ZombieDrone |
11-15-2011 01:00 AM |
It was a crap shoot essentially. I feel that virtually any horror film made past-1960 could've potentially crossed the line.
I relate it to the DPP's attitude towards Tobe Hooper.
Hooper had two films in the list, I believe. He's by no means the only director to have more than one film on the list. Dario Argento had 2 (Inferno, Tenebre) so did Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust, House On The Edge Of The Park) Lucio Fulci had 3 (The Beyond, House By The Cemetery, Zombie Flesh Eaters) Jess Franco had god knows how many.
Anyway, the two films that Hooper had on the list were Death Trap and Funhouse. The story behind Funhouse ending up on the list (so far as I've heard) was that there were two films circulating around that time with the title, Funhouse. One was Hooper's film, the other was also known as Last House On Dead End Street. I believe that the the DPP looked at these two films and thought that it was obviously the film by the man who made such "obscene" films as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre...they banned the wrong film.
The hysteria around TCM is also considered the reason why they also banned The Toolbox Murders, Axe, Pranks and Driller Killer for their use of home implements as weapons in the film or in advertising (I'm sure if you were going to kill someone with something you could find in the home, you wouldn't wait for a film to give you the idea).
The odd thing is, is that whilst it was technically banned, TCM was never officially a "Nasty" and as such was perfectly legal to be circulated in it's un-certificated VHS release...madness.
Heaven knows, had the craze held out a little longer perhaps Poltergeist would've been a Nasty.
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