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The horror films censors tried to ban – and why they terrified authorities around the world
There's a long history of films now considered classics running into issues with censors – here are 8 of the most prominent examples.
WB
- Patrick Cremona
Published: Thursday, 29 October 2026 at 9:45 am
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With Halloween upon us, film fans around the world will be spending the next couple of days watching – and rewatching – a number of horror classics to get into the spirit of spooky season.
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Of course, while there are plenty of examples of horror films instantly becoming part of the canon, there are many other cases where films now considered classics were greeted with much controversy upon their release.
This week we're looking back at some classic horror films that the censors tried to ban, whether they ran into problems in being approved by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) – and similar bodies overseas – or were caught up in the infamous "video nasty" scare of the 1980s.
Read on for our picks.
1. The Devils (1971)
Ken Russell's The Devils. WB
We'll start with one which has been particularly high profile in recent weeks and months, Ken Russell's The Devils. When the film – which starred Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed – was initially released in 1971, it quickly fell into trouble with censors, with the BBFC slapping it with an X rating after requesting some minor cuts (it also received the same rating in the US). Meanwhile, some other countries banned it outright – with Finland maintaining that ban until 2001.
What's interesting, however, is that most of the significant cuts to the film were actually enforced by Warner Bros before the film even reached the censors. Two scenes were completely removed – both of them involving nuns performing sexual acts – with Russell later quoted as saying that "Warner Bros cut out the best of The Devils".
This led to a long battle for the original director's cut to be released, with noted film critic Mark Kermode playing an active role in the campaign – even uncovering the deleted footage in the Warner Bros vaults.
Although the restored version was shown for the first time as long ago as 2002, Warner Bros continued to block a fuller release, including on home media. However, a new 4k restoration premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival and it is now being given a full theatrical release, with a UK release date set for 30 October.
As for what made the film so controversial and unpopular with the censors, it was a combination of a number of factors: graphic scenes of sex and violence, unflattering commentary on religious institutions that was considered sacrilegious by the church, and campaigns by socially conservative pressure groups who were active at the time.
2. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Bryanston Pictures
Now commonly regarded as one of the finest – and most terrifying – horror films ever made, Tobe Hooper's Texas-set '70s slasher was another film that didn't win many friends at the BBFC.
Although it initially played in some London cinemas for a whole year from 1974, it was later banned when the BBFC refused to grant it a certificate, citing the focus on "abnormal psychology" and noting that the majority of local councils would not approve of the film's content.
When James Ferman replaced Stephen Murphy as head of the BBFC in the summer of 1975, he was convinced to take another look, but took the same position as his predecessor: cutting a few scenes would not improve the situation given the film's overall menacing tone, which he described as "'the pornography of terror".
Such was the strength of feeling, that the use of the world "chainsaw" in all other film titles was also banned. It wasn't until 1999 that the ruling was overturned and the film was eventually passed uncut with an 18 certificate. Within a year, it was showing on Channel 4!
It wasn't just the UK where the film ran into problems, and the long list of countries where it spent at least some time on a banned list included Brazil, Chile, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and West Germany.
3. Nosferatu (1922)
Nosferatu. PRANA-FILM
It's impossible to talk about the history of the horror genre without spending at least some time focusing on FW Murnau's seminal silent film from 1922, an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula which changed the names of many important characters.
While most of the issues faced by the film stemmed from claims of copyright infringement rather than censorship due to its themes or content, there was one country in particular which took such a dislike to the material that it remained banned for 50 years: Sweden.
The official reason given for the ban was "excessive horror" – and although the film does remain a pretty spooky affair to this day, it goes to show how much times have changed that something so relatively quaint would face the full force of the censors.
However, as mentioned above, the real problem this film faced was the legal battle over copyright, which almost led to its permanent erasure after a judge ruled that all copies be destroyed. Thankfully, one copy made it across to the US – where the original Dracula was in the public domain – and the rest is history.
4. The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Last House on the Left. Hallmark Releasing
Another famous '70s horror that fell foul of the BBFC was Wes Craven's rape revenge film The Last House on the Left, which was immediately controversial on its release.
Although it was passed for release in the US with an R-rating after various cuts were made, there are contemporary reports of cinema projectionists being so disgusted by the content of the film that they would make cuts as the film was screening.
In the UK, it never even got that far. It was refused a certificate for cinema release owing to scenes of "explicit and sadistic sexual violence and humiliation", and could not be seen in the UK until 1982, when it arrived on home video – which in those days was not under the jurisdiction of the BBFC.
But that wasn't to last, either. When the Video Recordings Act 1984 was introduced as a result of the "video nasty" scare, it was placed on a banned list and remained forbidden well into the 1990s – even as it began to gain a reputation as an underground cult hit that had been unfairly overlooked.
