Nigel Wingrove (born 26 October 1957) is the founder of the horror film company

Salvation Films {{unsourced, date=February 2021 Salvation Group is a UK-based media company, specialising in exploitation film and alternative music. The company's original name and current trading name is Redemption Films. The Salvation Group was dissolved in Nov ...

and the Redemption film label and creator of the online alternative female collective
the Satanic Sluts
He is also a film director and the only director to have had a film banned in the UK on the grounds of

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

Redemption films

Wingrove founded the film distribution company Redemption Films (now called Salvation Films) in 1992, which was the first UK company to specialise in releasing obscure European films by directors such as Jean Rollin,

Jess Franco Jess is a unisex given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Jessica, Jesse, Jessie, etc., and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Jess Atkinson (born 1961), American football player * Jess Cain (1926–2008), American radio host * Jes ...

Dario Argento Dario Argento (; born 7 September 1940) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and film critic, critic. His influential work in the horror film, horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as ...

and Peter Walker. Redemption's logo features a white, eyeless face, which is of Wingrove's former girlfriend, the actress and scream queen, Eileen Daly.

Films

Separate to his work as managing director of

, Wingrove has written and directed a number of low-budget films including Sacred Flesh (2000), "Red Kiss" (2004), Sexcretares (2005), Purple Haze (2005) and three titles; The Black Order Cometh (2006), The Black Masses (2007), and Scandalised (2008), in th
Satanic Sluts
range. Wingrove's early film work included the short erotic film

Visions of Ecstasy ''Visions of Ecstasy'' is a 1989 British short film directed by Nigel Wingrove and starring Louise Downie, Elisha Scott, and Dan Fox. It became the only work to be refused certification by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) on the g ...

(1989), which is an interpretation of the writings of Carmelite nun Saint Teresa of Avila with a soundtrack by

Steven Severin Steven Severin (born Steven John Bailey; 25 September 1955) is an English songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He is best known as the bassist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees which he co-founded in 1976. He took th ...

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine in ...

and would go on to be banned from distribution on the grounds of

. Wingrove is currently working on a nunsploitation film, "Sisters of Armageddon", and an Alice in Wonderland inspired title: "Alice in the Underworld" and producing a series of cosplay themed films for Ghoul Girls, a sister film label to the Satanic Sluts.

Anti-Censorship

In 1996, Wingrove challenged the British Board of Film Classification, which had refused to grant a distribution certificate for his short film ''

'' on the grounds that it was blasphemous, at the European Court of Human Rights. He claimed that the ban breached Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and was disproportionate. Wingrove's case was supported by the notable figures such as authors Salman Rushdie and Fay Weldon, and film director Derek Jarman, however The Court dismissed the claim and accepted that the criminal law of blasphemy, as it was applied in England, did not infringe the right to freedom of expression under Article 10. In 1994, Wingrove had also contested the BBFC's refusal to grant a certificate to the films '' Bare Behind Bars'', ''Demoniac (aka Exorcism, 1974)'' and '' Sadomania'' at the Video Appeals Committee, though without success. ''Visions of Ecstasy'' was eventually released uncut in 2012, following the 2008 repeal of the UK's blasphemy laws.

Other work

Designs

Wingrove is also known for his design work, which has a dark erotic style. He has worked on the fetish magazine Skin Two and, from 1992 to 1996, he was involved with the emerging

Black Metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

band

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

, who licensed a number of Wingrove's images for use as their artwork on albums and t-shirts including the infamous " Jesus is a Cunt" design. Wingrove went on to art direct three albums for the band, the last being Dusk... and Her Embrace, though a great many of Wingrove's conceived images can be found in the definitive book on the band, "

Gospel of Filth ''The Gospel of Filth'' (variously subtitled "A Black Metal Bible" and "A Bible of Decadence & Darkness") is a book by Dani Filth and Gavin Baddeley, documenting the history of the band Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extrem ...

" (Fab Press, 2009), written by

Gavin Baddeley Gavin Baddeley (born 28 December 1966) is an ordained Reverend in the Church of Satan, and an experienced journalist who has worked for ''The Observer'' and ''Metal Hammer''. He is the occult authority for the BBC and Channel 4, has addressed Cam ...

Publications

Wingrove has two books published; "The Art of the Nasty", co-authored with Marc Morris, and "Blood and Dishonour: The Dark, Bloody and Peversely Erotic World of the Satanic Sluts – Satan’s True Sirens". Wingrove has also designed and edited several similarly themed inhouse magazines for Salvation Films, including The Redeemer (1992 - 1995), and the newspaper styled Nihilista (2007-2008) and oversaw the redesign and relaunched of Rule Satannia, a satanic themed magazine linked to the Church of Satan. Wingrove also writes a regular blog, and runs the related quasi arts and politics site "Scum Nation". Wingrove is currently writing his first major reference work, "Strength Through Design – Print Propaganda in the Third Reich" which looks in detail at the magazines and newspapers published by the NSDAP between 1920 and 1945. Art Wingrove is currently working on an exhibition of new images inspired by his book, Strength Through Design – Print Propaganda in the Third Reich.

Filmography

*''Axel'' (1988), a title inspired by a short story by symbolist writer

Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (7 November 1838 – 19 August 1889) was a French symbolism (arts), symbolist writer. His family called him Mathias while his friends called him Villiers; he would also use t ...

*''

'' (1989), an interpretation of the writings of Carmelite nun Saint Teresa of Avila with a soundtrack by

, and the only film to be banned by the BBFC on the grounds of

*'' Faustine'' (1990), a short interpretation of

Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

's poem "Faustine" *'' Sacred Flesh'' (1999), an independent Nunsploitation film. *'' Satanic Sluts: The Black Order Cometh'' (2007), the first in a series of films depicting the online female collective
Satanic Sluts
*'' Satanic Sluts II: The Black Masses'' (2008), a documentary including footage of live performances b
Satanic Sluts
held at Wingrove's alternative night club night, Black Mass *'' Satanic Sluts III: Scandalized'' (2009), the latest in th
Satanic Sluts
series, featuring Georgina Baillie and Michelle Thorne