Every Video Nasty Ranked From Worst To Best

Since 1857, the United Kingdom has been subject to the Obscene Publications Act. This act, revised in 1959 and amended several times since, outlaws any media that's deemed obscene, allows law enforcement to search for, seize, and destroy so-called obscene materials, and allows for anyone connected to obscene materials to be prosecuted.

According to the British Board of Film Classification, aka. the BBFC (the United Kingdom's equivalent to the MPAA), home video recordings such as VHS tapes first become a standard in the United Kingdom in 1978. At first, home video tapes were completely unregulated, but that soon changed when the VHS releases of controversial movies like "Cannibal Holocaust" hit British video stores. Pro-censorship activist Mary Whitehouse (who coined the term "video nasty," though she famously never watched one herself) and her group, the National Viewers and Listeners Association, spearheaded the push for legislative action. Their efforts culminated in the Video Recordings Act of 1984. This act led to tighter censorship and age restrictions of films in general but also banned and criminalized a slew of films — mostly in the horror genre. These outlawed tapes became known as the "video nasties."

Some video nasties were prosecuted, while others were simply banned. Others still were eventually released after cuts were made. Many video nasties were trashy exploitation films made to earn a quick buck and used the shock value of the video nasty label as a selling point. However, there are also many gems saddled with the video nasty label that went on to become classics. This ranking will let you know which video nasties you should avoid and which ones are worth seeking out.

The title of "Don't Go Near the Park" follows a popular '70s genre naming convention of turning the title into a warning. There are multiple other "Don't..." movies in the video nasty catalog, and director Edgar Wright of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Baby Driver" fame even parodied the trend in a fake trailer he directed for "Grindhouse" which he aptly titled "Don't."

Surprisingly, the story of this cheap exploitation flick begins in prehistoric times, following super-powered Neanderthals. Two siblings, played by Robert Gribbin and Barbara Pain, devour young members of their tribe and are cursed to eternal lives of cannibalism as a result. The movie then jumps 12,000 years into the future to modern-day Los Angeles, where the siblings are still eating young women. The film is a mess, with little more than cannibal violence to keep the viewer interested. The most notable aspect of the film (other than its inclusion on the video nasty list) is that it was directed and co-written by a teenager. Lawrence David Foldes was just 20 when the movie was released and 19 when he made it.

"Don't Go Near the Park" is also known by the alternate titles "Sanctuary for Evil," "Nightstalker," and "Curse of the Living Dead." 

"Devil Hunter," also known as "The Man Hunter," "The Cannibal," and most provocatively of all, "Sexo Cannibal," follows a Vietnam vet who attempts to save a woman from an island full of cannibals and their demonic god. The movie was directed by Jesús Franco, a name that is likely unfamiliar to the general public but that hardcore horror fans might recognize. Franco had a few breakthrough movies in the genre such as his faithful version of Bram Stoker's classic novel, "Count Dracula," which features Christopher Lee in the titular role outside of the Hammer "Dracula" movies that he was best known for and Klaus Kinski nearly a decade before he was cast as Dracula in Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu the Vampyre."

Franco made more than 300 movies throughout his 56-year career under dozens of pseudonyms ranging from Candy Coster to Roland Marceignac. "Devil Hunter" was one of six movies Franco released in 1980. In addition to having a number of his films included on the video nasties list, Jesús Franco also rankled the Catholic Church, which named him one of the most dangerous filmmakers in the world.

Although the video nasty hysteria kicked off in the '80s after the passage of the Video Recordings Act, the tightened grip of censorship went into effect retroactively. This meant that older movies which had previously been released in the United Kingdom were now subject to tougher regulations and could be prosecuted. Such was the case with "The Ghastly Ones," which originally enjoyed an unfettered release in 1968.

The story follows three sisters (and their husbands), who are determined to inherit a large home belonging to their recently deceased father. Inheriting the home means spending three days and nights within it as a requirement of the will, but a deranged killer is in the house with them. What follows is a series of gruesome murder scenes in which the characters are killed off one by one in low-budget, gory fashion. The most outrageous scene involves a mentally challenged man eating live rabbits, which has nothing to do with the plot and is only included for shock value. Mission accomplished.

"SS Hell Camp" is another entry in the Nazisploitation subgenre. The movie was released under myriad alternate titles, including "SS Camp 5: Women's Hell," "The Beast in Heat," and "Horrifying Experiments of SS, Last Days." "SS Hell Camp" was an extremely cheap production that utilized the same cast and leftover sets from "SS Experiment Love Camp" released one year earlier. Both movies were made by Italian filmmaker Sergio Garrone, who was earlier known for directing multiple movies in the "Django" spaghetti Western series.

