics and lawmakers.

Clover (1992) argues that ISOYG is a rare example of where men are depicted

experiencing various “states of abject terror”, as when Stanley wails with terror as

Jennifer circles him with the motorboat or when Johnny shrieks as he stares at his

groin and realizes that he has been castrated by Jennifer. (Clover 1992, 51). The

British government’s report on Video Nasties published in 1985 contains the false

claim that Jennifer castrates Johnny and his friends before killing them, which is

simply not the case, as Johnny is the only attacker to have his genitals mutilated from

the gang of four (Oldridge 2003, 120).

Oldridge considers the notion that Jennifer does not act or behave as female

cinematic characters are expected to, both generally and in extreme situations. In

society and in perhaps even more so in cinema, men and women are expected to

behave in particular ways. As already discussed, men being subjected to terror

(especially by women) is an uncommon and jarring cinematic spectacle. It is also

uncomfortable for men to observe women who do not behave in ways that men would

expect or prefer. Oldridge (Oldridge 2003, 122), lists the acceptable types or

behaviour of women in cinema and news reports as “either accomplices to men,

victims of hysteria or PMS, or driven to murder in the heat of passion or rage” (Ibid).

Jennifer Hills is nobody’s accomplice, she is totally alone and must rely upon herself.

She shows no sign of hysterics and is cool and calculated in her actions having

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recovered from the savage attacks. She rests for weeks thinking about her situation

and is not in love with any of her victims.

Hardy, (1986) sees parallels between Jennifer Hills and Myra Hindley, the young

woman who was a willing accomplice to Ian Brady in committing the infamous Moors

murders in Manchester in the mid-1960s. Hindley was abhorred by the British public

and was found guilty in the court of public opinion on account of her emotionless

mugshot and portrayal in the British media as a stone-cold murderer, who was void

of emotion and showed no remorse for the premeditated murders of several innocent

young children (Hardy 1986, 329). This is behaviour totally alien to normal female

behaviour, whose primary instinct is to protect the lives of small children. Jennifer too,

commits premeditated murder and shows no sign of hysteria or emotion. The film

may have received so much negative press and academic scorn because Jennifer,

like Hindley, does not fit into expected female types or behaviour commonly observed

in society and cinema.

Fig. 38: Moor’s Murderer Myra Hindley. (1965) (Source: Getty Images).55

Jennifer’s atypical behaviour has further ramifications. Barker (1984) asserts that

viewers want to identify with Jennifer as she dispenses revenge because she has

been done such a horrific and brutal wrong, but “the film distances the viewer” from

Jennifer as audiences are not accustomed to female characters who operate and

function differently to expected female behaviour. This, Oldridge suggests, could

alienate male audiences while at the same time liberate female viewers (Oldridge

2003, 122). Many people (men and women) who watch ISOYG feel uneasy and

appalled by the gruesome acts, but, as Martin Barker (1984) argues,

“that is just what the film wants. It wants us to hate the nature of the act of rape

and what it calls forth” (Barker 1984, 113).

Martin goes on to concede that many people disliked the film for making them feel

uneasy and confronting them with such brutality and viciousness, but that it would be

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very unfair and simply untrue to claim that the film has the potential or tendency to

corrupt, that it glorifies the act of rape itself, or seeks to justify the revenge killings

committed by Jennifer (Ibid).

The rape scenes in ISOYG have often been cited as proof that the film exploits sexual

violence: Ebert (1981) did not mince his words when he wrote that

“I Spit on Your Grave might have been the worst of the summer’s exploitation films,

but it is hardly alone in its sick attitude towards women. With increasing frequency,

the new horror films encourage audience identification not with the victim but with

the killer” (Ebert 1981, 55).

As Oldridge (2003) notes, and as I too have observed, this would have been a viable

viewpoint where it only true. Oldridge opines that the rape scenes depict exactly the

opposite of what Ebert claims, and show the graphic and brutal potential of male

sexual violence “in unflinching detail and invite the audience to participate in the

suffering they cause” (Oldridge 2003, 123).This is perhaps achieved most effectively

through the use of close-ups of the men’s faces as they abuse and violate Jennifer

which function as point of view shots. Seeing rape through the eyes of the victim gives

the viewer a front row seat to experience the sheer horror of rape and could go some

way to explaining why the film was condemned so quickly by male critics and

politicians and disliked by many male viewers.

8.5 No means no! Destroying the myths of male sexual violence

The film also challenges, and in some cases destroys some of the myths that are

regularly fielded in relation to male sexual violence (Oldridge 2003, 122). Oldridge

(2003) offers a list of myths challenged by Zarchi’s film including

“the idea that women can enjoy rape, that ‘no’ sometimes means yes, that some

women invite assault by their provocative behaviour or clothes, that men are

subject to sudden, uncontainable sexual urges, and that rapes are normally

committed by strangers” (Oldridge 2003, 122).

