Scream Queen
Everybody’s talking about Prano Bailey-Bond. The writer-director of Censor is staking her claim as a major voice in British cinema, introducing or reintroducing so many of us to the world of horror, more specifically B-movies, and even more specifically video nasties. And so, let us introduce you, as Bailey-Bond speaks to Scott Bates all about her major film.
Have you ever wondered what goes on inside the head of a film censor? What happens when they connect with a film on a level that’s a bit too personal? That's the story of Censor, the debut feature from director Prano Bailey-Bond, set in 1980s Britain. Enid (Niamh Algar, star of Calm With Horses and Shane Meadows' The Virtues) plays a film censor working through the hordes of "video nasties" whipping the UK into a frenzy.
When she comes across one with a plot bearing a frightening resemblance to the day her sister vanished as a child, she sets out to find the people behind it – including slimy producer/distributor Doug (Michael Smiley). We spoke to Bailey-Bond about her film to find out more about how she crafted a fictional story from one of the most important – yet still little-known – periods of British film history.
Massive: Where did your interest in film censorship and the "video nasties" begin?
Prano Bailey-Bond: The origin of the idea came from reading an article that mentioned what censors would cut during the video nasty era, and one of the things was sight of blood on the breasts of a woman, because they believed it would make men likely to commit rape. That put me into the mindset of a censor – it made me really interested in the material a censor might have with the material they're watching, because I thought, "Well, many of the censors must have been men, so if they really believed that these images would have that effect on people did they never think it might have that effect on them?"
That was really just the seed of the idea, because as a horror filmmaker, someone who loves the genre, you're constantly asked, "Why horror?"/ I was questioning that in myself, what I get out of watching and making this kind of stuff. Is there a "therapy" in horror, is there a catharsis in watching horror, what the stories do for us? So I think through the eyes of a film censor I was able to have some of those conversations with myself, around mine and our relationship with horror.
Why did you decide to create a fictional story about the "video nasties", rather than take something from the headlines?
Well I guess it's the kind of filmmaker you are – for me, one of the things I love about horror is being able to make things very imaginative and extreme, and you can do that in fiction, you aren't tied to fact.
We could have set this in the BBFC and used films that already exist, but then it becomes too real, it becomes something that the audience, and I, have a relationship with of our own, and it takes us out of Enid's experience. That to me isn't as fun. I like to be inspired by reality, but have the freedom to translate that into something that can be more metaphorical and strange.
“Is there a “therapy” in horror? Is there a catharsis in watching these films?”
Were the real BBFC involved in the film at all?
They were very helpful when we went to them, but they didn't have a huge amount of involvement. When we first started writing the script in 2016, Anthony Fletcher and I went in and spoke with David Hyman and Catherine Anderson, as we really wanted to find out about the organisation and how it operated then. We also looked at their archives, at the files for some of the nasties – we kept going back, as you have to book in advance to go, so I think we went about four or five times!
That was absolutely fascinating. It's actually quite funny to read these notes, as we as horror fans see these films as super fun and entertaining and shocking, but the way that these highly educated people talk about them is very intellectual, so it's quite entertaining to read their takes, and it's fascinating to see what they were upset by or worried about at that time. They sign their initials under each comment, so you start to recognise the same ones coming up and see their individual personalities poking through.
I also actually managed to track down a couple of film censors who were working during the ‘80s, which was really helpful in that it grounds you in those scenes – when you're writing scenes of the censors sitting in those rooms, I've never done that, I'm imagining it but I want it to be truthful. Enid is quite closed off, and upset as the film progresses, and from talking to the censors from the period I think in real life the likelihood is that someone would have stepped in and said, "Have a few days off!”
Which films did you look at the BBFC's files for?
We looked at The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Last House On The Left, I Spit On Your Grave, The Evil Dead and Possession. Rambo III as well, which was caught up in the Hungerford massacre around the time the film is set.
How did you find Niamh Algar for the role?
We held a normal audition process, and her name came up quite early on – I was really excited as I'd met her a few years before at this dinner for the Screen International Stars Of Tomorrow. We'd been in this fancy dinner and Michael Shannon had come, and everyone wanted to be on the table with him, but me and Niamh couldn't fit on it so we made our own table! We'd ended up chatting loads at this dinner, then I'd seen her in The Virtues and thought she was incredible.
Her name came up for Censor and I was really excited that I was going to get the opportunity to hear her read, and then when she came in she just blew me away. She had that kind of nuance at the front but still let us in. Enid's very closed but Niamh creates a character we can still feel empathy for even though she's not explaining much, not telling us what's going on in her head – she's very censored!
Was Niamh aware of the "nasties" prior to being cast?
She is a horror fan, she has been since she was a kid, but she wasn't so aware of the video nasties – I mean, it's fairly niche! But she was really interested to watch them, so I sent her a watchlist and introduced her to a film censor from the period who talked her through the nuts and bolts of the job. She researched like you would for any role, and I was there with as much information as she was ready to absorb! She threw herself into it with everything she had and was just incredible to work with.
How did you set out to make the film accessible to people with no knowledge of the "nasties"?
When we were writing we always wanted it to have that kind of cross-appeal, that you could be a cult fan, know loads and get another layer out of the film, but that if you didn't know anything it isn't going to exclude you, that you would still be emotionally invested in the character and the story – and hopefully, maybe, even come away wanting to watch some of these films!
Censor is in UK cinemas from August 20
Scott Bates is a freelance film and music writer from Yorkshire, based in West London. His specialist areas are film censorship and modern British independent film.