The video market of the 1980s was the greatest thing to happen to low-budget horror filmmaking. No longer were splatter fests confined to the dark, seedy rooms of grindhouse theatres and illicit cult film-watching spots. Now blood and guts were directly in the living room, haunting the family VCR.
But it’s never long before the personal realm is dragged kicking and screaming into the political realm. This was certainly the case for rapidly expanding home video of the 1980s, where Britain’s conservative forces found their new moral crusade. If children were to access these kitschy b-horrors, what would become of them? How can Britain survive when our children are being seduced by ketchup blood and pulverised prosthetic bodies?
These films were widely dubbed as ‘video nasties’, an incredibly British way to describe something apparently tearing the moral fabric of society apart. The video nasties coincided with the rise of the slasher flick, an easy target for the moral crusaders. Horror had evolved from the fantastical monsters of old – now the threat was in our world and much more visceral, where sick minds lurk in the shadows of your local neighbourhood.
The films of hate: Is there any value in watching old propaganda?
At the heart of this movement against hack ‘n’ slash VHS was one Mary Whitehouse,........