Video Nasties - The Definitive Guide Part 2 - Draconian Days

Rule Draconia?

Video Nasties - The Definitive Guide Part 2: Draconian Days
2014 UK
Directed by Jake West
Nucleus DVD Region 0

Okay people. Time for me to get very angry again.

Video Nasties - The Definitive Guide Part 2: Draconian Days is Jake West’s follow up to his own Video Nasties - The Definitive Guide: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape, which was an incredibly limited, numbered edition from a few years ago in the UK... and which has just had a second limited edition run repressed for the American market. You can read my review of that first one here.

Like the first three disc edition, this second three disc edition also runs for over thirteen hours, due to the inclusion of over two discs of extras featuring the trailers to another government list which was discovered while the director was making the first documentary. This “Section 3” category list comprises films which were liable to forfeiture, seizure and destruction but without the added malarkey, as far as I can tell, of having the owner being prosecuted for being in possession of these titles (although I’m sure that if you owned any of these ones, at the time, then you were more likely to be also be in possession of other titles in one of the more dangerous lists anyway). Of course, it goes without saying that the majority of these have been certified in uncut form nowadays... which says a lot about the single-minded tunnel vision of the people involved at the time than about the historical perspective, I suspect.

Like the first documentary, this film is a series of intercut interviews with various experts and key players in the dramatic events, including a quite brave lady censor who has obviously agreed to be filmed especially for this documentary, it seems to me. There’s also historical footage from TV news reports and such like of some of the powerful people who were causing all these witch-hunts in the dark days of the 1980s, including former chief censor James Ferman, who created a lot of the problems for both people and the art of the films in question.    

I have to say that the inclusion of the former female censor, along with all the usual suspects (such as Kim Newman, Alan Jones and director Christopher Smith), makes for a much fairer and generally unbiased viewing of the subject matter and its consequences. There are some things that the censors did, for example, which actually show them in a good light in terms of certain aspects of their personalities... even Ferman. However, the documentary... whether it has an agenda or not... can’t help but paint the censors and the Video Recordings Act in a horrendously bad light because... well, what these people were doing was a real problem and an affront to pretty much anyone’s individual freedom. And it was all done from the perspective of personal taste... which is a huge problem in my book.

Films were being seized from both shops and private dealers. Fines and, yes, imprisonment was the order of the day for anyone caught with a lot of these although, as I mentioned earlier, the actual specific films dealt with on the extras in this particular volume are ones which were just seized... technically nobody was prosecuted over these. The other films though, which were dealt with very thoroughly in the last volume, wrecked lives or, at the very least, had a very negative emotional impact on the people... actually, let’s call them victims of a less than benign government shall we? ... on the victims who were involved with these seizures and prosecutions... criminalised due to what boils down to a question of either personal taste or the quest to seek distribution of profitable merchandise in an economically challenging climate.

One of the guys on here tells about the heady days and camaraderie of going to the old film fairs and picking up stuff you just couldn’t get elsewhere (nothing’s changed there then) and about the police raids you would sometimes see happening at these events. I have been present as a customer at Film Fairs, too, when they’ve been raided by the police more recently... who still seem to be unsure what exactly it is they’re looking for, from what I can understand. In fact, one of the dealers I see trading at the Film Fairs was name checked in this documentary because he’s a friend of the guy being interviewed. The same guy also tells of a raid on his house which affected him when he was young and of how the police didn’t really know what they were looking for. They took some really, stupid to mistake for anything else, commercially released, non-nasty material but left other stuff behind... in one case the second volume of an offending article which was sitting on a shelf next to the first volume which was seized. If you want to read a really excellent first hand account of what one of those “home invasions” actually felt like, then a Twitter pal of mine, @grindhousedave, has a really great account of his personal experience in this area on his blog here.

Once again, in this film, we are left with a well researched document which treats all the facts fairly but which still shows what idiots the authorities were in this 1980s British witch hunt. Let’s remember that the research carried out by the government was, and usually is, either flawed or, memorably, thrown out because it found the “wrong answer” and replaced with “opinion masquerading in research clothing”... which was one of the most angering things that came to light in the previous volume. Similarly, we have here a censor who revealed that when Ferman’s censorship became more gung ho, he often vetoed what his staff concluded and did his own thing. In fact, it is revealed in this one that, when the censors under his command all disagreed vehemently with Ferman’s overtly censorius stance on some issues, the entire staff were promptly fired. Then, it seems, when it came to light, he denied it on TV saying it was a restructure and the staff were nearing the end of their contracts anyway. This is not the way things should be, people.

