Video nasty is a word to describe movies that contained violent content and were criticized by people for it. The word "video nasty" became popular after the National Viewers' and listeners' Association used it. Video nasties are typically horror movies. These movies' releases were not rated by the British Board of Film Classification. Video nasties were allowed to be sold in shops. This made many parents worry that children may be able to view these films.
Mary Whitehouse made a campaign against these movies. People selling these movies started to be punished by the law. The Director of Public Prosecutions made a list of 72 movies that contained content that went against the rules of the Obscene Publications Act 1959. Some of the movies in the list had earlier been considered to not be breaking the obscenity law or already had been rated and approved by the BBFC. A second list was made that included 82 movies. These didn't break any laws. However the movies in the second list could still be confiscated. Because of the confusion people had about what made a movie "Obscene", Parliament created a new law; Video Recordings Act 1984. This law made it so that any videos released had to get a certification from the BBFC
The law made censorship on videos stricter then on cinema. Many movie studios had their videos banned. Recently, videos have been allowed to have content that was banned. Many of the films considered video nasties are now allowed to be sold. Some of the videos contain all the same content. Some videos had to cut out certain content to be sold.
When home video recorders were first sold, there were no laws for videos except the Obscene Publications Act 1959. This law had been changed in 1977 to cover sexual films. Popular film distributors were worried about selling videos. They feared people would pirate their films. Lots of low budget horror films were sold during this time. Some of the movies sold were passed by the British Board of Film Censors. Some movies were not. The movies that weren't accepted couldn't be shown. The Obscene Publications Act defined obscenity as that which may "tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it". However, many people are confused by the meaning. Many people do not know what is and what isn't obscene.
If the Director of Public Prosecutions thought a movie broke the law, they could prosecute the people who made it. The act said that cops could take away videos from sellers if they thought the movie broke rules. In the early 1980s, the amount of cops searching video stores increased. The movies they took seemed to be random. They took movies which didn't break rules. For example, they took the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas because they thought it was a porn film.
The Video Retailers Association asked the DPP to make guidelines so sellers could know what was allowed and what wasn't allowed. The DPP understood their issues and created a list of movies. This list became known as "video nasties".
The first list was made public in June 1983. The list was modified monthly. 72 movies had appeared on the list. Some of these movies may have been removed later. 39 movies were prosecuted. However, some of them were allowed to be sold after being edited.
These movies couldn't be prosecuted, but could still be taken by cops and could be destroyed.