The Bite #56

Banned Horror Movies, 10 Reasons THE SHINING is the Greatest Horror Film Ever Made, and More!

April 30, 2019

In this Issue:

Horror History: Censored Cinema
Image of the Week: From Heck It Came
Tiny Bites – This Week’s Best Horror Headlines
Things We Love: Sinister Soundtrack
Hey, That’s Us! – Shudder in the News

HORROR HISTORY: CENSORED CINEMA

There is nothing quite as legendary as a banned horror film, which marketing teams would love you to think happens more often than it actually does. TheFaces of Death series practically built its marketing campaign around bannings that, for the most part, never really happened … especially not in the United States, where it’s extremely rare for a horror film to be banned.

For example, Silent Night, Deadly Night was pulled from theaters after parental outcry. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was refused an MPAA rating and the filmmakers were told that no cuts could change that.Freaks almost ended Tod Browning’s career and went unseen for decades. But these weren’t actually banned.

In fact, one of the few examples of a film being outright banned in the U.S. goes all the way back to 1922: Haxan, a film about witchcraft which one Variety critic said featured scenes of “unadulterated horror.” (By 1929, the ban was lifted.) In other countries, though, it’s a much different story.

The United Kingdom, of course, had the “Video Nasties,” a list of horror films which were believed to violate the Obscene Publications Act, including The Burning, Don’t Go in the Woods, and Zombie. Thirty-nine films on the list were successfully prosecuted and presumably provided a handy “Must See” list for horror fans.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was banned in several countries, including France, Brazil, and Ireland, despite showing very little actual chainsaw massacring. Director Tobe Hooper had even asked the MPAA what it would take to get a PG rating.

Much more graphic, and banned much more widely (over 50 countries said “Nope!”) was Cannibal Holocaust. The film is of course notorious for its real-life animal deaths, but director Ruggero Deodato was arrested in France on charges that he’d also slaughtered his human cast for the movie. Fortunately, he was able to prove that his actors were, in fact, still alive, or the film would be even more controversial.

Faces of Death was banned in far fewer countries than the 40+ its video box art boasted, but it still upset many people, even though many of its most memorable moments were revealed to be as fake as the gore in any other horror flick.

It’s not just older horror films that have been banned. Even a relatively recent film like A Serbian Film was banned in several countries, including Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. With its necrophilia and sexual abuse, it’s not difficult to figure out why …

This represents only a very small fraction of the horror films that have been banned across the world. Of course, thanks to the Internet allowing banned filmed to cross international borders, audiences can break the rules and watch anything they want. So why not curl up and watch a video nasty tonight?

IMAGE OF THE WEEK: FROM HECK IT CAME

A theater owner didn’t think Hellboy was a wholesome enough title for Dickson, Tennessee, thus giving birth to the slightly less satanic Heckboy.

TINY BITES

ROBERT ENGLUND’S STAR, SIGOURNEY WEAVER’S SURPRISE & MORE

Director Ari Aster explains what he was trying to do with Hereditary was “make a film that betrays you on every level.”

Here are 10 reasons why The Shining — whichAlfonso Cuarón will screen a 4K restoration of at Cannes — is the greatest horror film ever made. We agree with all of them.

In other Stephen King news, The Conjuring creators will bring Salem’s Lot — previously only adapted for TV — to the big screen. And here’s an update on nearly every Stephen King movie and TV show in the works.

Meanwhile, a completely different King is back in the final trailer for Godzilla.

Fans launched an IndieGoGo campaign to get Robert Englund a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (which he should have had a long time ago).

Sigourney Weaver made a delightful surprise visit to those kids who staged Alien as a high school play.

Rob Zombie says the trailer for Three from Hell will be coming soon — and he shared a new photo of Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding.

Hotels, mansions, sand dunes, a furnace plant, and ice caves are some of the most haunted destinations in every U.S. state. (Also, to no one’s surprise, an “ax murder house” made the list.)

DC Universe followed up last week’s brief Swamp Thing teaser with a longer, even more unsettling trailer.

Here are the 16 best horror films of the 1930s — including the first feature-length zombie movie.

A Geek.com critic makes the intriguing argument that “The Hunger isn’t really a horror movie.” (It is.)

Here are 5 horror films which should launch franchises — and five which shouldn’t.

The paranoia-filled trailer for Assimilate makes our skin crawl in an Invaders of the Body Snatchers way.

The IRS has officially recognized the Satanic Templeas a church, qualifying it for tax-exempt status.

THINGS WE LOVE: SINISTER SOUNDTRACK

Waxworks Records has been releasing definitive deluxe editions of horror soundtracks on vinyl since 2013, and their 2014 edition of the Friday the 13th motion picture soundtrack has long been sold out. Which is a warning fans had better act fast now that the company’s released a new edition on “campfire”-colored vinyl from a new cutting master, along with inserts, liner notes from the director and composer, and more.