[Film Review] Censor (2021)

You house-proud town mouse. 

Haha. Charade you are. 

- Pigs, Pink Floyd

If you never knew why Roger Waters had so much vitriol for Mary Whitehouse in this track off the album Animals, it’s because her own cultural Reign of Terror against creators in British media ushered in an era of censorship that cut a black swath through the work of countercultural rock groups and splatter auteurs alike.

The 1980’s fervor about “Video Nasties” - a term popularized by Whitehouse, created a need for censors to decide what content should be edited or excluded from the market. 

Enter Niamh Algar as the eponymous CENSOR. At first glance, Enid, the mild-mannered censor at the heart of it all, seems to fit the description of house-proud town mouse. She wants to do her job well. Very well. But Prano Bailey Bond makes clear distinctions right away in her debut feature between the appearance and the reality. She is surgically precise in the cuts she makes. She quickly categorizes films and memorizes content. Her stomach can handle even the most extreme content. She denies her fascination with the gore, cloaking it behind a well-worn mask. “How can you watch this stuff?” one colleague asks. “I just focus on getting it right.” 

Mary Whitehouse, BBC Archives

This cultish consumption leads her to a film that resembles long-suppressed memories of her sister who disappeared as a child. On a quest to find out whether or not her sister is, indeed, alive, she reveals more of her true nature as a devotee of the genre, an identity that she’s worked hard to hide. This is not the only way in which the film comments on the demands placed on Enid to suppress “unwomanly” desires or perform her place in the accepted social role, as a house proud town mouse. In spite of seeking to “out herself” she must continue to wear a mask to get what she wants.

As social roles break down though, and reality and fiction begin to blend, she gains a certain level of freedom. Wandering through a dreamscape of horror productions past allows Prano Bailey Bond’s clear and astute eye for color and composition shine. The use of lighting, color filters, complex sound design, and practical effects begin to perfectly mimic so many exploitation films from the 1980’s (think Cannibal Ferox, or Blood Feast), I found myself thinking that I had somehow suppressed this film from my childhood trauma. The film’s aesthetics are a wonder, but so, too, is the editing, which does more than the usual jump cuts. Through the clever use of a variety of techniques, the film creates the effect of feeling like a worn out VHS tape, that’s been re-watched and recorded over time and time again. Prano Bailey Bond’s film itself functions much like a VHS tape itself - a secret palimpsest of recorded memories overwritten atop hidden traumas and desires.

Enid, as played by Niamh Algar, is a beautiful study in duality. Her crisp, clean lines are as pitch perfect as her blood-curdling cries in the dark, seeking a catharsis that is just around the corner. Or is it? She's required to play everything from mask to madness, and she excels at this operatic range. 

When the blood flows in this film, it isn’t copious, but it is extremely effective. Gorehounds still should enjoy the excellently well-shot films-within-the-film that Enid reviews, which distils the essence of a particular time and place in cinematic history. Algar’s performance, her character, and her arc are deeply embedded in the idea of cinema itself. Her world gradually opens from one of gray bureaucracy to one of purple-hued excess, and the story of women in horror is told through her clear gray eyes, as she and her female counterparts are consistently undervalued. A more spoiler-heavy review would tell you how, but instead I’ll refer you to Alexandra Heller Nicholas’ book, 1000 Women in Horror, which provides detailed historical answers to the question. 

CENSOR draws us in step-by-step, with hypnotic rhythms, into the passages of Enid’s mind, exploring her need for resolution, and our own. This film is a stunning reflection on what sitting and watching pictures in the dark can do to us and for us.

An absolutely breath-taking film that I can’t wait to lose my breath to yet again.

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