The first myth listed by Oldridge, that “women can enjoy rape”, is quickly and easily

debunked given Jennifer’s reaction and to cruel brutality of the attacks. She screams

and begs the men to let her go repeatedly, and her opposition to the men’s advances

and abuse cannot be misinterpreted as no can sometimes mean yes. The myth that

women “invite assault” owing to the way that they dress or provocative behaviour is

also challenged. Jennifer sports a bikini in many scenes, not because she means to

goad or titillate the locals, but because she is on a summer holiday and has

uninhibited access to a clean and secluded water source. The gang is also not

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spontaneously consumed with “sexual urges”, as the attacks occur only after nights

of fireside contemplation and creepy stalking. The gang hide and patiently wait for

Jennifer to come crawling back to the summer house before embarking on their third

sortie of vicious assaults. The men are not unknown assailants or faceless

“strangers”. Jennifer chats with both Johnny and Matthew on her arrival, is friendly to

Johnny and is tolerant of simpleton Matthew, dispelling any excuses that her tone or

demeanor could trigger or justify such attacks. There is absolutely no ambiguity in the

way that Zarchi’s challenges and debunks the myths listed, which as Oldridge (2003),

claims cannot be said for other films of the rape-revenge canon, some of which have

been lauded for “their sensitive and ‘responsible’ treatment of sexual violence

(Oldridge 2003, 123). Films such as THE ACCUSED (1988) or LIPSTICK (1976) are as

examples of mainstream Hollywood productions that have narratives that comply with

the previously listed myths. It is hinted that model Christine McCormick (Margaux

Hemingway), the rape victim in LIPSTICK is perhaps partly to blame for her attack. Her

rapist is found not guilty when tried before a jury and is only after raping the younger

sister of his first victim, stealing the young girl’s innocence, as if her own rape were

not reason enough to seek revenge. Barker finds the message of the film more

dubious than the “outright condemnation of rape” (Barker 1984, 129), by ISOYG.

LIPSTICK was aired on British television at the height of the Video nasty scare, without

causing the public to protest of complain (Ibid). The attackers in THE ACCUSED are

depicted as only having committed their attack after being triggered by a sudden and

overpowering lust (Ibid).

8.6 Headless Women

ISOYG is often cited as not only being one of the sickest and most depraved of the

‘video nasties’, but as one of the sickest films of all time (Newman 1988, 80). Roger

Ebert, film critic at the Chicago Sun-Times could hardly control has disgust while

writing his review in June 1980 and thought the movie

“so sick, reprehensible and contemptible that I can hardly believe it's playing in

respectable theatres.” (Ebert 1980).

Such assertions were not only directed at the film, but also at the artwork and imagery

that was designed to market the movie to cinema and video audiences. Here, I argue

through analysis and comparison with other films that ISOYG was unfairly treated and

show how other films of the era that used similar tropes and imagery, or narratives

dealing with rape and justice were lauded by critics and feminists, while ISOYG was

dismissed and banned, and was even referred to as “a vile bag of garbage” (Ebert

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1980), by respected and influential mainstream critics. Since its initial release in

theatres in the late 1970s and on video in the early 1980s, critics have offered widely

opposing opinions on the advertising artwork used to promote ISOYG. Andi Zeisler

(2008), for example, considers the video cover to be misogynistic and includes

imagery that endorses violence towards women (Zeisler 2008, 72), while Meyers

(2011), believes the cover is “a masterpiece of cunning ingenuity” (Meyers 2011, 107).

Mckenna (2017), acknowledges these and other assertions, but to steer the discourse

away from subjective opinion, observes that the promotional artwork

“bears a close resemblance to a host of other promotional images used to advertise

any number of mainstream Hollywood films” (McKenna 2017, 132-134).

Here, I first present work conducted by Marcia Belsky to highlight the historic and

widespread extent of the practice of only incorporating sexually coded parts of

women’s bodies in the promotion of films and TV shows. I will then compare the artwork

used to promote ISOYG with a Hollywood film that was released at approximately the

same time.

In 2016, American comedian Marcia Belsky exploited the potential of social media

and started a project with the inventive and humorous name of Headless Women of

Hollywood, which is devoted to the collection of media and advertising imagery which

sexualizes and exploits the female form (Rao 2018). The project has garnered

mainstream media attention and

“seeks to bring attention to the...practice of fragmenting, fetishizing and

dehumanizing the images of women we see in film, TV, book covers, and

advertisement” (Belsky 2016).

The project invites followers to post examples of such exploitation and catalogues

historical as well as contemporary examples of the practice. Rao (2018), argues that

that the project

“has assumed greater importance amidst the ongoing conversation about

institutionalized sexism in Hollywood in the light of the Harvey Weinstein

revelations” (Rao 2018).

After originally being made aware of the phenomenon by one of her professor’s years

earlier (Ibid), Belsky continued to notice that a significant number of films were being

promoted with imagery that only depicted sexualized parts of women’s bodies such as

breasts and buttocks in posters and video covers. The phenomenon can be observed

across numerous film genres such as comedies, historical dramas and horror, and in

films targeting specific ethic groups (Mckenna 2017). Many of the predominantly young

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and attractive women that appear in these posters are depicted without heads, giving

the project its name. Belsky believes that

‘by decapitating the woman, or fragmenting her body into decontextualized sexual

parts, she becomes an unquestionably passive object to the male gaze’ (Belsky

2016).

She further opines that

‘the consistent fragmentation of women’s bodies, with particular focus on the

boobs, butt and lips, separates the sexualized female body parts from her

wholeness’ so that ‘the viewer does not have to morally reconcile the woman who

is being objectified with her complete humanness’ (Ibid).

The trend of using women’s bodies in a sexualized way in film posters is nothing new.

Indeed, headless women and their body parts have been adorning poster campaigns

and artwork for many decades (Mckenna 2017).

