10 Video Nasties That Shouldn’t Have Been Banned

Inferno, the sequel to 1977’s Suspiria, was released in 1980 and swiftly banned in 1984. However, yet again, Inferno isn’t an overly violent film. Objectively, Inferno is just as violent as Suspiria, which wasn’t banned under the 1984 Video Recordings Act, yet Inferno was. Inferno was originally passed with 20 seconds cut for cinema, but the reason why it was banned under the "Video Nasty" label was mainly because of Tenebrae.

Tenebrae, also directed by Dario Argento, was released in 1982, and it was probably one of the most violent and gory films to be made by Argento at the height of his career. It was banned in 1984 because of its gory content, but because it was released so close to Inferno, and the fact that both films were made by the same director, Inferno was banned by association.

Unfortunately, however, Tenebrae gained a lot more attention by being on the banned list than Inferno did, so much so that Tenebrae was released uncut by Arrow Films in 2003, whilst Inferno didn’t get an uncut re-release with Arrow Films until 2010 due to popular demand. Thus, Suspiria’s fantastic sequel didn’t get anywhere near the exposure it deserved, meaning that it wasn’t until 2007 that Argento finished the trilogy because of the poor reception and sales outside of Italy.