The Art of the Nasty [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

The most comprehensive collection of video nasty and pre-certificate video sleeves ever reproduced in one volume. The Art of the Nasty explains and conveys the media furore, the fear and the rush for political legislation that greeted the arrival of uncensored horror films on video in the UK. The hysteria was generated and fuelled as much by the sleeves and marketing as by the films themselves. In fact, many of the biggest critics of the 'nasties' only ever saw the sleeves. Some of the early video sleeves are indeed an unbelievably bold and over-the-top mixture of outrageous graphics and in-your-face visual shock tactics, guaranteed to offend. Banned by an Act of Parliament after a frenzied and hysterical press campaign, the video nasty was deemed at the time to be a threat to society as we know it, even being implicated by career politicians and journalists as a catalyst for murder. The Art of the Nasty reproduces 450 pre-certificate video covers in all their lurid glory, from the ludicrous and extreme imagery of SS Experiment Camp and the gross savagery of Cannibal Holocaust to the powerful, confrontational image of a rape victim used to promote I Spit on Your Grave. Covering the whole gamut of pre-certificate video sleeves, from the 'Official' 39 nasties which were found obscene by the Director of Public Prosecutions through to jaw-dropping sleaze epics like Killer Nun and Violation of the Bitch, The Art of the Nasty is an invaluable visual record of a time the mainstream video industry would like to forget. 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of the Video Recordings Act - the legislation passed by Parliament in order to 'crack down' on the sale of video nasties. This fact precipitated the decision by FAB Press to re-issue The Art of the Nasty at this time. Ironically, in June 2009 the BBFC passed the controversial film Antichrist uncut. There is no doubt that, had the film been released in 1984, it would have been banned outright, demonstrating yet again the way in which moral fashions shift with time. As well as reproducing the key art of the video nasty covers in full colour, and with comprehensive text describing the films and the subsequent censorship history of each title, the book puts the nasties into the political and social context of the 1980s, demonstrating how much the censorship landscape of Great Britain has changed over the course of 25 years.