Fig. 39: MUNCHIES (1987).56 THE TUDORS (TV SERIES) (2010).57

McKenna lists several Hollywood films that have adopted the practice of depicting

headless women in their advertising campaigns including FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981),

which was directed by John Glen. This film is particularly appropriate for comparison

with ISOYG, in that both films were released on video in 1982. ISOYG came out in the

UK in January 1982, while Warner Home Video, the home entertainment division of

Warner Brothers released FOR YOUR EYES ONLY in December of the same year

(McKenna 2017, 133).

ISOYG is one of the most famous of all the 72 ‘video nasties’ and its artwork was along

with other famous ‘nasties’ such as DRILLER KILLER (1979), SS EXPERIMENT CAMP

(1976) and CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980) paraded by British politicians before the British

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public as depraved and sordid proof of what was contained on the video tapes, while

the poster and video cover that was used to promote FOR YOUR EYES ONLY was not

met with any dissention or protest. Both films were marketed with posters and video

covers that show a headless woman from behind, clearly exposing the young woman’s

bum. The bodies are both of healthy white women in their 20s, with buttocks and legs

that are not only visible, but are also toned and eroticized (Ibid).

Fig. 40: VHS covers: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981).58 ISOYG (1978).59

There are however, other notable similarities. Both women hold a potentially lethal

weapon in their right hand. The woman in the bond film holds a crossbow by her side,

while the woman in the ISOYG artwork carries a long knife (Ibid). The women are both

centrally positioned and dominate the image. The woman in the bond poster is clearly

coded as a threat as Bond is pointing a gun straight at her. She sports glamorous high

heels and as she is in the foreground of the image is much bigger and appears more

powerful than Bond. She stands straight and static with her feet planted firmly on the

ground, while Bond’s body is unbalanced and appears to have been surprised. This

could easily be interpreted to convey that the woman is in control and is unfazed and

doesn’t regard Bond as a threat. The woman in ISOYG carries a knife, but she could

be out hunting and poses no immediate threat to anyone as she is alone in the image.

It is only on reading the text and taglines that adorn the cover of ISOYG that we learn

the woman has already committed some gruesome murders in an act of revenge. The

advertising design for the Bond film was adopted internationally and was even used in

countries like Egypt that are traditionally not as tolerant of women displaying their

bodies in public. It should be noted that the image in the Bond poster is illustrated

which is perhaps less threatening and the buttocks are more concealed in the Egyptian

version of the poster.

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Fig. 41:British poster.60 Egyptian poster.61

Having presented and analyzed the similarities between the two advertising designs,

an argument could be made that ISOYG was treated unfairly, in that its promotional

material was ridiculed for its misogyny and depraved nature, when mainstream

Hollywood productions were using very similar imagery and coding. The decapitation

and sexualization of the female form was and is not only evident in the artwork of the

video nasties. It continues to be a firm favourite among contemporary producers and

advertisers.

8.7 Accusing THE ACCUSED (1988).

Here, I and challenge the assertion that ISOYG is an anti-feminist narrative. ISOYG

has often been accused of being misogynistic towards women and anti-feminist

(Zeisler 2008, 72). The film’s original title, DAY OF THE WOMAN, already reveals Zarchi’s

intentions of granting agency to women and giving them the stamina and resolve to

go out and get justice. By comparing Zarchi’s 1978 film to that of THE ACCUSED (1988),

Bindel (2011), makes the case that ISOYG is a far more feminist movie than the Jodie

Foster vehicle that received praise from critics and feminists on its release. THE

ACCUSED (1988), directed by Jonathan Kaplan and starring Jodie Foster was based

on real and tragic events that occurred in Massachusetts in 1983. A young woman

was abused and raped up against a pinball machine in a bar by two assailants while

another small group of men looked on and cheered. The attack was later reported by

the victim and the attackers and the bystanders who had witnessed the attack but

done nothing to stop it were arrested and brought to trial. Rumors and stories about

the victim’s promiscuity and alcohol problems spread around the small community of

New Bedford like a disease, and as the high-profile trial was televised, the identity of

the victim could not be concealed from the public. The rumors about the woman’s

lifestyle caused locals to vilify the young woman for her allegedly licentious behaviour.

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The woman’s attackers were convicted and received custodial sentences, but the

bystanders were acquitted. News of the acquittals reached the community and a

march was hastily organized by the good people of New Bedford to run the harlot out

of town and celebrate the men’s acquittal (Bindel 2011).

The acquittal of the onlookers is where real events diverge from those that are depicted

in the film. The onlookers are convicted in Kaplan’s film and justice is seen to be

served. A witness comes forward in the final act and testifies on behalf of the victim

helping the prosecution to get the onlookers convicted. THE ACCUSED, Bindel argues,

“is a fairytale about how we would like things to be” (Bindel 2011) and served as a

comfort and fantasy ending to the feminists of the late 1980s who were weakened and

ignored by the Thatcher government. It attempts to create the myth that rape will

always be punished was applauded by feminists at the time. However, as described

previously, the film was based on a case where the onlookers were not only acquitted

but were welcomed back into their community (Ibid). Mary Whitehouse and

campaigning politicians such as Martin Bright MP claimed that they did not have to

watch video nasties like ISOYG to know that they were evil and depraved, but it is

perhaps more than coincidental that a film where the main female character becomes

strong and powerful and gets revenge her way should have been so ridiculed and

despised in Thatcher’s Britain.