Stuff like this always brings to mind, for me, the ridiculous comic book scare in America in the 1950s, spearheaded by the equally “agenda-blind” Fredric Wertham and his unbelievably assumptive and “research defying” volume Seduction Of the Innocent. People like this base everything on their own personal taste (and then rope in people who share their sentiments) and this is a very bad thing for people to alllow to happen. Often they will invoke the power of, in this case, film, to incite violent or socially unacceptable behaviour but then, you have to remember, that one of the most famous serial killers in American history took the character of The Emperor in Return Of The Jedi as his inspiration for some of his hideous crimes... so where does one draw the line when it becomes clear from incidents like this that anything in art can be a catalyst for what is already inside a person.

So there seems to be two basic knee jerk reactions for censoring any material... and I should probably point out at this point that I’m a strong believer in censoring material for your (own) children and in practicing self censorship for yourself.

One reason seems to be... “Ugh. This stuff is really horrible and distasteful.” Well, actually, what offends one person may not offend another and, in these kinds of cases, the counter measure being taken in response to this is, in fact, the most offensive thing about what is happening. As Christopher Smith, the director of such horror films as Triangle (reviewed here), says in this documentary... "Art can't be controlled by the taste buds of the lunatics." And I will go on to add to that the sentiment that, if it does, then art in all its different manifestations has “lost”... and is in the hands of idiots.

The second reason, the influence of the power of a medium, seems at first something worthy of consideration but, when you dig down deeply, you find it is also nonsense. As David Cronenberg, a director who has had to face a lot of censorship issues in the pursuit of his art, is quoted as saying in this film... “Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: confuse reality with illusion.” Of course, this kind of begs the next logical step to jump up and down proclaiming that all censors are psychos... but I wouldn’t like to be accused of making the same nonsensical leaps of logic that the censors themselves do.

This three disc set, like the first volume, is an absolute “must watch” for people who are interested in the history of the home video format... something which most film lovers would be interested in, I would think, given that the home video versions are the way in which the films will be remembered by future generations. The inclusion of two volumes of trailers and intros to those trailers make for an essential purchase, in my book. The underlying fact though, and one which films like this continually bring to light, is that this kind of censorship and these basic invasions of personal privacy have not stopped in any way. There are loads of very problematic laws and bills being passed and restrictions on our freedoms are constantly being put in place while our basic expectations of “free living” are being eroded, often without most of us being aware that these things have happened and usually because those in power clearly have something to gain from it.

If you want to keep abreast of these kinds of issues daily then I once again point you in the general direction of the Melon Farmers website here, where these and many other kinds of “hidden” daily news issues are being brought to light. And if you have a love for the kinds of movies being dealt with in this documentary and want a reminder of a grim past with a very real warning for the current state of affairs (let alone the terrible prospect for artistic freedom in the future) then I would get yourself a copy of this one while you still can. Again, it’s a hand numbered print run on the covers so they’ll probably sell out fairly quickly.

Sense and Censorbility

Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide - incorporating

Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape

2010 UK Directed by Jake West Nucleus Films Region 0

Warning: If you find any of my views about the ridiculous practices of organised censorship and bully boy harassment to get opinionated bills passed as law through government a bit too much like a common sense reaction to the way we live our lives... rather than a silly knee jerk reaction often used to kick start and push individual agendas through under the name of large corporations or governments, then keep telling yourself... it’s only a blog post... only a blog post... only a blog post... only a blog post...

Ok... I just came off watching a limited edition three disc set of a brilliant documentary by Jake West on the thoroughly despicable Video Nasties phenomenon which hit Great Britain in the early eighties. Now I’ve always had a soft spot for Jake West, ever since I saw his brilliant, over the top vampire movie Razor Blade Smile with Eileen Daly cast in the lead role of Lilith Silver (more Lilith Silver movies please... or maybe some comics?) but if I were to tell the truth, it isn’t Mr. West’s name on the credits as director of this that made me want to grab this one while it was still on the shelves... and thanks to my mate Big Jake (not the same Jake) for getting me this little gem for Christmas... the real reason I wanted this was very simple - this DVD has trailers for all 72 movies which made the Director of Public Prosecutions Video Nasties list on it and, since I knew next to nothing about the phenomenon which was playing out when I was at school in my mid teens (when kids in the playground where either swapping these very same films or some kind of bestiality porn on a daily basis) I thought I’d better educate myself on this little and, as it turns out quite shameful, period of uniquely British movie history.

As I said, I was unaware of most of the films on these lists at the time (I was more of a Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who person when I was going to school) but as I watched the documentary I realised that I have a few of these titles in uncut form on my own shelves and a couple of them are films I admire quite a bit (Dario Argento’s two minor masterpieces Tenebrae and Inferno, for example). As one of the people interviewed for the extras on these discs said... a film like Luigi Cozzi’s Contamination, which made the list, is now available totally uncut in the UK and on the shelves of your local HMV as a BBFC rated 15 certificate film... and it’s really quite laughable, when you go through the list, that many of these films were ever picked up at all.

