7. Tenebrae
Quick to be struck off in Britain as another evil addition to the infamous list of Nasties by the censor board, in hindsight, Tenebrae was actually considered by many key critics as being artistically and technically superior to the exploitation movie company it often found itself in. Given Tenebrae's content, it is unsurprising that it became one of the more infamous Nasties of the eighties. Throughout its duration, buckets of blood spurt from every human orifice all over the screen, accompanied by the oh-so-common Video Nasty motif of a helpless, shrieking young female, and wide-eyed cover art that suggested misogynistic violence was on the way. Directed by the prominent horror filmmaker Dario Argento, Tenebrae's plot is a little smarter than most other Nasties: telling the tale of an American horror author named Peter Neal, who finds himself the target of a serial killer using Neal's latest book as justification for a murdering spree. Simultaneously impressive and repulsive, Tenebrae is intelligent, terrifying and enormously controversial.