"SS Hell Camp" and "SS Experiment Love Camp" follow similar plots. They're practically the same movie. The biggest thing that sets the two apart is the fact that the goal of the Nazi experiments this time around is to turn the male prisoners into sex-crazed man-beasts, and you better believe they find some success. The sex beast is fed a diet of aphrodisiacs and used as a tool to sexually torture the female prisoners. "SS Hell Camp" is a bit more depraved than the earlier Nazisploitation flick that it shares much of its production elements with. It remains banned in the United Kingdom to this day, though it is available for viewing in the United States completely uncut.

Released in 1969, "Love Camp 7" predates most movies of its ilk and just might be responsible for kickstarting the entire Nazisploitation subgenre that followed throughout the 1970s. Being the first doesn't necessarily mean that "Love Camp 7" is all that much better than the other Nazisploitation flicks, but it does at least have a bit more going on in its plot than just gratuitous sex and torture. Not much more, but a little bit more.

The story follows Grace Freeman and Linda Harman (played by Kathy Williams and Maria Lease), two Allied army lieutenants who are sent undercover into the titular "Love Camp 7," a Nazi prison camp. Their mission is to locate and escape with intelligence that could turn the tide of the war, but when their cover is blown, they are subjected to sexual torture as punishment. Kickstarting its own subgenre is hardly a good thing when the subgenre in question is Nazisploitation. Even the most famous Nazisploitation movie, "Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS," which is typically considered the pinnacle of the subgenre, just barely ekes out a positive 5.1 score on IMDb, with nearly every other entry in the subgenre receiving negative scores.

"The Gestapo's Last Orgy" is a 1977 entry into the surprisingly large Nazisploitation subgenre. It was also released at various times under the alternate titles of "Last Orgy of the Third Reich" and "Caligula Reincarnated as Hitler." The film uses a non-linear structure to tell the story of a Jewish woman (Daniela Poggi) who returns to what remains of the concentration camp where she was held captive. Through a series of prolonged flashbacks, viewers are shown the horrors she faced in graphic detail.

This movie was among those that were successfully prosecuted under the Video Recordings Act and has remained banned in the United Kingdom ever since. In 2021, a push was made to finally get the BBFC to pass the film, but the organization outright rejected the film. The BBFC declared the film "unsuitable for classification," citing that sadistic violence, constant non-consensual sexual activity, and antisemitic overtones constituted the bulk of the movie. Their official statement on the matter of passing the film was: "The sadistic and sexually abusive material it contains is too pervasive to be effectively addressed by cuts. Accordingly, the BBFC has refused classification to this work."

"The Boogeyman" is a supernatural horror movie from 1980. The movie was directed by Ulli Lommel, who had a notorious reputation for being the #1 lowest-scoring filmmaker on IMDb, with more than a dozen movies with scores below two stars. This film has nearly countless alternate titles, including "Spectre;" "The Black Mirror;" "Killer Force;" "The Devil's Spell;" "Terror of the Night;" "Mirror: Who Lives in that Mirror?;" "The Killer Mirror;" "Satan, the Reflection of Evil;" and most bizarrely of all "Battle NY Day 2," which has nothing to do with anything. The movie isn't even set in New York.

The film follows two young siblings who work together to murder their mother's boyfriend. Somehow, the boyfriend's soul becomes trapped in a mirror. The movie then jumps two decades into the future. The siblings are now grown up and find themselves in danger when the mirror breaks and the dead boyfriend is released with designs on revenge.

A sequel was released three later, "Boogeyman II," which was also added to the video nasty list. The series went dormant for over a decade but was revived in 1994 with "Return of the Boogeyman." The original film's director, Ulli Lommel, was working on another sequel titled "Boogeyman: Reincarnation," but his death in 2017 seems to have left that film without a planned release.

The massive success of George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" set off a wave of copycats, imitators, and shameless rip-offs, many of which made it onto the video nasty list. In Italy, "Dawn of the Dead" was released as "Zombi," and Italian filmmakers wasted no time churning out "unofficial" sequels, one of which was "Hell of the Living Dead," (aka. "Zombi 4"). The movie is also known as "Dusk of the Dead," "Zombie Creeping Flesh," "Virus," "Night of the Zombies," "Zombie Inferno," and "Zombies of the Savanna."

"Hell of the Living Dead" pulls characters and plot elements straight from "Dawn of the Dead" and tries to use its falsified status as a sequel to draw in unsuspecting fans of Romero's film despite not having any official connection. This Italian zombie film was directed by Bruno Mattei, who was known for making rip-off sequels to successful Hollywood movies. He once made a movie called "Terminator II" that claimed to be a sequel to James Cameron's "The Terminator" despite having no affiliation to the property and coming out two years before Cameron's own "Terminator 2: Judgement Day."

