Enid (Niamh Algar) works at a film censorship office, editing out the blood and gore from new wave horror films of the 1980’s to make them more acceptable for public audiences. One of the films that she is assigned to, however, feels different. The images, the plot, and the actress in the lead all bring up long-buried memories of Enid’s past when her sister, Nina, went missing and was never found. Enid begins to search for the filmmaker to see if they know what happened to her sister but soon finds herself obsessed with the mystery of her disappearance all over again and might be in a little too deep. 

Censor is the feature-length debut of writer-director Prano Bailey-Bond with assistance from Anthony Fletcher on the page. At only 84 minutes in length, the film tells a wide-ranging story but starts off very close to the characters. As the film unfolds, the world begins to open up into something larger and the writing team begins to lose their grip on the central mystery which is what made the film so interesting to start. The manic energy and pulpy nature which eventually consumes the film overlay nicely with the films which Enid is working to censor, but as a resolution to Censor leaves much to be desired. 

In the lead, Algar works well as a determined and dedicated woman to her career and her craft. Enid is written as one who clearly understands the balance of editing down scenes to pass the censorship board while not sacrificing the elements of plot or artistic vision of the director. There is a version of this film that is set up to explore the ideas of artistry and directorial intent head-on, especially as it relates to films in these exploitative subgenres, but that is not this film. Instead, it sends Algar’s Enid down the rabbit hole of depravity as she seeks out the filmmaker behind Don’t Go to the Church, the film that sparks memories of her past, and while the mystery is rather slim and not all that interesting, Algar keeps us engaged because the events clearly affect her, and she is invested in finding out the truth about her sister’s disappearance. As the events play out, the film’s effectiveness begins to depend more and more on the goodwill Algar was able to get Enid from audiences during the first half of the film. 

Her journey can be described as a wild one, albeit quite short. We follow her through the aisles of a seedy video store looking for some of the director’s previously banned works. From there, she latches on to this idea that the main actress, Alice (Sophia La Porta), is actually Nina, her lost sister. She tracks down the director, Fredrick North (Adrian Schiller), which leads her to the set of his Don’t Go to the Church sequel, starring Alice, and the climactic finale erupts bathed in atmospheric red and blue light. The camera movement here as well as the imitation of genre style is all commendable, and by itself works as an exciting and engaging piece of cinema, but in the larger context of Censor, it leaves us wanting more.  

Censor is a little unsure, it seems, of what it wants to be in the end. There are many interesting elements presented but they do not fit together into a wholly engaging picture. A little bit more development on the page would have greatly improved the result on screen, which aesthetically works quite well. Bailey-Bond and her team clearly had a unified vision for the film, and it is fair to say that they achieved it. It is a strong effort for a first feature and the care and respect towards the filmmaking process is evident. While Censor does fall flat by the time all is said and done, the artistic voice behind the film is heard both loud and clear.