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| A selection of films on video which became known as 'video nasties' in the UK |
For anyone that doesn’t know, video tapes in the United Kingdom available before 1984 had no age restrictions. They weren’t regulated in the same way as films shown in cinemas. This produced a short period when film makers competed to release the most terrifying films possible.
Times have changed and most of these probably warrant just a 16 years age restriction today. In fact in recent years most of these have been re-released uncut. These films are referred to as 'Pre Certs' (Pre-Certification) videos in the UK.
It wasn’t until 1984 that a new law called The Video Recordings Act, was introduced to give films on video tape an age rating. Those which were only released on video and catagorised as a ’video nasty’ due to their graphic violence and/or sexual content were confiscated by authorities and destroyed. A list was circulated by New Scotland Yard containing titles such as I Spit on Your Grave and Driller Killer. At one point there was a list of 72 titles included in this catagory. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these are the most collectable 'video nasties', purely because they were included on this list. I'm sure it became a goal for some collectors to obtain all 72 of these films.
Of course the fact that they were on this 'forbidden list', cemented their reputation as cult classics amongst horror fans. The newspapers had a field day at the time with stories about how these awful video films were affecting young people and should be banned.
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| Daily Mirror - Friday 11 June 1982 |
The Police did undertake raids on those who they suspected of hiring some of the most notorious of these video films. The Police had to justify this by using antiquated laws like the Obscene Publications Act 1959.
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| Harrow Observer - Friday 13 January 1984 |
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| Harrow Observer - Friday 31 August 1984 |
When I was at school there was a lot of 'kudos' gained from those who claimed to have watched these type of films, including the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Driller Killer and The Exorcist. Certainly not children’s films, but that didn’t stop anyone with older siblings from hiring them, as accurately described in this newspaper article below from 1983.
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| Belfast Telegraph - Wednesday 23 November 1983 |
There’s a lot of dealers and other sellers trying to cash in on the popularity of 'video nasties' and other 'Pre-cert videos, even though most, if not all of them have since been released on DVD in some form. Some are asking ridiculously high buy it now prices which have no correlation to their true value. They’re hoping someone is foolish enough to buy it at that price - but it only takes one. The reality is that pre cert videos aren’t as rare as sellers want you to believe.
There also seems to be many collectors off-loading their collections just now. It could be they feel the market has peaked and want to cash in before the market eventually collapses.
There’s a good reason many sellers on eBay set a starting price of between £20-30. It’s because otherwise it would sell for its true value, perhaps £10 or less. But as mentioned, it only needs one buyer to pay the higher price. These are the buyers with more money than sense, which is where sellers benefit. In May 2023 I saw a pre-cert video of The Exterminator in it's original cardboard sleeve container sell for just over £5. Admittedly, it's not one of the cult classics, but certainly popular in the early 1980's and has some great film artwork on the sleeve. In fact the case artwork was often better than the film itself.
It's perhaps not surprising that films which were hugely popular when they were released tend to fetch higher values. Although curiously there are still some films which do not follow this profile. For example, Apocolypse Now is a classic and in my opinion masterpiece of film production but many pre-cert VHS tapes can be found for as little as £10. Of course there are always over-inflated examples for sell but if you're patient you'll see the bargains appear.
Sometimes a seller may have a reserve price. This is only really when a seller doesn't want to sell it for less than what it's worth to them. Perhaps it's the price they paid and they don't want to sell it for less. That doesn't necessarily correlate to it's market value. In that way, there's little value with adding a reserve price. The value is determined by how much people are willing to pay for it and who happens to be bidding for it at that moment in time. If you overpaid for it when you bought it then you may not get your money back when selling, unless you're prepared to keep it a very long time before selling again.
Most sellers don't mention anything about the quality of the tape playback. Perhaps because they're being sold as collectables for display rather than for watching? Also, a word of caution about playing such video tapes. The ex-rental tapes could have been played hundreds of times and the tape may have become fragile. I did have one pre-cert tape snap when I tried to rewind or fast forward.
However, there’s still opportunities to pick up a pre cert at a sensible price, such as under £10. It may be that the condition of the box isn’t good enough to appeal to a collector, even though the quality of the tape is good. Most of the early cardboard box containers were cut to fit the larger plastic boxes which were more commonly used. Some weren’t cut neatly and these tend to sell for much less. A cardboard carton which has been carelessly cut and put into a plastic case might sell for less than £10 instead of £40, depending on the film of course.
Early 1980’s cardboard containers in good or mint original conditions are highly sought after by collectors and will sell for the most. A collector is always seeking a video in good condition with the original box. I expect over the years in rental shops cases were swapped around so it's common to find a pre cert which isn't in the original box. Certainly on the early videos, the boxes were often stamped with the film distributors name.
