The Art of the Nasty

A stunning visual record of a unique design legacy.

The most comprehensive collection of video nasty and pre-certificate video sleeves ever reproduced in one volume.

FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED. This brand new FAB Press edition has more than 100 new video nasty sleeves, which were not included in the original pressing, to increase the total number of videos covered in the book to almost 450. In addition, the text has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the knowledge gained about this era in the intervening 10 years since the book was first published. And this time the book is in hardback format to ensure its long-lasting durability.

The Art of the Nasty explains and conveys the media furore, fear and the rush for political legislation that greeted the arrival of uncensored horror films on video in the UK. The hysteria was generated and fuelled as much by the sleeves and marketing as by the films themselves. In fact, many of the biggest critics of the 'nasties' only ever saw the sleeves. Some of the early video sleeves are indeed an unbelievably bold and over-the-top mixture of outrageous graphics and in-your-face visual shock tactics, guaranteed to offend.

Banned by an Act of Parliament after a frenzied and hysterical press campaign, the video nasty was deemed at the time to be a threat to society as we know it, even being implicated by career politicians and journalists as a catalyst for murder. The Art of the Nasty reproduces almost 450 pre-certificate video covers in all their lurid glory, from the ludicrous and extreme imagery of SS Experiment Camp and the gross savagery of Cannibal Holocaust to the powerful and confrontational image of a rape victim used to promote I Spit on Your Grave.

Covering the whole gamut of pre-certificate video sleeves, from the 'Official' 39 nasties which were found obscene by the Director of Public Prosecutions through to sleaze epics like Killer Nun and Violation of the Bitch, The Art of the Nasty is an invaluable visual record of a time the mainstream video industry would like to forget.