TOP CONTROVERSIAL MOVIES OF ALL TIME!
Films always have the ability to anger us, divide us, shock us, disgust us, and more. Usually, films that inspire controversy, outright boycotting, picketing, banning, censorship, or protest contain content that includes graphic sex, violence, homosexuality, religious, political or race-related themes. They usually push the envelope regarding what can be filmed and displayed on the screen, and are considered taboo, "immoral" or "obscene" due to language, drug use, violence and sensuality/nudity or other incendiary elements. 'Controversial' films have always been considered a threat to mainstream, traditional (or decent) community standards. Inevitably though, controversy helped to publicize these films and fueled the box-office receipts.
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- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
- DirectorTinto BrassStarsMalcolm McDowellPeter O'TooleHelen MirrenA dramatization of the ascent to Caesar and subsequent reign of Caligula, one of the most notorious leaders of ancient Rome. We see his ambition, his scheming, his perversion and decadence, his brutality and his lunacy.
- DirectorMel GibsonStarsJim CaviezelMonica BellucciMaia MorgensternDepicts the final twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsWillem DafoeHarvey KeitelBarbara HersheyThe life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsVanessa RedgraveOliver ReedDudley SuttonIn 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier's protection of the city of Loudun from the corrupt Cardinal Richelieu is undermined by a sexually repressed nun's accusation of witchcraft.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsPaolo BonacelliGiorgio CataldiUberto Paolo QuintavalleIn World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental, and sexual torture.
- DirectorSrdjan SpasojevicStarsSrdjan 'Zika' TodorovicSergej TrifunovicJelena GavrilovicAn aging porn star agrees to participate in an "art film" in order to make a clean break from the business, only to discover that he has been drafted into making a pedophilia and necrophilia themed snuff film.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsMonica BellucciVincent CasselAlbert DupontelEvents over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.
- DirectorYorgos LanthimosStarsChristos StergioglouMichele ValleyAngeliki PapouliaA controlling, manipulative father locks his three adult offsprings in a state of perpetual childhood by keeping them prisoner within the sprawling family compound.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsCharlotte GainsbourgStellan SkarsgårdStacy MartinA self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsWillem DafoeCharlotte GainsbourgStorm Acheche SahlstrømA grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsIsabelle AdjaniSam NeillMargit CarstensenA woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsDustin HoffmanSusan GeorgePeter VaughanA young American and his English wife come to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsSusanne LotharUlrich MüheArno FrischTwo violent young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
- DirectorBrad AndersonStarsChristian BaleJennifer Jason LeighAitana Sánchez-GijónAn industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsWoody HarrelsonJuliette LewisTom SizemoreTwo victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJack NanceCharlotte StewartAllen JosephHenry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
- DirectorJohn WatersStarsDivineDavid LocharyMary Vivian PearceNotorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".
- DirectorJohn McNaughtonStarsMichael RookerTracy ArnoldTom TowlesArriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.
- DirectorE. Elias MerhigeStarsBrian SalzbergDonna DempseyStephen Charles BarryPresented in a surreal, gory and entirely visual manner, Begotten tells of the death of religion, the abuse of nature by Man and a nihilistic outlook on what life ultimately is.
- DirectorJerami CruiseKilljoyMichael Todd SchneiderStarsCristie WhilesFred VogelMichael Todd SchneiderTwo friends bring along a newcomer to go on a killing spree.
- DirectorAgustí VillarongaStarsGünter MeisnerDavid SustMarisa ParedesA former Nazi child-killer is confined in an iron lung inside an old mansion after a suicide attempt. His wife hires him a full-time carer, a mysterious young man who is driven slowly mad by the old man's disturbing past.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKen'ichi EndôShungiku UchidaKazushi WatanabeA troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help find a balance in their disturbing natures.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsEdith MeeksLarry MaxwellSusan NormanA boy shoots his father and flies out the window. A man falls in love with a fellow inmate in prison. A doctor accidentally ingests his experimental sex serum, wreaking havoc on the community.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsKarlheinz BöhmAnna MasseyMoira ShearerA young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsTatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTarô YamamotoIn the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill one another under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsAl PacinoPaul SorvinoKaren AllenA police officer goes undercover in the underground S&M gay subculture of New York City to catch a serial killer who is preying on gay men.