ISOYG, in contrast, does not that claim that the courts will get it right in the end or

“present the criminal justice system as a friend to women” (Bindel 2011). Jennifer Hills

is prevented from calling the authorities, as Stanley kicks the phone receiver out of her

hand just as she is about to call for help. This, along with the gang’s repeated abuse

pushes Jennifer over the edge. She realizes that she must take matters into her own

hands and plans and executes the murders her four assailants with cold and

calculated resolve. She does not wait for judges, lawyers or surprise witnesses to

appear and punish her abusers. This is the type of justice that men and rapists should

fear (Ibid). Life was seen to imitate art during a trial in the 1990s in Britain where a

woman who had stabbed and killed her child’s rapist was acquitted by the jury although

the judge had urged it not to do so (Ibid).This shows that such justice can sometimes

be had through the courts, but the sad truth is that the jury’s verdict was an something

of an anomaly, and that many rapists get away with their crimes. Jennifer becomes a

strong woman who relies only on her resolve, determination and creativity to exact

revenge and restore balance, while Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster) needs the help of

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several men and a system that she has no control over to find justice, in a film that is

based on real events where justice was not served to non-intervening bystanders.

8.8 North, not South: DELIVERANCE (1972)

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE was not the first rape-revenge movie although for many people

it was the first on their cinematic radar because of its infamous notoriety (Maguire

2018, Chapter 3). The film exhibits similarities with John Boorman’s DELIVERANCE

(1972) which Rikke Schubart (2007) opines is the film that kickstarted the rape-

revenge canon of movies (Schubart 2007,85). The film pits the country against the

city, includes a simple country retard and the scene where Andy sits on a rock playing

his harmonica is reminiscent of Boorman’s famous banjo duet scene. ISPYG even

carried the original tagline “More devastating than Deliverance” (Maguire 2018,

Chapter 3). However, Zarchi decided not to set the film in America’s deep South. He

did not embrace the trope of tobacco chewing and moonshine swigging Southern

rednecks and retards driving around in banged up pickup trucks, tropes that can be

observed in SOUTHERN COMFORT (1981) or even EASY RIDER (1969). In ISOYG,

Jennifer rents a summerhouse in the peaceful countryside, a mere three-hour drive

from Metropolitan New York, and the gang use modern motorboats to travel up and

down the river. This has the effect of keeping the threat of such male behaviour and

abuse close to the city. Traditionally, such depravity was reserved for distant swamps

and bayous. Zarchi reminds city dwellers that rape, revenge and strong women are

closer than hitherto taught by the movies.

8.9 I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE as Anti-cinema

An argument can be made that Zarchi incorporated “anti-cinema” elements and

techniques when making his film (Oldridge 2003, 123). Oldridge observes the total lack

of diegetic or non-diegetic music in the film’s opening act, which contributes

significantly to the documentary feel of the film. The rape scenes are protracted and

excruciating for viewers to sit through as they record the rape using long static shots,

without any musical accompaniment, giving the feeling that the rapes are rendered in

real time, making the entire spectacle even more uncomfortable to endure (Kerekes &

Slater 2000, 191).

The first music in the film is that of a harmonica as it wafts over the forest after the first

attack. It is initially unclear whether the music is diegetic or non-diegetic. This

uncertainty is welcoming for the audience as it “distances the audience from the

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realistic depictions of the assault and its aftermath” (Oldridge 2003, 123). The music

signals a brief return to cinematic conventions and “the film becomes filmic” (Barker

1984, 115). When it becomes clear that the music is diegetic, and that Jennifer can

hear it, the mood becomes one of hope and possible rescue for Jennifer, but these

hopes are cruelly dashed as we learn that music was made by rape accomplice Andy,

who has lured Jennifer like a snake charmer to a clearing where he proceeds to

sodomize her over a rock. It seems that Zarchi is reminding the viewer that “you can’t

hide the reality of rape behind a mask of filmic devices” (Ibid). Oldridge agrees with

Kerekes and Slater (2000) in their assertion that “I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is “very anti-

cinema” (Kerekes and Slater 2000, 191). Zarchi is also praised by the authors for his

“intelligence” and “willingness” to experiment and not present his audience with

expected cinematic devices and horror tropes (Ibid).

Such cinematic techniques are common in pornographic films and can normally be

attributed to a porn producer’s wish to save time on camera set ups and money in post-

production. Kerekes and Slater (2000), argue that Zarchi intentionally aimed to unsettle

audiences when they write that “the film uses the convention of pornographic loops to

further alienate its audience” (Kerekes and Slater 2000, 191).

The reactions of journalists and politicians to ISOYG have predominantly been to

condemn the rape scenes as violent pornography. Coding the rape scenes in such a

way distances Zarchi’s scenes from conventional or normal pornography which

provides what some people would consider a valuable service to society, sparing its

condemnation. Writing in the British science fiction magazine Starburst, critic Alan

Jones did not hold back his disdain in 1982 and felt that

“The protracted rape… is as degrading and squirm inducing as anything I’ve seen

in the exploitation field…. This irresponsibility would give the ‘violence against

women lobby’ enough ammunition to successfully campaign against anything they

wished to” (Jones, quoted in Starr 1984, 49).

Numerous giallo, slasher and horror films that were produced in the 1970s and 80s

used camera angles to mimic the subjective viewpoint of the murderer. Zarchi also

incorporates subjective camera angles in his film but he more often shows what

Jennifer sees while running from her assailants and during the horrific rape scenes.

