Censor

As someone who has a soft spot for Giallo and other "Video Nasties" of the 70s and 80s, I was intrigued by concept. It reminded me of "Evil Ed", a classic 90s film about a censor going mad, another film I have fond memories of (and which I can highly recommend to anyone who enjoyed this).

Censor starts strong - extremely strong. The photography is gorgeous, the use of color and sound are excellent and create a wonderful eerie, filthy arthouse feeling. Early gory scenes keep you on your toes for what may come.

Multiple plot points are set up: the media hype about violent movies and censorship, a killer supposedly imitating a killing from a movie the protagonist passed, someone leaking her identity to the press, a strange relationship with a coworker who seems to want to pass everything and of course her childhood trauma, manic search for her sister and relationship with her parents and a mysterious director who wants her to view his film after imitating her sister's childhood disappearance.

Considering all these excellent setups, it's a surprise then as the movie stumbles past the halfway point and leaves most plot points unresolved by the end. Yes, it's not that type of movie, it's not murder mystery or run of the mill thriller, but it fails to be a meaningful statement on censorship, video nasties or about someone's descent into madness.

I hate to say it, but "Evil Ed" did it better.

I still recommend the movie for its brilliant first half and a star making performance by Niamh Algar. She carries this movie, and it's hard to imagine it working with another actress in the part. There's a lot of talent here both in front of the camera and behind it. Sadly the film is less than the sum of its parts.

I'll start by saying I am very glad I did not watch the trailer before viewing this film, and it is easy to see why some felt duped. To be clear, this is NOT a thriller. Do not go into this film expecting answers. Instead, it is an often-surreal (and in my opinion fascinating) look into a character's downward spiral. It is stylish, well-acted, and especially considering this is Prano Bailey-Bond's first feature it is surprising brave and bold with its narrative decisions. The film's greatest strength is its ambiguity, I also think this is where the film loses a lot of people.

I see a lot of reviews here complaining that this film has nothing to say, which is absolutely not true. However, it doesn't spoon feed you a concrete moral message such as "censorship = bad". It instead confronts these topics from multiple angles, both showing how ridiculous the conversation was around film during the video nasty era and also showing how a film can actually affect a vulnerable person's mind. I wouldn't go as far as to say it'll blow your mind with it's insightfulness, but it is at least trying to give the audience something worth thinking about, and I appreciate that.

Also, 84mins! Perfect length for a film like this, in fact some of my favourite films of the past couple of years have been below the 90min mark and I hope this trend continues.

"Censor" should on paper be a film that I would be instantly in to. Set in the "Video Nasties" time in the UK, it's about the story of a video censor and her descent into madness.

Similar stories have already been told in the likes of Berberian Sound Studio or Evil Ed - and while Censor has some brilliant moments of atmosphere and a haunting ending, the whole thing didn't really fully come together for me in the end.

I think maybe the psychological state of our protagonist was not established enough to fully believe her transition, so it all felt a bit too forced.

But there's still a lot to admire in Prano Bailey-Bond's debut feature, it just wasn't as engaging as I had hoped.

Censor is set in the UK during the '80s video nasties era and primarily revolves around Enid (Niamh Algar), a video censor. Enid starts to connect the exploitation films she works on with her own tragedy (involving her sister who went missing), eventually unable to distinguish between reality and hallucination. The first act really caught my interest - co-writer/director Prano Bailey-Bond acknowledges the era for its crime boom (which was wildly attributed to the rise of violent, low-budget horror films), and recreates the appropriate aesthetics.

The tone is seriously bleak and accentuated by the right colour grading. Seeing VHS tapes, VCRs, picture-tube TVs on one side and a deteriorating mind on the other - that's how I would sum it up. While Enid seeking closure regarding her sister is an intriguing direction that the makers went in, I'd have loved to see more meta-references to film-making and film-censoring in those times. That's what the first act, in fact, sets up. Enid's descent into mental chaos becomes the film's focus in the second act, and the meta elements only serve as background noise from that point on. The slick production aside, both the social commentary and the completion of Enid's character arc come off as relatively underdeveloped.

The final act goes bonkers. I like how the skewed aspect ratio offers a different visual perspective. The way the Welsh director uses VHS fuzziness to enhance the horror quotient is also quite impressive. Now, whether the writers' decision to take the film in a 'psychologically affecting' route instead of the 'investigative mystery' route excites you (or not) will ultimately determine your amusement levels. I did like Censor to a fair extent, and will definitely be looking forward to the director's next.

I liked how it started. The censorship theme is great and original. I didn't like how the story played out in the second half. All in all, not a great movie for me. Not a great horror or thriller or drama film. But still I enjoyed some parts of this movie.