Another entry in the "don't" category of movies, "Don't Look in the Basement" is an American horror film from 1973. A nurse (played by Rosie Holotik in her second of just three feature film roles) is sent to help an understaffed sanitarium but quickly learns that the man who was supposed to be her new boss has been murdered by the patients, who are attempting to take over the hospital.

"Don't Look in the Basement" is mostly a standard low-budget horror flick, and the most interesting thing about is how it was marketed. The movie utilized a misleading poster in an attempt to trick audiences by claiming to be from "the makers of The Last House on the Left," which was released one year prior and was also banned as a video nasty. This claim was a blatant lie, as "Don't Look in the Basement" and "The Last House on the Left" were not written, directed, or produced by any of the same people. The two movies do not share a single cast or crew member in common. To make the misleading marketing even worse, "Don't Look in the Basement" also stole the iconic tagline of "The Last House on the Left," which reads, "To avoid fainting, keep repeating, it's only a movie ... only a movie ... only a movie."

"Island of Death" is a Greek horror film from 1976. The simple plot follows a British couple, played by Jane Lyle and Bob Behling, who travel to a Greek island for vacation and proceed to wreak havoc, killing and assaulting everything in sight for no meaningful reason.

Considering the movie's balance of gratuitous violence and sexual content, it is fitting that it was released under both the titles "Island of Death" and "Isle of Perversion." it was also released and re-released under such alternate titles as "Cruel Destination," "Devil's Island," "A Craving for Lust," "Killing Daylight," "Devils in Mykonos," and even "Psychic Killer II" in an attempt to exploit the previous year's "Psychic Killer," despite having absolutely nothing to do with that earlier movie.

After being banned for many years, the movie was passed with an "18" certificate by the BBFC in 2010. Arrow Video released the film uncut after the ban was lifted.

"The Driller Killer" is often cited as one of the key films responsible for kicking off the video nasty hysteria. However, it was the film's marketing materials that truly caused the controversy. The original poster featured a gory still of a man's head penetrated by a power drill. When the movie was eventually released in the United Kingdom 22 years later (per Paste Magazine), the poster was changed and cuts were made to the corresponding kill scene within the movie.

The story essentially takes the premise of "Taxi Driver" and pushes it much farther into horror territory and the slasher subgenre. The main character, an artist in a polyamorous relationship, begins using a power drill to kill random people whom he considers undesirables — mostly homeless people living on the streets of New York City. "The Driller Killer" is most notable for being a video nasty made by a filmmaker who went on to find major success later on in his career. This was the narrative feature film debut of writer-director Abel Ferrara, who would go on to make acclaimed movies like "Bad Lieutenant" and "King of New York." Ferrara also cast himself in the lead role as the killer, though he used the name, Jimmy Laine. Fans of Abel Ferrara's later work may be interested in checking out "The Driller Killer" to see where this auteur got his start.

"Bloody Moon" is another video nasty from the incredibly prolific Jesús Franco. The film begins at a masquerade party, where a deformed man (Alexander Waechter) assaults a woman and kills her with a pair of scissors. He is remanded to an asylum. The film jumps five years into the future to the day he is released. Now in the care of his sister and aunt, the supposedly reformed killer finds himself living in their all-girl boarding school. Of course, the girls soon begin dying, and everyone suspects the convicted killer, but there might be more than one threat in the school.

The gory kill scenes are the focus of the movie, with a wide variety of weapons and tools used to inflict gruesome injuries. Scissors, knives, fire, a sledgehammer, barbecue tongs, a chainsaw, and a circular saw are all utilized at various points. The movie also includes one instance of a real animal death: a snake beheaded with garden sheers. After being banned as a video nasty, the movie was eventually passed in its original, uncut state by the BBFC in 2008 with an "18" certificate.

"Absurd" is an Italian horror film from 1981 which also goes by the titles "Horrible," "Monster Hunter," "Zombi 6," and "Anthropophagus 2," claiming to be a sequel to two unrelated movies. To make matters even more confusing, there are no real zombies in "Absurd," and its claim to be "Zombi 6" is especially far-fetched considering it was released seven years before "Zombi 5" and was only renamed later on in an attempt to cash-in on that franchise's success. However, "Absurd" is somewhat of a sequel to "Anthropophagus," released one year prior.

