Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005) (V)

Director:

David Gregory

Writer:

David Gregory

Release Date:

September 2005 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

An in-depth analysis of the "Video Nasty" scandal of the early 1980s in Britain. |

Plot Keywords:

Britain | Video | Scandal | 1980s | British

Cast

Chris Theobald	...	Narrator (voice)
Norman Abbott	...	Himself
Barrie Gold	...	Himself
Bill Best	...	Himself
Mo Claridge	...	Himself
S.R. Doshi	...	Himself
David Mellor	...	Himself
James Ferman	...	Himself
Stephen Woolley	...	Himself
Bob Lewis	...	Himself
Julian Petley	...	Himself
Mary Whitehouse	...	Herself
Austin Mitchell	...	Himself (as Austin Mitchell MP)
John Beyer	...	Himself
Derek Malcolm	...	Himself
Margaret Thatcher	...	Herself
Guy Cumberbatch	...	Himself
Tom Dewe Mathews	...	Himself (as Tom Dewe Matthews)
Claire Rayner	...	Herself (archive footage)
Clifford Hill	...	Himself (as Dr. Clifford Hill)
Donald Coggan	...	Himself (as Lord Coggan)
Peter Kruger	...	Himself
Margaret Ford	...	Herself
David Grant	...	Himself (archive footage) (as David Hamilton Grant)
Malcolm Fancey	...	Himself (archive footage)
Peter Wedderburn	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jesús Franco	...	Himself (as Jess Franco)
Sergio Garrone	...	Himself
Wes Craven	...	Himself
Ruggero Deodato	...	Himself
Romano Scavolini	...	Himself
Dario Argento	...	Himself
Jerry Hayes	...	Himself
Graham Bright	...	Himself (as Graham Bright MP)
Ken Penry	...	Himself
Lavinia Carey	...	Herself
Lucy Grantham	...	Herself (archive footage)
Sandra Peabody	...	Herself (archive footage)
David Hess	...	Himself (archive footage)
Fred J. Lincoln	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jeramie Rain	...	Herself (archive footage)
Richard Towers	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cynthia Carr	...	Herself (archive footage)
Camille Keaton	...	Herself (archive footage)
Eron Tabor	...	Himself (archive footage)
Baird Stafford	...	Himself (archive footage)
Scott Praetorius	...	Himself (archive footage)
Christina Keefe	...	Herself (archive footage)
William Kirksey	...	Himself (archive footage)
Danny Ronan	...	Herself (archive footage)
Candy Marchese	...	Herself (archive footage)
Geoffrey Marchese	...	Himself (archive footage)
Kathleen Ferguson	...	Herself (archive footage)
William Paul	...	Himself (archive footage)
Carl Clifford	...	Himself (archive footage)
David Massar	...	Himself (archive footage)
Abel Ferrara	...	Himself (archive footage)
Olga Karlatos	...	Herself (archive footage)
Giannetto De Rossi	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bruce Campbell	...	Himself (archive footage)
Richard DeManincor	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ellen Sandweiss	...	Herself (archive footage)
Giorgio Cerioni	...	Himself (archive footage)
Paola Corazzi	...	Herself (archive footage)
Shane Dixon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Agustín Martínez Solares	...	Himself (archive footage)
Paul Naschy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Isabelle Adjani	...	Herself (archive footage)
Llewelyn Thomas	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lina Romay	...	Herself (archive footage)
Sara Ansley	...	Herself (archive footage)
Mal Arnold	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ursula Andress	...	Herself (archive footage)
Lou David	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Saxon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Giovanni Lombardo Radice	...	Himself (archive footage)
Kelly Nichols	...	Herself (archive footage)
Jasmin Losensky	...	Herself (archive footage)
Perry Pirkanen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Luca Barbareschi	...	Himself (archive footage)
Carl Gabriel Yorke	...	Himself (archive footage)
Neville Brand	...	Himself (archive footage)
Clint Howard	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cristina Galbó	...	Herself (archive footage)
Fernando Hilbeck	...	Himself (archive footage)
José Lifante	...	Himself (archive footage)
Vito Salier	...	Himself (archive footage)
Udo Kier	...	Himself (archive footage)
Irene Miracle	...	Herself (archive footage)
Anita Ekberg	...	Herself (archive footage)
Paola Morra	...	Herself (archive footage)
Dennis Helfend	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Eastman	...	Himself (archive footage)
Marc Porel	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ray Lovelock	...	Himself (archive footage)
Me Me Lai	...	Herself (archive footage)
Cliff Twemlow	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dolly Parton	...	Herself (archive footage)
Burt Reynolds	...	Himself (archive footage)
Kelly Ward	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mark Hamill	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Carradine	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bobby Di Cicco	...	Himself (archive footage)
Christopher Lee	...	Himself (archive footage)
Roger Moore	...	Himself (archive footage)
Maud Adams	...	Herself (archive footage)
Bruce Lee	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mel Gibson	...	Himself (archive footage)
Meryl Streep	...	Herself (archive footage)
Brad Davis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dan Aykroyd	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Belushi	...	Himself (archive footage)
Billy Connolly	...	Himself (archive footage)
Steve McQueen	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Wayne	...	Himself (archive footage)
Judy Garland	...	Herself (archive footage)
Fred Astaire	...	Himself (archive footage)

Directed by
David Gregory

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
David Gregory

Produced by
Mo Claridge	....	executive producer
Carl Daft	....	producer
Marc Morris	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Mark Raskin

Film Editing by
John Cregan
David Gregory		(as Tod Corman)

