So-called "nasties" appear to have replaced pornography over the last few months as the UK software market's most contentious product area and video retailers are becoming increasingly concerned over which horror movies they may legally stock.

During the past month, there have been reports that video dealers throughout the country, but notably in Greater Manchester, have been raided with sizeable quantities of the more controversial horror/terror videos being removed.

The industry has been aware for some time that the absence of any specific legislation for video software could eventually create serious problems for video shops, wholesalers and video companies themselves.

The recent police actions have been prompted, initially, by the Advertising Standards Authority's concern over adverts being run by certain companies throughout the video press, with a number of complaints subsequently being upheld, and latterly by the predictable interest being shown by Fleet Street headline writers over the controversial product being released on video cassette.

Using the "deprave and corrupt" clause of the Obscene Publications Act, Scotland Yard made its move just over a month ago. Raids were carried out on the Go Video, Astra Video and VIPCO warehouses and copies of three of the most publicised "nasties" were seized - SS Experiment Camp, I Spit On Your Grave and Driller Killer.

Scotland Yard has passed the films on to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who is currently deciding whether any prosecutions will be brought against the three companies. In the meantime, police forces outside London appear to be following Scotland Yard's lead although it's retailers as opposed to distributors that are being raided.

Many of the video cassettes seized are claimed to have been granted X-certificates, so just how bad are the "nasties". Until the BVA/British Board of Film Censors "panel" is operational, there will be no guidelines for the trade, so what titles can be safely stocked?

Mike Behr, Astra Video's managing director, told Video Business: "Dealers just don't know where they stand. We've had between 20-30 telephone calls from dealers over the last few weeks who have been raided by police and want to know what to do."

He continued: "But until there are some guidelines we don't know. Police have never seized material like this before and we won't know how we stand until a trial case takes place. In the meantime it seems wrong that police are hitting the small retailers. No one knows what to order."

Behr claims that over £6,000 worth of stock was removed by police when Astra was raided, and the company has now postponed various forthcoming releases until the situation becomes far clearer.

Release of what looked set to be the most controversial of the "nasties" - the movie Snuff - was cancelled at the last minute by Behr, but he insisted: "People should be allowed to watch what they want to in their own homes. With I Spit On Your Grave, our lawyers watched it before release and were happy with it. It's not as heavy as a film like Death Wish 2."

Go Video's managing director, Des Dolan, commented: "We don't specialise in horror movies - we've only got four in our catalogue. We always carefully edit the films ourselves, but how do you measure what is acceptable? Opinion will vary from one person to another. Dolan continued: "I'm annoyed that Go Video appears to have been singled out when there are numerous other horror titles already on the market, distributed by other video companies, that are very much worse than ours."

And in a recent interview with BBC Radio, VIPCO's boss Mike Lee defended his position. "Horror movies are a large slice of the market at present. People want to see horror movies. They believe that they can't get what they want on television, they are slightly restricted in the cinema. On a video cassette the public believes it is entitled to see what it wants," he argued.

All three software companies currently in the firing line say that they will support the BVA/BBFC panel, largely because it will provide the industry with the first firm guidelines over product that, hopefully, can be safely released.

The panel is currently being set up by a British Board of Film Censors working party that includes former IBA chairman Lady Plowden, and it should be operational by the end of the year.

BVA chief executive, Norman Abbott, has emphasised that the organisation does not intend to censor video product. However there is little doubt that the panel will in many ways act as a censor. The BVA hopes that video companies, wholesalers and dealers will not handle product refused a "certificate" or product not submitted to the panel for a classification prior to release.

Some controversial product will no doubt continue to be released but, as with hard pornography, it should be forced "underground" by the BVA initiative. And at least, in theory, the trade should be able to handle "nasties" passed by the panel without fear of police prosecution.

If the DPP does decide to bring prosecutions against Go Video, Astra and VIPCO, it could be well over a year before the case comes to court. It is therefore likely that the BVA/BBFC panel will be the first to provide the industry with some definitive guidelines. In the meantime, there is very little advice that can be offered to UK dealers who feel it necessary to stock horror movies, and with the product accounting for a claimed 20 percent of the market, few retailers can afford to be without at least some of the less contentious titles.

VIDEO BUSINESS AUGUST 1982