The fact is though... they were and people in video stores renting this product, even in cut form and even though some of them were already passed as X-rated theatrical cuts by the BBFC, were being fined, prosecuted and in some cases thrown in prison for renting out what were probably quite lucrative titles (and therefore just plain good business sense to stock). Peoples lives were being changed in terrible and negatively impacting ways just because, it seems from the documentary... one or two people took offence and had an agenda.

The documentary itself is brilliant and, although it’s mostly a bunch of talking heads with minor luminaries and frightphiles such as Alan Jones (Argento’s biographer and general Italian exploitation expert) and Kim Newman (film critic and novelist whose work includes the awesome Anno Dracula series), Jake West uses a necessarily limited but effective tool kit of visual tricks to hold your attention on the subject matter... such as cutting to a closer shot of someone in between movie clips to bring your attention in... or degrading the quality of his shots as the quality of the original first, second and third generation video cassettes is referenced in the main text... stuff like that, but very effective and you will find yourself never getting bored in this director’s skilled hands.

Not that there’s really anything to get bored about on this one... the absolute injustice of these unfair and alarming prosecutions represent my pet soapbox, “crimes against filmanity”, in a big way. The person responsible for running the bill must have been told that this documentary was in some way going to gloss over the actual facts of the matter and somehow come out on the side of the government on this one because, frankly, he’s looking pleased as punch and incriminating himself with every word he says, it seems here. A real schoolboy, “oh it was a bit of a larf” kind of mentality if you ask me. Really scary!

The real eye opener for me, though, was just how underhanded and blatantly criminal the people in question were in order to get their own agenda passed through as law as the infamous Video Recordings Act of 1984. The minister (or whatever he was) who organised the research team at Cambridge in order to prove the point that the videos which they (seemingly randomly it seems on the strength of this documentary and the DVD extras) picked out were actually harmful to people and being seen by very young children acted, it would seem, in the most despicable way possible. When the research was turning out to not only not hold water with what was wanted but, indeed, even seemed to point in the opposite direction than was required, he broke in to the Cambridge offices and stole the research, then fired all the researchers and then constructed his own “massaged” figures from the statistic available which basically lied about the whole thing and helped get the bill passed. These were not nice people, it would seem... well that’s “governments” for you I guess?

All this along with some, mostly, sound opinions from the talking heads about the fakeness of the gore effects, which were the most pounced on element by the police (who really had no clear idea of what they were necessarily looking for at the time... well, how could they?), gives a really clear condemnation on the people who conducted these VHS and BETAMAX witch hunts throughout these shores and makes you realise how unjust the whole thing was. I repeat... peoples lives were being changed by this! This is not how human beings are supposed to treat their fellow man!

One thing you must do if you watch this, sadly now out of print already, limited edition is make sure that when you look at the 72 trailers on discs 2 and 3, you watch these with the individual introductions for each film on (even though the whole package runs for over 13 hours). Various experts like the aforementioned and a couple of British genre directors like Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent) and Christopher Smith (Triangle, Black Death) give some absolutely brilliant insight into the films in question and in the cases of some people (and from some of the clips shown) you can actually get a window into how “the nasties” informed and influenced their own work. The only real weakness to these intros is that half of the trailer in question tends to get played out as mini visual bites to illustrate the interviewee’s point... and then you see the trailer... again. Still, this is a minor quibble and in no way detracts from the quality of the product in this case.

Another brilliant thing about this particular documentary and DVD is that it also features genre actress and presenter Emily Booth who is always interesting to watch and listen to (does she write her own material for this stuff I wonder) and if you let the disc menus play out you’ll see her unleash total carnage on a whole bunch of video cassettes with various power tools and implements of destruction... if that’s your idea of a good time (and I have to say that since she’s such a good looking and genuinely witty person to watch and listen to... it probably is my idea of a good time actually).

You know I could write a very long and very relevant article about just why anything other than self-censorship for adults is an absolute waste of time and sometimes causes more problems than it pretends to cure... but this is already a long enough article without me going into one about it here. But be warned... that article will be coming.

So why am I standing on my soapbox now about something which has mostly (some of these films are still banned uncut over here guys and gals) become a scandalous footnote in the history of British film and government? Well, as a trusted and cherished lady friend of mine said to me very recently, this is the kind of thing that governments are getting away with all the time... and you know what, she’s 100% right. There are some laws which were passed less than two years ago, for example, which are also going to ruin a lot of peoples lives just for a personal preference and the laws in question appear to be even more totally outrageous than the Video Nasties phenomenon documented on this DVD. I won’t say which laws are problematic (I’m sure there are many) because I don’t want to make myself a target but I would advise that if any readers here with any kind of interest in how people’s freedom of expression and worse are being taken away on a daily basis in all different countries around the globe... then you could do a lot worse than to make http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk one of your “virtual” stops in your world wide webbery on a daily basis.

You Have Been Reading... NUTS4R2: Sense and Censorbility.