The Most Disturbing Films Ever Made- Part Six

At Left- One of the most unexpected, Surrealist and bizarre moments in any film I have ever seen. Trouble comes to town in the form of the lesbian seductress Alexandra Bastedo, uncovered nude on the beach by sexually violent and sadistic husband Simon Andreu. Things get, ahem- quite interesting from here.





A Woman Under The Influence United States, 1974 Dir: John Cassavetes
One of the landmark American films of an entire decade unique and rife with quality filmmaking and stories- a rare idyll of genius for the usually suspect and shallow American film industry- A Woman Under The Influence probably holds the title for the best mainstream movie you've never seen. Peter Falk may be remembered mainly for his work as slyly-obtuse detective Columbo on television, but he's ever bit the fine actor, and his work here as Nick allows him to really go deep and dark with a character portrayal. It is, of course, Gena Rowlands as Mabel who really owns the film, though; with Cassavetes so averse to intruding upon an actor really going to work, she has every chance to show the horror of madness in all of its enervation and torpor. Madness has always been shown as pure mania, shrieking hysterics; what makes Woman so disturbing is that the truth of a person going insane is that they simply stop being who they are. Its a highly Existential film exploring the solipsistic hell of Mabel without blinking, and certainly without cheap sentiment. I highly recommend this movie, especially because it is so comparatively unknown.

Save The Tiger United States, 1973 Dir: John G. Avildsen
One of the great performances in American movie history, Jack Lemmon's Harry Stoner is every disillusioned thought of American Exceptionalism and the toll it takes on normal men's lives compressed into 48 hours of bleak and sometimes comical failure. The two days of Harry's life that comprise this exceptionally mordant film are like any two days that have destroyed the lives of thousands of men in this country; all the more important because it is just this type of banal tragedy and low-level catastrophe that Hollywood usually won't touch, far preferring grander themes of greater men failing more flamboyantly. Harry's struggles are far more prosaic; he drinks too much, dallies with strippers and prostitutes, and his business is failing. Desperate for a way out, Harry arranges to have his clothing company's warehouse burned to the ground for the insurance. That's it. But what seems like a terribly straightforward plot leaves so much room for nuance that actors Lemmon and Jack Gilford (equally great, as Harry's business partner) can really work out just what all of this means- what it means to completely fuck up everything in your life, and have no other hope than destroying it all and counting on fraud. A genius commentary on American desperation and failure.

Mondo Cane Italy, 1962 Dirs: Cavara & Jacopetti
The original mondo (the title means "It's A Dog's World") and still the best. Not encumbered with so much of the staged footage that plagued the fifty or so knock-offs and pseudo-sequels to this very first "Shockumentary", Mondo Cane is amazingly real and takes the viewer to places, superstitions and rites that- even 50 years later- still seem pretty goddamn amazingly bizarre. The opening title sequence is still a classic of mood setting, and what is often overlooked is that- for all of their lurid and voyeuristic inclinations- Cavara & Jacopetti are amazingly talented filmmakers. A real treat for anyone looking for something authentically different.

Profondo Rosso Italy, 1975 Dir: Dario Argento
Move clever than Tenebre, more violent than Suspiria, this is the high-water mark for Giallo in terms of visual style, ingenuity of composition, and blood-curdling sadism and evisceration that make current "Horror" films look like sad, sick jokes by comparison. "Serious actor" David Hemmings provides unexpected heft to the oft-maligned Giallo genre, playing a musician who is caught in an intrigue of murder without apparent motive and seemingly as confused as the viewer as to what the hell is going on. Add to this the greatest soundtrack work of Goblin's career- the music adds so much to the overall theme of psychological dissolution and human removal on the part of the killer- and you've got a truly engaging Thriller that lays serious claim to title as Best Giallo Ever Made.

The New York Ripper Italy, 1982 Dir: Lucio Fulci
I've seen it all; clearly, if you've read the entirety of this List, you are by now well aware that this reviewer shies away from literally nothing when it comes to controversial cinema. But good lord almighty...Ripper is an intensely violent and brutal film, grimly nihilistic, beyond any question completely misogynistic. This is, by far, the most deplorable Slasher film ever made; the murders are sick, sadistic, graphic and pulsating with sexual fury. You are totally on your own with this one, and I'm not kidding; the fact that the killer seems to almost be played for laughs in this ultra-violent Fulci opus pushes it well into the realm of Disturbing.

The Blood Spattered Bride Spain, 1972 Dir: Vicente Aranda
While the Spanish Horror/Giallo industry was always very much in the shadow of the Titans in Italy, there were moments when the Spaniards matched the intelligence, style, luridness and sexual license of the completely uninhibited Italians. Such is the case with Blood Spattered, one of the weirdest films I've ever seen and a completely original and enjoyable take on the Carmilla tale. Starring a splendidly lovely Maribel Martin and including a remarkable performance by the unearthly adolescent beauty of Maria-Rosa Rodriguez (and you just wait 'till you see what she is all about, buddy), this is a unique and upsetting film of sexual violence, grim abuse, male cuckoldry and cruelty and...scintillating lesbianism. Featuring one of the most truly remarkable Surrealistic scenes in Giallo-inspired cinema- one that literally comes out of nowhere like in a dream- the supernatural element to this film is so deftly handled that you almost can believe what your seeing could be real. And the final scenes, the pay-off as it were...I was just completely stunned by how all this ended up, and I promise that you will be too.

Daughters Of Darkness Belgium, 1971 Dir: Harry Kumel
One of the great psychological Horror films of all time. Lush, sensual, unbearably erotic- so much of what Jean Rollin wanted to do with his soft-core Vampire films was done so splendidly better in this incredibly gorgeous film. Only for the adults, and sure to raise the temperature between you and your lady friend, Daughters is all about seduction- an older woman for a younger man, a husband for his wife, the same older woman for her young and beautiful consort- and that same young woman for, seemingly, everyone else in the film. Set at a resort somewhere along the sea, every moment of this film seems ghostly, ethereal- for pure dream-like intensity, the only film I've ever seen that can compare to Daughters is Dreyer's masterwork Vampyr. What is remarkable are how good the performances are; Delphine Seyrig- well into her 50's, still beautiful and as seductive a demon as has ever been filmed- dominates every scene she is in, her allure on the young husband almost unbearably real. Andrea Rau- the consort of Seyrig's delightfully named Countess Bathory- is gorgeous, naked, doomed. A stunning treat that I was completely unprepared for when I first watched it, the horror of obsession and lust dominates this film and makes it a far-above-average intellectual treat; and of course, all of the naked women don't hurt.

Nosferatu West Germany, 1979 Dir: Werner Herzog
Horror as supreme High Art. Herzog's remake of the classic German Expressionist ur-Vampire tale is like a wondrously grotesque fairy-tale; the little town in Germany where Jonthan Harker lives and works in a kind of Kafkan stifling world for his punctilious boss Renfield, the manic and enthralling flight he takes to Castle Dracula upon horseback, the phallic, thanatoid countenance of Klaus Kinski's pestilential Count, the final dread horror that ends this film on a real twist unlike any in Vampire cinema- if this isn't the best film of all time, then it is surely one of the most poetic, and perfect, productions you will ever see. An absolute classic, and a total masterpiece.

Aguirre: The Wrath Of God West Germany, 1974 Dir: Werner Herzog
Klaus Kinski is the greatest actor in Cinema history. I am usually not one given to prises de position absolue, but there is no one who is so consistently perfect- even in sometimes seriously flawed productions- as the intense and utterly committed Kinski, who exudes a palpable menace very much like The Devil himself. He has been great, but never has he been greater than this amazing journey to the very heart of darkness. Herzog's story of the conquistador Pizarro and his fabled search for El Dorado is so much more than what so many critics have sought to make it, in some banal and overly-politicized effort to explore their own dogmatic and childish pseudo-Marxian agendas. A film so honest could never be shoe-horned into such kitsch-laden trappings; not merely a jeremiad on the evils of Colonialism, not some platitude-laden excursion into symbolist politics and grievance-art, Aguirre is nothing less than a meditation- gangrenous and absurd- into the very pointlessness of all human vanity, and, in the end, man himself. The final shots of the monkey-polluted raft is the greatest visual evocation of Camus' c'est le absurd refutation of the all-encompassing Hegelian dialectic and Heidegger's pompous Dasein theorizing ever filmed; Aguirre is, in this complete ruthless moment of crystalline hatchet slaying of myth and man, one of the truly great Philosophical films ever made.