Production Management
Alberto Farina	....	production manager: Rome

Sound Department
Christian Burgos	....	additional sound
Dominic Edwards	....	sound
Erick Jolley	....	sound mixer
Peter Kerslake	....	additional sound
Chris Lebert	....	additional sound (as Chris Leberts)
Chris Reynolds	....	additional sound
Jake Shaw	....	narration recordist
Tom Walsh	....	narration recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Sonia Antonini	....	additional camera operator
Martyn Dunham	....	camera operator
Jake Shaw	....	camera operator: second unit
Jake West	....	camera operator: second unit
Toby Wilkinson	....	additional camera operator

Editorial Department
John Cregan	....	on-line editor

Music Department
Dynamite Fraulein	....	original music
Tom Walsh	....	original music

Other crew
Matthew Talesfore	....	title designer: main titles

Thanks
Norman Abbott	....	special thanks
Dario Argento	....	special thanks
Bill Best	....	special thanks
John Beyer	....	special thanks
Francis Brewster	....	special thanks
Ellen Burnell	....	special thanks
Lavinia Carey	....	special thanks
Mo Claridge	....	special thanks
Wes Craven	....	special thanks
Guy Cumberbatch	....	special thanks (as Dr. Guy Cumberbatch)
Ruggero Deodato	....	special thanks
Tom Dewe Mathews	....	special thanks (as Tom Dewe Matthews)
S.R. Doshi	....	special thanks
Jacki Fernandez	....	special thanks
David Flint	....	special thanks
Margaret Ford	....	special thanks
Jesús Franco	....	special thanks (as Jess Franco)
Sergio Garrone	....	special thanks
Barrie Gold	....	special thanks
John Hayward	....	special thanks
David Kenny	....	special thanks
Peter Kruger	....	special thanks
Craig Lapper	....	special thanks
Bob Lewis	....	special thanks
Derek Malcolm	....	special thanks
John Martin	....	special thanks
David Mellor	....	special thanks
Joy Millward	....	special thanks
Austin Mitchell	....	special thanks (as Austin Mitchell MP)
Jeremy O'Grady	....	special thanks
Ken Penry	....	special thanks
Julian Petley	....	special thanks (as Dr. Julian Petley)
Nicolas Pylypiuk	....	special thanks
Romano Scavolini	....	special thanks
Stephen Woolley	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Blue Underground

Distributors

• Anchor Bay Entertainment (UK) (2005) (UK) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Anchor Bay Entertainment (UK)  stock footage/clips provided by (as Anchor Bay Entertainment UK Ltd)
• BBC Motion Gallery  stock footage/clips provided by
• ITN Archive  stock footage/clips provided by
• Motion Library Communications  stock footage/clips provided by
• Post Haste Sound  sound mixer
• Screen Entertainment  stock footage/clips provided by
• Video Instant Picture Company (VIPCO)  stock footage/clips provided by (as Vipco)

Runtime:

52 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 | Brazil:18 | Canada:18 | Chile:18 | Colombia:18 | USA:R

Company:

Blue Underground

Trivia:

This was released as part of Anchor Bay's UK "Box of the Banned" DVD set, together with 6 video nasties. The 2nd part of the documentary, Ban the Sadist Videos! Part 2 (2006) (V) was available in the 2nd box set.

Quotes:

Sergio Garrone:Of course 99% of it is politics, because it's spectacular. All these pompous crusades are a show. Politics need to be seen, to be read, to be heard. If it's silent no one notices.

Movie Connections:

References A Reflection of Fear (1973)

Restrained but Informative

Highly informative and relatively interesting "Ban the Sadist Videos!" approximates us with details about the infamous social and politic acts against what was considered to be a risk to the British society: violence, gore, sex, drugs, shocking and disturbing things...presented on recurrent films of the 1970's and 1980's. Thatcher government started to regulate what could be and what couldn't be presented on home video entertainment, something that only occurred on films released on theaters with films being edited by BBFC.

It is established here that films like "The Driller Killer", "Evil Dead" and "Cannibal Holocaust" were the major responsible for a wave of control on the films later called of "videos nasties" after lots of appealing publicity on newspapers urging its viewers to rent and watch a film with shocking scenes (theaters weren't so interesting anymore, now with VCR's available in most homes).

Silly moral crusader Mary Whitehouse and her extensive and successful campaign to forbid these films on British territory is greatly presented here, giving some insights on how dumb some moralists were since they never saw those films, only hearing what people would say about them. Laws were created, BBFC also censored or even banned some of the films (the funniest case was "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" considered as pornographic because of its title). The criterion of which films should be allowed or not to be released or edited was ridiculous and even "Apocalypse Now" had some troubles with this persecution.

All that in the name of the children's sake since they were exposed to them constantly, and society feared possible copycats (oh dear...) who were starting to appear, imitating film serial killers but this time killing real people in real life, finding their inspiration on films. Bottom of line: our society is dangerous because of the films it produces and not backwards, the moralists were saying.

The discussion stretches out for so long (there's the second "Ban the Sadist Videos!" which deals with more on this last subject of 'danger to the society'). Well made and providing classic moments of horror films and nice archive footage of news covering the subject this documentary is quite restrained in its presentation, lack so much energy that it almost becomes boring; and some informations and scenes are quite repetitive. The short interviews with Deodato, Craven and other masters of horror were very good just as much as the interviews with people who were part of the conflicts over the videos.

It's quite good but it only works if you don't know anything about the incidents portrayed here. I believe that people more versed on the subject won't find it much amusing or appealing. 8/10