Christmas Horror Movies

Christmas time; a time for families, giving gifts, kissing under the mistletoe and ….watching horror movies? That seems a bit out of place, well, maybe not. I’m going to tell you that watching horror movies at Christmas might just be as much a part of Christmas tradition as putting up a tree or going carol singing.

Christmas as we know it, for most of the western world, is a product of Victorian England, and the one thing Victorian’s couldn’t get enough of was ghost stories. The conventional western ghost story was practically born from the Victorian era, and the practice of gathering on Christmas Eve and sharing these ghost stories was both a popular and important part of Christmas celebrations. But where did this tradition come from? Why on Christmas Eve? It’s seems likely that a combination of the cold, dark weather of British winters, combined with the increasing of sales of ghost stories to be given as Christmas gifts was a factor. However, its root my date back considerably further. It’s likely that this tradition drew it’s beginnings from the pagan festival of Yule. Christmas Eve is the pagan winter solstice, and aside from being the longest night of the year, pagan beliefs considered it to be the most haunted. The night where the barrier between the living and dead was at it’s weakest.

The source of this tradition is more evident in some European countries, where scary fables and stories have been passed down through the years, becoming part of modern popular culture and celebrations.
A horned Devil-like creature, called Krampus is as much as part of Christmas as Santa for many Europeans. Krampus has roots in Germanic folklore, but is recognised in most Alpine European countries. As Santa’s evil counterpart, Krampus’ job is to punish the children who have misbehaved. These Punishments include being shackled, pulling out young girls hair, drowning them in ink and if you’re really unlucky, hurling you into the fires of hell. But wait! There’s more, if that was perverse enough, December 6th is Krampus night, where adults are encouraged to dress as Krampus and roam the neighbourhood chasing down children, and your parents might even invite them into your home to terrify and torment you. As an adult, this sounds like unmeasurable fun.
Another interesting fact about Krampus is that in the early 70s he has a brief spell on the Eastern European BDSM and fetish role-playing scene. He still make occasional appearances today around Christmas time in costumes and adult literature.
Krampus isn’t alone either, another Alpine country fable is that of Perchta, a sort of low pagan god, who comes down in the 12 days before Christmas to punish children but slitting open their stomachs.

In Iceland, the mischievous sons of a mountain troll called Gryla, come down during the 13 nights before Christmas and generally cause havoc where they can, often stealing meat, milk and candles, and in France, The Whipping Father accompanies Santa on Christmas and rewards naughty children with a good flogging (and this guy didn’t make it onto the fetish scene?).

Sharing scary and sinister stories in the Christmas seasons is a long-standing and well established tradition. From it’s pagan roots to Victorian times, and today it continues with Christmas horror films. Although not he most buoyant horror sub-genre, there have still been many attempts at making Christmas horror films. The majority of these have not been particularly good, but there are a few that I highly recommend, and a few have played a significant part in the continuing development and history of horror cinema.

Now, I am sure there were Christmas horror films before Black Christmas (1974), but I can think of any as memorable. Black Christmas was a very typical 70s slasher, full of suspense and slow winding tension. It follows a group of college girls who are harassed, attacked and eventually killed off one by one over Christmas break. The film is well made with a chilling music score, however, I suspect it may seem a little cliché today, this is mainly because Black Christmas subsequently had an obvious influence on the slasher films in the late 70s and early 80s. The story was visited in a very boring 2006 remake.

Italian film, Don’t Ride on Late Night Trains (1975) follows two girls as take the late night train cross-country to get home for Christmas, but things don’t go to plan when they cross paths with the other passengers. First thing I’m going to say is that this film is not going to win any awards for originality. It very clearly draws from Wes Cravens Last House on The Left (1972), still, it’s quite a dark and effective film. It’s not quite as graphic or violent as Last House on the Left, but I think this works to its merit, making it a far more interesting and disturbing movie. It may not have the on-screen brutality or shock factor of Last House on the Left and other revenge films popular at the time, yet it was still rejected certification in the UK, and wasn’t released until 2008 in a heavily cut version. So, just a word of caution, this is not a ‘family’ friendly horror film.

