Scotland Yard have just issued their latest hit list of video nasties. The 67 titles on the list, which were named by the Director of Public Prosecutions, have all been successfully proceeded against under the Obscene Publications Act, or are subject to pending proceedings.

The list (which follows) has been circulated to police officers up and down the country, who will seize copies of the listed films if they find them in shops. Dealers wishing to avoid such unwelcome visits can obtain copies of the list from the Obscene Publications and Public Morals Squad at New Scotland Yard. Scotland Yard won't say which of the seizures have actually resulted in convictions, and new titles are liable to be seized if enough people complain to the police about them. They will then be added to the list if and when the DPP decide to prosecute.

The Yard has also revealed the guidelines by which titles are deemed to be the 'video nasties', and these seem disturbingly sweeping and vague: "A film is liable to be regarded as obscene,' (says the statement) 'if it portrays violence to such a degree and so explicitly that its appeal could only be to those people who would get pleasure from seeing such violence. Deciding factors would include violence perpetrated by children; self-mutilation; violent abuse of women or children; cannibalism; use of vicious weapons; use of everyday implements and violence of a sexual content.

As for the titles themselves, Allan Bryce (who is expert on films and doubly so on horror films) tells us that many of them are pretty innocuous. While the list rightly contains the nastiest of nasties, he says, a good half of the titles on it are just plain silly - so unrealistic as to be far more funny than frightening. Some of them, such as Tenebrae and Exposé, have hitherto been regarded as perfectly respectable releases with "X" certificates for the cinema, and Inferno is available on both tape and video disc from the CBS/Fox catalogue. We were also surprised to see The Evil Dead on the list - this has already been banned twice, and both times distributors Palace Video have successfully appealed against the ban. We thought that meant it was officially OK.

Absurd
Anthropophagous Beast, The
Axe
Beast in Heat, The
Beyond, The
Blood Bath
Blood Feast
Blood Rites
Bloody Moon
Bogey Man, The
Burning, The (Uncut Version)
Cannibal Apocalypse
Cannibal Ferox
Cannibal Holocaust
Cannibal Man, The
Cannibal Terror
Contamination
Dead and Buried
Death Trap
Deep River Savages
Delirium
Devil Hunter
Don't Go in the Woods Alone
Don't Go Near the Park
Don't Look in the Basement
Driller Killer
Evil Dead, The
Evil Speak, The
Expose
Faces of Death
Fight for Your Life
Forest of Fear
Frankenstein (by Andy Warhol)
Frozen Scream
Funhouse Carnival of Terror
Gestapos Last Orgy
House by the Cemetery, The
House on the Edge Of The Park, The
Inferno
I Miss You, Hugs And Kisses
I Spit on Your Grave
Killer Nun
Last House on the Left, The
Living Dead (At Manchester Morgue),
Madhouse
Mardi Gras Massacre
Nightmare Maker or Butcher, Baker Nightmare Maker
Nightmares in A Damaged Brain
Night Of The Bloody Apes
Night of the Demon
Possession
Pranks
Prisoner of the Cannibal God
Revenge of the Bogeyman
Slayer, The
Snuff
SS Experiment Camp
Tenebrae
Terror Eyes
Toolbox Murders, The
Unhinged
Visiting Hours
Werewolf and the Yeti
Witch Who Came from the Sea, The
Women Behind Bars
Zombie Creeping Flesh
Zombie Flesh Eaters