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.
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