In 2000, another attempt was made to grant it a certificate, but the BBFC held firm and again refused to give one. After much debate it was eventually handed an 18 rating in 2002 on the condition of a few cuts, while six years later an uncut version was finally approved for home video release by the BBFC.
5. Freaks (1932)
Freaks. Warner Brothers Pictures
Here's an example of a film that had a hard time with the censors for very different reasons to most of the other examples on this list. The opposition to Freaks was not a result of any concerns regarding sex or violence, but rather stemmed from worries that it exploited its disabled cast members – many of whom had worked as sideshow performers prior to being cast in the movie.
Indeed, the BBFC ruling argued that the film "exploited for commercial reasons the deformed people that it claimed to dignify" and as a result the film was banned in the UK for 30 years between its release in 1932 and 1962.
It wasn't just in the UK, either. In Canada, the film was described as "brutal and grotesque" and heavily restricted while it was also pulled from cinemas at various locations in the US, including Atlanta.
Later, however, public perception on the film changed considerably, partly after a screening at the 1962 Venice Film Festival. The following critical appraisal made the case that the film was in fact deeply sympathetic to its cast members rather than exploitative of them, with prominent critic Andrew Sarris even calling it one of the "most compassionate" films ever made. It has since become a cult classic.
6. Black Sunday (1960)
Black Sunday.
Famed Italian director Mario Bava was no stranger to a run-in with the censors, and his 1960 film Black Sunday proved especially controversial – banned for several years in the UK before it eventually received a release in 1968 (this despite the fact it had passed uncut in Italy).
Even when it did eventually arrive in the UK, it was a censored version released with the alternative title Revenge of the Vampire, with the full uncensored version only getting a release another 24 years later in 1992.
The reasons for the ban were mostly to do with its extreme gore and violence, with then-BBFC secretary John Trevelyan advising the production company against bringing any similar films to him as they would be met with a similar fate.
As alluded to above, this would not be the last time a Bava film faced censorship and his 1971 film A Bay of Blood was banned in the UK and later added to the video nasties list. Still, it hasn't stopped – and in fact might even have helped – Bava maintaining his reputation as one of the finest horror directors of all time.
7. The Evil Dead (1981)
The Evil Dead. SEAC
Given how prominent a position the Evil Dead franchise continues to play in the horror landscape today (the latest entry in the franchise was released just this year), it's perhaps difficult to imagine a time where the film was met with much resistance from the censors.
But Sam Raimi's original film – which was made on a relatively shoestring budget of just $375k – was not immediately embraced by the BBFC. The censors demanded that 49 seconds be cut from the film entirely in order for it to be granted an X rating for theatrical release, and it ran into further issues when it was branded as a video nasty for its home release and banned outright.
In 1990, the film was eventually released on home video with an 18 certificate, but this required a further 66 seconds to be cut from the already edited version. It was only in 2000 that a full uncut version of the movie was given the go-ahead by the BBFC for both cinema and video release.
The official reasons for the ban were, of course, the graphic scenes of horror and gore, but it's probably fair to say that it was a victim of arriving just at a time when the moral panic about these issues was at its highest point. It's safe to say that this hasn't hampered the legacy of the franchise in the long run...
8. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Cannibal Holocaust.
Finally, it would be remiss of us to compile a list without mentioning another notorious example of a banned film – Ruggero Deodato's 1980 shocker Cannibal Holocaust.
Considered a pre-cursor of the found footage genre, the film centred on a rescue team who travel into the Amazon to track down a crew of filmmakers who went missing filming a documentary on local cannibal tribes, leading to some genuinely shocking scenes including graphic violence, sexual assault and real animal cruelty.
The controversy the film generated was instant. Following its premiere in Italy, it was ordered to be seized by a local magistrate, while Deodato, screenwriter Gianfranco Clerici, and three producers were later convicted of obscenity.
Meanwhile, a long list of countries – including the UK, Australia, Norway, Finland and South Africa – banned the film outright, although that didn't stop it from developing a cult following over the years.
In the UK, the film was eventually passed for release in 2001, and the BBFC removed most of its previous cuts another decade later – although one scene showing the killing of a coatimundi was still ruled a breach.
Explaining the decision to allow other scenes that showed the killing of animals, a BBFC statement reads: "The scenes do not breach the terms of BBFC policy, itself based on the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937.
"It was acknowledged that the decision to cut these scenes in 2001 was primarily the result of the disgusting nature of the sequences, as well as the history of the film as a DPP-listed 'video nasty', rather than the result of a strict application of policy.
"Removing these sequences would be inconsistent with the BBFC's decisions to permit quick clean kills in several other films, such as Apocalypse Now."
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Authors
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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