A Southend nightclub came under fire today for planning to stage what is believed to be Europe's most gory horror act.

Hideous sights await clubgoers who attend the Rage Halloween special at Adlib in Lucy Road next Tuesday.

The controversial act Nightmare includes optical illusions in which people are hanged, have their throats slit, limbs cut off.

At one point a person is even decapitated.

Rochford and Southend East MP Sir Teddy Taylor said: "This kind of horrific display will simply give a bad name to the Southend nightclub scene.

"Of course Halloween is meant to be a time of fun and celebration.

"I don't feel these grotesque displays are in that vein.

"This is simply part of a nasty culture growing up in parts of London which I don't think we want in Southend at all.

"How does it add to people's enjoyment to see people being dismembered and beheaded?"

Mr Taylor suggested the night would be more likely to attract strange people than normal clubgoers and appealed to Adlib to reconsider.

He continued: "I am sure they could pack their club with a night of fun and bright lights rather than this grotesque show."

Rage promoter Lord Carlton Duane McVey said any ban on the show would amount to censorship.

He said: "This is art and you shouldn't censor art, in whatever shape or form it comes, especially with all the horrors around us every day.

"This is just good clean fun, and it is harming nobody. People go to the pictures to watch horror films, so what's the difference?

"It is also the perfect show for a Halloween party. There are narrow-minded individuals in this town who can't open their eyes to the cultural arts around them."

It is not the first time Southend nightclubs have hit the headlines for the acts they have put on. In February the opening of Bar Central in Lucy Road was marked by controversy after it booked shock performer Lucifire, who made sparks by rubbing an angle grinder against her iron-clad body.

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