The Dutch label Cinema Vault’s uncut edition of Murder Set Pieces is however readily available through eBay or Amazon resellers. 5/10ĭespite the BBFC ban, the ownership, import or distribution of either film is in no way illegal, but all mainstream retailers follow BBFC guidelines and thus will not to stock uncertified material. “It’s all right for you middle-class cineastes to see this film, but what would happen if a factory worker in Manchester happened to see it?”īBFC must have thought Grotesque to be so shocking even posh folk what can read wood gettin scarred by that scary forin disk. Then head James Ferman speaking in 1975 in reference to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1972): It has traditionally been the BBFC’s view that the working classes are most likely to be affected by on-screen violence and unlikely to watch foreign language films. Asian horror is normally left fully intact, although Ichi the Killer (2001) notoriously receiving 3m15s of cuts. 4/10Ģ009’s Japanese shocker Grotesque distinguishes itself by being the only subtitled horror film to be refused a certificate. Murder Set Pieces’ top claim to fame being several film labs’ refusal to print such a depraved work. There appear to have been very small outbursts in both the film’s countries of origin, but they seem to be the results of small scale marketing campaigns. All news articles are short and evidently the writers don’t consider the subject important enough to watch the films or do any further research. Let’s see if they’re any good, then…Īlthough a ban in the 21 st century may be something of an achievement, Googling either film title reveals that any outrage concerns the ban itself rather than the content the films.

Pointless controversy is not dead, though, as two obscure horror films have recently been refused certificates by the British Board of Film Classification in an effort to ban their distribution in the UK. 26 years after the original video nasty outrage the once banned films are widely available uncut, mostly viewed as a kitsch historical record of what was once found shocking.

Watch murder set pieces 2004