Written by George Eastman, who also stars as the murderous Anthropophagus creature, the film was directed by Joe D'Amato. "Absurd" was just one of eight movies he made in 1981. D'Amato had a reputation for working extremely quickly, churning out nearly 200 movies over just 24 years, often using dozens of different pseudonyms, including many female aliases like Anna Bergman, Lynn Clark, and Joan Russell. He later clarified that using so many pseudonyms was his attempt to trick European movie distributors into thinking his movies were British or American-made instead of Italian-made, as the Italian film industry had a negative reputation at the time.

Released in 1980 "Prom Night" is one of the more famous movies on the video nasty list. Though it fits neatly into the wave of slasher copycats that followed in the wake of "Halloween," "Prom Night" stands out based primarily on the strength of its cast. After Jamie Lee Curtis starred in John Carpenter's "Halloween" and "The Fog," her next horror movie was "Prom Night." Also prominent in the cast is Leslie Nielsen, who earlier that same year began making a career shift from serious dramatic roles to comedies with "Airplane!" The movie received a sequel in "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II," which has virtually no connection to the first movie, and a "Prom Night" remake was released in 2008. The remake was generally considered inferior and received a lower IMDb score than the original.

Even though "Prom Night" is a slasher with plenty of kills and no short supply of blood, it isn't anywhere near as graphic and gory as the majority of video nasties. "Prom Night" was one of the shortest-lived inclusions on the video nasty list. After initially facing censorship issues when the Video Recordings Act when into effect in 1984, the movie was released fully uncut by 1987 with an "18" certificate.

"Madhouse" is an Italian horror film from 1981 about a meek and mild school teacher (Patricia Mickey), who is hunted by her twin sister on their shared birthday. The sister is a deformed escapee from an insane asylum, played by Allison Biggers, who previously attacked her twin when they were children. As an adult, the sister is intent on finishing off her twin while also killing various other people such as her neighbors. Rather than acting alone, the deformed twin has a vicious pet Rottweiler who does some of the killing for her.

Like many video nasties, "Madhouse" was released and re-released under a slew of alternate titles, which included "Scared to Death," "And When She Was Bad," "Flesh and the Beast," and "There Was a Little Girl." After being banned in the '80s, the movie was eventually passed by the BBFC in its original, uncut form in 2004.

One of many films directed by Tobe Hooper to make it onto the video nasty list, "Eaten Alive" was the late director's follow-up to the 1974 classic "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." 

"Eaten Alive" is an entry into the Hicksploitation subgenre that centers around the so-called hillbillies of the American South. Neville Brand stars as Judd, the dimwitted owner of a backwoods hotel. He is an easily offended man, and those who upset him are murdered and fed to the gigantic alligator he keeps on the property. The story was loosely based on the true story of Joe Ball, who is often cited as one of the first modern American serial killers. Ball murdered people who visited his bar and fed them to his pet alligators. His exact body count remains unknown.

Marilyn Burns, who previously appeared as Sally Hardesty in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," plays a key role.  Also of note is Robert Englund in one of his earliest movie roles. Englund would go on to become the iconic villain Freddy Krueger in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series. Quentin Tarantino, a fan of video nasties, paid homage to this movie in his film "Kill Bill: Volume 1" by having the character of Buck (Michael Bowen) repeat the explicit first words spoken by Englund in "Eaten Alive."

"Xtro" is a sci-fi horror movie from 1982. The plot revolves around a man (Philip Sayer), who returns home to his wife and son deeply changed three years after he was abducted by aliens. With some light body horror and impressive creature designs, "Xtro" examines how the bond between father and son can be corrupted by alien intervention. Over the next few years, director Harry Bromley Davenport made two sequels: "Xtro II: The Second Encounter" and "Xtro III: Watch the Skies." Neither sequel manages to get out of the three-star range on IMDb, but the original sits in the upper five-star range.

"Xtro" was only included on the video nasties list for a brief time. By 1987, three years after the passing of the Video Recordings Act, "Xtro" was available in the United Kingdom completely uncut with an "18" rating. When the BBFC re-evaluated the film 20 years later, they downgraded its age restriction even further to a "15" certificate. In retrospect, it's pretty clear that "Xtro" never deserved to be lumped in with the video nasties and simply got caught up in the censorship hysteria.

"Evilspeak" was the debut feature film from writer-director Eric Weston. This 1981 horror movie is set at a military academy and follows a bullied outcast who eventually seeks revenge against his tormenters using the unlikely pairing of Satan and computers. The positive focus on satanic worship as a way to achieve one's goals likely played as large of a role in getting the film banned as its violence and gore. Though not as gratuitous or excessive as most video nasties, "Evilspeak" was one of the films that was successfully prosecuted for violating the Obscene Publications Act. It was eventually passed with an "18" certificate by the BBFC in 2004.

