Latest: Documentary Video Nasties 2 gets UK release date

OK, I admit, documentary talk is few and far between here at Movie Ramblings towers.

But all that got shunted heartily to one side a few years back with the release of the more-than excellent Jake West doc Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape, which looked in detail at the frankly quite bizarre hysteria that swept the nation concerning straight-to-video horror flicks in the early 80s.

Well, the great news is Jake is back with more, having put together another feature-length documentary, titled Video Nasties: Draconian Days, packed with more interviews and archive footage that will no doubt baffle genre fans.

As if that wasn’t enough, West has also pieced together the trailers for all 82 films that were added to the infamous Section 3 list of the Obscene Publications Act, with featurettes looking at the release history for these ‘classics’.

He explained: “I see ‘Draconian Days’ as a companion piece and a direct continuation of the fascinating history of Video Nasties, which I started in the last Documentary “Moral Panic, Video Nasties and Videotape”. This one picks up the story from the passing of the Video Recordings act 1984 and the effect it had on censorship under James Ferman’s rule at the BBFC up until 1999. This and the further moral panic that ensued, together with the impact of the Michael Ryan Massacre, the Bulger Murder and David Alton’s notorious Amendment that would have banned all films above PG created a strange situation for the horror fan.”

Also featuring plenty of poster art and images, the three-disc set will feature input from the likes of Kim Newman and Alan Jones, among many others.

Nucleus Films have set a release date of July 14 in the UK, with plans in place for a special launch event at London’s Prince Charles Cinema on July 3, attended by West and more.