The spectator is forced to look into the eyes of Jennifer’s rapists as they writhe upon

her with contorted and euphoric faces. The spectator identifies with the victim who is

experiencing the most horrific and degrading moments in her life (Oldridge 2003, 116).

86

The suggestion that Zarchi wants the audience to identify with Jennifer is strengthened

further through close analysis of a scene early in the film before the series of brutal

attacks. Jennifer lies in bed late one-night reading when she thinks she hears a noise

outside in the woods. She gets up, puts a dressing gown over her long nightdress and

proceeds out onto the porch to see who or what made the noise. She is clearly a little

concerned but tries not to show any fear. Once outside Zarchi chose to shoot the scene

in two static long shots (Maguire 2018, Chapter 1). Zarchi does not employ any of the

common tropes of a slasher or giallo, films that commonly use shots that mirror the

gaze of the killer and objectify the scantily clad and sexually promiscuous female

victims. Jennifer is dress and does not so much as flash a knee when getting out of

bed. There are no POV shots of the stalkers peering through the undergrowth and no

heavy breathing (Ibid).

Oldridge (2003) argues that ISOYG has seldom been viewed as a piece of art by

academics. He argues that the sequence that leads to the murder of Matthew shows

artistic merit in the way in which Jennifer is presented as an “avenging spirit” that has

come back from the dead to dish out justice. Jennifer remains calm and in control when

Matthew approaches her with a knife and by simply undressing before him, she wipes

his mind clean of murderous intention and seduces him into submission. The fact that

Matthew is the first of the four gang members to be killed by Jennifer is also significant.

Being a retard, Matthew was the “least culpable” of the four men. The others had to

pour alcohol down his throat before he even plucked up the courage to undress. His

failure to follow Johnny’s order and kill Jennifer saves her life. Being the first to die

makes Jennifer’s plan of revenge seem utterly relentless. Oldridge cliams that

“By killing Matthew first, Zarchi confronts the audience with the terrible impartiality

of his heroine’s actions”. Oldridge 2003, 118).

Jennifer uses her sexuality and sex to literally disarm Matthew and take total control of

events. Her sexuality empowers Jennifer, but it is very discomforting after having

witnessed Jennifer being raped in previous scenes and the audience cannot simply

condone the killing of a simpleton. Oldridge suggests that these elements are not

accidental and were weaved together by Zarchi to create “one of the most disturbing

sequences in modern horror cinema” (Ibid).

When Jennifer confronts Johnny and makes him strip at gunpoint he challenges her

and blames her for his actions for flaunting her body and flashing her breasts, and

that any red-blooded man would have done the same. She is at the right end of the

87

gun but appears to buckle under Johnny’s arguments and hands him the gun in an

apparent act of submission. He does not assault or shoot Jennifer as she lures him

back to the cabin with the promise of sex. Having witnessed the murder of Matthew

only moments before, the audience knows that Johnny is doomed.

Both scenes exemplify in Oldridge’s opinion, an inversion of traditional cinematic

conventions of “plot and composition”. Handing over the gun to Johnny emulates the

trope of an emotionally fragile character succumbing to the logic and attraction of the

“perceptive hero”, but rapist Johnny is no hero and Jennifer’s use of sexual promise to

placate Johnny only accentuates the notion of Jennifer’s power and control. Oldridge

likens the scene of Matthew wielding a knife as he follows Jennifer to that of countless

giallo or early slasher offerings, but here it is the one with the knife that it is soon to be

the victim (Oldridge 2003, 119).

It is very unfortunate that deliberate techniques and Zarchi’s artistic exploration that

make ISOYG so subversive and brilliant are unfortunately the very same that have

been focused upon by male critics, journalists and politicians to denounce the film as

depraved and corruptive, smearing the film with such a long-lasting and unfair

reputation (Oldridge 2003, 123).

8.10 Remakes and sequels

The outrage and controversy that surrounded the film quickly spawned similar

narratives. The Turkish production İntikam Kadını / A WOMAN’S REVENGE (1979) was

made within a year of ISOYG’s release. This Turkish edition to the rape-revenge canon

sees the young Aysel (Zerrin Dogan) raped by four men after their car breaks down

near Aysel’s farm. Having also killed Aysel’s father, the men depart for the city leaving

the woman for dead. After nursing her wounds, she promises revenge and sets off

after the men, murdering them one by one. Also known as Turkish I Spit on Your

Grave, the film lacks the subtlety of Zarchi’s offering. The way Zarchi intentionally

withheld from including music in his film to make the rape scenes feel more like

documentary footage was particularly lost on director Naki Yurter. The promotional

material also lacks the impact of the original and resembles artwork more akin to a

soft porn flick.

88

Fig. 42: İNTIKAM KADINI / A WOMAN’S REVENGE (1979).62

In 2010, Stephen Monroe directed a remake of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, and the BBFC

reacted in a remarkably similar way as it had to Zarchi’s 1978 original. Monroe’s film

was like its predecessor, also awarded an 18 certificate after 43 seconds were

removed. The Board cut shots of female nudity just as they had done when classifying

the 1978 version for its 2002 video release. The Board also decided to remove shots

that emulated the point of view of the attackers during the rape scenes. An oft cited

contemporary justification for such cuts is that censors are sensitive to the issue of

inviting spectators to identify and sympathize with the killer, but as was the case in

Zarchi’s original, such shots were included to show the horror experienced by the

victim and aimed at making the brutal and degrading act of rape seem even more

repulsive and abhorrent. The Board also cut shots that depicted how the gang filmed

themselves as they abused and violated their victim. The BBFC have defended this

decision by claiming that such scenes

“seemed to encourage the viewer to become complicit in the attacks, rather

than merely an appalled spectator” (BBFC1: 2019).

