Unlike the Italians and the Japanese, the British dont really have a reputation for throwing blood and guts at the screen. Every so often, a British filmmaker will unleash a picture like Frightmare or Hellraiser, but even those films dont compare with Cannibal Holocaust and Tokyo Gore Police. If you live in the UK and have a taste for gory nonsense, you have to look overseas to get your fix and maybe buy the Region 1 DVD, because if the British have shown an aptitude for anything, its for restricting the rights of people to watch what they want. Lauded as the first splatter movie, Herschell Gordon Lewis Blood Feast was listed as a Video Nasty, banned and (to the amusement of anyone whos actually watched it) successfully prosecuted for obscenity. The film wasnt passed uncut until 2005, 42 years after it was first shown, during which time it influenced a whole new generation of filmmakers including John Waters and Frank Henenlotter. The censors went one better with Tobe Hoopers The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, refusing to classify it for cinema or video release until 1999. For good measure, they also banned Hoopers next 2 films, Death Trap and The Funhouse, though attempts to prosecute them were ultimately unsuccessful. The following films make Chainsaw look like Little Women, so you should seek them out while you still can.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
