HORROR LIVES
ON VIDEO
BANNED
BUT NEVER
FORGOTTEN
Home › Films › Expose
VIDEO NASTY ARCHIVE ENTRY

Expose

Original / alternate title: Exposé; Trauma
1976   |   United Kingdom   |   Psychological horror / exploitation

A troubled writer moves into a remote cottage with his wife and assistant, where emotional manipulation, jealousy and violence gradually turn the isolated setting into a nightmare. The film sits between British sexploitation and psychological horror.

Film details

Original / alt titleExposé; Trauma
Year1976
DirectorJames Kenelm Clarke
CountryUnited Kingdom
RuntimeApprox. 55–60 min in original form
Main castPhoebe Nicholls, Stephen Sheppard, Fiona Richmond

UK status

DPP 39 — PROSECUTED

A successfully prosecuted Video Nasty, remembered as one of the more obscure and controversial British entries.

Current UK position:
The film circulated for years in compromised versions; its reputation is tied to censorship history as much as the work itself.
▶ WATCH / FIND TRAILER← ALL FILMS

Why it caused controversy

Its unclassified pre-cert UK video became a target during the 1983–84 panic and the title was successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act. The controversy centred on its psychological horror / exploitation content being available on cassette without the cinema-style classification controls that viewers were used to.

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”.

DPP listYes — DPP 72
Prosecuted?Successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act 1959
Seized?DPP-listed title; police forces used the list during raids and seizures
Banned / cut / rejected?1983–1984: It became one of the prosecuted DPP 39 titles.
Later BBFC certificateThe film circulated for years in compromised versions; its reputation is tied to censorship history as much as the work itself.
Now uncut / restored?The film circulated for years in compromised versions; its reputation is tied to censorship history as much as the work itself.

Detailed censorship timeline & facts

1976Released in Britain amid controversy over its sexual content.
Early 1980sA video release brought it into the pre-cert marketplace.
1983–1984It became one of the prosecuted DPP 39 titles.
Later decadesThe film remained relatively obscure compared with better-known nasties.
Modern eraCollectors and historians revisit it mainly through the lens of censorship history.

FACTS & TRIVIA

  • Sometimes discussed under the alternate title Trauma.
  • Features model and performer Fiona Richmond in one of its best-known roles.
  • Its British origin makes it unusual among the predominantly Italian and American nasty titles.
  • The film has long been more infamous than widely seen.
  • Its mix of erotic material and violence made it especially controversial in the early 1980s.
  • It is a useful example of how the video-nasty label attached to obscurer regional productions.
  • Collectors often prize the original pre-cert sleeve because of the film's rarity.

Distributor / VHS label

Video release

Archive cover shown is the user-supplied scan. UK distributor / VHS-label attribution varies by edition and is not asserted here without a verified sleeve imprint.

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.

▶ FIND ORIGINAL TRAILER

Research sources

BBFC ↗DPP 72 list / outcome ↗
Archive note: the DPP list changed during 1983–84. This site distinguishes the 39 successfully prosecuted titles from the 33 acquitted / dropped titles, and separately labels related censorship-era films.

Related films

Andy Warhol's Frankenstein1973 • DPP — DROPPED 33
The Ghastly Ones1968 • DPP 39
House on the Edge of the Park1980 • DPP 39
Island of Death1976 • DPP 39