Video Nasties: The Complete List
The video nasties were the films the UK tried to make disappear: the Director of Public Prosecutions list that turned cheap horror tapes into contraband and, accidentally, into legend. This page tracks the list, cross-verified against the historical record, with the prosecuted and Section 3 titles noted per film.
From Cannibal Holocaust to The Evil Dead, the panic swept masterpieces and trash into the same dock: thirty-nine titles prosecuted, the rest seized and argued over, every one of them now a piece of censorship history.
Watch these free right now
The panic that backfired
In the early 1980s the UK Director of Public Prosecutions circulated a list of video releases considered liable to deprave and corrupt. Dealers were raided, tapes were seized and thirty-nine titles were successfully prosecuted. The campaign meant to erase these films instead canonised them: nothing sells a horror film like a government ban.
Reading the list
Each film below is marked by its tier: the DPP 39 that were prosecuted, and the Section 3 titles that were seizable but never convicted. Most of the historical list is in the catalog already; the remaining few will join it as they are added.
The films on this list
More shorts to watch