Spider Baby United States, 1968 Dir: Jack Hill
Every so often a film comes out of nowhere and- while you haven't had a life-changing artistic experience- you walk away in love with movies again out of pure appreciation and enjoyment for the weirdness only film can express. Such is the case with this intensely bizarre story of a deeply inbred family living in a mansion far out in the California countryside, the "children" of the family's line possessed of a debilitating disease which causes them to mentally regress as their age increases. Lon Chaney Jr.'s last great role- and how shockingly dessicated and worn he looks, the ravages of alcohol showing themselves in their last stages- is the family chauffeur, who looks after the "children" and repairs the damage that they sometimes inflict on, say, unlucky postal delivery agents. At times truly creepy, this blacker-than-black comedy succeeds as Disturbing due largely to Jill Banner's depraved-Lolita turn as Virginia, a child-like seductress who is unbelievably good at depicting the sexual lust of a girl in a woman's body, yet still knowing what effect her charms would have on a tortured and desperate man, trying so hard to pretend that he couldn't be prey to the woman-child's affections. A lot of fun, and featuring an honest-to-god bang of an ending- Spider Baby is unique, and a total treat.

The Red Riding Trilogy I: In The Year Of Our Lord 1974 United Kingdom, 2009 Dir: Julian Jarrold
A pitch-perfect and brutal noir as nasty and nihilistic as anything penned by Jim Thompson or David Goodis, Red Riding I is the best of a trio of films produced by the BBC using the "Yorkshire Ripper" saga of Peter Sutcliffe as backdrop for a very blunt examination of press and police corruption in the mad, sideburn-adorned days of the early 70's. Andrew Garfield is so good in his turn as a young journalist sticking his nose in the power centers of England (with utterly disastrous personal results) that I honestly hope he has a long and productive career; I mean, this guy has got it. Completely redefining what television movies can accomplish in a way equal to another landmark BBC production- The Singing Detective, simply the best thing ever broadcast on TV anywhere, ever- Red Riding I is perfectly paced, unflinching in its inhumanity, loaded with violence and some rather explicit sex, and, all told, nails the noir formula like no film since Peckinpah's masterful The Getaway forty years ago. Magnificent, and offering real hope that real story telling is not yet dead in film- even if it happens to be on the tele.

Andrei Rublev Soviet Union, 1966 Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky
The greatest film ever made. An astonishing visual feast loaded with symbolism, misery, loneliness, despair, marauding Tatars and duplicitous Russian princes, and- in an ending that does the impossible, capturing visually every nuance of a great Russian novel of searching psychological probing- taking the viewer to the limits of human endurance with the Casting Of The Bell. I would dream of ruining it and telling you whether the bell will finally ring or not; but I can assure you, you will be feeling every inch of the agony the bell casting boy feels as his overwhelming project comes to final, perhaps fatal, fruition. What follows that- the glorious use of color by Tarkovsky to show you the actual glory of Rublev's ikons- reduced me to tears the first time I saw it, and has done so several times since. One of the great works of Art in Western history.

Pound United States, 1970 Dir: Robert Downey Sr.
Like nothing I've ever seen, Pound is the story of eighteen dogs in a Los Angeles walk-up waiting and hoping against hope that someone will come and take them home. The "dogs"- introduced as actual four-legged beasts and then their parts taken over by human actors- are in a hopeless fix and they know it, and much chagrined talk is exchanged about how the "people" will choose to execute their lost and worthless strays. Along the way, they fornicate, dream of escape, feud, snipe, philosophize and...wait. An Existential comedy in the best spirit of Beckett, the ending of Pound is as inevitable as it is shocking; and truly, truly Disturbing.

No Blade Of Grass United Kingdom, 1970 Dir: Cornel Wilde
One of the grimmest, bleakest and most unrelentingly Disturbing of the early 70's Eco-disaster films, No Blade Of Grass posits a near future where a world-wide grass fungus is destroying all vegetation, leading to drastic actions such as China nuking 100 million of her citizens in hopes of staving off complete catastrophe. Nigel Davenport is off the bloody charts as a man desperately trying to leave London in the midst of total chaos, and thence to the North where there is hoped-for sanctuary and- it is hoped- food. A brutal and horrifying rape by a marauding biker gang leads to Davenport's wife showing what bestial nature lurks in all mankind- and of course, you're cheering for her to kill the bastard who raped her daughter the whole time. The ending to this one is in perfect syncopation to all the grimness that preceded it; a daunting experience, Blade is truly unsettling, and Wilde directs all of this madness straight-faced, as if he really wants you to believe this could happen. That's what makes it, man.

Secret Honor United States, 1984 Dir: Robert Altman
Richard Nixon, alone, in his office late at night with a bottle of Chivas, a tape recorder, and a gun. Such is the setting for Secret Honor, an absolutely devastating look at Nixon as he ponders the wreckage of his politcal career, and all the while with a portrait of his partner in crime- Henry Kissinger- looming over his shoulder. Deeply paranoid, Nixon- played to absolute perfection by Phillip Baker Hall- works through the night and grows drunker and more pathetic, finally leading to the most disturbing moment of the film- the fact that, incredibly, the viewer has been lead to have sympathy, even for Nixon, even for this rancid monster he truly is on screen. Shot like a tele-play with virtually no intrusion of te usually pretentiously artistic Altman, the whole of this production is Baker Hall's career-defining work as a famous man dying an infamous, drunken death. An incredible, slow, deliberate and deeply intelligent film, you'll never think of Richard Milhaus Nixon the same way again.

Hotel Terminus France, 1988 Dir: Marcel Ophuls
The greatest biography ever filmed, Ophuls portrait of "The Butcher Of Lyon" Klaus Barbie is simply one of the most draining experiences of cinema I have ever had. Barbie's wickedness knows no bounds, and has few parallels in human experience. While his torture sessions at the titular Hotel Terminus in Lyon have appropriately been added to the very lowest rank of the panoply of human infamy, where the film takes a turn to the truly unsettling is after the war, when Barbie along with so many other monsters found protection from the Church, the CIA, other agents of Western barbarism, what have you. A grueling film, profoundly well done and perfectly conceived and executed, Hotel Terminus is one of the rare movies that you simply will never be able to forget, no matter how hard you may try.

Freaks United States, 1931 Dir: Tod Browning
The mother of all "sick" movies. Browning's amazing portrait of carny side show life is a morality and fairy tale, as well as a brutal revenge fable told with almost no judgment of the havoc-wreaking mob of freaks. Incredible that such a film was made in 1931, more incredible still that Browning could have ever thought this film would be allowed to be released and seen as is. Superbly well directed, all of Browning's foibles that mar other famous works such as Dracula are simply not to be found here; still one of the most shocking movies ever made, and clearly the impetus to a thousand nightmares launched from David Cronenberg to Herschel Gordon Lewis.

The Vanishing The Netherlands, 1988 Dir: George Sluizer
Yet another brilliant Euro-film utterly ruined by the preposterous, cowardly and vile Hollywood remake of same, The Vanishing is taut, scary, at times remarkably funny and ends with a crushing scene so claustrophobic and unsettling that you're going to be breathing just a little bit deeper for hours after the credits role. Young handsome Rex and young pretty Saskia are in love and on holiday in the country; at a busy rest stop, Saskia is abducted, and several years later Rex begins receiving letters from Raymond, her ice-cold sociopathic abductor. Upon meeting, Rex asks "to experience what she did"...and so he does. Smart, stylish and clever- everything the putrid remake is not, of all films that have ever been butchered by focus-group filmmaking, The Vanishing is probably the most brutally and pointlessly violated. Very scary, and with one of the great last-shots of all time.