Having viewed an uncut version of the film as part of my research for this paper I

disagree with the opinion of the BBFC censors. The clever technological update in

Monroe’s film mirrors how horrific events are often captured on smartphones and

posted online within minutes of occurring. Depicting such behaviour during a brutal

rape scene I would argue does not make the viewer complicit to the act but intelligently

underscores how humans have developed the ability to become emotionally immune

to atrocities and violent acts if they are exposed to them via a screen or TV set. The

BBFC contend that the same scenes serve to “eroticize or endorse sexual violence”

(BBFC1: 2019). Here too, I am not in alignment with the opinion of the Board. Monroe

89

is doubling down with his message. The pleasure had by the gang as they film their

deed is not an erotic or sexually gratifying pleasure, the pleasure they feel comes from

the feeling of power and control that they are perpetuating by committing everything

on digital film. The BBFC were satisfied with the cuts but were not terribly comfortable

with the film. Adhering to the provisions and articles laid down by the Human Rights

Act, but determined to have the last word, the Board made a final throw of the dice in

its crusade to protect the good British public by requesting the inclusion of the

informative consumer advice that even after being censored the film still contained

‘very strong terrorization, sexual violence, and bloody violence'.

The promotional artwork for the 2010 remake of ISOYG and its two sequels ISOYG 2

(2013), and ISOYG 3 (2015) emulate the promotional material of the 1978 original. All

three films depict young, headless, toned, and erotically coded women in their

marketing imagery. The original film has an almost mythical reputation, and the

producers at Anchor Bay were keen to perpetuate and exploit its legacy.

The promotional material designed for ISOYG DEJA VU (2019) still has many of the

standard tropes for ISOYG artwork. She is centrally framed from behind, alone and

dominates the image. She is young, has an athletic and sexualized body and is lightly

clothed. She still carries a weapon in her right hand. There is however, one very

significant difference. She has a head, twisted over her left shoulder scowling back at

spectator. She is no longer decontextualized or fragmented. She possesses a face and

an identity. This noteworthy change can possibly be attributed to the sensitive climate

in the Hollywood of 2019, where accusations of rape and female abuse have shaken

the industry to its core and the image of women is being debated and reassessed.

Fig. 43: ISOYG (2010).63 ISOYG 1-3 Boxette.64 ISOYG Déjà vu (2019).65

90

9. Conclusion.

The video nasty moral panic of the 1980s that led to the passing of the VRA was the

result of the combined efforts of the British press, evangelical moralists and politicians.

It did not see large numbers of people protesting on the streets of Britain about the

content of a few horror films as they had in Toxteth or Brixton over racial tension, pay

cuts and mass redundancies. It was a construct that played out in the pages of the

tabloid media. The press laid claim to public opinion and pushed its own agenda.

Evangelicals and conservatives lied and got away with their fraudulent practices and

behaviour. Politicians quickly fell into line and passed legislation that ushered in total

censorship of video content in Britain. Small distributors were fined and jailed for

nothing more than making some films sleazy and trashy horror movies available to the

public. Other European countries did not witness any moral panics, nor did they

experience the implosion of their societies.

Moralists no longer campaign about the dangers of video, except when looking for a

scapegoat for hideous crimes like the Jamie Bolger murder. The fact that almost all

the 72 nasties are now freely available in music stores or online does not bother

moralists, as they are more concerned about dominating and controlling the present.

The video nasty scare highlights the need for what Martin Barker calls “historical

memory”. Critical voices need to care about history, as the establishment and elite

continue to believe that they have the right to judge over how people are entertained.

This author hopes that readers will be more aware about how things were controlled

and censored in the past, as history has repeated itself many times. It is only through

knowledge and awareness of the past that can learn and hope to avoid such panics in

the future (Barker quoted in West 2010).

Word Count (34,550).

91

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List of Illustrations

1. Well of loneliness. editorial:19 Aug 1928: https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/lgbtq-heritage-project/law-and-oppression/censorship/ (last accessed on 1 May 2019). 2. Lady Chatterley’s Lover. 1960 edition book cover: https://img.kingandmcgaw.com/imagecache/4/3/si-431291.jpg_ihcm-50.00_iwcm-33.24_fls-880229L.tif_fts-880229T.tif_mc-ffffff_fwcm-1.50_tmwcm-5.00_bmwcm-5.00_lmwcm-5.00_rmwcm-5.00_maxdim-1000_en_easyart_iar-1.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

3. Oz magazine editors 1970. Credit: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/men/2017/07/28/TELEMMGLPICT000135963516_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq9uBDM_d40mfeLwD6ic2L7wuovA6ofhavJ3H60TQzxtc.jpeg?imwidth=1400 (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

4. Oz Magazine. Issue 28 cover. https://flashbak.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Cover-of-Schoolkids-Oz-1280x871.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

5. Rupert the bear comic strip, Oz magazine. https://davidwills.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/h2.jpg?w=1250&h= (last accessed on 1 May 2019). (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