The biggest name involved in "Evilspeak" is its star, Clint Howard, brother of actor turned Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard. Clint Howard has appeared in over 250 movies and TV shows, including "The Andy Griffith Show," "Apollo 13," and "Arrested Development" among others. While he is a character actor mostly known for his supporting roles, "Evilspeak" allowed Clint Howard to take center stage and portray a likable underdog protagonist who succumbs to the dark side.

"The Witch Who Came from the Sea" is a 1976 horror movie with a rather misleading title. There is no witchcraft in the movie whatsoever. Instead, the plot follows the bartender of a tavern on the Los Angeles coast who has a severely damaged psyche stemming from the abuse she sustained as a child. As her mental state deteriorates further and further, she sleeps with, castrates, and murders a slew of unsuspecting men — mostly celebrities around Los Angeles.

The lead role is played by Millie Perkins, who was already established as a big name before this exploitation flick came along, having earlier starred in "The Shooting" and "Ride in the Whirlwind" opposite Jack Nicholson, and "The Diary of Anne Frank." Perkins didn't make a habit out of working in the horror genre and was embarrassed by "The Witch Who Came from the Sea" but agreed to do the film due to unusual circumstances. The movie was written by her husband, Robert Thom, while he was sick in the hospital, and she only starred in the film to help pay for his medical treatment.

"Cannibal Holocaust," released in 1980 is easily one of the most controversial movies on the video nasty list. Though it wasn't the first cannibal movie, "Cannibal Holocaust" did set a new benchmark and bring a new jolt of popularity to the cannibal subgenre. The movie is also a notorious entry in the mondo films subgenre, featuring real animal death and mutilation

This fictional film is presented as a documentary comprised of the recovered footage left behind by a camera crew that was eaten by cannibals deep within the Amazon rainforest. The movie is notable for being the very first found footage movie, predating "The Blair Witch Project" by 19 years.

The most notorious aspect of "Cannibal Holocaust" was the allegations that it was a genuine snuff film that depicted real human deaths. As detailed by Fangoria, director Ruggero Deodato was arrested on obscenity charges for animal cruelty shortly after the release of the film and later had his charges upgraded to murder after the allegations of "Cannibal Holocaust" being a snuff film gained traction. However, this arrest was a problem of Deodato's own making, as he sought to generate the snuff rumors to create buzz for his movie. He utilized a cast of entirely unknown actors, prevented them from appearing in any other movies, and kept them from making public appearances or giving interviews, which supported the film's conceit that these people were never seen or heard from again.

"The Prowler" is a straightforward slasher that is elevated slightly above some of its video nasty peers through the strength of its brutality and gore. The killer is a World War II veteran who snapped upon returning home and finding that the woman he loves has left him for another man. Now a deranged killer who targets people indiscriminately, his victims for the bulk of the movie are a group of college kids celebrating their graduation.

The movie is noteworthy for the special effects makeup of the legendary Tom Savini, who is known for working on horror classics like "Dawn of the Dead," "Friday the 13th," "Maniac," and many others. "The Prowler" was directed by Joseph Zito, who also made horror movies like "Bloodrage" and "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" before pivoting to making cheesy action movies with the likes of Chuck Norris and Dolph Lundgren later on in his career.

The first movie written and directed by horror maestro Wes Craven is also one of the most notorious video nasties. For better or worse, "The Last House on the Left" is often cited as the founder of the rape-revenge exploitation subgenre. Sandra Peabody and Lucy Grantham star as a pair of friends who take a day trip to New York City from their rural upstate homes to attend a concert and run afoul of a group of sadistic criminals, played by David Hess, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler, and Fred J. Lincoln. Sexual assault, torture, and murder follow, as does revenge against the criminals.

The BBFC refused classification for the film even after extensive cuts were made, calling it a film "without substantial artistic merit." After being banned as a video nasty, later attempts to get the film passed still did not fare well. The sexual assault was the key issue rather than the other forms of violence in the film. As infamous as the movie was in the United Kingdom, it faced even more condemnation in Australia, where the movie was refused classification on four separate occasions. Copies of the film remained illegal and were confiscated upon entering the country until 2004 when the film was finally released on DVD.

"The House by the Cemetery" is the first of many video nasties directed by the Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci. The movie was released the same year as another of Fulci's video nasties, "The Beyond," and made use of some of the same actors and sets. Like many Italian productions of the time, "The House by the Cemetery" masquerades as an American production and utilizes a New England setting for its cast of Italian actors playing an American family. Another byproduct of being an Italian horror film of this era is that it has a litany of alternate titles, including "Zombie Hell House," "The Slaughterhouse by the Cemetery" (despite there not being a slaughterhouse in the movie), and "Revenge of the New York Ripper."