Dahmer United States, 2002 Dir: David Jacobson
Films about serial killers fall into one of two categories: Inept and Trash. Often- as in the case of the gutter garbage churned out to capitalize on the serial craze, and centering on such figures as John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy- the two categories overlap, leaving the viewer with something both unredeemably sleazy and worthless as art. Additionally, there is the "serious" serial killer film, like ones dealing with Aileen Wuornos (Monster) that are barely above a TV movie and turn into some kind of quasi-feminist lynch mob party, or are just totally overated (Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, the kind of "shock" movie that shocks people who don't know a damn thing about Italian 70's gore cinema). There are exceptions; Zodiac, with the performance of Robert Downey Jr.'s career, was genuinely unsettling, and had one hell of a script, even if it appears said script played somewhat "loose" with the truth of the case. And then there is Dahmer, a delightfully wicked little film that has something most of these movies could only dream of having: one hell of a talented cast. He's a big name now thanks to The Hurt Locker, but years ago Jeremy Renner was just another young actor who had the guts to take on a role that asked him to inhabit the psyche of about the most fucked-up character in recent US pop culture history: a man who fucked, ate and tried to zombify a small army of young men, storing their bodies in his freezer, and then working nights at a chocolate factory, daily drinking himself into a stupor as his life went completely haywire. How easy it would have been to make a movie on this character that was just pure filth (like, say, the "other" Dahmer film, the rococco dreadfulness that is The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer) and not investigate the character- or what possibly could have turned him into what he was. David Jacobson chose another path; and what you have with Dahmer is an amazingly intimate film that also boasts Artel Great, a heart-breakingly gay drifter who seems to genuinely be in love with Jeffrey- and almost ends up with his guts in a box as consequence. The scenes between these two men are terrific, and incredibly intimate; and I'm pretty sure that it was this "gay" angle that absolutely doomed this film at the box office, and with the relentlessly "macho" types who like to watch films about serial killers- almost all of whom butcher women on screen. Virtually every part is played with chilling precision, from Dahmer's pedant/tyrant father to the poor young jock who ends up winning a tense wrestling match against the killer...and then gets butchered and eaten for his troubles. (The jock is especially good at bringing pathos and sympathy to a character who, quite frankly, could easily have been one of those guys you root for to get killed; it's a stand-out performance in a movie loaded with them) A clever film with a few genuinely tense situations (almost none of which involve actual bloodshed- a real sign of a solid, well-written script), Dahmer was a surpise for me, and I think will be for you, too.

Woman In The Dunes Japan, 1964 Dir: Hiroshi Teshigahara
Maybe the greatest Japanese movie ever made, taken from an equally brilliant novel- one of my very favorites- by Kobo Abe. What an absolute treat this movie is to look at. An amateur entomologist journeys to a small seaside town, and ends up lured into a sand pit with a beautiful and mysterious woman. Her whole life- and seemingly that of the entire town- is sweeping away the sand that accrues each night, and threatens their very survival. Sounds pretty basic, but then you have to consider the cinematography (glorious), the performances (riveting- the woman in the titular dunes, Kyoko Kishida, is absolutely beautiful and fiercely doomed) and the music (Toru Takemitsu, in one of the triumphs of his glorious career) and when you put this all together and all in dreamy, distant black & white...you have a movie of rare power and vision, and also bursting with unbelievable erotic energy. Disturbing due to the endless despair the scenario purports to be the crux of the human predicament, this is a masterpiece and one no serious film viewer should ignore.

The King Of Comedy United States, 1982 Dir: Martin Scorsese
Might be Scorsese's best film. Certainly his most ambitiously different- DeNiro's Rupert Pupkin is unbearably schmuckish, a total loser who sits in his basement night after night fantasizing about being the world's greatest comedian and yucking it up with complete insincerity alongside other noodniks like Jerry Lewis' absolute genius Jerry Langford- a noodnik and a complete asshole, but a successful one, and a ruthless sonofabitch to boot. Incredible performances from DeNiro, Lewis and Sandra Bernhard- who almost steals the entire movie with her raucous "I want to be black!" half-nude seduction of the bound and gagged Lewis, King Of Comedy is the blackest American comedy ever made (no puns intended) and a perfect film about completely flawed people- it's also the underside of an old New York now completely ruined by Disney and other Times Square atrocities, and whether Scorsese meant to do it or not...he has given, contra Hannah Arendt, the perfect representation in Rupert Pupkin as banality not in evil, but banality in banality. One of my favorite films.

Taxi Driver United States, 1976 Dir: Martin Scorsese
After a dry-run for a lot of his ideas of movement, light and sound (principally the use of music to drive a narrative) with 1973's Mean Streets, Martin Scorsese put it all together with the best American movie of them all from the 70's- the exhausting, overwhelming, incredibly violent experience that is Taxi Driver. Suffice to say that the name "Travis Bickle" has become a shorthand reference to all that is paranoid, psychotic, insane and dangerous in American society for over thirty years- he may have become a joke in the hands of putrid and middle-mind stand-up comics, but re-watch the film again and tell me you're not completely chilled by the master actor inhabiting a role that only he could have played. Superb smaller roles from Jodi Foster and a repulsive Harvey Keitel complete the ensemble, not to mention Scorsese's own violent and paranoid appearance as a cuckolded husband out to extract his revenge- plus, of course, the mind-blowing violent finale, drenched in blood and insantiy, not soon to be forgotten by anyone who has seen it. Incredibly powerful stuff, and a film that sees into the mind of every Tea Party psychopath stalking the Corn Belt metropolises to this day, Taxi Driver is sui generis and not likely to be equalled for narrative impact.

The Deer Hunter United States, 1978 Dir: Michael Cimino
Still holds up after all of these years as a document of pure, destroyed Americana. Like a Don DeLillo novel, Cimino's film explores the losers of American society not with vitriol, but with something very close to pathos- pure pathos, not a fraudulent twenty-hankie kitsch-fest like some garbage from the odious Ron Howard. Unfortunately best known for the harrowing "Russian Roulette" sequence, what makes The Deer Hunter truly disturbing is that all of the characters return home to Pennsylvania as mere shells of men- spent and used up by a cataclysmic act of aggression on the part of America against a small, impoverished Asian nation which had the temerity to seek its independence. Not anti-American, but merely anti-American nationalist, this is a great and terrifying movie and another one pretty much everyone should see before they die.

Joe United States, 1969 Dir: John G. Avildsen
Another paranoid winner from the criminally underrated Avildsen, Joe was ridiculously far ahead of its time and almost European in its treatment of violence, use of sex and nudity as a purely salacious entertainment, and above all the incredible cynicism the script treats the titular Joe with- Peter Boyle (a truly great actor) is just vile as a loutish, big-mouth racist who holds court day after day at his loser blue collar bar, condemning virtually all of American society which is not white, straight and male as uniquely responsible for his failure in life. Joe's intial soliloquy is still totally shocking- even more so in that after forty years, he still represents the world view of probably half of this goddamn country. And while "downer endings" became all the rage in the 70's, Avildsen's expertly-shot massacre at the end of this film is the one by which all the others must be judged- and the final image is, like the perfect irony of an O. Henry story, totally devastating.

Johnny Got His Gun United States, 1971 Dir: Dalton Trumbo
A rare Surrealist American drama, Johnny Got His Gun is- along with Paths Of Glory and J'Accuse!- one of the truly great anti-war films ever made. Joe is the all-American boy; he loves his girl, his dad, his country. Off to fight The War To End All Wars, he is blinded, mutilated, and all of his appendages are blown away by shell fragments on the very last day of the war. What follows is an endurance test of suffering for the poor wretch, as he lies in bed, concious, but unable to tell when he awake or when he is asleep. An absolutely apallingly depressing movie shot with great skill by neophyte director Trumbo, from his own novel- Johnny Got His Gun is war as it truly is: Hell.

The Most Disturbing Films Ever Made- Part Five

At Left- Two very beautiful- and very troubled- girls, and your friend and mine, Satan, here in the guise of The Goat Of Mendes. If you like screaming girls, rampant pubic bushes and absolute hysteria of a kind not to be seen anywhere else...Alucarda should be in your Netflicks queue immediately.






Suur Toll Estonia, 1980 Dir: Rein Raamat
An amazing experience- hallucinogenic, revelatory, deeply intense and violent- is to be had watching Suur Toll, an ancient Estonian legend of decidedly obscure meaning and moral. This was supposed to be taken from a children's book, for Christ's sakes- shedding some light as to the reality of childhood before the comparative comforts of our own modern world, post-2oth Century. Set deep in a primeval woodlands on the outskirts of European civilization, our hero Toll is a benevolent giant who lives with his adoring wife in a kind of pre-industrial fairy-land idyll. His ambivalent expression hints at something more somber in his soul, and we see how this can manifest when his arch-enemy Vanituhl takes advantage of an invading army descending upon Toll's kingdom to wreck havoc in Toll's home, and then by god the blood flows. I mean rivers of it. The invading army- perhaps the most fiendish looking collection of devils ever to descend upon any land in history or myth- is relentless, numberless, and utterly cruel. Vanituhl is legitimately frightening, and the sad, pathetic ending of Toll- well, I said it was a trip, but I didn't say it was a good one. Absolutely fantastic and one of my favorite things I've ever found on the Internets.

