This week marks the premiere of the Face of Death, a remake of the controversial snuff-style film from 1978 that tricked many into believing it was a documentary.
The stars of the remake Euphoria's Barbie Ferreira, Stranger Things' Dacre Montgomery again Charlie XCX.
With the film now playing in theaters, Watch With Us wants to look back at some of the most controversial horror movies of all time — including the first. The Face of Death.
Whether they were banned in many countries, encouraged to travel, pushed back, banned or purged, these five films were not warmly received when they were released.
5. 'The Face of Death' (1978)
The Face of Death combines stage sequences and archival footage to present its viewers with several gruesome deaths, all narrated by fictional pathologist Francis B. Gröss (Michael Carr). After performing the autopsy, Gröss informs the viewer that he has assembled images that show many “faces of death”, as he is interested in the transitional period between life and death while he is no longer sympathetic to the macabre.
Although many of the film's infamous sequences are reenactments, archival footage showing very real deaths in concentration camps and extermination camps has caused the film to be banned in several countries, such as Germany and the UK, the latter of which called it an “ugly video.” A math teacher who showed up in his classroom in 1985 was even charged with emotional distress caused by torturing two of his students.
4. 'Cannibal Holocaust' (1980)
While filming local cannibalistic tribes in the Amazon, a film crew mysteriously disappears. Anthropologist Harold Monroe (Robert Kerman) goes to Amazon in search of them and retrieves their lost photos. When Monroe returns to New York, he watches the recovered footage and realizes exactly what fate has befallen the ill-prepared film crew.
Cannibal Holocaust reigns supreme as one of the most infamous horror movies of all time. Ten days after the film was shown in Milan in 1980, the film was taken by the director Ruggero Deodato and other employees were charged with obscenity. Later, Deodato would be charged with murder due to rumors that the actors were actually killed in the film (these charges were dropped when they were found to be false). The film was banned in several countries due to its depiction of violence, which included the actual killing of animals. However, Cannibal Holocaust's The style of visual realism had a great impact on the type of images found, paving the way for the success of The Blair Witch Project.
3. 'The Exorcist' (1973)
Regan (Linda Blair) and his single mother, actor Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), they temporarily lived in Washington, DC while Chris filmed his new movie. But somewhere along the way, Regan's body becomes host to a brutal organization that transforms Regan from a sweet girl into a bile-spewing demon. Desperate for answers, Chris takes Regan to several doctors and specialists who find nothing, forcing Chris to take a spiritual path. He asks for the help of Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), a priest struggling with his faith, to get Regan out of his worries.
William Friedkin's The Exorcist it is widely considered one of the best horror movies ever made, although at the time its reception was mixed in part due to its controversial elements. However, it was this fame at the time that allowed the film to stand out as the first horror film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. Nevertheless, the movie endured a strong reception from censors (with reports of vomiting and nausea), religious groups and ratings boards, and was banned in parts of the UK until the late '90s. Even in America, the trailer was banned due to strobe effects causing fainting and vomiting in test audiences.
2. 'Property' (1981)
Married couple Mark (Sam Neilland Anna (Isabelle Adjani) get into trouble after Anna confesses to Mark that she is having an affair. Anna is survived by Mark and a son (Michael Hogben) that they share, and Mark becomes increasingly insular, and the ensuing interaction between the estranged couple becomes violent and surreal. As Mark's depression threatens to destroy him, he hires a private investigator (Carl Duering) to follow Anna and find out what dark secrets she was harboring in a nearby abandoned apartment. Meanwhile, Mark focuses on his son's teacher (Adjani), who bears a striking resemblance to Anna.
Possession it was met with positive reviews at the Cannes Film Festival in 1981, however it was soon labeled a bad video in the United Kingdom due to what was considered to be extreme and disturbing content. In America, the film wasn't released until 1983, when a well-edited, 81-minute version, which lost one-third of the original film's runtime, was panned by critics. However, the film recently enjoyed a 4K restoration that premiered in New York City in 2021. It is now considered by many to be one of the best horror films of all time.
1. 'Martyrs' (2008)
Lucie Jurin (Mylène Jampanoï) escapes unimaginable torture and abuse as a young child and is placed in an orphanage, where he befriends an orphan named Anna (Morjana Alaoui). Lucie suffers from extreme PTSD while being stalked by a demonic woman who often attacks her. Years later, Lucie grows up determined to take revenge on her tormentors, who she believes have taken the picture of a seemingly normal, nuclear family. After killing them all, Anna arrives to help clean up, not sure if Lucie has really found the right villains. But his uncertainty changes when he discovers a secret passage home.
The 1970s were an amazing year for cinema. Many talented emerging directors had the unbundled creative empire and financial backing to use the medium as their playground. And some of the most popular, classics of horror cinema came from the '70s. This includes genre-defining work from directors such as John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, William Friedkin and […]
A new French Extremity film Martyrs caused quite a stir when it premiered at the Marché du Film festival in 2008 and allegedly caused vomiting at a screening in Toronto. It received a controversial 18+ rating in France, only the second film to receive such a designation since then Saw III. However, a successful appeal resulted in the rating being lowered to 16+, documented in a documentary film. Martyrs vs Censorship. Although the Weinstein Company acquired the film for North American release, Bob Weinstein was so disturbed by the film that he sent it straight to DVD, too Martyrs it was never officially released in the United States.