The story follows a family that moves into a new, rural home that borders a cemetery. The house was the site of vicious murders in the past, and supernatural evils continue to dwell on the property. The plot gets more convoluted as the movie progresses and contains some glaring plot holes, but the kills, supernatural elements, and horror imagery are all creative and memorable. The film coasts by on a strong sense of style and atmosphere rather than on the strength of its story.

After being banned in the United Kingdom for several years, the movie was eventually released in various edited-down forms until finally being passed completely uncut in 2009.

"Fight for Your Life" might not be one of the most famous titles on the video nasties list, but it does have some famous devotees. Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan of the movie and has shown his personal print at public screenings. Filmmaker John Waters is also an outspoken fan of the film as well.

The story of "Fight for Your Life" follows a racist escaped convict who leads his two prisoner buddies into a Black family's home, where he plans to hide out from the police and terrorize the family members to pass the time. What he failed to account for was the family patriarch being a minister (played by Robert Judd) who refuses to go down without a fight and will do anything in his power to take out the intruders. The main convict is played by William Sanderson before he would go on to play roles in big projects like "Blade Runner" and "Deadwood."

While the bulk of the video nasty list is comprised of horror movies, "Fight for Your Life" is more of an action thriller. Nevertheless, the torment inflicted upon the family by the convicts is gratuitous in typical grindhouse fashion. The movie also doesn't shy away from showcasing its antagonist's racism in explicit detail. "Fight for Your Life" was banned in the United Kingdom and remains banned to this day.

Released in 1977, "The Hills Have Eyes" was horror master Wes Craven's second horror film, and just like his first, "The Last House on the Left," this one was also labeled a video nasty and banned in the United Kingdom. The extended Carter family, including their two dogs Beauty and Beast, are on a road trip to California in their RV, but once they enter a desolate patch of desert used by the Air Force Range for military testing, their vacation turns into a deadly fight for survival. Soon, they are set upon by the violent, inbred, uncivilized family that lives in the hills.

Craven followed up "The Hills Have Eyes" with a sequel in 1984, and the film was remade by French horror auteur Alexandre Aja in 2006. The remake earned a slightly higher score on IMDb than Craven's original. The original received an "X" rating when it was first released in theaters before being banned as a video nasty. When it was revisited by the BBFC in 2003, approximately four minutes of cuts were necessary to pass the film with an "18" certificate.

Released in 1981 at the peak of the slasher genre, "The Burning" is the story of a summer camp custodian who was left horrifically disfigured from a fire that was the result of a prank that got out of control. Years later, he returns to kill the teens of the camp. The premise is similar to many entries in the slasher genre from around that time, especially "Friday the 13th," with its lakeside summer camp setting and a villain who returns to get revenge on the teenage camp counselors.

The movie unfolds in accordance with typical slasher film conventions as the sex-crazed teens are killed one by one in gruesome fashion by the killer. Though the premise is cliched and overly familiar (and the movie should maybe lose some points for launching the career of Harvey Weinstein, who wrote and produced the film), many horror fans found "The Burning" to be one of the better cookie-cutter slashers of its type. What really helps the movie stand out is the creativity of its kills and the excellent gore effects and makeup handled by the legendary Tom Savini. Savini had a miserable experience on the set of "The Burning" and was quoted calling Weinstein "creepy and loathsome, even back then" in an interview with The Independent.

"Dead & Buried" is a horror film from 1981 that can loosely be categorized as a zombie movie. The story finds the dead returning to life and attacking the residents of a small coastal town, but these residents aren't exactly innocent. They have a habit of ganging up to murder unsuspecting tourists who made the mistake of picking their town as a vacation destination.

The movie's poster claims that the film is by the creators of "Alien," but that claim is a little misleading. "Alien" director Ridley Scott had nothing to do with the production, and Gary Sherman, director of "Dead & Buried," had nothing to do with "Alien." The only overlap between the two productions is that the writers of "Alien," Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shushett, were among the five writers involved in the story of "Dead & Buried," which was adapted from a novel by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

Though it isn't as gruesome as many of the other video nasties, "Dead & Buried" was given an "X" rating on its theatrical release before being banned when the Video Recordings Act went into effect a couple of years later. When the BBFC revisited the movie, they passed it with minor cuts and an "18" certificate.

"Foxy Brown" is a blaxploitation film from 1974 starring the one and only Pam Grier, who headlined dozens of grindhouse films throughout the '70s and early 80s. Grier eventually starred in Quentin Tarantino's blaxploitation tribute, "Jackie Brown," the title of which is an homage to "Foxy Brown" after changing the character's name of Jackie Burke from the adapted novel, "Rum Punch," written by Elmore Leonard.