In Cold Blood United States, 1967 Dir. Richard Brooks
The rarest of the rare- a truly brilliant movie adapted from what is, probably, my single favorite book of all time. In Cold Blood is absolutely chilling- and it is also a grand adventure, during the middle parts of the film when killers Perry and Dick escape to Mexico in pathetic hopes of lost treasure, and then are reduced to picking for discarded pop bottles back in America with a sly little boy and his dying grandfather. The murder sequence in In Cold Blood is absolutely unnerving- the use of atmospheric sound, alone, by Brooks is his real coup, a true genius stroke- the endless wastes and depths of the flat Kansas plain have never been so perfectly captured for the baleful somnolence, broken only by the wail of a ceaseless wind, that animates them. One of the best American movies ever made, and truly sympathetic to these vile killers without ever letting you forget why it is they must hang.

Faccia di Spia Italy, 1975 Dir: Giussepe Ferrara
What starts off as a fairly standard confused and hectic 1970's conspiracy theory romp soon turns into one of the most grueling viewing experiences to ever be had, as a stomach-churning saturnalia of incredibly realistic torture and violence scenes take over a movie that was pleasantly meandering along in a paranoid circle, devoid of any real heft. The torture scenes are notorious, and for good and goddamned reason: you may think you have scene brutality in film, but you really haven't until you've endured Faccia di Spia. Only making it worse is that the techniques of human violation so graphically explored in this film are taken from actual CIA practice in the countries represented in the film- when people act like Abu Ghraib was some kind of an aberration, make sure you point out to them that America not only tortures...we're so good at it that we export the stuff. Now do yourself a favor and skip this movie, and instead read what Noam Chomsky has had to say about the career- blessedly cut short- of one Dan Mitrione and his crusade of Free Market evil in Uruguay during the 1970's.

Eugenie De Sade France, 1974 Dir: Jess Franco
I'm a Franco fanatic, but even I would never claim that, say, Vampyros Lesbos is "great" cinema. This little gem, however, is. Certainly there are the standard Franco attractions that make almost any of his films worth one's time- incredibly beautiful women frequently completely unclothed (in this case, the incomparable Soledad Miranda, who is quite possibly the most beautiful woman ever to appear in cinema), deviant sexual activity with the continual threat of violence hanging over all of the orgiastic voyeurism, grand stylish set pieces that I don't think the great director has ever been given proper credit for- but there is more going on in Eugenie that takes it to the level of a really great movie. Firstly, Miranda is excellent- her punishing beauty has never been so perfectly displayed, but her shyness and fragility are what makes the character she plays so interesting to watch. As the poor girl gradually falls in love with her stepfather (yes, he went that route...don't you just love Jess Franco?) and the perversion increases to the point that murder becomes a shared pastime of the two, you really get the idea that this is way beyond mere exploitation trash- the characters are truly multi-dimensional, the total lack of moral condemnation on Franco's part an invigorating switch from the mindless captious pedantry of American films, and of course...Soledad is naked. Frequently. Oh, dear lord, what a loss that she died so very young...I think she could have really "crossed over" and entered mainstream cinema and completely changed the idea of the femme fatale in 70's Euro-cinema. A great, disturbing film.

Nightmare City Italy, 1980 Dir: Umberto Lenzi
Another Lenzi mini-masterpiece, this is one of the most underrated of the great Italian zombie films. The complete mystery of the opening sequence is what makes this so compelling- an airplane lands, and something is terribly wrong wit the situation on the tarmac, but...what, exactly, is going to happen? When the passengers- who somehow have been exposed to radiation during the flight- emerge and immediately begin slaughtering every thing in sight, you know you're in for a long haul of grim and savage violence in the best Lenzi tradition. Lenzi is no Fulci or Deodato- but he's certainly not a Joe D'Amato or Bruno Mattei, either. This is a competently made, horrifying film that ends with a tremendously clever twist- one of the few times an Italian ultra-gore fest could bring things to a close with a truly interesting philosophical idea. And the siege of the television station by the rampaging zombies is one of the great sequences in the history of Itallian Gore.

Numero deux France, 1975 Dir: Jean-Luc Godard
Perhaps inspired by Foucault's ideas of power relationships and how, really, these relationships are the sole determinant of standing in any social institution- in this case, that of the traditional family- Godard's oft-misunderstood film Numero deaux is a powerful philosophical statement, one that shows how cinema can supplant the traditional vehicle for savage social satire and critique, the novel. As much a film that is about making a film about making a film, this is Godard's most abstruse and least-accessible film; like all great art, it is this very quality of icy remove and inhuman distraction that makes it so unsettling. A master at his most experimental and forbidding, this is Godard's greatest movie.

Le Samourai France, 1967 Dir: Jean-Pierre Melville
A breathtakingly gorgeous film shot with more style, more verve, more flat-out panache than almost anything else I've ever scene. Somehow, Melville doesn't seem to get mentioned all that often in the pantheon of the truly great cadre of French directors. I'm absolutely stumped by this omission. Melville's talents are all on glorious display here; the clothing, accents and names seem to be so quintessentially American; but look closer, and Melville is as much savaging the cliches of classic American cinema as he is reinventing, deconstructing, them. A perfect exploration of anomie and the disintegration of the self; with the title, it is also clear the great director is challenging the audience with a Buddhist interpretation of the meaningless charade that is life, and the ultimate futility of the Samourai getting away with all of his killing, while he himself is dying from within in every stunning frame. An absolute masterpiece, one of the greatest films ever made.

Knife In The Water Poland, 1962 Dir: Roman Polanski
I have long been a fan of Polanski; his Macbeth is probably the best Shakespeare ever to be filmed, and even mainstream entertainments like Rosemary's Baby and The Pianist are just superbly enjoyable films to watch; and Chinatown alone qualifies him a true genius, if not also total riots like The Fearless Vampire Killers. This is his absolute best film, though, and while I can't quite explain why, it reminds me so much of the kind of perfection Stanley Kubrick could achieve that this could almost be a Kubrick movie. There is almost nothing to the plot that could benefit from elaboration here; its a deceptively simple film that is all about nuance, the interplay between an older man, a younger man, and the claustrophobic tension that results from their gamemanship for the attention of a woman. Disturbing because Polanski is so ruthless is exposing the shameless ego of men when posturing and preening, this is an icy-calm Thriller with a vast reservoir of Existential critique lying beneath the surface.

A Clockwork Orange United Kingdom, 1971 Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Simply the greatest dystopian future film ever made. Completely shocking to this day, what a bomb this must have been when it hit the screens in 1971. An incredibly graphic fit of sexual violence, meaningless outrages at the hands of Little Alex and his young droogs, barbarism, sadistic orgies and incredibly graphic rape- Clockwork is Kubrick's greatest masterpiece, and seals my opinion of him as the greatest director of all time. Never had music been more credibly- and ironically- used to paint the picture of genius shunted against decay; there is absolutely nothing about this film that doesn't work, and Malcolm McDowell exudes palpable menace in every shot, even when he is completely at the mercy of his "rehabilitation" squad of social-engineering goons. Every thing that film can do is in Kubrick's meta-masterpiece, and this surely is one of the great works of Art ever made.

The Ordeal France, 2004 Dir: Fabrice Du Welz
Who are the only people making truly great Horror films these days? The French, but of course. In just the past ten years, French cinema has given the world List entries Malefique and Ils, both wonderfully perverse and unsettling movies, and this one- which, for a certain sequence of scenes, might be the most Disturbing of them all. What a perfect fucking title for a film- that really sums it up, reader. A travelling entertainer has a bit of mechanical trouble in the Belgian countryside; he is taken in by an inn-keeper, who of course warns him not to go into the nearby town. A sheer hell of torment then commences, triggering the best recent Horror film tagline: "Ask The Pig". Poor Laurent Lucas seems to be literally suffering in his role as the stranded traveller; he certainly would have been winning awards for the intensity of his performance has this been a film not stranded in the "Horror" ghetto and, concomitantly, sneered at by the "serious" critics. Filled with totally off-kilter humour of a grim and perverse kind and taking you in so many directions you never thought a modern Horror film could, this is modern terror cinema at its best- a black comedy, really, one unrelievedly dark and demented but churning-stomach Disturbing all the same.

