This thrilling, dizzying debut from Welsh writer-director Prano Bailey-Bond is a nostalgic treat for anyone old enough to remember the infamous “video nasties” scare of the early 80s. Yet beneath the retro surface lies a more universal tale about the power of horror to confront our deepest fears – a timeless celebration of the liberating nature of the dark side.
An ambitious, clever, and inventive psychogenic fugue, Censor is rough around the edges and shot on a shoestring, sure, however Bailey-Bond has compelling and vital comments to make on art, media consumption, politics, and society.
Censor is an off-brand horror treat that walks the distance between artistic freedom and the scrutiny of morbid excess to which the title refers.
Censor’s meticulous, insidious structure sticks to the subconscious; this is an auspicious debut in modern genre cinema.
Censor is a bold artistic statement, inspired by the history of its own genre, though it’s not an uncritical assertion, posing complicated questions about media effects without offering easy answers.
Censor wears its genre influences on its sleeve – The Shining, Cronenberg, Carrie and Peter Strickland’s similarly themed Berberian Sound Studio – but it’s very much its own thing.
Censor is an impressive, visually-stunning, deeply disturbing debut from Bailey-Bond and a showcase for Algar, who gives a truly spectacular performance.
With production designer Paulina Rzeszowska and cinematographer Annika Summerson, Bailey-Bond creates something almost unbearably close and oppressive, like the bottom of a murky fish tank. It’s a very elegant and disquieting debut.
Debut director Prano Bailey-Bond crafts a stylish, effective horror that is both an homage to genre cinema of that period and a psychological dive into the combined traumas of grief and guilt.
Welsh director Prano Bailey-Bond’s feature debut, Censor, is one of those horror movies that sticks with you well after the credits roll. That’s because it doesn’t follow the typical horror movie formula.
Excellent . I'm not particularly fond of England , but the new British wave of films have had some peaks the last years. A field in England , Sightseers, Berberian Sound Studio and that guys fashion film, all great. This one was very Lynchy as well, like a cheap Inland Empire , Thatcher edition.
A fantastic psychological horror film, well constructed and considered. It really delves into the nature of horror itself as well as its effects on the audience
A stationary horror movie made in 2021. It's about the 1980s horror movies during the prime ministership of Margaret Thatcher, nicknamed the Iron Lady. A censorship board has been established, saying it inspires people and influences them badly. When one of the women on the board was in a forest with her sister in her childhood, the girl mysteriously disappeared. As the woman watches the movies, she remembers her sister and looks for some clues. It's a very static movie. That's why it gets boring. There's not much of an element of fear. But there are brutal scenes in the movies they watch. It's actually nice that they censor brutality even in cartoons. There are no scenes of brutality, much nudity and sexuality. I think the IMDB rating is high.
This movie take 50 minutes until something interesting starts happening but then you realize it’s not even that interesting you’ve just been bored for so long anything would seem interesting.
Actually very strange film that manages to mix well the madness of the protagonist with the serious and austere context of the environment that surrounds her, creating a beautiful and very disturbing harmony that culminates perfectly in the final sequence where the hitherto hidden madness of the protagonist is revealed. Despite this, however, the film has some problems related to the uselessness of some sequences and some characters that seem to be placed there only to make the film last longer, and this is a shame because for a long part of the film it is not clear exactly where the story wants. Go and address.
Very, very good! 'Censor' features a great premise and it turns out to be one that is executed excellently. The feel of the film throughout is near perfection, with the tone all right and the 1980s aesthetic seemingly on point. It's paced ideally, with zero moments of drag. Niamh Algar puts in a super performance as lead. I recently watched her also impress in television's 'Deceit' - which was broadcast within a week or so of this production's cinema release, there are actually some (minor) similarities between the two; a set of dark roles for Algar, that's for sure! She's the clear standout, though props to the support cast too. Looking at a few other reviews, it seems to come down to how effective the ending is to you. For me? I think it's a great conclusion.
This film reminded me of Mandy - the Nicolas Cage film (a remake, I think it was?). Its got some bright, almost neon like lighting and its partly set in the woods. It also has a strong sense of the uneasiness of morals - where does the line become drawn between fantasy, fiction and reality? of course the video nasties scare/scandal of the 1980s must have been a worrying time. I was just a kid then but I can understand where the fear came from and I don't necessarily think that things are entirely different nowadays - what with the internet and everything, no doubt there's some extreme films or videos available to watch. Anyway, as a film this does well at giving an atmospheric feel, with creepy, low noises played in the background while the main character moves about, making you wonder when the next jump scare may be. It's certainly **** it should be, I suppose. Sadly, one of the creepy elements is very much based on reality, something that can (and does) happen in real life but I won't elaborate, so as not to provide obvious spoilers. This is a slightly sinister and probably thought provoking watch, with a good performance from Niamh Algar, so yes, I'd recommend it.
From the beginning, the film gives you an expectation that you are going to watch something great, and definitely something amazing is going to happen, until the end; unfortunately, many things happens and you have no idea whatsoever. Just adding random confusions, glitch, and random gimmicks cannot help in creating a great amazing mysterious horror movie. This is below average movie under the skin **** movie.
