5. Natural Born Killers (1994)
Oliver Stone’s film released in 1994 is based on a Quentin Tarantino script which was inspired by the life stories of Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate, two lovebirds. Because they have suffered a lot of childhood traumas they become serial killers.
This film was completely prohibited in Ireland and caused a lot of trouble even in the United States. Oliver Stone actually had to cut off four minutes of the movie – the scenes that were considered too violent by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and this was the only way the Director was allowed to distribute his film in the U.S.
4. The Evil Dead (1981)
Released in 1981, Evil Dead watches the story of a youth group who spend their holiday in the mountains. They rented a cottage away from the curious eyes, but their holiday becomes a nightmare when they accidentally find an audio tape that brings evil spirits out in the world. Without the benefit of a great budget, The Evil Dead had a positive review from the critics and also a pretty good box-office. Still, this didn’t stop prohibiting the movie in countries like Finland, Germany, Iceland and Ireland.
One of the most shocking scenes was the scene that shows a woman rapped by a maleficent tree! Some of the specialists claimed that this scene is humiliating for a woman and shows the misogyny of the producers.
3. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
The Cannibal Holocaust is an Italian horror which, although is 35 years old, is still prohibited in more than 50 countries around the world. The really strange thing about this movie is that the moment it was released, Director Ruggero was suddenly arrested and acused of murder and his film is considered a snuff film – the kind of movie that presents the death of a person with the special purpose of distribution and money achievements. After a while, the accusations were withdrawn and the director was released.
Cannibal Holocaust was shot in Amazon, in the middle of some real indigenous tribes. The film actually tells the story of a documentary crew that disappears after they go to observe the life of the tribes. Supposed to return in a couple of months, they never come back. So another crew leaves to search for them. Many animals were really killed during the movie shooting and some parts of those cruel scenes are featured in the final production.
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Tobe Hopper’s film from 1974 was prohibited in several countries and withdrawn from cinemas after very many viewer complaints. The film was promoted as inspired from a real life story but, in fact, it has a fiction script. Still, the scenarists admitted they kind of inspired their story from Ed Gein’s life. He is famous worldwide for his violent murders and for the horrible fact that he grabbed pieces from his bodies as trophies.
1. The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by William Friedkin, The Exorcist became one of the most important films in the history of cinematography and it’s claimed as one of the Models for horrors. That powerful effect on people this film still has after so many years since it has been released convinced the critics to call it too terrifying so it had its periods of prohibition in several states. The exorcist had such an effect on viewers that some of the cinemas owners decided to ask for paramedic team in the cinema halls during the film, just in case some of the people feel sick or faint!
In Great Britain, the film was available only in the 1990, 17 years after the release date, but it is still forbidden for children. Different from other movies that tell the story of an exorcism, the film doesn’t actually show too much physic violence, but it is considered a psychological horror, including action that can be even more dangerous than a movie involving shocking pictures. Many have said The Exorcist is one dangerous film because the intelligent script hides subliminal messages that could lead to mass manipulation.
Although now the Internet provides us thousands of movies, in a more or less legal way, and probably these films appear on several servers all over the world, the shocking scenes are not for everyone! But when even the critics that are specialized in seeing all kind of movie scenes are shocked by something at this manner, than probably there is something quite impressive there that can cause disgust, sick or terror among a larger audience.