The Brood Canada, 1979 Dir: David Cronenberg
Cronenberg has long been one of my favorite directors; ever since I saw Dead Ringers in a theater over twenty years ago, I knew I had found a popular, credible and commercial director who was vastly capable of making even the modern mediocre-anesthetized film audience really sit still and think about the movie they were watching. Not merely a Thriller director, Cronenberg at his best excels at making psycho-sexual Horrors of a kind that he alone seems capable of creating; body issues and politics, excretions and fluids, cunning cruelty and tumor-laden bodies springing from man's deepest unconscious are a consistent theme in these dark and sometimes repulsive works. But it all comes together in The Brood. Samantha Eggar is simply fantastic as the demented mother of "psychoplasmics" creatures, killer dwarves with no genitals or navels who fan the countryside as her rage and take terrible revenge on all of her enemies- perceived or otherwise. A terribly sad and pathetic murder of a completely innocent school teacher is what stands out most to me as far as "Disturbing" goes; it's Cronenberg at his most Cronenbergian, rare and honest and not likely to let the viewer off the emotional hook. A great and unnerving performance by the great and unnerving Oliver Reed completes the package for one of my favorite movies ever.

Alucarda Mexico, 1978 Dir: Juan Lopez Moctezuma
One of my favorite Horror films of all time, this incredibly graphic and unsettling film tells the story of Carmila, only with a completely hysterical and psychopathic twist. Alucarda arrives at a convent after the death of her parents, their commences some vaguely lesbianic flirtations with the fragilely beautiful Justine (isn't that just fucking perfect???) and then...all Hell breaks loose. A truly disturbing Gypsy, in the guise of what I believe to a malevolent pan, recruits the girls to his fiendish plans, strips them both completely naked, blood is exchanged, and then the two girls spend the rest of the film either nude or screaming- and sometimes both. The scene where Alucarda and Justine repeat their infernal mantra of "Satan, Satan..." is one of the greatest moments in Horror history, Moctezuma puts together sets and shots of perfect Gothic beauty, the hysteria is intense, almost Surreal and...well, you've just got to see this movie if you never have. Period.

Deep End West Germany, 1971 Dir: Jerzy Skolimowski
The two leads in this film- pathetic young Mike, played by John Moulder-Brown and the gorgeous Jane Asher as Susan- are what makes this film so indelible. While this may sound like a standard adolescent-angst and unrequited love/coming-of-age melodrama, Deep End is so much more that to risk explaining why it is so Disturbing would completely wreck the dramatic pay-off, which is all about the tragedy lurking when even something so "innocent" as an adolescent infatuation is allowed to spiral out of control.

The Witch Who Came From The Sea United States, 1976 Dir: Matt Cimber
Far more interesting and thoughtful than the almost unbelievably lurid movie poster would lead one to believe, Witch is interesting because of all of the risks director Cimber takes with his casting. Firstly, the lovely Molly is a decidedly mature woman; clearly in her late 30's, Millie Perkins is relentlessly seductive in a way completely at odds with the barely-pubescent sexuality embraced by modern Thriller archetypes. Molly is also completely fucking disturbed, if not to say barely living in the real world. Seemingly convinced that nothing is real unless it is on television, Molly also is sexually in command (see the notorious double murder scene where this tiny woman has two beefy and bravado-laden football players bound and at her complete mercy) and not about biting the cock of a sleazy past-prime television star who demands a blow-job as, seemingly, his birthright for allowing Molly into his bedroom. Oh, there's sexual politics aplenty in this strange little film, but none of it seems too preachy; as Molly disintegrates and her very personality devolves unto the ether, you can't help but feel total sympathy for whatever conflation of horrors have coalesced to destroy her so completely. Far more interesting than bigger budget balderdash that would never be so explicit or risk-taking in its depiction of female sexuality, this is a rewarding film the likes of which could never be made today.

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times Italy, 1972 Dir: Emilio Miraglia
The Queen of the Giallo. Lurid, fiendishly complex, unrelievedly tense, abstruse, decadent, superbly stylish- Miraglia certainly has one hell of a resume (including List entrant The Night Evelyn Came Out Of Her Grave) but this one is a supreme treat for fans of the unsurpassed 70's Italian cinema. Starting with a near-comical vignette featuring what has to be the rottenest little girl in the world (mayhem- just pure bloody mayhem is what little Evelyn brings to her playmate Kitty's life), Red Queen gives us a seemingly-standard "and now it's many years later" plot point to show where everybody is now that the main body of the film starts. But, oh- this is soooo not a standard and perfectly mindless diversion of a Thriller. Essentially an elaborate and modernized Gothic terror filled with old houses and malevolent legends, everybody in Red Queen dresses well, stands perfectly, trades pinpoint bon mots and plot-generating insights, and has a horde of misery and ghosts in their respective closets. Absurdly stylish, pay attention also for imaginative and brilliant use of lighting and pacing, and a soundtrack among the best of the Giallo stable. And a blisteringly Disturbing and clever ending- this not merely a great Giallo, it's one of the best Thrillers from the entire 70's.

Watership Down United Kingdom, 1978 Dir: Martin Rosen
Wow did this movie mess my ass up when I was a kid. Seeing it today, it's even more baffling how anyone could have thought this appropriate entertainment for an eight year old, but it was, after all, a "cartoon" and on HBO and I suppose my mother is to be forgiven if she had no idea a movie about a pack of rabbits could be so incredibly violent, bloody and cruel. John Hurt is especially effective here; a wonderful actor in any case, his voice is just perfect for the epic adventure his floppy-eared character Hazel goes on with all of his friends. Obviously an ecological fable, Watership works precisely because its characters are so blatantly loveable (they're fucking rabbits, after all!) but also filled with odd human failings; the animation is incredible, and shockingly gruesome in many sequences. Absolutely not for kids, but a real treat for adults wanting to torment their inner child and force the little bastard to stop whining and grow up.

Strip Nude For Your Killer Italy, 1975 Dir: Andrea Bianchi
Another one of those "Only The Italians" films of grim slaughter replete with a squadron of naked women and gallons of blood, Strip Nude wins the title for Most Lurid Film Title Of All Time, and along the way pushes the sleaze factor of Italian Gialli to new and ever more vile limits. In short, a perfect entertainment in the mind of this reviewer. Delighfully over the top and featuring perhaps the most ridiculously elaborated nude scene of any Trash Cinema contender (the warm and curvy Femi Benussi, who has an absolutely fetching and ample body, strolls around an apartment for what seems like five minutes, and is, of course, completely naked the entire time) Strip Nude also is notable for beginning with probablty the most ridiculously sleazy shot in movie history; you're certainly right in the action, so to speak, with the gynecologist as he botches an abortion and sets in motion all the mayhem that follows. Edwige Fenech, as always, is incredibly sexy and beautiful, and here she actually gets a chance to act, and not just show off those amazing hips. Healthy, curvy, sexy naked women galore- and a pretty fair plot with several excellent surprises.

Before The Rain Macedonia, 1994 Dir: Milcho Manchevski
An exceptionally well-organized and thought out film, Before The Rain is one directors attempt to bring some kind of meaning to the uselessness and terror of war, and violence in general. Set amidst the politcal chaos of the early 90's Balkans, the curious device of three love stories is used to explicate the inter-connectedness of the timeless and superstition-bound Macedonian mountains and urban, ultra-modern London. Very difficult to sumarize due to the tripartite story device, this is a movie that on its surface seems rather too glib with its romanticism, but on closer examination is far more fatalistic and grim. Gorgeous imagery and excellent performances from all the major roles.

Deranged: Confessions Of A Necrophile United States, 1974 Dir: Jeff Gillen
Here, friends, is a real hoot of a Horror. With a near-perfect performance from Roberts Blossom as an Ed Gein-esque rural madman, Deranged is remarkably intimate, claustrophobic, creepy and mordantly humorous all at the same time. Everyone knows the Gein story; this is an elaboration on the tale, with certain liberties taken, and lots of grim imagery and mental instability on display. Blossom is as deranged as the title would have you believe; and his brief interations with his dying mother (Cosette Lee) are as pathetic as they are indicative of the bloody mayhem to come. Great scenes with the barmaid forced to confront Ezra Cobb's ghoulish "family", his horrific attempts to have a real girlfriend and how disastrous that turns out, and the final, truly sad waste of the young girl Ezra takes back to his barn for vivisection. A real weird and bizarre treat from low-rent 70's Exploitation.