In "Foxy Brown," Grier plays a woman out for revenge for the murder of her boyfriend, who was a government agent. She goes undercover as a sex worker to get close to her targets, who she dispatches with righteous vengeance.

The movie has its fair share of violence and nudity, but "Foxy Brown" is an extreme oddity on the video nasty list. The film is not an entry in the horror genre as the vast majority of video nasties were, and it could hardly be described as gory or gratuitous in its content. Its inclusion on the video-nasty list almost seems like a mistake, but the movie was banned nonetheless. A whopping seven minutes of cuts were required by the BBFC when the first home video release came out in 1987, and the uncut version of the film wasn't available in the United Kingdom until 2013.

"The Beyond" was the second movie directed by Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci in 1981 to wind up on the video nasty list. Made using many of the same sets, actors, and crewmembers, "The Beyond" and "The House by the Cemetery" share a lot of connective tissue, though "The Beyond" is the clear fan favorite out of the two.

Catriona MacColl stars as a woman who moves into a hotel that she has inherited and is terrified to learn of the various supernatural horrors that take place within its walls. The hotel is built on top of the gates of hell, which leads to all manner of disturbing atrocities, including flesh-eating zombies.

Like pretty much all Italian horror movies of this era, "The Beyond" was released and re-released under several alternate titles such as "7 Doors of Death," "Above the Afterlife," "Zombie Ghost Town," "The Seven Gates of Hell," and "Hotel of the Damned." 

David Cronenberg's second and final video nasty was "Scanners." This might come as a bit of a shock considering that Cronenberg's movies "The Brood" and "Videodrome" were both released during the video nasty hysteria but evaded the Video Recordings Act ban despite being more graphic and gory than his two banned movies.

Stephen Lack stars as a "scanner," which in this movie's reality is a term used to describe someone with telekinetic powers. While some scanners use their abilities for good, others use them for evil. The hero scanner is sent to take down an evil scanner, played by Michael Ironside in his big breakthrough role.

The most memorable moment of the film is the extremely gory head explosion that results from Ironside's character focusing his abilities as a weapon. This head explosion is the obvious reason for the movie's ban, though the ending confrontation between the two scanners gets quite graphic as well. The impressive special effects were handled in part by the legendary Dick Smith, who also did the makeup and special effects for movies like "The Exorcist," "Taxi Driver," "The Godfather," and "Amadeus" for which he won an Academy Award.

"Zombi 2" is an Italian horror film from 1979 that was the first movie to masquerade as a sequel to "Zombi," which was the Italian title for George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" from one year prior. Despite having absolutely no affiliation with Romero's movie, "Zombie 2" was a hit as a faux-sequel and inspired a long, tangled series of sequels and pseudo-sequels of its own.

Confusingly, "Zombi 2" is also known as "Zombi," meaning it is either an unofficial sequel or the first movie in a new series, depending on how you look at it. Among the numerous other alternate titles for the movie are "Zombie," "Zombie Flesh Eaters," "Panic Night," "The Green Island of Horrors," "Zombies Strike at Midnight," "The Walking Dead," "99% Death," and "New York Under Zombie Terror," which just might be the most bizarre of all considering the movie is actually set primarily on a tropical island.

Though the plot isn't anything special — typical zombie fare with a group of survivors trying to hold back a zombie horde — "Zombi 2" does shine by being full of great gore effects and unique moments that you will not find anywhere else, including a fight scene between a zombie and a shark. The film's soundtrack, composed by Fabio Frizzi and Giorgio Tucci is memorable, and the final zombie siege on a jungle hospital while shotguns blast and Molotov cocktails are flung is extremely exciting, making "Zombi 2" a standout in the crowded zombie genre.

Horror master George A. Romero has three video nasties in the top 10, the first of which is his 1976 film, "Martin." Though Romero is best known for his zombie movies, "Martin" finds him working in the vampire subgenre.

John Amplas stars as the titular Martin, a young vampire living in small-town Pennsylvania and feeding off the blood of locals. The unique hook for this movie is that it is left ambiguous whether the main character really is a vampire or if is he just a delusional serial killer. He doesn't possess any of the supernatural powers typically associated with vampires. He does drink blood, but he knocks his victims unconscious and uses a razor blade to get their blood rather than using fangs.

The makeup and special effects are by Tom Savini, who also acts in a small role in the film. "Martin" is the first collaboration between Tom Savini and George A. Romero, and the two would go on to collaborate numerous times over the years on the likes of "Dawn of the Dead," "Day of the Dead," "Creepshow," and more.