I can’t really discuss Christmas Horror Films without mentioning Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984). Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) is one of the most controversial films to see a theatrical release in the 80s. Protests and picketing began even before the films release, largely in response to marketing that depicted Santa as an axe welding murder. Interestingly, it was opened on the same weekend as Nightmare on Elm Street, and, are you sitting down? Initially it out sold Nightmare on Elm Street, however, as public outrage grew and media grabbed on to the controversy the film was quickly pulled by most cinema’s and ticket sales plummeted. The film itself, is relatively tame by today’s standards and in hindsight it’s probably fair to say that the American public’s initial response to the film was a bit of an over reaction. At the time, the sudden growth of home video and the availability of subversive and exploitative films, that were previously only seen in grindhouse cinemas, had people panicking about how it would corrupt and taint our children and society. Interestingly Tales From The Crypt had done the same thing in 1972. Four appalling sequels followed, and a mediocre remake in 2012.

Santa’s Slay (2005) is a low-budget, direct to DVD film, where the son of Satan loses a bet with an angel, his forfeit is sacrifice his day of slaying, instead being bound to give out gifts to children all over the world. However, Santa has done his time, and is quick to return to his evil ways. Sounds awful? It is. It’s over acted, with a cheesy script, and frankly lacking in some expected gore. Oh, did I mention Santa is played by WWE, two-time world wrestling champion, Goldberg? Awful to awesome in one sentence. This film is packed with great fight scenes and superb one-liners. At 78 minutes, this film comes in a little on the short side, but it feels like just about the right amount of time that’s acceptable to waste to this sort of film. Mindless fun.

UK Christmas horror The Children (2006) centers on a family that meets up together for a Christmas vacation, shortly after arriving their children become sick and begin behaving very ominously towards their parents. The Children starts off strong, and is genuinely chilling. The film is well produced throughout, I need to mention it is let down by weak dialogue and scripting, surprisingly most predominantly with the adult actors. It’s difficult to understand or related their reactions to events unfolding within the story, which is frustrating. The Children in this film easily outshine their adult opposites.

Norway give us their contribution to the Christmas horror film subgenre with Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Santa is discovered buried in ice during an archaeological dig. He is unearth, and it becomes quickly apparent he is not the jolly symbol of joy and giving we have been led to believe. A strange, funny and wicked film, which is visually stunning in places. It is both based on and a prequel to two short films; Rare Exports Inc (2003) and Rare Exports: The Official Safety Instructions (2005). I recommend watching both of these films as part of the feature film, for a two reasons. First, they (sort of) explain the frankly bizarre ending to the full feature film, and second, they are fearless, sadistic and brilliant. I would even go as to say, they might just be a bit better than A Christmas Tale.

There are three big films we need to include here. I’m not suggesting that these films fall under the mainstream horror genre. They are family films, but offer an alternative to their cuddly and upstanding peers, by slicing through the film industry standards of their times with a playful dark edge. These films are Ghostbusters (1984), Gremlins (1985) and Nightmare before Christmas (1994). I feel these films deserve an honorary mention for their contribution to the genre. It’s films like these that have twisted and warped young minds just enough to lay the foundation that would later support any diehard horror fans unhealthy obsession.

This Christmas Eve, embrace tradition, and bring people together for a scary movie.

[quote]“You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”[/quote]

The sometimes brilliant, but often terrible horror movie adaptions based on the work of Stephen King.

This article has been split into two parts, the first is a look at the various Stephen King adaptions spanning from 1976 to 2012. The second is a list of my top ten King recommendations and a list of ten to avoid for future reference. So, if your just looking for a film to watch, then jump ahead to my recommendations at the bottom.

Now, we could look at all of Kings adaptions, personal projects and the influence of each, but that feels far to long and impractical, and let’s be honest, a pretty heavy read. I want to keep this both informative and brief. Therefore, I’ve set out some basic ground rules to filter what films will be included in both the overview and the lists.

So, obviously due to the theme of this site we’re only interested in movie adaptions with a discernible horror or macabre flavour. Consequently, this excludes arguably two of the best King movie adaptions. First, The Shawshank Redemption, and although it was a big step away from Kings horror roots and had a slow start at the box office, in the years since it’s release in 1995 it has received consistently positive reviews and gradually found its way onto most top 100 lists. It is now regularly considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. The second is The Green Mile, which, to date, is the most successful movie adaption in terms of box office sales.

