10 Video Nasties That Became Horror Classics

Wes Craven’s directorial debut The Last House on the Left already had a run-in with British censors when it was refused a certificate by the BBFC after its distributors attempted a UK cinema release in 1974. In 1982 it enjoyed a brief release on VHS in the bygone days of the unregulated home video market before Mary Whitehouse and her Daily Mail-reading cronies swooped in and ruined it for everybody.

Ostensibly a grimy exploitation flick, Craven’s film was actually inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s acclaimed 1960 film and adapted for Vietnam-era America with an important message about how violence dehumanises both villain and victim.

Clearly not familiar with Bergman’s back catalogue or the concept of allegory, this went unnoticed by the video nasty decriers who went on to convict it over 100 times under the Obscene Publications Act while the BBFC continued to deny it classification. It wasn’t until 2008 that The Left House on the Left was finally released uncut with an 18 certificate.

Tellingly, its 2009 remake got a pass from the BBFC without any cuts at all. How the tides have changed.