Controversy in Horror: 10 Movies that Shocked the World
Matt Molgaard
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Salo (120 Days of Sodom): Ready to have your mind blown and your stomach turned upside down? If you can say yes, then you’re ready to look into Pier Paolo Pasolini’s sexually exploitative Salo. It’s all about torturing children for an extended period of time, and that idea alone should leave you on edge. When you see what these poor youngsters are subjected to, you’ll know good and well why this one has had audiences repelled for decades. One of the most controversial flicks out there? No effing doubt about it.
https://youtu.be/3tg9mgewZao
Cannibal Holocaust: Cannibal Holocaust will forever be remembered as the first found footage film and as the movie that showcases living animals being slaughtered for the camera. Although there are a number of graphic scenes in the flick, the sounds of the slaughtered animals in their final moments of existence may be the most haunting aspect of the entire film. The pragmatism of those moments is heartbreaking, and animal lovers surely had to battle the urge to vomit (it’s been said that more than a single member of the actual film crew did plenty of off-screen vomiting). Everything about Cannibal Holocaust is shocking. The dark reputation the film immediately garnered was deserved and then some. This movie will still leave your head spinning… for all the wrong reasons.
The Exorcist: What made William Friedkin’s film so controversial? For starters, after dailies began to connect with outside eyeballs, a great number of individuals began to fear for Linda Blair’s safety. And then there were the alarmingly impacting special effects (absolutely groundbreaking at the time of release) and the awe of little Regan’s revolting sexuality in the flick… and then came the big, big kicker: the supposed Satanic subliminal messages sprinkled throughout the movie. Audience members were genuinely concerned they may take a little slice of the devil home with them, and the media picked up on that and ran with it. While The Exorcist is relatively tame when compared to some of the other films on this list, it was unlike most had ever seen in 1973. The controversial stigma has now been essentially detached from the movie (in large part due to some of the other extreme material we’ve seen released over the years), but The Exorcist remains one of history’s most discussed – and now beloved – works.