I’m not going to include sequels unless they’re directly an adaption of a novel or screenplay by King, or any films that are loosely based on King’s work where he may have been given some indirect writing credit or special thanks, such as The Lawnmower Man. We are not going to consider TV episodes or the Michael Jackson extended music video, Ghosts, and finally, short films such as The Cat From Hell, unless they are part of an all King anthology.

I am going to consider made for TV movies and some mini series such as The Stand, Bag of Bones, and Rose Madder, which could play as extended movies, but not longer series’ such as Kingdom Hospital or Haven.

This still leaves an impressive total of 60 direct adaptions or screenplays.

Overview

It all started in 1976 when Carrie was the first to be adapted into a feature film. Largely due to a brilliantly unsettling performance by Spacek, it received vastly positive reviews, and is widely regarded as one of the best films of 1976.

Two years later Salem’s Lot got the adaption treatment with medium success, before The Shining opened to mixed reviews and a bumpy start at the box office in 1980. That said, reviews for The Shining have become increasingly positive ever since, and it is now widely considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Famously King didn’t like the movie, although I wonder if director Stanley Kubrick rejecting King’s screenplay for the film in favour of his own may have had any baring on this.

The early 80′s bought a mixed bag of adaptions, most wandering from mediocre to good, and nearly all seeing relatively good success at the box office. This included three anthologies; the most notable being Creepshow, which saw King write his first full screenplay and team up with zombie movie architect and legend George A. Romero.

The late eighties were not so kind to the King adaptions, starting off with two notable washouts in 1985. The first was Silver Bullet, based on the novella Cycle of the Werewolf, featuring a werewolf, (who looked more like a man in a bear costume) theatrically stalking a wheelchair bound Corey Haim. Silver Bullet was one of those concepts that worked great on paper but didn’t translate well into movie format, and is a little difficult to take seriously.

The second saw trucks coming to life and becoming homicidalin King’s directing debut,Maximum Overdrive. I can’t help but feel that this was a bad choice for King’s debut, the story itself is, well, frankly it’s kind of dumb, and would be a challenge for an experienced director to pull off. Now, it is not without it’s merit, it certainly has some entertainment value as an accidental comedy, and the soundtrack by AC/DC, coupled with a brief cameo from the band themselves really work in its favour.

King later stated that he was entrenched in own drug use while making Maximum Overdrive and as a result often had no idea what he was doing. In an interview, King was asked why he hasn’t directed a movie since Maximum Overdrive and he responded, “Just watch Maximum Overdrive.”

Nevertheless, Over-the-top cheesy action film The Running Man staring Arnold Schwarzeneggar, was a number one box office success in 1987 (Although it’s place as a King adaption could be contested as it is only very loosely based on the his novel.) and modern cult favourite, Pet Semetary saw the 80s out of on a more positive note in 1989.  Gory, delightfully morbid and genuinely creepy, Pet Semetary performed well at the box office and remains one of Kings most memorable adoptions proving that sometimes dead is not always better.

The 90’s saw Kings adaptions trending as TV mini series and made-for-TV movies starting with IT being made into a two part TV movie. IT received positive reviews both from the public and critics, with some of the credit going to a strong cast and an impressive performance by Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown.

Kathy Bates gave a truly terrifying and award winning performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery, which received almost universally positive reviews. Years after Misery’s release, Stephen King publicly admitted that Kathy Bates’ character is a representation of his psychological dependency on drugs and alcohol.

These we’re followed by several unremarkable adaptions, until the epic novel The Stand was developed into a mini-series in 1994. King himself wrote the screenplay, and even at over 6 hours it was still considerably stripped down from it’s novel counterpart. The Stand holds up well, with good visuals, a capable cast and excellent character development, which make it easy to overlook a few obviously plot holes and some plastic looking sets.

1995 bought a very special King adaption, The Mangler. Dull, humourless and always confusing, The Mangler received overwhelmingly negative reviews and bombed at the box office on its release. Directed by Tope Hooper and starring Robert Englund, this is unquestionably the worse direct King adaption to date.

The popularity and success of King’s horror adaptions seemed to be long gone through the late 90s and early 00s as a string of easily forgotten shorts and TV movies were produced.

In 2003 Dreamcatcher hit theatres, the feature first movie adaption since Kings near fatal accident in 1999. Dreamcatcher looked promising in pre-production with a full star cast and healthy budget, just what King’s adaptions needed to rescue their floundering reputation. Dreamcatcher had some great cinematography and sound, but it lacked direction and emotion. It felt like there was too much going on without enough back story and awkward timing. It’s fair to say that if Morgan Freeman can’t save your movie, you’re in trouble.

