That's one thing about the US. We don't ban films. There are some films that are so crazy that nobody in the US will sell them, but we can still buy those online from overseas.
OP: Did you like them? Did you think they were ban worthy?
Schoolgirls in Chains
-It's sleazy rubbish, but doesn't come close to being as scuzzy as the title makes it sound.
Rosso Sangue, aka Absurd
-Just an Italian ripoff of Halloween. Some cool gore, its not too bad, its at least fairly well-paced. No longer banned.
The Aftermath
-Takes awhile to get where it's obviously going when Sid Haig shows up leading a band of scumbags, but it does gradually become an OK Mad Max rip-off, with a climax that racks up an impressive bodycount. Some of the violence is pretty graphic, but there's nothing here that warranted it being pulled from shelves. The nastiest moment is when our main hero does a guy in, real slow, with a knife.
Anthropophagus
-Italian splatter flick, notorious for a scene in which the killer rips the foetus from a pregnant lady's womb and eats it. It's not quite convincing enough to warrant accusations the film received of "snuff movie". Yup....some folk thought it was real. It's mostly a boring film, it's only in the last third it really starts pulling out the stops. Some posters gave away the ending, involving a bit of self-cannibalism, which isn't remotely believable, but I guess it was a bit much for early 80s viewers. No longer banned.
Axe
-The premise seems straightforward, but execution is off-beat. It's a weird, abstract film, kinda dreamy. Nothing too graphic happens. No longer banned.
"El Reformatorio de las Perdidas" - or Barbed Wire Dolls, aka Caged Women
-A women in prison flick from Jess Franco. These things are pretty much identical - this being one of Jess Franco's various stabs at the subgenre. No longer banned, the DVDs are cut, but only the more hardcore scenes are missing, which would have pushed it into R18 territory, reserved for pornos.
Ecologia del Delitto - better known as Bay of Blood, and Twitch of the Death Nerve
-Italian horror flick from Mario Bava, its well-made, but a bit hard to follow. One particular subplot in the film, involving some teens checking out a summerhouse at a lake, would prove highly influential for Friday the 13th, with Part 2 actually imitating some of the deaths. No longer banned. If the lead actress looks familiar, Claudine Auger was Domino in Thunderball.
La Bestia in Calore - also known as The Beast in Heat, and SS Hell Camp
-Nazi sex camp crap from Italy. It's too stupid to take seriously, but that still doesn't make it repellant. Nothing was too tasteless for 70s smut, and since the late 60s, into the early 80s, there were a number of films like this, the most notorious being Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS (and perhaps The Night Porter on the more artistic end). I can see why it was banned. I've seen much worse, but it's the whole subject matter and how they've handled it that makes it offputting.
L'Aldila - aka The Beyond
-One of Lucio Fulci's more popular ones. It's a strange, surreal movie, doesn't make a lot of sense, but it works if you're in the right mood. Some pretty awesome gore FX. This was dropped from the banned list quite early, but it's only in recent years an uncut version became available. Although - this version has the opening murder in sepia as most versions do, but there is a version in Germany that showed it in colour.
The Black Room
-It's difficult to see what the problem is. It was released to cinemas, without cuts. Maybe the whole blood-drinking thing revealed later on treaded too close to cannibalism which seemed to really drive the moral minority mad. Features an early appearance from Linnea Quigley. It also features that chick who turns into a witch-demon thing mid-sex with Conan the Barbarian in the 1982 film.
Blood Feast
-This film was first released in 1963. Making it the oldest of the video nasties. This has gained a big cult following, mainly due to it being one of, if not, the first film - at least in the US - to go full-on hardcore with the gore. A gimmick that helped make it a profit - which is good, because the film itself is awful. No longer banned.
Blood Song
-The video that was banned had been heavily cut. It was back out on shelves only a few years later - uncut. There's nothing special about this, outside of the villain being Frankie Avalon. Yup, Frankie is the bad guy in a slasher film.
The Incredible Torture Show - better known as Bloodsucking Freaks
-It's not a good film, but admirable with its Grand Guignol approach.
Die Sage Des Todes - aka Bloody Moon
-Jess Franco jumping on the slasher bandwagon. Its pretty bad, but its easier to sit through than any of his "erotic" titles. Mainly because its nothing but a string of shock scenes, boobies, and hilariously implausible false scares. Pretty sure they were just making it up as they went along. No longer banned.
BoardingHouse
-This is one of the very first films to be shot on video. If you can get used to early 80s camcorder-style footage.....it's not going to help. This film is truly astounding, not just how bad it is, but how bizarre, incoherent, and off-the-rails it gets. I can't see why it was banned. There's some gruesome moments, but nothing in this is likely to offend - except maybe the director and lead actor in his parade of godawful outfits. But you'll be thanking those outfits, as one of the first scenes we see, he's doing some yoga in his undies, a sight that might cause one to poke out one's eyes to rid one of such a horrible image.
sss
-It takes a few scenes to get to the main premise, but once the whole murderous ghost-living-in-a-mirror business gets underway, its actually a fairly decent blend of supernatural shenanigans and slasher film. The film's biggest problem is a lack of explanation - it draws heavily on a lot of old wives' tales about mirrors, but unless you're well-versed in some of them, a number of scenes come off as just really weird. This was dropped fairly early on, in fact it should never have been caught up in the first place - hysteria is why this one got banned. It no longer is.
Boogeyman II
-The only reason this was on the banned list, is because it has footage from the first one. A LOT of footage from the first one. In fact the lead actress spends a good chunk of the first hour of this 80 minute film telling people what happened in the first, accompanied by a hefty chunk of "flashbacks" (which have been noticeably trimmed of the gorier moments). Then we get about 20 minutes of not-particulary-riveting "horror". It tries to pull some lame twist involving a butler using a possessed mirror shard, but it doesn't really work when we see close-ups of his white-gloved hands every time he uses it.
The Burning
-As 80s slasher movies go, this one is one of the better ones. It's not great, it's obviously cashing in on Friday the 13th, it bears very notable similarities to Part 2, but it's pacy, its actually better than some of the Fridays, and has the bonus of Tom Savini doing the gore FX, which get a great showcase in the film's best scene involving a raft of teens and a canoe set adrift. One unfortunate thing about this film - there's a sleazy leering feel to some of the "teen" nudity, which you kinda expect, but it takes on a whole other meaning when you watch it, knowing that one of its producers is a certain Harvey Weinstein. No longer banned.
Apocalypse Domani - aka Cannibal Apocalypse
-Often linked with other Italian films involving cannibalism, this is actually a different kind of film, more like ap rel