Kes United Kingdom, 1969 Dir: Ken Loach
The most effecting story of adolescent estrangement and anomie that I have ever seen. Makes utter garbage like the repulsively saccharine Radio Flyer seem like the lame, sentimental, bullshit Hollywood tripe that it is. Loach has a spare visual style reminiscent of a documetary filmmaker, and doesn't let his need to "direct" get in the way of the terribly bleak story he means to tell- including a performance by David Bradley as Billy that has to be one of the saddest in the history of child cinema. Billy's life is a veritable hell; working-class destitution and endless abuse balanced only by neglect at home, brutal bullying from students and teachers at school. Billy has nothing in his life until he finds a falcon (or "kestral"; hence, "Kes") and trains it to be his only friend. Of course, just when things begin to look up for the boy, an unimaginably bleak catastrophe occurs which will leave anyone with even the slightest shred of humanity completely beside themselves with grief- the torment that follows is excruciating. A very, very unsettling and sad movie; Kes also happens to be beautiful and amazingly effective at pulling emotion from the viewer without ever seeming to be manipulative.

The Most Disturbing Films Ever Made- Part Four

At Left- The far too lurid DVD cover for Flavia The Heretic, which is actually a quite thoughtful film loaded with grotesque imagery, but also a fiercely feminist message. A mini-masterpiece with an ending sequence of images just short of the hysteria Russell captured in The Devils; a real gem for The List.












Hallucinations Of A Deranged Mind Brazil, 1978 Dir: Jose Mojica Marins
A surrealistic-hallucinatory masterpiece of previously shot footage, menace, palpable insanity and horror; I can't even begin to describe the unease with which I saw this film, the apotheosis of the "Coffin Joe" series of films by a true avant outsider, Jose Mojica Marins. While its reputation is one of Grand Guignol guts and gore and rampant nudity, Hallucinations is a much better shot film that it is given credit for. A real acid trip if there ever was one, this is one of the few films on The List that I think every film buff absolutely must see.

Eraserhead United States, 1976 Dir: David Lynch
Another one of the canon that precious little can be added with my musings. One of the first truly disturbing moments of cinema I ever had, I saw Eraserhead again recently for the first time in years. And you know what? It's still incredibly fucked-up. Absolutely wonderful cinematography and a deft touch with the black-and-whites of the film make this not only an important film- but a beautiful elemental of the true vanguard.

Viridiana Mexico, 1961 Dir: Luis Bunuel
Bunuel was sometimes inconsistent as a director, in my view- but this gorgeous, depressing and altogether Disturbing film is one perfect shot after another, completely hypnotic, and one of the most unnerving indictments of "good intentions" ever filmed- indeed, on one level, it could be argued that Viridiana is the most nihilistic movie ever made. A stunning performance by both Silvia Rinal as the sadly wasted novitiate nun Viridiana, and Fernando Rey as her vulgar and predatory uncle- one of the lesser-known films on The List that I think should be required viewing for all cineastes.

Titicut Follies United States, 1967 Dir: Frederick Wiseman
Almost impossible to sit through, so disturbing because all of what you are seeing is horrifyingly true, Titicut Follies is a movie so grimly real that it makes perfect sense why it was banned for over thirty years. Documentary filmmaker Wiseman utilizes a stripped-down, minimalist style that puts you unnervingly in the midst of a chamber of horrors mental institution that for whatever vile reason holds a "talent show" every year, for the delights of the staff and other officials. Absolutely horrifying. Like the worst visions of Foucault come to life in glaring black and white, this is a lurid, shocking and completely enervating film. Without question one of the most devastating films I have ever seen.

MS 45 United States, 1981 Dir: Abel Ferrara
So far outside of the usual confines of the cliched and dread "Rape And Revenge" sub genre of masochistic misogynistic Horror, MS 45 is actually a skillful and superbly well-done movie that- if it wasn't for the grim subject matter- would probably be highly regarded by critical types for its qualities as a film, rather than an exploitation. Zoe Lund plays the shockingly beautiful Thana, who slaves away for a fashion district mandarin in Manhattan, and one night coming home is brutally attacked. Getting back to her dungeon-like apartment, a second rapist awaits her, and the ordeal begins anew. Mute, Thana gains her voice by taking to the streets with a pistol- and there is one scene in particular where a man tries to shoot himself on a park bench whilst sitting besides Thana that will never leave me. I actually jumped off of my couch watching Thana's reaction to this failed violence. Well directed and with Lund absolutely riveting in her silent role, this is an underappreciated classic, highly Disturbing, and most upsetting in revealing the talent of Ferrara, as opposed to the garbage he later shoveled onscreen.

Thriller: A Cruel Picture Sweden, 1974 Dir: Bo Arne Vibenius
Infamous as Quinten Tarantino's most-pilfered from source material, Thriller really is a damn cruel picture. Christina Lindberg is one of the most beautiful women to ever appear in cinema; the abuse and torture she receives as the hands of her odious and absolutely despicable captor makes her eventual reign of terror and revenge as satisfying to watch as anything in movie history. The training sequences where the mute Lindberg learns the arts of killing are particularly well-done; the only thing sinking Vibenius' material is the inclusion of the tawdry and frankly disgusting hard core porn material, which adds nothing but filth to an otherwise captivating narrative. Absolutely worth a watch, the most disturbing parts of this film are top of the list, in my opine.

Almost Human Italy, 1974 Dir: Umberto Lenzi
My first Giallo; although, I guess, this doesn't really count as a "Giallo", and is best described as an "Italian Crime Film". Fine, whatever; I do remember being absolutely shocked by the nastiness and pointless cruelty and violence of this film, then discovering that there was an entire industry devoted to making films like this in Italy in the 70's. The rest, as they say, is history. Still one of my favorites, Lenzi- a problematic and somewhat sloppy director, never really in Fulci or Deodato's class as a true artist- here creates a classic kidnapping gone horribly wrong film, with the grotesque Tomas Milian playing a vile and sub-human brute who relishes torture and seems almost to deliberately foul things up so that he might "have" to kill his captive. Shocking ending, brutal film; Lenzi's best, and a real white-knuckle affair.

Who Can Kill A Child? Spain, 1976 Dir: Narciso Ibanez Serrador
Fabulous Horror shocker with a real twist; the villains here are the children themselves, who have murdered an entire island's worth of people while seemingly possessed by pure, remorseless Evil. The twist is, of course, that rather than some grim orgy of child killing, the reason everybody is dead is because they refused to defend themselves- "who can kill a child", after all. Superbly well done film that is more surprising than you might expect, and of course, very Disturbing.

Hunger Denmark, 1966 Dir: Henning Carlsen
Taken from one of my very favorite novels of all time- Knut Hamsun's absolutely perfect book of the same name- this is one of those rarities that I so delight in finding every so often: a great movie made of a truly great book. Per Oscarsson wanders the streets of Christiana- as it was before it became Oslo, capital of Norway- in a nightmare of delusion, emaciation and shocking and unredeemed need. Trying to keep his sanity while also going through a grueling daily ritual of finding a place to sleep for the night, Oscarsson is heartbreaking; a perfectly gorgeous film, watching the wastrel wander these streets one moment high and the next filled with rage is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. A truly great film.

The End Of Saint Petersburg Soviet Union, 1927 Dir: Vsevolod Pudovkin
One of the great silents, and one of the truly great Soviet films before the enforced nightmare of Socialist Realism snuffed all artistic individuality from the screen and its "engineers", The End Of Saint Petersburg is a parallel on the Revolution, on betrayal, on the inevitability of violence and the seeming uselessness of loyalty. Depressing, amazingly cynical for the age in which it was produced, this is a true classic- worthy of this, and any other list to be made of great cinema.

Night And Fog France, 1955 Dir: Alain Resnais
The definitive short history of the Concentration Camps, lean, remorseless, absolutely debilitating in effect. The use of archival footage here is masterful; interspersed with recent, color footage that Resnais shot for his film, the effect is like one of entering a world of ghosts, death all around, omnipotent, pitiless. A masterpiece.

Ils France, 2006 Dirs: David Moreau & Xavier Palud
The best new Horror film I have seen in several years, along with Malefique (below). What makes this movie work so well is that you are never sure who- or what- is tormenting the young couple off in the country at their fine Romanian estate. But a siege of some kind is definitely under way, and when the final results of this intensely claustrophobic journey are made clear...I trust you'll see what I was so surprised, and pleasantly Disturbed.

