The sexually premeditated revenge of the victim turned killer takes a callous route which didn’t agree with the stomachs of censors; taking to hanging, castrating, axing and disembowelling the assailants of the original crime.
- Life of Brian. (1979)
The second film outing from the Monty Python crew prompted a reactionary fume and puff from vicars at the time of its release. The clergy claimed that the comedy sought to mock Christianity by drawing on the life of Christ as a parallel for Brian’s life, and asked that members of church congregations refrain from supporting the feature.
Palin and Cleese fought back at these claims and blamed the similar setting and period as the cause for any crossovers. The film ends with Brian a martyr for the cause, suspended on a cross and whistling along to, ‘always look on the bright side of life.’
- Blue Velvet (1986)
Director Lynch successfully breaks the illusion of the neat, small town setting with a disturbing undercurrent which permeates the image of everyday life with several dark scenes.
When the sexually intrigued, all American boy Jeffrey Beaumont watches nightclub singer Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini) through the crack in her wardrobe door, things begin to twist into a nightmarish landscape marred by dark sexual turns.
The youth is fascinated by the rape of Dorothy by her gangster boyfriend Frank Booth played with incredible conviction by Dennis Hopper, whose macabre sex game of acting as ‘daddy’ and ‘baby’ whilst sniffing at nitrous will remain a disturbing focus point for audience.
- Kids (1995)
A dark and disturbing view on the selfish viciousness of promiscuous youth, Kids follows the spread of aids in a small community of friends. Telly, 17 and infected with the disease hunts for teenage girls known to be virgins.
Though the girls, some of which are under the age of consent, do agree to acts with Telly it is their ignorance and his knowledge of his own condition which disturbs the audience as he insists on unprotected sex.
Uncaring, young and audacious the cinema verite style creates such a grim picture of an uncaring, youthful generation who selfishly use sex as a weapon.
- Anti Christ (2009)
The most recent of the features listed, Anti Christ has achieved notoriety quickly by distinguishing itself from the current onslaught of bloodbath horror films with extensive visceral action.
Outraged critics have responded badly to explicit scenes of genital mutilation, attempted murder, vigorous sex scenes and a graphic masturbation sequence.
Anti-Christ is out now.