Scariest Horror Movies Ever 10 Highest Ranking Video Nasties (According To IMDb)

Scariest Horror Movies Ever: 10 Highest Ranking Video Nasties (According To IMDb)

’80s horror saw the rise of video nasties, movies British censors considered too violent. Are these really the scariest movies ever according to IMDb?

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Nowadays practically any film can be viewed in one way or another due to the ease of purchasing films online or streaming them. In the ’80s however, it wasn’t as easy to watch certain films as the only way to do so was on home video, and this was made even harder when certain tapes were banned. In the UK, a list of 72 films, mostly exploitative horror, was to be known as “Video Nasties.” These films were essentially illegal, as they used loopholes to bypass the reviewing process and were released uncensored.

These films were banned as they were considered obscene and inappropriate, by British officials at the time. These films did enjoy a level of success through circulating bootlegs, but most have since been officially released in their entirety due to less strict censorship and rating laws. Many of these films are low-rated and not well regarded, but out of 72, there are surely more than a few that have caught fans’ eyes.

10 Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981): 6.4

Horror films that pushed what was deemed as inappropriate at the time are nothing new. This is a film that took inappropriate themes and essentially based an entire movie around it. The plot of a high school boy who witnesses his Aunt commit murder and is mistakenly blamed for it seems like something out of a Hitchcock thriller.

Those who are expecting a clever thriller ala Strangers On A Train are in for a rude awakening. This film deals with murder, incest, assault, and homophobic themes that were far too much to be in a passable film in 1981. By today’s standards, the film enjoys a cult following and is even praised for the early positive portrayal of a gay character, which was incredibly rare at the time.

9 Dead & Buried (1981): 6.6

Some of the scariest and most disturbing horror films are the ones that involve inhumane experiments. Dead & Buried takes this concept to terrifying heights. Staring Jack Albertson in his final live-action performance, the film revolves around a mysterious town whose residents are not what they seem. Dead & Buried was released at the height of the ’80s slasher craze and fits right in with the gory films that accompanied it.

The kills in this film are expertly crafted by the legendary Stan Winston, so it is no wonder this film was deemed too much for audiences at the time to handle.

8 A Bay Of Blood (1971): 6.6

Halloween has been credited for creating the slasher genre. While it popularized it and made it mainstream, it was far from the first of its kind. One early slasher film was released six years prior by iconic Giallo filmmaker Mario Bava. Bava was well known for his incredibly gory films, and A Bay Of Blood is one of his best-regarded.

Elements that will later be staples of slasher films are present including an unknown killer, creative and gory kills, and a summer setting. One famous kill was even recreated years later in Friday The 13th Part II. Audiences were revolted by the violence when the film was released on home video in the ’80s but has since become a must-see among horror fans.

7 Inferno (1980): 6.6

Perhaps one of the most famous Italian filmmakers is horror mastermind, Dario Argento. To many, Argento’s most well know film is Suspiria, but this is far from his only movie. Inferno is a thematic sequel to Suspiria, and according to many fans, one of his most underrated films.

The plot revolves around a young man investigating the disappearance of his sister and stumbles upon a hidden coven of witches who will go to gory means to ensure they stay that way. The heavy use of witches alone was enough to get Inferno banned, and the violent and gruesome content certainly didn’t help matters.

6 The Beyond (1981): 6.8

Films containing demonic presences and possessions were incredibly risqué during the early days of home video. Any film that even hinted at such content suffered the wrath of religious groups and parents who wanted their children to kept far away from such media.

The Beyond was one such movie that incited controversy almost immediately. The movie was polarizing upon release and banned swiftly when it made its VHS debut. The film uses specific effects and camera tricks to create an uneasy and disturbing experience. This has been highly praised today, but in the ’80s, that just gave officials more ammunition in having it banned from release.

5 Zombie (1979): 6.8

The zombie movie was still relatively new in the ’70s. When Zombie was initially released, its excessive violence and bleak atmosphere meant it was a shoo-in for the Video Nasty list. Originally conceived as a sequel to the Italian version of Dawn Of The Dead, the movie revolves around a cursed voodoo island home to flesh-eating creatures who make their way to the mainland.

While considered a gem of the genre today, the masses hated the movie in the VHS days. The confusing history of the movie meant it went underrated for years, but it has finally earned the cult status it deserves.

4 Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974): 6.8

The threat of cults was still fresh in the public’s mind thanks to the Manson Family when this film was released. The implication of cults mixed with bloodthirsty zombies is exactly the kind of film that would attract the love of horror hounds and the hatred of officials. This movie is as violent and disturbing as they come and was already controversial by the time of its VHS release.

The film was released under a multitude of different names in various different countries, meaning the various bootlegs were hard to track at the time. Even today the movie has audiences mixed, but like any cult horror film, there are plenty of fans.

3 Tenebrae (1982): 7.1

Dario Argento received many death threats from those who took offense to his films. He responded by writing a movie that dials his violence to 11 about a writer who discovers brutal killings inspired by his books. Argento helped popularize the Giallo genre in the ’70s but began making more supernatural horror in the late ’70s and ’80s.

Tenebrae marked his return to Giallo, and he demonstrated exactly why he was a legend in the genre. The movie is violent for the sake of being violent, and many people weren’t too happy with it. While today it is celebrated as a horror masterpiece, its banning in the ’80s proved many didn’t agree with this praise.

2 Possession (1981): 7.4

To many who were in charge of what was banned and what wasn’t, happy healthy relationships were really the only way to go when portraying couples on screen. When divorce, infidelity, and of course possession are involved, the film receives a nice cozy spot on the Video Nasties list.

Possession is incredibly disturbing and not for the faint of heart, using violent gore and heavy religious themes to create a disturbing film on par with The Exorcist. It has been heavily regarded as a classic in the possession genre, and no film with such high praise doesn’t have controversy in its past. Possession had a pre-Jurassic Park Sam Neill as the male lead, although this film is a far cry from the adventurous Spielberg classic.

1 The Evil Dead (1981): 7.5

The most famous Video Nasty and perhaps one of the most famous horror movies of all time is Sam Rami’s The Evil Dead. Long before directing his Spider-Man trilogy, Rami made horror history out of his tale of a cabin in the woods that houses an evil book that unleashes evil on earth, and a film legend in Ash Williams.

In this film, Ash isn’t the wisecracking coward fans have come to love, but instead just an average Joe who must survive a ruling night of terror. This first film in the series doesn’t rely on horror-comedy like its predecessors, but instead a genuinely scary and incredibly gory plot that helped cement it as a classic, even though it was initially banned.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/scariest-horror-movies-video-nasties-imdb/

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