After an explosive end to the previous episode, the latest chapter gives us more answers. Here’s our review of Video Nasty episode 4.
NB: Spoilers lie ahead.
I think most of us can agree that episode 3 of Video Nasty was quite something. Not only did Fangoria Fangirl turn out to be a boy named Topher, but he and his brother, Joe, who turned out to be the driver from episode 2, took Zoe, Billy and Con as hostages at the end of the episode.
Things don’t exactly slow down in episode 4, titled Whatever It Takes, either. The episode begins two months earlier and gives us a little more context. The post office lady who led the trio to the house is in fact the brothers’ mother, Ethel. Ethel is a devout Christian and upon finding one of the video nasties in Topher’s sock drawer, she is horrified.
Your and my mother would probably just scold us, throw the tape away and ground us, maybe send us to bed without supper, but Ethel is a different breed. Ethel encourages the entire village to go on a rampage against video nasties, describing them as a “plague” and a “virus”.
The end of episode 3 and the entirety of episode 4 feel like we’re finally done with talking about horror and actually watching it. Religious horror has been on the rise lately with films like Heretic, The First Omen and the superb Saint Maud. Video Nasty certainly dips into the genre with Ethel wanting to purge the world from video nasties in the name of God. The whole setting of Video Nasty is very classic horror too; outsiders arriving in a small community just to find themselves in mortal danger and potentially being offered as sacrifices.
The trio’s parents have also made their way to England now and are en route to Ashdale. Abe and Con and Zoe’s mother Maureen find common ground as both have been cheated on. Maureen’s husband Frank is sound asleep on the backseat of the car after it runs out of petrol, completely unaware that his wife is getting emotional with another man. It’s another emotional, low-key moment in an episode that has an overindulgence of plot going on.
Video Nasty provides a strong argument against the age-old belief that violent entertainment turns you violent. I hope we’re mostly past believing in that, but Video Nasty regardless has fun with the idea, turning it completely upside down as Ethel and her family go after our teenage protagonists.
I’ve previously complained that shows like Silo can’t quite balance the two different storylines happening in two different locations, but Video Nasty finds the perfect balance between following the teenagers and their parents. More importantly, both narrative strands feel meaningful in their own ways.
Two more episodes to go and I think I’ve got a good feeling about where this is heading. That’s not a criticism, there’s nothing wrong about predictability but it remains to be seen if Video Nasty manages to craft its own identity amongst all the classic horror references.
All episodes of Video Nasty are now on BBC iPlayer.