It’s the same in any field of collecting. You may have several items the same, but aim to acquire a ’mint’ or unused example. a serious collector is willing to bid high for this and it will take pride of place in their collection. It only takes two similar minded collectors with deep pockets to start a bidding war. This can result in some astonishingly high sale prices which then appear in the press as examples of what they’re worth. For example, an original video of Cannibal Hollocaust sold for £255 on eBay in June 2023. These are the exceptions and not the rule.
Perhaps one of the rarest and most valuable VHS tapes is The Beast in Heat. A copy of this tape received bids reaching a staggering £800 in November 2023 before being removed by eBay for a second time. It seems the first removal was due to the Nazi Swastika on the front cover. The description described this as being one of perhaps just a dozen surviving tapes from an original 200 editions produced. It was re-listed for a third time in January 2024 with a buy-it-now price of £1,799.
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| This copy of the Beast in Heat reached bids up to £800 |
The first edition Star Wars VHS tapes are very collectable, even though no one is watching them anymore on video. These were originally only available to hire. There’s plenty of these in circulation and they do appear on eBay fairly frequently, albeit mostly with over-inflated price tags. Episode IV A New Hope UK rental only edition sells for around £50 despite some sellers asking anything from £150 upwards. The equivalent first edition in the USA is even more common and doesn’t sell for that much. For example, as at April 2023 a seller was asking £300 for a UK first edition Star Wars ex rental tape and another seller listing the full trilogy first editions for a whopping £1,750. There would have been thousands of these tapes produced for the rental market in the early 1980’s so they may still be desirable amongst video and Star Wars collectors, but not rare.
Hard to believe that back in 2005 you could still pick up these tapes for a few pounds. I bought a first edition Star Wars A New Hope Betamax for £2.40 plus £2 p&p. Even though I didn’t have a betamax player LOL. Even the redundant Betamax players are now selling for around £200 on eBay which is somehow ironic. The same year I paid £4.19 for an Intervision pre-cert Zombies Dawn of the Dead VHS. I subsequently sold these video tapes for not much more a few years later. I don't regret selling them, but I do regret not taking digital copies of the VHS versions before selling them. Mind you, in nearly 20 years it's perhaps not surprising to see a considerable increase!
I saw a copy of film Maniac sell for £100 in April 2023 on eBay. It wasn’t long before several more were listed, selling for around £30. Once the market gets flooded from sellers hoping to cash in, the value drops dramatically, to the benefit of buyers.
There’s only a very few ’video nasties’ rare enough to justify a high value amongst collectors. In which case a handful of serious collectors will furiously bid against each other, pushing up the price considerably. A copy of Zombies Flesh Eaters sold for £80 on eBay in April 2023. This was a good example which ticked all the boxes for a more serious collector. Which are? Things like good playback quality, original box and artwork. Over the years boxes may have become damaged and replaced with newer versions.
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| This original 'video nasty' sold for £185 on eBay in April 2023 |
However prices can fluctuate and another copy of the Toolbox murders sold for just £37.89 in July 2023. The box wasn't quite as good condition but the tape was fine.
An original VHS pre cert of Cannibal Holocaust sold for a whopping £255 in June 2023. Just the sleeve for this film sold for £80 the same month. It just demonstrates that there's a small number of serious collectors with deep pockets competing for the rarest films in good condition. So if you find a copy of this video gathering dust then now seems to be a good time to sell it.
When buying one of the more sought after tapes like Star Wars, caution is advised. Do your homework by checking other photographs of how the case and artwork should look. I’ve seen many buyers asking hundreds of pounds and only showing a few poor quality photographs. Would you spend £300 on something without seeing how it looks? I’ve seen one VHS tape being sold with a Betamax box and no mention of the mismatch in the description. It’s always worth asking the buyer questions if something is unclear. If they don’t bother to reply, it’s a red flag and time to walk away.
There’s plenty of lesser-known or average pre-cert tapes that can be found for around £5. This is because no-one’s interested in the mediocre films which are now all available on DVD anyway. Although most sellers will set a higher starting bid price.
As is often the case on eBay, ”rare” is an overused description and usually not accurate so best take this with ’a pinch of salt’. It’s just a way to draw you in and make you believe it’s worth having. This holds no weight for a serious collector who can usually tell very quickly from the photos if it’s as described or not.
A copy of the infamous Driller Killer sold for £181.66 on eBay in August 2023.
Here's the list of 72 films which the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) listed as being 'video nasties'. 39 of these were actually prosecuted (marked with a star). I've used their most well known English language titles.