Enid (Niamh Algar) works as a film censor and after viewing one of the latest video nasties she is shocked to find it strangely familiar. She begins to delve deep into her own memories to try and solve the past mystery of her sister’s disappearance. The further she investigates the more the line between fiction and reality become blurred. A wonderful debut from director Prano Bailey-Bond and a magnificent and thrilling experience you won’t want to miss. Censor forces you to question the role of the film censor during a time of mass hysteria over violence in films and its alleged connection to a rise in crime. “Won’t somebody please think of the children?!” But what happens when it’s your job to view these extremely violent movies on a daily basis and decide what should and shouldn’t been seen by the wider public? What happens to your own mind if it’s continually subjected to endless gore and horror? We follow Enid as the story slowly starts to unravel keeping you in a constant state of dread and unease. As an avid viewer of horror movies it’s refreshing to see something different, unpredictable and genuinely unnerving throughout. This should be a reminder to production companies that throwing huge money at movies just for the sake of it doesn’t always pay off and is not the answer to everything. I love a good low budget horror movie, and even though it’s only new in 2021, Censor already has a cult movie vibe to it. I assume that’s what Prano Bailey-Bond was going for, because it feels very retro. Highly recommended for all the movie buffs.
I really liked how the story gradually unfolded. That is to say how Enid Bains gradually unfolded. This is the kind of film that leaves you thinking afterwards. I was still unpacking and reconciling it days after I saw it. I loved the sleazy film director and his demise. I loved his nasty cast out in the bush. What a gloriously distasteful characters. If I had to pick something not to like it’d be that I was enjoying the first act too much (all those video nasties) and it took me a little while to realise the second act / Enid’s reality was ‘the’ video nasty. Highly recommend this movie.
Woman working for the Board of Film Classification has a missing sister, thinks that she's acting in an exploitation film and then kills a few people involved in the film when she snaps.
Too many recent low budget horror films have unforgivably slow pacing and this is no exception. Really wanted to enjoy it more; good acting, well shot etc. Nice ending though. Kineticism. Write it down.
'Censor,' which follows the journey into the darkness of Enid,— a woman who censors films for a living —, is the debut film of Prano Bailey-Bond, who seems invested in discovering the origin of evil. But does it comes from the outside or within? While governments are occupied blaming always external forces for the turmoil inside their countries, the evil within rises. Their double standards are as horrifying as the violence they use to condemn, and 'Censor' reminds us of it with an original and entertaining piece. But is it enough to censor the "bad stuff" inside our minds to stay safe? Can we really stay away from dark impulses? Is it better to live in a happy fiction than the crude reality? Despite the B-movie feeling, 'Censor' sure has some deep questionings. If you love Peter Strickland films, then you're in for a treat.
Terrible movie. I haven't watched a Horror move this bad in the past 3 years, seriously its terrible. I would rate 3.5 out of 10 Boring boring boring and very lame.
Censor is somewhat ironic. Its plot talks about graphic violence and exposes it at times since its protagonist works as a video censor. Mostly of cheap horror movies. But Censor doesn't really use that resource for its real plot. That violence is only an accessory, because the real plot focuses on the trauma and depression of the lead character due to the loss of her younger sister when they were just little girls. So far everything looks normal. The problems begin when she thinks she sees her sister in one of these horror movies, and then becomes obsessed with finding the information from the creators that would lead her to her ''sister''. However, what happens next seems too hasty, because at that point, the protagonist looks completely sane. She does her work, she talks to her co-workers normally, and everything goes smoothly. It's evident that she lives a very lonely life, and that she has severe depression, but after believing that she saw her sister in one of those movies, the character gets completely lost, and her mental state begins to deteriorate brutally fast. The problem here is not that this is not credible, but that the narrative never builds that breakdown convincingly, because when the climax has arrived, you understand that she has already gone completely crazy, but the film never gives you plausible reasons to understand why the hell that happened. So her final act seemed completely empty to me, and the whole experience was remarkably hollow.
Ultimately, I wish I enjoyed this movie more than I did, as there's a lot of decent work being done, especially stylistically. Unfortunately, the story and central dilemma aren't fleshed out nearly enough for the payoff to work. We know that the protagonist's sister disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and that she still blames herself, but the conditions of said disappearance are so opaque that it's difficult to connect emotionally with the lead character's struggle. As such, the climax -- with its debts to Cronenberg and Lynch -- doesn't land. The reality of the world is so thin and ill-defined, that veering into surreality -- much less the inferred parallels between the sister's disappearance, and similar events taking place in certain films the censor is charged with watching -- is simply confusing, rather than mysterious or intriguing or multilayered. Aesthetically the film strikes a lot of the right notes, especially as homage to the video nasties the protagonist is in charge of censoring. In the end, a lot of good ideas and directorial talent spinning their wheels on a nebulous, unanchored, and unsatisfying story.
This was a breakout at the Sundance Film Festival, but I have no idea why. It revolves around a movie censor in 80s London when slasher films were considered by some politicians to cause real violence. She discovers that one movie and its director may have a personal connection, so she sets out to find the truth. The premise is interesting, but there’s nothing about the execution that’s remotely rewarding. The pacing is slow and no real creepy stuff happens until the final 30 minutes. Even then, it’s more confusing than shocking or original. The current trend in stylish horror mystifies me, because they always seem overly arty and underly scary…like this one (maybe that describes the Sundance crowd too). Interestingly, the clips they're screening are from actual 80s slasher flix.
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