So, it became that any movie or series with King’s name attached to it had no prestige or weight, and were often ridiculed even before they were released or aired. Some would say with good reason, King had not had a box office hit since Misery in 1990, and his TV mini-series were no longer being critically acclaimed or pulling in viewers. Even films that were good, such as 1408 and Secret Window, only had moderate success and went by relatively unnoticed and under-rated.

In 2008 The Mist had a limited release in theatres worldwide. The Mist was based on one of Kings most popular short stories of the same name and was greatly anticipated by King fans. These fans probably made up a good portion of those that went to see it in cinemas, as it came and went with little critical attention and only barely modest takings at the box office. It wasn’t until it was released on DVD in 2009 that The Mist started to be widely acknowledged as a tremendously dark and tense horror that showed that even a monster movie can have some depth. The Mist is the best King adaption in a long time and has the makings of a future cult classic. Interestingly it’s directed by Frank Darabont, the creative force behind previous King adaptions The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption.

There are at least a dozen adaptions that are in filming or preproduction at this time, and there are already rumours that studios are currently attempting to buy the movie rights to the upcoming shining sequel, Doctor Sleep, even before King has finished writing it. I suspect there will be plenty on the way as Kings adaptions will far out live the writer himself. It seems almost certain that he will fall into rank with pioneer horror writers such as Lovecraft, Poe, Mattheson, Blackwood and James, and will continue to inspire film makers (or whatever the future equivalent may be) to re-tell and drawn influence from his work.

The Lists

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Ten to Watch

1. The Shinning

2. Carrie

3. Misery

4. The Mist

5.  IT

6. The Stand

7. The Dead Zone

8. Creepshow

9. Pet Sematary

10. 1408

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Ten to Avoid

1. The Mangler

2. Trucks

3. Desperation

4. Dreamcatcher

5. Riding the Bullet

6. Thinner

7.  Children of The Corn

8. Silver Bullet

9. Maximum Overdrive

10. The Dark Half

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Top 100 Horror Movies 1982 – 2012.

I thought I’d put together a list of, what are in my opinion, the top 100 horror movies of the last 30 years. Why just the last 30 years? Well, First, for me, the early 80s mark the divide between classic horror and modern horror. There are some excellent horror movies before 1982, but there are also many films that were truly amazing for their time, but wouldn’t be considered as good today. However, due to their huge cultural significance, they are always included in the top 100 horrors of all time. I want to put together a list, that people just getting into horror, can take away and will actually watch.

Second, there are thousands of top 100 horror movie lists on the internet, and they all pretty much look the same. By not including films prior too 1982, I’ve freed up space for some great films that would otherwise be overlooked. Let’s be honest, most horror fans could probably recite the top 20 horror films without any difficultly. Wouldn’t it be interesting to have a list that didn’t end with either The Exorcist, Psycho or The Shinning?

I’ve read a lot of these lists, and there is always comments like “That’s not a horror film.” I believe that horror has so many sub-genres, and the edges of the horror genre itself are blurred. Some of the films on this list may fit better into other genres, such as science fiction or dark comedy, but I feel they also have enough of a horror flavor to warrant their place.
Furthermore, I have tried to limit the amount of non English speaking films, to be honest, I could write them a list of their own. I have included a few that have had noteworthy international acclaim or have influenced the whole genre.

This list is inclusive of 1982, but exclusive of 2012.

T H E   L I S T

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100. Cabin Fever (2002)

99. The Hamiltons (2006)

98. Pin (1988)

97. Bride of Chucky (1998)

96. Friday the 13th (2009)

95. Jennifer’s Body (2009)

94. Wrong Turn (2003)

93. The Grudge (2004)

92. Jeepers Creepers (2001)

91. The People Under The Stairs (1991)

90. Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

89. The Signal (2007)

88. Feast (2005)

87. Pumpkinhead (1988)

86. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

85. Session 9 (2001)

84. The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

83. High Tension / Switchblade Romance (2003)

82. Paranormal Activity (2007)

81. Arachnophobia (1990)

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80. From Beyond (1988)