- DirectorVirginie DespentesCoralie Trinh ThiStarsRaffaëla AndersonKaren LancaumeCéline BeugnotTwo young women, marginalised by society, go on a destructive tour of sex and violence. Breaking norms and killing men - and shattering the complacency of polite cinema audiences.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsTadanobu AsanoNao ÔmoriShin'ya TsukamotoAs sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
- DirectorBo Arne VibeniusStarsChristina LindbergHeinz HopfDespina TomazaniA young woman, rendered mute after a childhood sexual assault, is trained to seek violent revenge on those who kidnapped and forced her into prostitution.
- DirectorJörg ButtgereitStarsBernd Daktari LorenzBeatrice ManowskiHarald LundtA street sweeper who cleans up after grisly accidents brings home a full corpse for him and his wife to enjoy sexually, but is dismayed to see that his wife prefers the corpse over him.
- DirectorJörg ButtgereitStarsMonika M.Mark ReederSimone SpörlA female nurse desperately tries to hide her feelings of necrophilia from her new boyfriend, but still has pieces of the corpse of the first movie's hero in her possession.
- DirectorJoe D'AmatoStarsGeorge EastmanAnnie BelleCharles BorromelA priest-doctor chasing a man with supernatural regenerative abilities, who has recently escaped from a medical lab, reaches a small town where the mutant goes on a killing spree.
- DirectorJoe D'AmatoStarsKieran CanterCinzia MonrealeFranca StoppiA disturbed young taxidermist exhumes his recently deceased girlfriend, brings her body to his family villa and proceeds to embalm her corpse, with help from his strange housekeeper. But his bouts of insanity are just beginning.
- DirectorJoe D'AmatoStarsTisa FarrowSaverio ValloneSerena GrandiA group of friends and a hitchhiker become stranded on a tourist island where they are stalked by a disfigured cannibalistic killer who is prowling the island after killing its residents.
- DirectorUmberto LenziStarsGiovanni Lombardo RadiceLorraine De SelleDanilo MatteiThree friends set out to disprove cannibalism on a trip to the Amazonian jungle, where they meet two men trying to escape a vicious cannibal tribe.
- DirectorRuggero DeodatoStarsRobert KermanFrancesca CiardiPerry PirkanenDuring a rescue mission into the Amazon rainforest, a professor stumbles across lost film shot by a missing documentary crew.
- DirectorNico MastorakisStarsBob BehlingJane LyleJessica DublinA couple of perverted and maniac killers get loose on a Greek island.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsMarilyn BurnsEdwin NealAllen DanzigerFive friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsSandra PeabodyLucy GranthamDavid HessTwo teenage girls heading to a rock concert for one's birthday try to score marijuana in the city, where they are kidnapped and brutalized by a gang of psychopathic convicts.
- DirectorMeir ZarchiStarsCamille KeatonEron TaborRichard PaceAn aspiring writer is repeatedly assaulted, humiliated, and left for dead by four men she systematically hunts down to seek revenge.
- DirectorSteven R. MonroeStarsSarah ButlerJeff BransonAndrew HowardA writer who is brutalized during her cabin retreat seeks revenge on her attackers, who left her for dead.
- DirectorSteven SheilStarsPerry BensonDido MilesOlga FedoriLena, a young Polish immigrant working as a cleaner at an airport, is invited to the family home of a co-worker, which turns sinister quickly as the family intend to 'adopt' her.
- DirectorMary HarronStarsChristian BaleJustin TherouxJosh LucasA wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
- DirectorNikos NikolaidisStarsMeredyth HeroldPanos ThanassoulisMichele ValleyA man searching for his long-lost lover is kidnapped by her killers, an insane, mother-daughter duo, and they force him to commit various sexual atrocities with them.
- DirectorJohn Alan SchwartzStarsMichael CarrSamuel BerkowitzMary Ellen BrightonA collection of death scenes, ranging from TV material to homemade super 8 movies.
- DirectorJoel M. ReedStarsSeamus O'BrienViju KremNiles McMasterIn the Theatre of the Macabre in New York Sardu and his assistants present a show involving the torture and mutilation of young women. The audience assumes it is just an act but the torture is real, as are the deaths.