When the BBFC revisited "Martin" after its ban, it still found the sexual nature of the violence and its depiction of suicide and violence against animals to be objectionable.

"Possession," released in the United States as "The Night the Screaming Stops," is a 1981 horror film by Polish filmmaker Andrzej Zulawski. The story follows a married couple, played by international movie stars Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, who are in the midst of a tumultuous divorce with a child in the mix. The dramatic elements of the divorce are captivating enough on their own, and the horror element rears its head when a bizarre tentacled monster and a fridge full of body parts enter the plot. The film was shot in Germany while the Berlin Wall was still standing, and that recognizable landmark provides the backdrop for several scenes.

The story veers into the supernatural and the surreal and is loaded with social commentary and meaning. Neill and Adjani both give incredible, animalistic performances in the lead roles. Adjani won the best actress award at the Frances César awards and at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, where the film was also nominated for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or.

Even though it could easily be categorized as a prestigious arthouse film, "Possession" does contain enough sex and violence to rival most video nasties. The movie remained banned in the United Kingdom for nearly three decades until finally being passed by the BBFC in 2010 with approximately six minutes of cuts.

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is a 1974 horror film by Tobe Hooper that could technically be called a slasher film, even though it predates both "Halloween" and "Black Christmas," both of which are often hailed as the first slasher.

The story follows two siblings, played by Marilyn Burns and Paul A. Partain, who take a trip with their friends to visit the grave of their grandfather after the cemetery where he is buried is vandalized. Following a terrifying encounter with a deranged hitchhiker, they investigate a home that turns out to be the domain of the vicious and cannibalistic Sawyer family. The story is inspired by the real-life serial killer Ed Gein, who also served as the inspiration for "Silence of the Lambs" and "Psycho."

Given its notorious reputation, first-time viewers of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" may be surprised to find out just how much of its violence is kept off-screen and only implied. As disturbing and violent as the movie is, it is not the goriest of video nasties — not even close.

Tobe Hooper directed a sequel 12 years later, which essentially turned the premise into a comedic farce rather than trying to recapture the magic of the original. Leatherface proved to be the fan-favorite character and has returned in a whole slew of sequels, remakes, and reboots over the years. The franchise still has a little life left in it with the most recent film, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," released in 2022 as a Netflix Original.

'With "Night of the Living Dead," George A. Romero essentially created the zombie genre as we know it today. Romero's first zombie movie is still considered by many to be one of the best — if not the very best. The story follows a group of survivors who hole up in a farmhouse while the living dead try to break in and eat them. The dramatic conflict among the human characters is as rich as the horrific conflict with the zombie threat, and the film features the type of powerful underlying social commentary that Romero's movies came to be known for.

If you have ever wondered why "Night of the Living Dead" seems to be on every streaming service and included in every horror movie combo pack, it is because the film is in the public domain and is completely free for anyone to use however they see fit. This happened due to a distribution mishap in which the required copyright disclaimer was omitted from the final print of the film.

Though he might have missed out on most of the money that would have come his way if not for the copyright snafu, Romero was still able to parlay the success of "Night of the Living Dead" into a long and successful series. He revisited the zombie apocalypse a decade later in "Dawn of the Dead," then again, another decade later, in "Day of the Dead." His final zombie movie was 2009's "Survival of the Dead." 

John Carpenter's "The Thing" is the highest-rated video nasty on IMDb. The film made it into the top 250 movies of all time on IMDb and is the only video nasty to score above eight stars out of 10. Although John Carpenter directed many classic horror films throughout his career, his work was rarely categorized by its goriness or gratuitous nature. Carpenter had instead preferred to wring scares out of tension and a fear of the unknown. "The Thing" is a notable exception and is Carpenter's only film to be classified as a video nasty.

The film is set at an Antarctic research base where an alien lifeform with the ability to take on any appearance and change shape and structure at will is on the loose. Kurt Russell leads a strong cast that also features Wilford Brimley and Keith David in his first-ever feature film. The premise of "The Thing" enables the movie to offer a smorgasbord of body horror and goopy gore from start to finish, and it delivers in spades with constant creative, jaw-dropping special effects. The special effects team was spearheaded by Rob Bottin, who had earlier worked with Carpenter on "The Fog" and would go on to be nominated for BAFTAs and Oscars for his work on "Legend" and "RoboCop" before winning a special achievement Oscar for "Total Recall." The effects of "The Thing" are just as impressive and mesmerizing today as they were back in 1982.

"The Thing" was given an "X" rating by the BBFC upon its initial theatrical release but was later downgraded to an "18" certificate for the home video release after about five minutes of cuts.