6. Oh! Calcutta! Grove Press paperback cover (1969). https://fontsinuse.com/uses/14841/oh-calcutta-paperback (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

7. Oh! Calcutta. Theatrical revue poster. (1969) https://stageagent.com/shows/musical/2244/oh-calcutta (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

8. Paul Conroy is dragged away by police after being run over by a police van during riots in Toxteth,1981. ©Phil O'Brien/Mercury Press Agency. https://www.philobrien.com/projects/baptism-of-fire-first-week-of-work-covering-toxteth-riots/ (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

9. Michael Heseltine pelted with eggs in Croxteth 1981. ©Phil O'Brien/Mercury Press Agency. https://www.philobrien.com/projects/baptism-of-fire-first-week-of-work-covering-toxteth-riots/ (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

10. The Daily Mail. 4th Aug 1983. Page 19. The men who grow rich on bloodlust. http://horror101withdrac.blogspot.com/2013/01/video-nasties-moral-panic-censorship.html (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

11. The Daily Mail. 4th Aug 1983. Page 19. ‘Taken over by something evil’ http://horror101withdrac.blogspot.com/2013/01/video-nasties-moral-panic-censorship.html (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

12. Tabloid article on Graham Bright M.P.’s Video Recording Bill 1983. https://www.cageyfilms.com/2010/12/dvd-of-the-week-video-nasties-the-definitive-guide-2/ (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

13. Full page Intervision advertisement .7th May 1980. Variety Magazine.http://thisisnow.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Intervision-advert-1980-n1257-727x1024.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

14. CELESTINE (1974). video cover. Go Video. http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_600x406_Celestine+ws+2.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

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15. THE DEMONS (1972). video cover. Go Video. http://www.go-video-

ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_600x424_Demons+$28white$29+cleaned.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

16. http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_600x422_Video+comic+cleaned.JPG (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

17. SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976) advert. http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_335x490_GO+ad+SS+ex+001.jpg (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

18. SS EXPERIMENT CAMP (1976) video cover. http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_600x447_SS+Exp.JPG (last accessed

on 1 May 2019).

19. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1978). advert. http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/Can+Hol+ad+Continental+march+1982+compressed.jpg

(last accessed on 1 May 2019).

20. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1978). video cover. http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_600x451_Cannibal+Holocaust.jpg (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

21. THE DEMONS (1972). Continental Film & Video. (May 1981 ad). http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_335x460_001.jpg (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

22. THE DEMONS (1972). Continental Film and Video (June 1981 ad). http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_310x359_Cont+Film+-

+Demons+-+jul+81+$282$29.JPG (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

23. THE DRILLER KILLER (1979). VIPCO video cover. http://dailygrindhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/the-driller-killer-vipco-

1024x801.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

24. Ban the Video nasties. Daily Mail campaign. http://www.bookofthedead.ws/website/images/ed_censorship_04.jpg (last accessed on 1

May 2019).

25. Whitehouse Men’s magazine #15. https://images-eu.ssl-images-

amazon.com/images/I/51lAh1ImeuL._SL500_SX351_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

26. Mary Whitehouse campaigning in Australia in July 1984. https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/founder-of-british-morality-campaign-

mary-whitehouse-here-in-to-help-picture-id1079716626?s=2048x2048 (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

27. Keep nasties from our kids. The Daily Mail.

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w (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

28. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978). video cover. https://cynicalcelluloid.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/i-spit-on-your-grave.jpg?w=688&h=486

(last accessed on 1 May 2019).

29. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. (1974). video cover.

https://vhscollector.com/sites/default/files/styles/318x250/public/vhsimages/12729_texaschainsawmassacre%2528media%2529x.jpg (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

30. La Giaconda. (1603). https://cdn.pariscityvision.com/media/wysiwyg/5-joconde-mona-lisa.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

31. The man with the Golden helmet. Rembrandt (1650). https://imgc.artprintimages.com/img/print/the-man-with-the-golden-helmet-c-

1650_u-l-ptpd4h0.jpg?h=900&w=900 (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

32. Halloween (1978). Video cover (1981). https://filmmakermagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Phantom-Thread-3.jpg (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

33. Halloween (1978). DVD cover (2001). http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-

3vP_Q8xox38/Vg6KBSi7aZI/AAAAAAAAFcw/tY7yvDOdK3o/s1600/Halloween%2B1978%2BUSA%2BDVD%2Bcover%2B25th%2BAnnivers

ary%2BEdition%2Bdvd-covers.org.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

34. Monkey Shines (1988) video cover. https://www.joblo.com/assets/images/oldsite/newsimages1/vhs-monkeyshines-1.jpg (last accessed

on 1 May 2019).

35. Monkey Shines (1988). DVD cover. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZDN2CKR6L.jpg (last accessed on 1 May

2019).

36. GET OUT (2017) Broken Glass artwork. https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-

7B1dNzRu7o4/WptO1q4V9nI/AAAAAAAAc8Y/LizrDexHUAEHgFaObHnLXStvr1Dd6fEvgCKgBGAs/s0/2017-10-17_59e64ce762a72_DVD-

GetOut.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

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37. GET OUT (2017) Black & White artwork. https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-

GpvlAFTMfI4/Wa8MTPY9DiI/AAAAAAAAGQk/D2a8IBxIQgAVHANR5c4bNGmnl0ct3Qa7gCKgBGAs/s640/Get_Out.jpg (last accessed on 1

May 2019).