- DirectorSean ByrneStarsXavier SamuelRobin McLeavyJohn BrumptonWhen Brent turns down his classmate Lola's invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.
- DirectorAdam RehmeierStarsRodleen GetsicJeff F. RenfroDrettie PageA prostitute looking for her next meal hitches a ride with a trucker that leaves her praying for her next breath.
- DirectorTun-Fei MouStarsGang WangDai Yao WuRunshen WangJapanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.
- DirectorBilly Hin-Shing TangStarsLily ChungSze-Man HuiMoney LoA psychopathic rapist, who attacks women that wear red, runs a home for children with learning difficulties, and rapes a girl there who he sees wearing a red dress, leading to a revenge plot by the girl's social worker.
- DirectorKôji ShiraishiStarsKotoha HiroyamaHiroaki KawatsureShigeo ÔsakoA doctor kidnaps a young couple and forces them into a game of torment that slowly extinguishes their hopes for survival.
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsMorjana AlaouiMylène JampanoïCatherine BéginA young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsJennifer LawrenceJavier BardemEd HarrisA couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyo IshibashiEihi ShiinaTetsu SawakiA widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
- DirectorKevin SmithStarsJustin LongMichael ParksHaley Joel OsmentA brash and arrogant podcaster gets more than he bargained for when he travels to Canada to interview a mysterious recluse... who has a rather disturbing fondness for walruses.
- DirectorEli RothStarsLauren GermanHeather MatarazzoBijou PhillipsThree American college students studying abroad are lured to a Slovakian hostel and discover the grim reality behind it.
- DirectorGyörgy PálfiStarsCsaba CzeneIstván GyuriczaGina MorenoThree generations of men, including a pervert that constantly seeks for new kinds of satisfaction, an obese speed eater and a passionate embalmer.
- DirectorKarim HussainStarsSophie LauzièreAnne-Marie BelleyBrea AsherAn anthology of horror, consisting of four segments all themed around gory subjects.
- DirectorFred VogelStarsKyle DealmanCasey EganeyDan FriedmanTwo serial killers go on a murdering rampage as one films the outcome from behind a video camera.
- DirectorTom SixStarsLaurence R. HarveyAshlynn YennieMaddi BlackInspired by the fictional Dr. Heiter, disturbed loner Martin dreams of creating a 12-person centipede and sets out to realize his sick fantasy.
- DirectorJohn Cameron MitchellStarsSook-Yin LeePeter SticklesPJ DeBoyA group of New Yorkers caught up in their romantic-sexual milieu converge at an underground salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsIsabella RosselliniKyle MacLachlanDennis HopperThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsEllen BurstynJared LetoJennifer ConnellyThe drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsKirsten DunstCharlotte GainsbourgKiefer SutherlandTwo sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
- DirectorPark Chan-wookStarsChoi Min-sikYoo Ji-taeKang Hye-jeongAfter being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must track down his captor in five days.
- DirectorCatherine BreillatStarsCaroline DuceySagamore StéveninFrançois BerléandFrustrated by the lack of intimacy in her relationship, a young schoolteacher goes through a series of intimidating and often violent sexual partners.
- DirectorVincent GalloStarsVincent GalloChloë SevignyCheryl TiegsProfessional motorcycle racer Bud Clay heads from New Hampshire to California to race again. Along the way he meets various needy women who provide him with the cure to his own loneliness, but only a certain woman from his past will truly satisfy him.
- DirectorPeter MullanStarsEileen WalshDorothy DuffyNora-Jane NooneThree young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsMarlon BrandoMaria SchneiderMaria MichiA young Parisian woman meets a middle-aged American businessman who demands their clandestine relationship be based only on sex.
- DirectorLarry ClarkEdward LachmanStarsAdam ChubbuckJames BullardSeth GrayKen Park is about several Californian skateboarders' lives and relationships with and without their parents.
- DirectorMaïmouna DoucouréStarsFathia YoussoufMédina El Aidi-AzouniEsther GohourouEleven-year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family's traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.
