2. Early Censored Horrors
Todd Browning's 1932 horror film about a circus sideshow murder, ‘Freaks’ was
denied exhibition in 43 countries and banned for 30 years in the UK for it’s casting
of actors with genuine physical deformities and birth defects. The audience
believed that the casting was too shocking for the film to be seen, however is now
viewed as an important piece of film history due to the controversy it created at the
time. It seems that the banning of the film represents the fear and ignorance of
disfigurement and deformities of the audiences in the early 30’s.
‘The Exorcist’ (1973) was banned by several small towns and countries for intense
violence and religious controversy. It was claimed to cause wide spread hysteria,
including reports of people fainting, and others being institutionalized.
The 1981 film ‘The Evil Dead’ was banned particularly due to the brutal rape of one
of the protagonists Cheryl by possessed weeds. It was also one of the many 80’s
films to be labeled as a ‘Video Nasty’.
There are several other horror films that were banned and censored between this time period e.g. Cannibal
Hollocaust, Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein, Night of The Howling Beast’, ‘I Spit on Your Grave’ horror films are
continuosly being banned for extreme violence such as ‘Grotesque’ and ‘Human Centipede II’

3. Video Nasties
‘Video Nasty’ was a colloquial term coined in the UK by
1982 due to the increase in violent horror films that
were not able to be censored because of the availability
of horror films for home viewing where the government
(1988)
weren’t able to prevent certain
(1993)
Viewers
from
watching
them. One
particular
Video nasty was claimed to play a role
in the abominable murder of James Bulger. After
investigation into the crime suggested that the two 10
year old murderers had reanacted what seemed to be a
scene from the 1988 horror film ‘Child’s Play’ when
torturing James Bulger. The “Judge blamed” Child’s Play
for influencing the brutal attack of the innocent child.

4. Moral Panic
“In 1984 the British government drew up a list of 72 films which it deemed so
reprehensible that they should be banned. Anyone found in possession of a copy, or
actively distributing one of the films, could face a prison sentence.”
This began in the early stages of VCR when almost any film was easily sold in
practically any corner shop, which meant the regulation of films decreased and
allowed several absurd and dodgy films to be viewed by a wide range of audiences.
“To avoid moral panic keep repeating, they were only movies” (quote from
documentary ‘Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape’). The new
found video nasties began to create a moral panic “More and more
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 […] The problem arises because video is now the fastest
growing part of the home entertainment industry – and yet is too young to have
developed its own controls.” (the Mail: The Secret Video Show on 12 May 1982).
Therefore the idea of children being able to view anything where
parents may lack control created the moral panic, which may have
lead to the accusation of the murder of James Bulger.