8 Times Movie Censorship Backfired

8. The UK's Horror Bans - Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Exorcist, & More

While the BBFC is today a largely lenient and liberal classification board, this was infamously not the case for much of the latter half of the 20th century. Intrusive cuts were not uncommon and it's only recently, over the last two decades, that films that were previously censored have seen re-releases with those cuts or changes removed. Local authorities also had the final say over what films could and couldn't be screened, so even while works like The Exorcist were given an X rating by the BBFC (a precursor to the standard 18 certificate UK moviegoers are now accustomed to), it was still banned by many councils - effectively meaning that certain areas of the UK went without it.

The BBFC also refused classification for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre following its initial theatrical run, with the film only being unbanned in 1998 - a full 22 years after its UK premiere.

While films across a wide range of genres were subjected to intrusive cuts or even bans by the BBFC and the Conservative UK governments of the 1970s and '80s, the horror genre was most affected. However, these bans and cuts have arguably only led to these films gaining a more notorious reputation and consequently their enduring popularity. The Exorcist didn't have its UK TV premiere until 2001, by which point its cinematic acclaim had been underlined by years of stories surrounding its controversial initial release.

You can even draw a throughline from the days of old horror and martial arts movies being banned in the UK to the thriving boutique home video label scene that has emerged over the last decade, with labels like Arrow Video, 88 Films, and Indicator - all UK-based companies - largely specialising in those genres.