20 Most Controversial Films Since 2000
MagicHat
Published
03/13/2015
Sex? Blood? Violence? To say these films have it all is a gross understatement.
- List View
- Player View
- Grid View
Advertisement
-
1.
The Pornographer. Porno actors Ovidie and Titof star in this film by 70's pornography director Bertrand Bonello. He wanted to cross over into mainstream filming, but critics claim it failed to live up to transgressive cinema. This is probably thanks to Bonello forgetting he wasn't filming a porno movie. -
2.
Ken Park. Based on a true story, Ken Park is kind of like this generation's "KIDS", directed by the same man. It follows a suicidal teen who shoots himself in a skate park, followed by the stories of random individuals' unfortunate lives. A tale of degradation, masochism, and lewdness. -
3.
The Piano Teacher. Our titular character is into self-mutilation and paraphilia, whose uncontrollable and strange urges consume her life... but portrayed in an intellectual and subversive manner. -
4.
The Passion of the Christ. Many may be familiar with Mel Gibson's hallmark film depicting the crucifixion. It turned out to be quite raw, if you will, with much of the run time taken up by graphic and sadistic portrayals of the torture and suffering of the Son of God. Instantaneously the movie caused near-riots in the American public, with the Anti-Defamation League on one side and Christian zealots on the other. Even the critics became angry, with one describing the film as "The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre". -
5.
Team America: World Police. Created by the guys who do South Park, this entirely puppet-acted film chucks stereotypes galore regarding Americans. Even so, the most offended person was former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, who ordered the Czech Republic ban the film. They said hell no. -
6.
Baise-Moi. Huge in its native France, this film is pretty much all gratuitous sex, violence, and murder with not much in the way of a plot. -
7.
Hard Candy. A revenge film with strong emphasis on the subject of pedophilia, our protagonist traps and brutally tortures a man in order to procure a confession as to his murdering of another girl. -
8.
Nymphomaniac. Lars Von Trier is a director who goes well out of his way to spur audiences. This film follows a sex addict named Zoe and her delving into a story of her juicy past. It's broken up by analogies involving classical music and fishing, which makes for an interesting theme. -
9.
Hostel. The label of "torture porn" is common nowadays, but in our culture this is the film that spurred the saying. Gratuitous violence and gore throughout. -
10.
Hounddog. A typical, cliched coming-of-age film only saved by a still-young Dakota Fanning. Ironically, it became a controversial mess after filmmakers utilized Fanning for an "unnecessarily exploitative rape scene". -
11.
Human Centipede. Not exactly so graphic a film except for the fact that you have three individuals sewn ass-to-mouth. The idea for this film came about while the director made a joke about punishing a child molester by stitching his mouth to the anus of a truck driver. -
12.
Inside. Another French film, this time seeing a lone pregnant woman being terrorized and attacked during the night by a crazed woman who wants her fetus. Most of this film is drenched in blood and explicit surgical scenes. -
13.
Antichrist. Another Von Trier film, part of his "depression trilogy". This movie is not just after religious organizations, it's a very serious exploration of theology that just provokes anger from the religious by proxy. It's supported in horror fashion, and several people fainted during its screening at the Cannes Film Festival. -
14.
Requiem for a Dream. It's hard to steer your audiences into viewing serious addicts as influences when you spend a lot of time portraying the depths to which their lives sink. This is the main focus in this film, which unbelievably was denied the NC17 rating the director wanted. Horribly bleak, dark, depraved, and squalid, you will never look at Jennifer Connelly the same again. -
15.
Martyrs. And another film in the category called "New French Extremity". Martyrs is like Hostel but with an actual plot line and proposed legitimacy behind the torture and violence. A U.S. remake is in the works, but you'll have to see this original version, since it's already been decided that the ending will be severely skewed to fit the "American approach". Fyi, this means it's going to have a happy or "hopeful" ending because you like that. -
16.
Shortbus. This is a no-holds-barred depiction on the diversity of sexuality in the lives of various New Yorkers, all centered around a salon where all manner of experimentation and voyeurism go on. If you're a complete prude or just lean a bit too far to the right, you may not be ready for gay men singing into penises like mics or near non-stop scenes of penetration and body fluids. -
17.
Battle Royale. The gruesome Japanese film is based on a book written in 1996, followed by a manga. It takes place in a futuristic authoritarian future, in which a class of schoolchildren are chosen each year to fight to the death under a governmental program. This movie truly pushed the boundaries like few films ever have, and has since been ripped off in the west. It is not only banned in several countries, but took 11 years to reach the U.S. and Canada. Unfortunately, the purpose isn't gratuitous violence, but a strong message on unchecked governments and a complacent public. -
18.
Visitor Q. Takashi Miike is one of Japan's most notorious directors, who has his hand in everything that pushes the envelope film-wise. And where he comes from, that says a lot. Visitor Q is unrelenting, dealing in crude manner with controversial subjects with the darkest humor. When a film's opening tag is "Have you ever done it with your dad?" you know you're in for a strange ride. -
19.
Irreversible. A seriously controversial film about two men who hunt down the rapist of a woman named Alex. Noted for reportedly holding the most brutal beatdown and rape scenes in the history of film, including a 9 minute continuous take in which Alex is violated and then reduced to a bloody pulp. -
20.
A Serbian Film. Everyone who hasn't been under a rock for the last decade has at least heard of A Serbian Film. It holds a veritable laundry list of offensive themes. Porno, child rape, necrophilia, and snuff, all seemingly non-stop and increasing in bravado as the movie rolls along. It's promised to hold a legitimate message, but it seems as though it has yet to be identified.
0 Comments