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The early ’80s Video Nasties craze marks one of the most contentious points in horror history, and it’s surprising that it hasn’t been explored more within the genre. The rise of VHS meant an unregulated market, which then gave rise to fears stoked by the British press that the horror and exploitation films hitting shelves would corrupt youth and render viewers violent. Owners of tapes and filmmakers were sometimes prosecuted, video stores were raided, and the BBFC went about slicing out the more salacious bits from horror’s more notorious offenders.
Censor offers a character study entrenched in the Video Nasty era, at once a fascinating descent into madness, an exploration of art censorship, and a love letter to horror. Prano Bailey-Bond‘s feature, co-written with Anthony Fletcher, centers around a rigid film censor, Enid Baines (Raised by Wolves’ Niamh Algar).
Enid takes great pride in her work. She tirelessly rewinds and scrutinizes videotapes for extreme gore and other material deemed too offensive, penning notes of eye-gouging and such to be snipped. Enid views her role as a protector of the community. Her tidy, sanitized life threatens to unravel entirely when her parents finally declare her long-missing younger sister as dead, and a new horror film triggers repressed memories about her sister’s disappearance.
Bailey-Bond’s feature debut is a fictional tale, not a historical one. Still, Censor does incorporate clips of actual Video Nasties in the opening sequence to flesh out Enid’s world and role. It’s not a declaration that Bailey-Bond has done her homework, though that’s certainly evident, but a foundation for the central theme of this fugue-like psychological horror movie. While the filmmaker isn’t interested in providing easy answers for Enid’s reality, Bailey-Bond does lob scathing critiques on film censorship’s ineffectualness against the real world’s horrors. As one character, a horror filmmaker, notes with laser precision, “People think I create horror. Horror is already out there; it’s in you.”
Algar excels as Enid, a stern, old-fashioned woman slowly unmoored by seismic shifts in her safe little bubble. While Enid is a scrupulous character with mounting desperation and erratic behavior, Algar deftly blends in sly humor, too. The real standout of Censor, however, is Bailey-Bond’s assured direction. The use of drab period detail in contrast with the vibrant neon hues that indicate nightmare logic taking over is brilliant. So, too, is the subtle voyeuristic shots that both unsettle and give insight into the madness. The filmmaker even toggles between aspect ratios, shrinking as reality becomes more elusive, distorting the truth. Bailey-Bond doesn’t just use the Video Nasty craze as a basis for its story but repurposes the era’s stylings to flip the script on the censors’ mindset.
Using the Video Nasty era as a framework to tell a story about a woman’s downward spiral is an innovative choice. But it packs a potent punch on many levels. Enid is an isolated character by choice. Interactions with colleagues and even her parents demonstrate a socially awkward woman whose prim, aloof mannerisms are more of a defense mechanism. Enid thrives in her role as a censor because she desperately needs to maintain control. Enid loses her tenuous grasp on reality through a horror movie-induced trigger, creating a slow descent that won’t be for all tastes.
It’s a thematically rich feature debut matched by its arresting visuals; Censor is gorgeous horror. There’s an intangible, surreal quality to Enid’s slipping grip on her controlled reality. It’s a mind-tripping journey open to interpretation, with layers to uncover upon subsequent viewings.
Censor gives us a peek into the Video Nasty period from a fictionalized censor, where the horror is entirely of their own making. This striking debut makes a visceral case that closing your eyes to reality’s terrors won’t make them go away or undo past traumas, no matter how many edits you attempt to make.
Bailey-Bond brings an assured, confident vision to a blood-splattered character study, one that feels protective of horror in many ways. Censor is an exciting introduction to another new voice in the genre, and it’s available to rent via VOD now.