In the mid-eighties, England fuelled by the scare mongering conservative Murdoch press, went batshit crazy about horror movies, determined that not just youth, but the whole damn country would be corrupted if they popped the wrong title into their VHS.
Enid (Niamh Algar) works for the British Board of Film Classification, where she takes her job as a censor very seriously, her focus on work a welcome distraction from the memory of her sister who went missing when Enid was a child. When a video that Enid reviews blurs a little too close to the circumstance of her sisters disappearance, she becomes convinced that delving into the production will solve the mystery and maybe even prove that Video Nasties really do turn viewers into homicidal maniacs?!
While the whole Video Nasty concept was a gross overreaction, many of these titles do hold a sleazy aura where, with external influence (such as the news media), you could convince your self the film was directed by Satan himself. Or at least a demonic underling. I mean what kind of person makes sometime like I Spit on your Grave?
Director Prano Bailey-Bond does a stellar job at capturing this heightened community fear and couples it with a portrait of a woman driven to insanity by the guilt of her past and the pressure of her job.
Fun Fact: back in 2014 I applied for a job with the Australian Classification Board! I didn’t get the job but I at least got flown to Sydney for an interview. In hindsight missing out was probably for the best. I feel like it would have really messed with my OCD. And besides what would John Waters think of me?!
Shout out to my niece Emily for recommending this one!
In the mid-eighties, England fuelled by the scare mongering conservative Murdoch press, went batshit crazy about horror movies, determined that not just youth, but the whole damn country would be corrupted if they popped the wrong title into their VHS.
Enid (Niamh Algar) works for the British Board of Film Classification, where she takes her job as a censor very seriously, her focus on work a welcome distraction from the memory of her sister who went missing when Enid was a child. When a video that Enid reviews blurs a little too close to the circumstance of her sisters disappearance, she becomes convinced that delving into the production will solve the mystery and maybe even prove that Video Nasties really do turn viewers into homicidal maniacs?!
While the whole Video Nasty concept was a gross overreaction, many of these titles do hold a sleazy aura where, with external influence (such as the news media), you could convince your self the film was directed by Satan himself. Or at least a demonic underling. I mean what kind of person makes sometime like I Spit on your Grave?
Director Prano Bailey-Bond does a stellar job at capturing this heightened community fear and couples it with a portrait of a woman driven to insanity by the guilt of her past and the pressure of her job.
Fun Fact: back in 2014 I applied for a job with the Australian Classification Board! I didn’t get the job but I at least got flown to Sydney for an interview. In hindsight missing out was probably for the best. I feel like it would have really messed with my OCD. And besides what would John Waters think of me?!
Shout out to my niece Emily for recommending this one!
