The home-video boom of the 1980s in the UK gave birth to Video Nasties, films that were banned from theaters by British censors, but not (at first) from video shops. These films were typically extremely violent, gory, and filled with gratuitous sex...so naturally, they were quite popular.

The British government eventually acted to close the loopholes in the censorship laws by passing the Video Recordings Act in 1984, and nasties were forced to move underground. The police occasionally raided the purveyors and confiscated their wares, producing sensational newspaper headlines. The censorship hysteria resulted in a number of fairly innocuous films being banned, including the childhood classic, Lassie Come Home!

As you might suspect, the videos themselves were usually a lot less spectacular than the lurid artwork on the covers created to attract buyers. Check out this amazing database of over 12,000 nasties, complete with cover scans (NSFW).

via Bitter Cinema

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:18 AM | Permalink

I came down with a mild case of the grippe on Tuesday, and spent much of yesterday shivering uncontrollably and unable to stand up for more than 10 minutes at a time. I'm back in the saddle today, so here are a few links I spotted during my Thera-Flu besotted web-ramblings.

The recently reanimated Bitter Cinema points us obliquely towards The Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray, a site that explores the cinematic ouevre of the eponymous producer, who imported films from Mexico, redubbed them into English, and released them upon unsuspecting audiences all over the US. He is probably best known for Santa Claus, an extremely surreal tale of St. Nick battling Lucifer (along with Merlin the Magician). My favorite Murray film is La Cabeza Viviente, the touching story of the King of the Atzecs' disembodied melon. I was so moved by this film, I wrote a story about it: Los Straitjackets Contra La Cabeza Viviente. I e-mailed it to the band, but they never wrote back.

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere, scans of vintage punk 8-tracks await your perusal. I bought a lot of these very same tapes for 25 cents apiece in the cut-out bin at Prange Way and played them over the PA system in the video arcade I managed back in the 80's (worked great for driving everyone out at closing time).

And finally, direct from the Gnocchi house open-mike circuit, it's Umberto Eco and the Bunnymen playing their number-one hit, "Foucault's Killing Moon" (thanks, Lonita!)

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)