79. Freddy Vs Jason (2003)

78. Ils – Them (2006)

77. CandyMan (1992)

76. Underworld: Awakening (2010)

75. Splice (2009)

74. Teeth (2007)

73. Dead End (2003)

72. The Ruins (2008)

71. Dead Snow (2009)

70. Event Horizon (1997)

69. Wolf Creek (2005)

68. Angel Heart (1987)

67. Insidious (2010)

66. Trick r Treat (2007)

65. Orphan (2009)

64. Joy Ride / Road Kill (2001)

63. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994)

62. Child’s Play (1988)

61. Cube (1997)

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60. Piranha 3D (2010)

59. Silent Hill (2006)

58. Pet Sematary (1989)

57. Martyrs (2008)

56. Leviathan (1989)

55. The Loved Ones (2009)

54. The Entity (1982)

53. Splinter (2008)

52. Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors (1987)

51. From Dusk til Dawn (1996)

50. Prince of Darkness (1987)

49. Creepshow (1982)

48. Stakeland (2010)

47. Slither (2006)

46. Shadow of a Vampire (2000)

45. Inside (2007)

44. Final Destination (2000)

43. May (2002)

42. Night of the Creeps (1986)

41. Resident Evil (2002)

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40. 28 Days Later (2002)

39. The Mist (2007)

38. The Devils Rejects (2005)

37. Dog Soldiers (2002)

36. Stephen King’s IT (1990)

35. Ginger Snaps (2000)

34. The Hitcher (1986)

33. Return of the Living Dead (1985)

32. Near Dark (1987)

31. Audition (1999)

30. The Lost Boys (1987)

29. Hellraiser (1987)

28. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

27. Eden Lake (2008)

26. Dellamorte Dellamore / Cemetery Man (1994)

25. Attack The Block (2011)

24. The Orphanage (2007)

23. Dawn of the Dead (2004)

22. Misery (1990)

21. [REC] (2007)

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20. Tremors (1990)

19. Deathproof (2007)

18. Frailty (2001)

17. Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil (2010)

16. Planet Terror

15. Let Me In (2010)

14. Scream (1996)

13. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

12. The Descent (2005)

11. Re-animator (1995)

10. Blade (1998)

09. Saw (2004)

08. Zombieland (2009)

07. Poltergeist (1982)

06. The Fly (1986)

05. Ringu {and The Ring} (1998)

04. The Evil Dead 2 (1987)

03. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

02. Aliens (1986)

01. The Thing (1982)

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Body Horror: Man is the Warmest Place to Hide

After the gritty and subversive exploitation and occult films of the 70s, filmmakers needed a new way to shock audiences. ‘Body Horror’ centric was born of this need and the quickly advancing special effects. The growing popularity of horror movies opened up new opportunities, for example works of fiction such as Campbell’s ‘Who Goes There’ and Langelaan’s ‘The Fly’ could be produced in a more full and graphic way than previously possible.

Body Horror films use body warping, mutation, and transformation to scare and disgust their viewers. They tend to be graphic, gruesome and perverse, playing on our innate fears and anxieties about our health, appearance and personal vanity.

The antagonist typically strikes from inside the human body, usually as a result of parasitism, infection or disease. It can also be caused by external, supernatural forces but the damage or mutation done to the body is rarely inflicted by other people as that veers the genre more towards torture porn or slasher movies.

Another blurry line is Zombie movies, which often include attributes from Body Horror, but, as a rule, body horror centric movies don’t include the living dead. It’s not uncommon for body horror films to have a venereal or carnal undertone, often with the infected endeavoring to have sex with the uninfected, either due to sexual desire or as a way to transmit the parasite or disease.

One of the first to explore the body horror themes was David Cronenburg, with early movies such as ‘Shivers’ (1975) and ‘Rabid’(1977). David Lynch was another pioneer for the genre, he wrote and directed the surreal, and frankly confusing, ‘Eraserhead’ (1977). Another innovator was Ridley Scott, with the masterpiece, ‘Alien’ (1979).

These were early explorations into the subject, and prior the special effect explosion of the 80s. They laid the groundwork for the films that would define the genre, arguably, the two most significant of these being ‘The Thing’ (1982) and David Cronenburg’s ‘The Fly’ (1986).

