The Driller Killer
A struggling New York artist buckles under poverty, creative frustration and the relentless noise of the punk band rehearsing nearby. His increasingly unstable state pushes the film from grimy downtown character study into a murder story.
Film details
| Original / alt title | The Driller Killer |
| Year | 1979 |
| Director | Abel Ferrara |
| Country | USA |
| Runtime | Approx. 101 min |
| Main cast | Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day |
UK status
One of the most famous prosecuted Video Nasties, helped by its notorious UK VHS artwork and advertising.
Passed 18 uncut in 2002.
Why it caused controversy
UK censorship / Video Nasties history
A quick status check first, followed by the film’s censorship timeline. A DPP prosecution was an obscenity case against a particular video publication — it was not automatically the same thing as a permanent nationwide “ban”.
Detailed censorship timeline & facts
FACTS & TRIVIA
- Abel Ferrara directed the film and also played the lead.
- The film captures late-1970s downtown Manhattan in a distinctive way.
- Its punk-club and loft atmosphere is central to the story.
- The sleeve was often cited in debates about provocative video packaging.
- It was made on a small budget before Ferrara's later career took off.
- Its notoriety gave it a much longer cultural afterlife.
- It remains one of the signature titles of the Video Nasty era.
Distributor / VHS label
VIPCO (UK pre-cert sleeve strongly associated with the title).
Trailer
Open a search for the original theatrical / VHS-era trailer. This keeps the archive linking to publicly available trailer sources rather than hosting copyrighted film footage.
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