Malefique France, 2002 Dir: Eric Valette
A real treat. I wasn't expecting much when I downloaded Malefique two years ago, just a diversion, a time waster, some good Horror to watch on a quiet evening at home with a nice bottle of cheap red wine. How exciting it is to get 15 minutes into a movie and realize you're seeing something altogether different and splendid; this is a very disconcerting film, one of the most claustrophobic I've ever seen. Four prisoners share a cell, and one night an ancient manuscript is found in the walls. It concerns black magic, and the fate of the convict who wrote this creepy journal a hundred years before. Every single actor in this movie is magnificent- it's a real joy to see Horror treated with such respect, by a fine and talented director and all of these performers who not once gave into the ham-handed American affliction of making terror deliberate kitsch. A fucking terrific film, and the ending sequences are...deeply unsettling.

Zero de Conduite France, 1933 Dir: Jean Vigo
Disturbing because the anti-authoritarian message of the film was too much even for France, who banned the thing for thirteen years until after the Liberation in 1946. A repressive boy's school is the setting for intrigue, conspiracy and rebellion of two youths who have had it with authority and decide to wreck a holiday pageant. Incomplete, but disturbing mainly for what this charming little film evoked from the authorities: brutal censorship, shod of all rational thought. A perfect coda to a movie that dares attack fascism at its most basic root: the tyranny of adults over children.

Coup de Torchon France, 1981 Dir: Bertrand Tavernier
A superb retelling of Jim Thompson's gritty crime novel masterpiece Pop. 1280, Tavernier cleverly moves the action of this distinctly American novel to colonial West Africa, right before the Second World War. Everything works. The colonial policeman- played with startling insouciance by Philippe Noiret, who really nails Thomspson's malicious nincompoop with icy precision- is bullied by seemingly the entire town, including two of the sleaziest pimps to ever grace the screen. Is Noiret really all that thick, or is he just playing everybody for a sucker and with a big surprise indeed lurking for them? Pitiless in exposing the miserable cruelties of humanity in its every day incarnation- like all of Thompson's best novels- Coup de Torchon is a strange film to look at, and one that really rewards the viewer for getting deeper into it.

Salo, or The 120 Days Of Sodom Italy, 1975 Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini
One of the most banned films in history, and quite possibly the only movie so outrageously at odds with all of polite society's most basic values that it earned a governmental assassination of the director, Salo is an endless series of the most brutal and sexually sadistic images, crushing all known taboos, engaging in filth for the seeming sheer decadent thrill of it all, and- even to me- morally indefensible as just "Art". The use of actual juveniles by Pasolini in his scenes of coprophagous and carnal invidiousness is just something that society can't tolerate; the fact that the movie is barely held together by any narrative thread save human cruelty and domination only makes that taboo all the worse, since there seems to be absolutely no point to the film except to shock and degrade- both the actors and the audience. No doubt it must be on the list, but I still debate whether Pasolini really pulled one over on his defenders, making a flat-out nihilistic porn film and having all the pointy heads line up to defend it as some kind of "statement". Only for the most seasoned viewer of gravely disturbing films.

Mark Of The Devil 4: Tombs Of The Blind Dead Spain, 1971 Dir: Amando de Ossorio
The very best of the "Blind Dead" franchise of resurrected Templar Knights, remorseless in their killing and thirst for revenge. These are some of the best monsters ever to appear on screen; the make-up is outstanding, the idea behind them is fucking fantastic, and the execution on screen absolutely terrifying. While some of the "Blind Dead" films got a little silly later on, this one is wall-to-wall nightmare, and as the resolute army of dead killers continue on their rampage and it is clear that nothing can stop them...the concomitant level of Disturbingness goes through the goddamn roof. An absolute 70's Horror classic.

Don't Torture A Duckling Italy, 1972 Dir: Lucio Fulci
In a better world, Lucio Fulci would receive the respect he deserves as a Thriller director of the very first rank; and in Duckling, the great man puts all of his gifts for perversion and menace on display in one of the finest Giallo ever filmed. Florinda Bolkan is her usual ravishing self in this odd story of child killing in an isolated town that lives with superstitions and mistrust from the Middle Ages; disturbing scenes of adolescent seduction and children with the same twisted moral compass of their parents make this the kind of film you just want to sit down and watch with no distractions, then go make some popcorn and watch again. Superb story, even better pacing and direction from one of Italy's alternative Masters.

Wet & Rope Japan, 1979 Dir: Koyu Ohara
A Japanese exploration of the curious 70's phenomenon of "Nunsploitation", Wet & Rope is a grueling film that treats all human sexuality as aberrant, and all aberrance as titillation. The combination is very unsettling. Poor newlywed Yuko gets raped by three maniacs while her husband is forced to watch. Naturally, he banishes her now that his honor is trammelled, so she tries to kill herself. A priest just happens to be on the scene, and he convinces Yuko to become a nun. Now the real perversity begins. All of the nuns masturbate, uhm, "religiously", and in a surreal scene combining racism, bestiality and venomous rape, the sisters invite some hoodlums to stop by and watch them all violate each other to raise funds for the convent- hey sisters, ever hear of a fucking bake sale???

Flavia The Heretic Italy, 1974 Dir: Gianfranco Mingozzi
Not surpirsingly, most films of the ephemereal "Nunsploitation" genre are flat-out trash. Flavia is a huge exception; this is an amazingly thoughtful film, filled with risible imagery, to be sure, but featuring an ending sequence so bizarre, filled with suffering and ultimately tragic that only Disturbing can be a word to describe it. The great Florinda Bolkan dons the habit for this splendidly strange little number, as a nun whose convent is defiled by the deliriously named Sect Of The Tarantula, and in the process of her rebellion all sorts of proto-feminist themes are developed. The violence is incredibly nasty, the torture gut-churningly realistic, and the nudity and rape both rampant and fully realized; still, this is a "real" movie, and one that you will find yourself oddly drawn to once the lust to see naked nuns in slaked. One of my favorite films on The List, and a real 70's classic.

The Most Disturbing Films Ever Made- Part Three

At Left- Frankie gets his revenge on the scum of Staten Island in the most brutal and nihilistic American film ever made, Combat Shock.










Combat Shock United States, 1986 Dir: Buddy Giovinazzo
Now we're really getting down to business. I tried to not establish a "scale" for these films- they're all pretty damn disturbing, in their own way- but Combat Shock is in a rare air of surrealistic, nihilist hell. The director's brother plays one of the most lost, pathetic and irretrievably damaged characters to ever appear on screen- Vietnam Vet, Agent Orange victim and serially-unemployed Frankie. Frankie lives with his equally physically repulsive wife in a tenement hell somewhere in the soul-crushing wastes of Staten Island. Frankie's days are pretty much the same- shiftlessly wandering around the neighborhood, being bitched at by his wife for being so worthless, and trying to scrounge food for the couple's radically deformed mutant offspring, a creature so scabrously misbegotten that it makes the baby from Eraserhead look like a Gerber model. In an endless series of more and more disturbing encounters with the vicious and slimy underworld types of the Forgotten Borough, Frankie drifts gradually away from all reality, entering a psychotic state that may be from chemical exposure in 'Nam- or maybe just the unending misery of his torpor and wretchedness snug down in poverty's slime with no hope of succor, no dream of extrication. This is one hell of a grim film, man. I had heard the ending was beyond shocking, but no one can possibly be prepared for the grinding and uncompromising nihilism and violence of the final shots. One of the few films on this list with a "red" rating for reasons other than child nudity, animal abuse, violent rape/sexual torture and similar ultra-taboos, Combat Shock is without question one of the most disturbing films ever made, and also a real artistic triumph for the gritty and raw Giovinnazo.

Goodbye Uncle Tom Italy, 1971 Dirs: Jacopetti & Prosperi
The ultimate Mondo movie. A raging holocaust of imagery so relentless and frightful as to literally leave the viewer in a state of disbelief, Goodbye Uncle Tom is either (by far) the most racist movie ever produced, or the most brilliantly uncompromising denunciation of any of man's "peculiar institutions" ever filmed, written or orated. This movie is astonishing. An alternate history of slavery with absolutely nothing left out- from the purulent confines of a cargo hold loaded with pathetic Africans awash in their own filth and dying by the score, to the indifferent eyes of their white overlords seeing such misery, to the castration of "randy nigger bucks" by the means used to geld a horse, to waves of naked children being held up for inspection by pseudo-science charlatans studying the reek of their sweat to determine their "breed"- Uncle Tom is a movie that really is as incendiary a device as the cinema has ever produced. Certainly, the tameness of other, more noted "shock directors" (Craven, Eli Roth, et al.) stands out in gaudy, insignificant relief compared to the sheer barbarism of the tortures recreated here- and apparently, all of it historically accurate. Shot with accomplished skill by the legendary "Mondo Kings" Jacopetti & Prosperi, it would be one thing if Uncle Tom was cheaply made and clearly an exploitation vehicle for frenzied racists. But its not. I really think this was meant to be the first really "real" exploration of living hells like slavery, the Holocaust, the Gulag, etc., ever produced for the screen. And it is truly overwhelming. the kind of movie that could literally be expected to start a riot- or a Revolution- I've never spoken to a black person about this film, and I admit that I am afraid to. A true limit-experience for the viewer, and the equivalent of psychic rape for an unprepared viewer. To be watched strictly at the discretion and risk of the viewer.