38. EVILSPEAK (1981). video cover. https://www.videospace.fi/image/large/523-1496821445-743.jpeg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

39. Silent Night Deadly Night (1984). video cover.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/541648fde4b0f910e312cd76/t/547b8a26e4b0fa4e5a5be41c/1417382438636/?format=750w (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

40. GET OUT (2017) Black & White artwork. https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-

GpvlAFTMfI4/Wa8MTPY9DiI/AAAAAAAAGQk/D2a8IBxIQgAVHANR5c4bNGmnl0ct3Qa7gCKgBGAs/s640/Get_Out.jpg (last accessed on 1

May 2019).

41. POLTERGEIST (1982). Video cover. https://m.media-

amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzliZmRlYTctYmNkYS00NzE5LWI1OWQtMTRiODY5MDMwMTVkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._

V1_.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

42. FUNHOUSE. (1981). video cover. http://www.videocollector.co.uk/data/images/funhouse-5185l.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

43. INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (1972). video cover. http://www.videocollector.co.uk/data/images/invasion-of-the-blood-farmers-

224l.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

44. THE DRILLER KILLER (1979). video cover. http://www.videocollector.co.uk/data/images/driller-killer-the-23259l.jpg (last accessed on 1

May 2019).

45. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1978). video cover. http://www.go-video-ltd.co.uk/resources/_wsb_600x451_Cannibal+Holocaust.jpg (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

46. MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY/CANNIBAL FERROX (1981) video cover.

https://vhscollector.com/sites/default/files/vhsimages/12744_makethemdieslowly.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

47. DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE! (1980). video cover. https://serialkillercalendar.com/VHSWASTELAND/LOW-RES-VHS-COVERS/SONT-

ANSWER-THE-PHONE.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

48. BLOOD FEAST (1963). video cover. http://www.videocollector.co.uk/data/images/blood-feast-9474l.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

49. SAVAGE WEEKEND (1979). video cover. https://serialkillercalendar.com/VHSWASTELAND/LOW-RES-VHS-COVERS/SAVAGE-

WEEKEND.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

50. GIRLS NITE OUT (1982). video cover. https://vhscollector.com/sites/default/files/vhsimages/12657_GirlsNightOut.jpg (last accessed on 1

May 2019).

51. THE BURNING (1981). video cover. https://serialkillercalendar.com/VHSWASTELAND/LOW-RES-VHS-COVERS/THE-BURNING-

THORN-EMI-VIDEO.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

52. J’IRAI CRACHER SUR VOS TOMBES (1959). film poster. https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-

yshlhd/images/stencil/608x608/products/9062/160044/full_ispitonyourgrave_10612__91084.1556889162.jpg?c=2 (last accessed on 1 May

2019).

53. CAMPER JOHN aka I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1973). film poster. http://thenewbev.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/I-spit-on-your-grave.jpg

(last accessed on 1 May 2019).

54. DAY OF THE WOMAN aka I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978). Press book. http://www.ispitonyourgrave1978.com/wp-

content/uploads/2013/11/isoygpress111.png (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

55. Myra Hindley. mugshot. Getty Images. https://cdn.images.dailystar.co.uk/dynamic/1/photos/786000/hindley-500786.jpg (last accessed

on 1 May 2019).

56. MUNCHIES (1987). film poster. https://m.media-

amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzQ4ZDlkMzItOTRkZS00M2YwLWIyMDItMzg4NGY2N2ZkODdhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQ2MjQyNDc@._V1

_.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

57. THE TUDORS (2010). poster. http://www.impawards.com/tv/posters/tudors.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

58. FOR YOURS EYES ONLY (1981). video cover. https://assets.catawiki.nl/assets/1/d/0/2/d027ee80-f3d0-012c-9a0d-0050569428b1.jpg (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

59. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978). video cover. https://cynicalcelluloid.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/i-spit-on-your-grave.jpg?w=688&h=486

(last accessed on 1 May 2019).

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60. FOR YOURS EYES ONLY (1981). UK film poster. https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-

Pe2bW0zukqo/VJorGm1omNI/AAAAAAAAydc/jeIxkmfohQM/s1600/For-your-Eyes-Only-1981-James-Bond-007-movie-poster.jpg (last

accessed on 1 May 2019).

61. FOR YOURS EYES ONLY (1981). Egyptian film poster. https://www.musicman.com/00pic/6205.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

62. INTIKAM KADINI aka A WOMAN’S REVENGE (1979). film poster. https://m.media-

amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODMzM2Q1N2EtMDcwZi00YmYwLTlmNzktZDIwY2FjNzA1YzAxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDcwMDU0OQ@@._

V1_UY268_CR4,0,182,268_AL_.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).

63. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010). DVD cover. http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/sites/default/files/ispitonyourgrave.jpg (last accessed on 1

May 2019).

64. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (triple feature). DVD cover. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/515eLzY7L2L._AC_SY400_.jpg

(last accessed on 1 May 2019).

65. I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2019). poster. https://m.media-

amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZDg3MDE5ZGMtYjVkZi00MTJhLThkZDUtNjM0NWNlOWU3NTUzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA2MDcyNjE@._V

1_UX182_CR0,0,182,268_AL_.jpg (last accessed on 1 May 2019).