Censor is the psychological horror feature debut from director and screenwriter Prano Bailey-Bond and premiered in the Midnight slate of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Shot on Kodak 35mm film with muted and dreary color palettes, Censor effectively captures the tone of the Thatcher era of censorship and video nasties that should help find its niche with horror genre audiences.
The premise involves Enid, a British film censor during the 1980’s video nasty hysteria who views her job as a personal responsibility to save others from the violence and degradation she edits out of films for theatrical distribution. Her social responsibility stems from her massive guilt involving the mysterious disappearance of her sister. To make matters worse, she begins to lose grip of her reality after a murder is committed with a striking similarity to a horror film that she passed for distribution with minimal cuts. Enid sinks into further delusion as she continues to experience flashbacks of her sister’s disappearance triggered by a particular video nasty that is strangely familiar to her own life. With this discovery, Enid sets out to find the film director and the truth about her sister while her reality and cinematic fantasy begin to blur.
Censor is rich with a multi-textured, but dated social commentary involving censorship and the impact of cinematic violence on society. While Bailey-Bond’s love for the horror genre is apparent, particularly the throwback era of the video nasty. However, the limited appeal feels irrelevant because video games have since replaced the well-worn conservative argument against violent entertainment. While it does work as a touchstone of a bygone social hysteria, the film is not entirely convincing that a younger audience will really connect with the underlying issues regarding the video nasty debate. Yet, the screenwriter’s perspective does stay very faithful to the academic argument that rallied these films do not bring out violent behavior with society, but simply is a response to the horrific things that happen to people.
Ultimately, the underlying commentary falls apart during the over the top final act involving a film crew and Enid because of her delusional response that does suggest her reality has been severely impacted by violent content, which is a confusing, mixed narrative message that doesn’t quite know how to write itself out of. A similar problem that existed within the social commentary of Cannibal Holocaust, the notorious big kahuna of all video nasties. Despite the flaws, there is an enjoyable nostalgic appeal with its use of film clips from various classics and the film-within-a-film narrative device that hopefully will help Censor find distribution and its audience. 🎬🎬🎬 (3 out of 4)
