Vipco: The tiny British distributor that became ground zero for the video nasty movement
If you’re a fan of obscure horror movies with a penchant for collecting, there’s a strong chance you’ve spent many hours scouring the internet (or pinching your nose as you step inside CEX) to search for physical editions of movies that would never end up on Netflix.
Certain titles are fairly accessible in the form of an Arrow Video release or perhaps a Shameless edition, encased in bright yellow as easily identifiable indicators of your passion for explicit, dirty cinema (the clue’s in the name), but sometimes, you have to dig a little deeper and spend a little more money. Arrow is the realm of rookies here, while you can also look at indie labels like Troma Entertainment or Cauldron Films, who are the ones selling obscure films that you’re not going to find anywhere else: the stranger, the better your chances.
These boutique labels have popped up across the world since the advent of home video, and the UK has given us a few specialist distributors over the years with a certain interest in arthouse horror, cult movies, and crazy exploitation films. While Arrow popped up in the early ‘90s and 88 Films arrived in 2012, who can forget the impact that Vipco had as the rise of home cinema dawned upon horror lovers?
Paving the way for these unique home video specialist companies, Vipco ushered in the video nasty era with its array of grisly titles that had previously been banned during a wave of moral panic, but it finally shut up shop in 2007. Founded in the late ‘70s by Mike Lee, the independent company hopped on the burgeoning trend of releasing movies on home video, choosing to specialise in controversial horror and exploitation movies, such as Abel Ferrara’s classic The Driller Killer.
In the ‘80s, a massive debate occurred when low-budget movies, often Euro-horror and exploitation films never released in mainstream UK cinemas, were made available on home video without BBFC classification. Many of these films contained excessive violence, gore, sex, and possibly offensive material, and people were outraged that they were suddenly so easily accessible, even to children.
A long list of films said to go against the Obscene Publications Act 1959 was released, and you could be prosecuted for selling or screening certain movies. With the risk of video nasties being confiscated if you got your hands on them, they became even more of an enticing phenomenon, with some horror aficionados trying to get their hands on as many titles as possible. It wasn’t until the Video Recordings Act 1984 that the BBFC were required to give age ratings and perhaps even make cuts to home video releases.
Even The Cure’s Robert Smith was a fan of these banned movies, and during a trip to the United States in 1992, he compiled a list of video nasties that he couldn’t watch uncut or uncensored versions of in the United Kingdom. These included titles like Blood Sucking Freaks and The Driller Killer, with the latter, for example, only getting a fully uncut home video release in the UK as recently as 2002.
Clearly, people were desperate for titles they’d once struggled to get their hands on, and Vipco was a horror lover’s go-to distributor for titles that were previously unavailable in the UK. In the 2000s, they released various DVD releases of video nasties like Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, The Toolbox Murders, and City of the Living Dead.
While it no longer exists, we can thank Vipco for its decades of pushing the availability of shocking and transgressive works of art, which many conservative figures, like Mary Whitehouse, tried so hard to keep banned.