L'immoralita Italy, 1978 Dir: Massimo Pirri
Another one that you will be left stunned as to how it was ever made. Beginning with the most stark and appalling image to ever greet a viewer upon commencement of the viewing experience- the disgusting form of Federico holding a dead 12 year old girl in his hands, her mouth agape in lifelessness, his eyes scanning the horizon for a place to bury the poor child- L'immoralita actually finds a way to become more despairing and depraved as it continues. After he is wounded fleeing from the law, Federico is aided by 11 year old Simona. She falls in love with him on site, and they immediately begin a very graphic sexual affair- the scene of the child laying down prone, blankly, completely nude, arms at her side, to accept her defloration at the hands of this beast is surely one of the most vile moments in the history of cinema. The fact that Simona's nyphomaniac mother also falls in love with Federico, and hatches a plot to murder her crippled husband and run off with the child killer...it actually almost becomes silly, to be honest. Definitely not for any but the most hardened cineastes, L'immoralita is the very definition of the Cinema Disturbed.

Shoah International, 1985 Dir: Claude Lanzmann
And now for a film that I would say every living person should see- as opposed to all of this red-ink stuff I keep warning you all about. Lanzmann's 10-hour documentary- and not one second of it from archived sources- is a graceful and devastating investigation of the uses of memory, of history, of man by man and perhaps even the purpose of living itself. I have never had an experience like Shoah; there is too much to catalogue here as the great director journeys to Poland, Ukraine, West Germany, Israel and other places in presenting the impact of the Holocaust 30+ years on, but the image of the lovely man in Tel Aviv who works as a barber and was forced to cut the hair of women and children headed for the gas chambers at Treblinka...beyond devastating. One of the great achievements in the history of film, this is masterpiece and will probably never be equalled as a visual representation of the horrors of Nazism.

Rollerball United States, 1975 Dir: Norman Jewison
One of my favorite movies ever. Very well-known, not much to add here, except skeptics should return to this movie and watch the way in which the violent, cocksure and super-tough Jonathan E ("I love this game!") turns into a muddle-mouthed and essentially uncomfortably shy man off of the track. It's a subtle performance gem that most "sports" movies never would consider exploring; the gladiator as essentially only at home on the killing ground, and emasculated in the "real" world. Incredible camerawork and set design, great futuristic costuming and furnishings, and one of the 70's most iconic images to end the film on one final, violent, furious shot.

Zombie (AKA Zombi 2) Italy, 1979 Dir: Lucio Fulci
There may be disagreement about the King Of The Cannibal films, but there is none when it comes to Zombies. Fulci's gut-churning slaughterhouse saturnalia masterpiece is one of the great Horror films of all time. Sure, it's fit to make even the hardest-constitutioned trauma surgeon blow chunks by the gallon with all of the guts, mayhem and evisceration ensanguining the screen, but there is an actual movie here that is pretty damn suspenseful and ends up with...well, all I can say is, Start Spreadin' The News, the zombies are here to stay...

Burial Ground: The Nights Of Terror Italy, 1981 Dir: Andrea Bianchi
One of my favorite Zombie movies, precisely because it is so bad that you just have to watch it through to the bitter, nasty and depressing end. Why does it make this list? Because it is incredibly rare that a movie can be so hackneyed (Plot, in its entirety: Famous Professor opens a haunted crypt all had been warned to stay away from, invites some friends over to a mansion, the dead walk again and besiege the mansion, everybody gets ate, roll credits...) an yet so freshly inept at the same time. There's great zombie make-up, to be sure, some imaginative killing (the maid dies a particularly gruesome death from an upstairs window she should have stayed the hell away from) but what makes this movie truly DISTURBING is...The Dwarf. If you've seen Burial Ground, you know what I mean. If you haven't...when I tell you a very beautiful woman suckles her "son" right there on screen, and that "son" is clearly a very fucked-up looking Little Person who somehow has conned this woman into letting him have some of that boobie...man, you are just praying that little fucker gets eaten and turned to human sausage...you'll see. Fucked-up, man- FUCKED-UP.

I Spit On Your Grave United States, 1978 Dir: Meir Zarchi
The King Of The "Video Nasties". Or should I say "Queen"? Like several other, almost "mainstream" perversion cinema gems on my little list, there is very little I could possibly add to the vast literature and scholarship on what is, quite probably, the most hated, censored, banned, protested, burned, expurgated, Bowdlerized and otherwise chopped-up piece of cinema ever made. Roger Ebert's least favorite film and perhaps the ultimate expression of "Grindhouse"; the multiply-raped and tortured Camille Keaton probably endures more than any actor in any role ever, and I'd like to meet the hard-hearted sonofabitch who isn't rooting for her as she exacts her murderous, castrating revenge on the squad of red neck sleezebags who beat, violated and sodomized her for a full forty fucking minutes of this movie. Perhaps the least sexually appealing movie nudity ever filmed; I Spit On Your Grave has lost none of its punch 30 years later, and all other modern "shock" treatments are absolute frauds and nothings compared to it.

Last Cannibal World Italy, 1977 Dir: Ruggero Deodato
The hellish torments that actor Massimo Foschi endure in the course of Deodato's second-most grim movie are in a category shared only by lovely Camille Keaton, above; Foschi spends the majority of this film nude, in a cave underground, deep within a narrow pit, while literally hundreds of half-nude, mud-caked savages wave spears, threaten to castrate him, urinate upon him...Jesus Fucking Christ, they just don't make them like this anymore. What's great about this extremely well-made film is that it turns into one hell of an adventure half way thru; Foschi's character escapes, takes the great Me Me Lei along with him (who in their right mind wouldn't?) and hacks his way through the Phillipine jungle in search of a way home. This is very good and suspenseful stuff; Papillon gets more respect because it has this supposed "Existential" angst thing going on, but the jungle sequences here are just as good and no male actor ever had to endure a more "exposing" role than Foschi in Deodato's other great Cannibal masterpiece.

Cannibal Holocaust Italy, 1980 Dir: Ruggero Deodato
We all know this one, I suspect. Like I Spit On Your Grave, this movie has run afoul of more censors than the works of de Sade, Nabokov and Henry Miller combined; at one point, I'm pretty sure the only place in the world where you could see Holocaust uncut and uncensored was Italy, and of course the Italians just don't plain give a fuck about anything when it comes to aberrant cinema (perhaps explaining why they have such a healthy society with a low incidence of rape and murder, certainly by American yardsticks). This one really takes things way beyond the proverbial pale, however; the completely unnecessary tortoise slaughter is what has pushed so many of my Psychotronic films into denouncing this movie as "trash", while, of course, noted Depraved Film Expert Dr. Micah Moses of Brooklyn, NY hails it as one of the cinema's great triumphs. Me, I just don't know; I'd really have to sit down over a few beers for about a week to come up with a gestalt explanation for Holocaust's fantastic, primordial hold on the attentions of underground culture mavens everywhere; I don't think it's a "great" movie, but it certainly is much more than the prudish and simultaneously puerile critics of the mainstream would have you believe. Great early use of "gonzo" technique coupled with established cinema verite elements and the "found" documentary nature of so much inferior trash of today, the completely unabashed cast delights in their roles and assumes them to the bloody hilt. Bonus round: For real Cannibal Holocaust freaks, see 2005's Alan Yates, a Sage Stallone film about- you guessed it- Holocaust star Alan Yates. He is intensely likable, has a recall and garrulous nature on par with the eponymous Dieter of Herzog's Little Dieter Needs To Fly, and avails one and all with numerous hilarious anecdotes from the making of Holocaust that will give you a great idea about what kind of actor would go off to the jungles of New Guinea to make a porno-slash-snuff film about fucking cannibals with the already notorious Ruddero Deodato. Great stuff, and a must watch- even if you loathe the original Holocaust.