Film shock horrors
Cinema's Shock Horrors
Lars Von Trier's Antichrist is the latest in the long line of films to be given the moniker of the most shocking of all time. We take a look at some of the other candidates.Cinema's Shock Horrors
Antichrist
Lars Von Trier is no stranger to controversy - most of his films have raised eyebrows in some form or other. His latest provoked both derision and acclaim at Cannes, where Charlotte Gainsbourg won the best actress award.Key scenes: any of the scenes of genital mutilation (there's more than one).
The Blair Witch Project
It's hard now to believe the hoopla that surrounded this no-budget feature when it was released in the late 90s. How could a tale of three students getting lost in the forest be any good? But when the persistent rumours began that it was actually real, attendances went through the roof.Key Scene: The climax, when they enter the dusty chamber and the camera falls to one side.
The Exorcist
Arguably the first worldwide horror phenomenon, The Exorcist was the undisputed horror classic of the 1970s and still stands very much as one of the films that pushed the boundaries of horror.Key Scene: Take your pick, but the head-turning, vomiting and all-swearing teenager in bed is still iconic.
A Clockwork Orange
Arguably the film that turned director Stanley Kubrick into the so-called recluse that he became famous for being. It was Kubrick himself who took the film out of circulation, and it remained unshown in Britain for 27 years.Key Scene: The Droogs rape and pillage a wheelchair-bound man and his wife.
In The Realm of the Senses
This Japanese arthouse pic from 1976 was well-received by critics but hated by censors: its scenes of real sex between a warrior and his servant were considered beyond the pale.Key scene: The 'dismemberment' (quite literally) moment.
Crash
Cronenberg's adaptation of JG Ballard's novel remained banned for many years in some London boroughs. It recounted the everyday tale of people who liked to have sex with the victims of car crashes.Key Scene: James Spader has sex with Rosanna Arquette's wounded thigh.
The Devils
Ken Russell was the bane of the British censor in the 1970s, none more so than for his 1971 release The Devils. A group of sexually repressed nuns go berserk in a nunnery in France in the 17th century.Key Scene: The Rape of Christ, when a group of nuns pleasure themselves on a statue of Christ.
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