CENSOR(2021) From Second Sight Films Harkins Back To Video Nasties Of The 80s

A few months ago, when I first taken under the curious wing of our editor-in-chief, I wrote an article regarding the wonderful JAKE WEST documentary VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP & VIDEOTAPE which details the ethically questionable crusade of the U.K’s Conservative party to place a ban on the then-new influx of unedited, unregulated horror movies, and imprison those who distributed them. PRANO BAILEY-BOND’s debut feature ‘CENSOR’ acts as a perfect companion piece to this, even if it is, in and of itself, not entirely perfect as a film…

THE SYNOPSIS:

After viewing a strangely familiar video nasty, Enid (NIAMH ALGAR), a film censor, sets out to solve the past mystery of her sister's disappearance, embarking on a quest that dissolves the line between fiction and reality.

THE REVIEW:

The inspiration behind CENSOR is so incredibly simple that it’s a wonder no one’s come up with it before; what happens when your job is to spend 8-10 hours a day watching shit like DON’T GO IN THE HOUSE and you lose your fucking mind? Further testament to the fact that the moral crusade against the perceived erosion of decency that the video nasties presented was nothing more than a stroking exercise for the pearl-clutching overlords of the U.K. of that time is that literally no one ever went out on the stab simply because they watched 5 minutes of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.

Sadly, at least in the case of poor, disturbed Enid, things probably ain’t gonna pan out like that. Having worked to bury past trauma in her professional life, there exists no room for social connections or interaction. Enid is conscientious and fastidious in her work as a censor for the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification), determining what cuts need to be made and where. Appearing to be far more stoic than her colleagues, the endless hours spent subjected to an endless flurry of bloody, sexual violence have taken on the guise of something more akin to a box-ticking exercise for her rather than the upholding any particular moral obligation to keep Britain’s population safe from foreign corruption. However, her precarious grip on normality begins to slip when she has no choice but to acknowledge those feelings within herself that had long gone ignored, and with seemingly nowhere to turn for help, how long will it be until she loses her grip entirely?

Set against a period of social upheaval, BAILEY-BOND has more than capably captured the damp, graffiti-strewn industrial hellscape of early 1980’s England, with many of the film’s backdrops being as seedy and sleazy as the films which Enid is tasked with censoring. Even the very stink of the environment is palpable. Characters can be regularly seen hitting the whisky and cigarettes, and there are enough indications that the male characters radiate the thick, pungent aroma of Brut, Old Spice, and Hai Karate which were popular at the time. Much has been written already about the set design and presentation of the film, and with very good reason. The lighting in particular owes more than a little to DARIO ARGENTO at certain points, and while not necessarily representative of “reality” during the scenes where it is at its most noticeable, it has become synonymous enough with the period in question as to truly solidify the sense that you are in fact watching a story unfold as it took place in 1985.

CENSOR, while an altogether strong debut visually, doesn’t entirely hit the mark when it comes to the story or in demonstrating the depths to which our central character plummets, and though I would never dare to imply that the film is style over substance, I do wish more time had been spent on developing Enid’s psychosis rather than ensuring the lighting was suitably evocative of SUSPIRIA. The central mystery isn’t terribly engaging either, and there was never any point at which I was even remotely convinced that Enid’s suspicions as to what happened to her sister were true, nor is there any particular sense of revelation in Enid’s discoveries, such is their relative simplicity and subsequent failure to realise them fully or effectively on screen. Characterisations are also somewhat thin, though this is somewhat forgivable given that the focus is very much deliberately on Enid, and that her relationship with her colleagues is as shallow as their portrayals are one-dimensional.

In recent days, I’ve found that I compare a lot of psychological horror to SAINT MAUDE, whether justly or unjustly, but if any film warrants comparison, it’s CENSOR. The film’s denouement certainly bears a striking resemblance to that of SAINT MAUDE’s, but executed far less intelligently and without the sense of having closely followed the lead character on any form of journey. In a nutshell, everything you could demand from a stylish performance piece is here, except for the fulfilling story.

THE PRESENTATION:

Putting to one side the fact that SECOND SIGHT consistently produce the kind of work which should make the most austere of cinephiles drop to their knees and weep, they have surpassed themselves with this release and brought CENSOR to life in such a way as to almost fill your living room with profound, blood-red lighting, and the thick stench of smog and wet garbage. The rich reds and blues of the film's more stylised sequences create a fittingly supernatural, dream-like environment with an inky-black nothingness surrounding them, while the browns and beige of Enid’s office evoke the overwhelming sense of melancholy I feel when I personally think back on the 80’s. It’s altogether pretty immersive if I do say so myself.

THE FEATURES:

New audio commentary by Director and Co-Writer Prano Bailey-Bond and Executive Producer Kim Newman
New audio commentary by Prano Bailey-Bond, Director of Photography Annika Summerson, Editor Mark Towns and Sound Designer Tim Harrison
New audio commentary by Kat Ellinger, Lindsay Hallam and Miranda Corcoran
My Own Nasty: a new interview with Prano Bailey-Bond
Penning a Nasty: a new interview with Co-Writer Anthony Fletcher
The Censor: a new interview with Actor Niamh Algar
Nasty Images: a new interview with Annika Summerson
I'm Cutting It: a new interview with Mark Towns
Nasty Sounds: a new interview with Composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
The Making of Censor
Deleted Scenes
Enid's Gaze: Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on Censor
Screening Q&A with Prano Bailey-Bond and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch hosted by Jed Shepherd
Prano Bailey-Bond in conversation with BBFC compliance Officer David Hyman
My Nasty Memories by David Gregory
BAN THE SADIST VIDEOS! Parts One and Two feature length documentary
English subtitles for the hearing impaired

Limited Edition Contents: -

Rigid slipcase with new artwork by James Neal

Soft cover book with new essays by Anna Bogutskaya, Kat Ellinger, Tim Murray, Alison Peirse and Hannah Strong plus production photos
6 collectors' art cards

THE TECH SPECS: