5 NSFW horror movies you should watch before Halloween

Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Suspiria arrives in theaters this week, reminding audiences’ of the insane power of director Dario Argento’s 1977 original. But Suspiria isn’t just remembered for its director, but for the controversy it and other films in the ‘70s and ‘80s did to the horror landscape.

As the home video market would come to take a hold, press, social commentors and religious groups, particularly in the United Kingdom, were worried about the content of horror movies. A group called the National Viewers’ and Listeners Association coined the term “video nasty” to denote films whose content was perceived to be obscene. As the decade would go on, movies would be brought before a British censorship board where they would be either be cut for release or banned outright.

The films listed as “video nasties” have come to hold their own cache despite being a British term, implying they’re the worst of the worst. While the U.S. had their own issues with film censorship, the home video market allowed many films to slip under the radar, yet the “video nasty” term endures to this day.

So, in honor of Suspiria we figured we’d save the best for last — looking at the best films once labeled “video nasty.” Hopefully, these films don’t ruin your Halloween parties too much with their insane gore and storytelling (or you’ll probably see them as incredibly tame).