- DirectorSion SonoStarsTakahiro NishijimaHikari MitsushimaSakura AndôA bizarre love triangle forms between a young Catholic upskirt photographer, a misandric girl and a manipulative cultist.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsAomi MuyockKarl GlusmanKlara KristinMurphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with Electra. Unaware of the effect it will have on their relationship, they invite their pretty neighbor into their bed.
- DirectorTodd SolondzStarsJane AdamsJon LovitzPhilip Seymour HoffmanThe lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
- DirectorAbdellatif KechicheStarsLéa SeydouxAdèle ExarchopoulosSalim KechioucheAdèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
- DirectorLouis C.K.StarsLouis C.K.Chloë Grace MoretzRose ByrneWhen a successful television writer's daughter becomes the interest of an aging filmmaker with an appalling past, he becomes worried about how to handle the situation.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsKieran O'BrienMargo StilleyRobert Levon BeenIn London, intense sexual encounters take place between an American college student, named Lisa, and an English scientist, named Matt, between attending rock concerts.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJames MasonShelley WintersSue LyonA middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a 14-year-old girl.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanJon VoightSylvia MilesA naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsMyriem RousselThierry RodePhilippe LacosteA college student gets pregnant without having intercourse, affecting people close and unrelated to her in different ways.
- DirectorLarry ClarkStarsLeo FitzpatrickJustin PierceChloë SevignyA day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanDocumentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater where people stay trapped in their madness.
- DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsBenjamin ChristensenElisabeth ChristensenMaren PedersenFictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.
- DirectorHideshi HinoStarsHiroshi TamuraKirara YûgaoAnja BlagojevicLate at night, a woman is kidnapped by an unknown assailant and taken back to his blood-spattered dungeon, where he turns her into a "flower of blood and flesh" through a series of dismemberment and evisceration.
- DirectorMelvin Van PeeblesStarsMelvin Van PeeblesHubert ScalesJohn DullaghanAfter saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsTatsuya FujiEiko MatsudaAoi NakajimaA passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
- DirectorCatherine BreillatStarsCharlotte AlexandraHiram KellerRita MaidenReluctantly, a sulky adolescent returns to her parents' house for yet another boring summer vacation, dabbling in desire and the art of desirability, eventually mixing reality with vision, caged fantasies with the fierce female sexuality.
- DirectorMichael FindlayHoracio FredrikssonSimon NuchternStarsMargarita AmuchásteguiTina AustinAna CarroA so-called "snuff" film involving the exploits of a cult leader leading a gang of bikers in a series of supposedly real killings on film.
- DirectorDon EdmondsStarsDyanne ThorneGregory KnophTony MumoloIlsa is an evil Nazi warden at a death camp that conducts "medical experiments." Ilsa's goal is to prove women can withstand more pain and suffering than men, and therefore should be allowed to fight on the front lines.
- DirectorDon EdmondsStarsDyanne ThorneMax ThayerJerry DelonyIn the vast deserts of the Middle East, lascivious harem keeper Ilsa joins the sex-trafficking ring of a maniacal sheikh who imports helpless female slaves for his perverse amusement.
- DirectorJean LaFleurStarsDyanne ThorneMichel MorinJean-Guy LatourIn 1953, nestled deep in the unforgiving Siberian tundra, the Stalinist Gulag 14 is a purgatory under the command of the brutally seductive tormentor, Ilsa. More than two decades later, the camp's sole survivor still thirsts for revenge.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishMae MarshHenry B. WalthallThe Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
- DirectorLeni RiefenstahlStarsAdolf HitlerHermann GöringMax AmannThe infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsSilvia PinalFrancisco RabalFernando ReyViridiana, a young nun about to take her final vows, pays a visit to her widowed uncle at the request of her Mother Superior.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGaston ModotLya LysCaridad de LaberdesqueA surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
- DirectorGustav MachatýStarsHedy LamarrZvonimir RogozAribert MogEva has just got married to an older gentleman. She leaves him, and one day, she meets a young man, and they fall in love. Fate brings the husband together with the young lover that has taken Eva from him.
- DirectorVilgot SjömanStarsLena NymanVilgot SjömanBörje AhlstedtTold in a quasi-documentary style, this companion piece to I Am Curious (Blue) (1968) deals with topics such as class society, non-violent resistance, sex, relationships, and tourism to Francoist Spain.