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Video Nasties 2
VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE... PART TWO. Released to tie in with the 30th Anniversary of the Video Recordings Act, July 1984 and limited to 6,666 individually numbered sets, each comes with postcards featuring the DPP Section 3 cover art and Graham Humphrey’s original cover art. The Video Nasties continue to be a major source of interest to this day, and after the crtical and sales success of Video Nasties 1, comes the return! Video Nasties 2 is released to tie-in with the establishment of the Video Recordings Act.

Buy Part 2 of the definitive guide to the Video Nasties phenomenon from Amazon UK.
Video Nasties
For the first time ever on DVD, TRAILERS to all 72 films that fell foul of the Director of Public Prosecutions are featured with specially filmed intros for each title in a lavish three-disc collector's edition box-set, alongside a brand new documentary VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP AND VIDEOTAPE.

Buy the definitive guide to the Video Nasties phenomenon from Amazon UK.
Art of the Nasty
Buy the new edition of this essential reference book now from Amazon UK.
Welcome to Pre-Cert Video

Welcome to Pre Certification Video, the ultimate source for information on UK pre-cert videos and rare video releases from around the world.

We have a lively collector's discussion forum, so feel free to sign up and join in the chat. Our forums are private, so you will need to register before you can read and post messages.

We maintain the world's largest database of UK pre-cert video releases which currently lists over 13,000 titles on VHS, Betamax, V2000, laserdisc and CED disc, issued between the earliest days of the home video format until the end of 1985. We also have an Australian pre-cert video database in progress, Watch this space for future additions! follow us on Facebook

Latest User Video Reviews

Born for Hell (1976)
written by philmd
Now this is one nasty little film. Very similar to Franco Prosperi's Terror - the only real difference is there is only one psycho and the girls are nurses not nuns. A lot like Last House on the Left in tone and general viciousness. Rape, torture, forced lesbianism, and murder are top of the list of features in this rough exploiter. This is another film that somehow inexplicably managed to dodge the DPP banned list.
International Red Tape 3 (1981)
written by philmd
The Red Tape series are a bit like a poor man's Electric Blue and only managed to release a handful of titles. Keith Allen does some unfunny bridging scenes but the highlight of this tape is undoubtedly a strip tease performed by Cosey Fanni Tutti (uncredited) of Throbbing Gristle fame, a still from which is on the front of the sleeve. A must for any CFT enthusiast.
Dracula (1980)
written by philmd
Released in both full length version and 1hr edit

What is a Pre-Cert?

A "pre-cert video" (Pre-Certification) is any videotape (or laserdisc/CED) issued in the UK before the introduction of the 1984 Video Recordings Act.

Pre-cert videos were not required by law to be submitted to the BBFC so the era was unregulated, leading to many uncut releases of videos which would have fallen foul of the BBFC's strict guidelines, and would therefore have been censored if submission to the board was a legal requirement.

However, whilst many of the larger respectable companies simply issued their previously BBFC certificated cinema releases onto video to play safe as they feared there was bound to be a clampdown at some stage, some of the smaller independent companies decided to take advantage of the unregulated video rentals market by issuing "strong uncut" versions depicting graphic violence and gore. A whole barrage of titles previously banned by the BBFC from getting a cinema release suddenly ended up uncensored on home video.

What began as a bill drafted by little known Luton Tory back bencher Graham Bright was made law after he and the tabloid press (most notably The Daily Mail) had successfully whipped the media into a frenzied hysteria over so-called "video nasties". Ban the Sadist Videos! was one of the more famous headlines they ran. When the bill was made law it became a legal requirement that all videotapes must be submitted to the BBFC for classification (and possible cuts).

The pre-cert video era is best remembered (amongst horror fans in particular) for the ensuing "video nasty" debacle in which a selection of 72 videotapes were singled out and prosecuted by the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) under Section 2 or Section 3 of the OPA (Obscene Publications Act). Of these, 39 titles were deemed by the courts to be obscene and it's those titles which formed the final "Video Nasties list.

Video releases from this unregulated "pre-cert" era have become increasingly collectible items. Whilst most can be picked up cheaply on eBay and through second hand stores and car boot sales, many titles are highly sought after. In fact some of the very hard to find titles have been known to command prices in excess of £500. There remains to this day a very dedicated pre-cert collector's market, and most of these die-hard collectors can be found lurking in this very web site's discussion forum.

Link: The Video Recordings Act, 1984

Link: About the BBFC

Wanted!

The owners of pre-cert.co.uk are urgently searching for original magazines and memorabilia from the early days of the home video industry, in particular video trade magazines and video company catalogues.

If you have any of the following magazines you are happy to part with please contact us. These will be invaluable additions to our archive and will help us to expand the site considerably. We'll gladly pay for anything offered.

We're also searching for video releasing company catalogues, stock lists, video sleeves, in-store posters, promo items, in fact anything which will assist us in adding to our growing archive and improve our database.

Trade Mags
  • Video Business
  • Video News
  • Video Retailer
  • Video Trade Weekly
  • Video Week

Consumer Mags
  • Music and Video
  • Popular Video
  • Television and Home Video
  • Video: The Magazine
  • Video Review
  • Video Today
  • Video Viewer
  • Video World