Across the history of film, various genres have emerged. A lot of these are innocent, enjoyable and make for a calming viewing experience. Take Disney, for example. You aren’t going to get the end of Moana thinking, ‘wow that was harrowing’, are you?
The other end of the film spectrum makes you do exactly that. We have ranked the ten most controversial films of all time below. Asking you to sit through some of these might really be difficult, so warn your stomach and mind before dipping your toe into these gruesome waters.
A Clockwork Orange
The typical response to films of extreme controversy is that they aren’t exactly good. The first entry on our list pretty much subverts this straight away, plunging us straight into a classic work of cinema through Stanley Kubrick’s incredible A Clockwork Orange.
The reason this dystopian psychological thriller makes it into our top ten is due to the sheer repulsion many viewers felt when it first released. The idea of Alex and his Droogs committing murder and assault simply because they want to takes things beyond the understandable use of extreme violence for many audiences.
Audition
Audition is a Japanese horror film following a widower named Shigeharu Aoyama, whose dark past starts to torment her new lover. As the film progresses, the audience is forced to endure some excessively violent acts, not limited to: using needles in traumatic ways, the sawing off of a foot, and the breaking of a neck. These scenes are played off as ‘just a dream’, but whatever they were, they were still up there with most graphic depictions of violence film has ever produced.
The Last Temptation Of Christ
Taking a similar route to Mel Gibson’s much later (and almost as controversial) The ion Of The Christ, Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation Of Christ is another film from this list which actually persists as a well-loved work on cinema.
The main issue found in the film came from religious groups, who found many faults with its portrayal of gospel narratives. This led to a multitude of responses, including a Catholic nun deriding the film as “the most blasphemous ridicule of the Eucharist that's ever been perpetrated in this world”, and various Christian pickets.
The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
A film openly inspired by Nazi medical experiments was never going to be a playful jaunt in the park. The plot of the well-known The Human Centipede revolves around the desire of Josef Heiter to connect a series of individuals together, front-to-back, so that they share a single digestive system. The plot, honestly, doesn’t really get much deeper than that. Heiter’s various sexual fantasies are explored, but the most harrowing moments come at the end, where Lindsay is left in the middle of the centipede, surrounded by (and connected to) her dead friends.
The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)
The sequel to The Human Centipede actually starts off with quite a cool concept. The original film was just that; a film. The problem is that The Human Centipede 2 basically moves past this plot device, and makes the first film again, but with more people...
It ramps up the violence and graphic depictions of its namesake trope, making the film both more controversial than its predecessor, but also, quite a lot funnier. It’s really hard to take anything that is happening on screen particularly seriously, especially after you’ve seen the South Park parodies.
I Spit On Your Grave
Both of the versions of I Spit On Your Grave received their own doses of controversy. Of course, both films kick off with a brutal assault and follow the story of a woman seeking to take her twisted revenge (but very understandable) on her assailants.
The original came out in the 70s, and saw huge responses from an audience simply not accustomed to such an onslaught of brutality. The remake upped the violence, but also added in its own female empowerment element; when the ‘empowerment’ is brutal torture-murder, it doesn’t always stick the landing.
A Serbian Film
The scenes depicted towards the end of A Serbian Film border on too graphic to even write about. The general plot follows the escapades of a former porn star, who is subjected to (and subjects others to) increasingly extreme acts of violence. The conclusion of the film is a murder (involving the destruction of a human eye) the likes of which the film industry had never seen before. The fact that its brutality and sickening acts don’t really kick off until the end of the film is the only reason this hasn’t landed the top spot.
Cannibal Holocaust
Considering Cannibal Holocaust was able to create death scenes so realistic that a full-scale criminal trial was brought down upon director Ruggero Deodato, you can understand why it’s in this particular list.
He had to track down his cast to prove that he hadn’t filmed a snuff film. He showed the murder of multiple animals on-screen. He filmed various (simulated, thankfully) assault scenes. Cannibal Holocaust had it all, and it was all controversial.
The Birth Of A Nation
For a film that effectively acted as a piece of racist, propaganda and gave a new lease of life to the cult, The Birth Of A Nation actually isn’t talked about as much as it should be. Directed by D.W Griffith, the film portrayed the KKK as an almost heroic group, treating black people (many of whom were white people in blackface) as aggressive predators. Luckily, the film was protested against relentlessly and didn’t gain the positivity it hoped for.
120 Days Of Sodom
Based on the book of the same name, Salo, or The 120 Days Of Sodom was a huge controversy upon its release at the Paris Film Festival back in 1975. The film remains banned in many countries to this day, and for good reason. The film is littered with nudity, most of which comes from underage cast , and has been considered by some as pornography, thanks to its graphic depictions of sexual acts. The violence and murder is equally graphic but takes a back seat when compared to the sadomasochistic overtones littered throughout the film.
