Gav Crimson details the overblown press coverage of the seizure and legal actions against a horror film featuring child actors at the time of the Video Nasties moral panic
Suffer Little Children is a 1983 UK video horror by Alan Briggs. Starring Colin Chamberlain, Ginny Rose and Jon Hollanz.
The film was cut for an unofficial BBFC 18 rating issued prior to the implementation of the VRA. The film was seized by the police anyway and the film got caught up in the tabloid hysteria around the video nasty era. The film was
passed 18 uncut for UK DVD release in 2017.
The DVD version has a significant number of variations from the VHS. version.
This amateur video production, (not
particularly well regarded), is claimed to be a reconstruction of events involving child demonic possession which took place at 45 Kingston Road, New Malden, Surrey, England in August 1984. None of these events were reported to the press though, not the
to mention the fact that the film was conceived and shot in 1983, well before the supposed baseline event.
The video was submitted to the BBFC for a pre-VRA unofficial rating in December 1984. The BBFC asked for about 2 minutes of cuts. However the
distributors suffered a police raid on the day after the submission and the police seized the film. The police seemed to think that the uncut version was illegal and would not give the distributors the opportunity to implement the cuts
that would make it legal. The DPP considered the film for 3 months before deciding that no further action would be taken as long as the film was only distributed in the BBFC approved version. The film was caught up in press frenzy at this time, with the
inevitable calls for a ban and worse.