At the height of its popularity, in the mid to late 80s, Body Horror style effects started showing up within the majority of horror films as a part of a bigger theme, such as the ‘Hellraiser’ series. By 1990, the overblown and extravagant 80’s style body horror began to fizzle out. The problem was that each film tried to out do the last, and eventually they became so visual they left nothing to the viewers imagination; death by special effects. The films became increasingly reliant on their effects, and frequently the quality of the story was overlooked. These once edgy, transgressive films became standard, even boring, and as a result, Body Horror centric films all but disappeared from mainstream horror through the mid nineties. However, the genre made a modest return after the millennium.

Body horror films by rating in descending order:

16. Ticks

15. Tetsuo: The Iron Man

14. Street Trash

13. Splice

12. Teeth

11. Shivers

10. Society

9. From Beyond

8. Slither

7. The Brood

6. Splinter

5. Leviathan

4. Hellraiser

3. Alien

2. The Thing

1. The Fly

I’ve tried to order this list by reviewing these films from a body horror standpoint. As overall, the order would be different, however, although some these films listed have considerable body horror content, they also explore many other horror themes which are an equal part of their story and they cross over into several different horror subgenres. Whereas, The Fly is debatably a pure body horror film, checking off subjects such as infection, mutation, and transformation, along with venereal elements. David Cronenburg’s clearly has some issues, but nevertheless is widely considered the father of body horror films, so it seems fitting that The Fly is top of this list.

The Video Nasties

By 1980 the home video market was taking off, and there was very little censorship or regulation for video distribution in the UK. Censorship from the BBFC only applied to films being showed in theatres at that time and subsequently, a wave of films from Italian horror and the American Grindhouse cinema quickly took advantage of the UK’s lacking regulatory system.

It wasn’t long before the tabloids began focusing on these films, highlighting and playing on their excessive violence and sexual nature, branding them as immoral, corrupt, and blaming them for youth violence. As far as horror films go, this kind of bad publicity is about as good as publicity gets. As the films were named and shamed by the tabloids newspapers, it did wonders for their popularity, and of course, sales.

In 1981, Go Video started distributing Cannibal Holocaust in the UK. As a marketing ploy, they wrote an anonymous letter to Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association expressing their outrage and disgust for their own film. In a way, this backfired, as it spurred Mary White to lead a national campaign against these movies that were soon given the name ‘Video Nasties’.

The tabloids, notably led by The Daily Mail, fed the hype and whipped their gullible readers into a frenzy with headlines such as “For the sake of all our children, burn your video nasty”, and “Ban the Sadist Videos! Before they invade your home!” Clearly both sound advice.

In 1983, as a response to heavy, if not a little misguided, public pressure, the Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) published a list of films that were banned by name. This kick-started raids on video stores, and a somewhat trial-by-fire of the horror film industry in the UK, resulting in a total of 72 films being added to the list and facing the risk of prosecution for public obscenity.

Today, most have been re-released, some with cuts and editing, and 10 remain banned because they have not been resubmitted to or have been refused classification. However, what remains truly shocking isn’t the content of these films, but the abuse of power and ignorance displayed by the British government, who inadvertently created a black-market, and essentially prompted the start of movie pirating in the UK. The list gave these films instant cult status and immortalized them as part of cinematic history, whereas, had they gone ignored it seems likely most would have faded into obscurity.

Ironically, these days, the list makes a solid check-list for horror enthusiasts and connoisseurs to follow. So, as standalone films, are they any good?

Well, for most, the answer would be no. The majority are low budget, poorly produced films, with bad acting and a fairly loose plot, and that’s the American Grindhouse movies. The Italian films share these qualities, but are far more confusing and have painfully bad dubbing. I would suggest that even the most die hard horror fan would not do any injustice to their preoccupation by missing most of these off their watch list. However, the Video Nasties fall on a scale that goes from one extreme to another, yes, most are quite awful, but some are very good. You know, in a sick, perverse kind of way.

10. There was a Little Girl

9. Cannibal Holocaust

8. House by the Cemetery

7. Fight for your Life

6. Dead and Buried

5. Zombie Flesh Eaters

4. The Beyond

3. Tenebrae

2. Possession

1. The Evil Dead

I am still looking out for SS Hell Camp and Mardi Gras Massacre, I’ve struggled to find them. I suspect someone, somewhere has a dusty VHS copy packed away in there loft. If you have seen them, I’d be interested to know what they are like? Or if you have a copy, start rewinding it, and ill begin relearning the art of tracking on my old video player now.