- “Dobermann” (1997), by Jan Kounen
- “Caligola” (1979), by Giovanni “Tinto” Brass and Bob Guccione.
- “Videodrome” (1983), by David Cronenberg.
The Finale of TAXI DRIVER. There is an obscure slasher film from the 80’s called NIGHTMARE…brutal ! THE WILD BUNCH, John Woo’s THE KILLERS. ICHI THE KILLER, THE LONE WOLF AND CUB FILMS, The Original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, TETSUO THE IRON MAN, Dario Argento’s TENEBRE, THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG…One of the bloodiest shaw brothers films , A vampire film called THE ADDICTION…it’s a suck fest, SonnyChiba’s THE STREETFIGHTER….“He ripped off a mans balls”. SOUTHERN COMFORT, GATOR BAIT, STAGEFRIGHT, VAMPIRE CIRCUS…everybody dies. The HANZO the Razo series,
In terms of gore.. Ichi had the most, but was all cgi and looked more comical than real. Movies with the most brutality; I would say either Irreversible, or Salo.
the august undergroung trilogy – august underground, mordum and penence beat anything i have ever seen. next would be murder set pieces (directors cut). there were 5 or 6 moments during that film where i was saying “holy shit did i just see that?” most movies can only deliver 1 of those type of scenes. then would come aftermath directed by nacho cerda. relentlessly brutal. then maybe the guinea pigs then irreversible…
Weird no has mentioned the eye-slitting scene at the beginning of Un Chien Andalou.
Just for the sake of completeness, I’ll add Apocalypto to this thread. The violence is pervasive throughout the last two-thirds of the film. Human sacrifice, beheadings, spears through the head, jaguar attack, skulls smashed on rocks, ad nauseaum.
Irriversible and Ichi certainly should be on the list. The violence in those films is probably so overwhelming because it is savage and surprising and isolated, whereas films like Robocop and its sequel, while incredibly violent, use violence as a selling point — that’s what the audience is paying to see.
Irriversible had the dubious cachet of being promoted as an arthouse flick, a “message” movie, and then it shredded people’s minds with the unexpected savagery of that early fire extinguisher scene. The later rape and everything that follows, unspooling in Memento fashion, are powerful reminders about the indifferent, unpredictable nature of life and the danger of complacency in a harsh world.
There was a lot of debate about violence in films (actually, there almost always is) during the early 1970s. Consider that The French Connection, Dirty Harry, A Clockwork Orange and Straw Dogs were released within months of each other.
The fey guardians of censorship must have had a conniption…lol.
Cheers,
Steve
CinemaUprising.Blogspot.com
Irreversible was super violent.
Dead Alive was actually, probably the most over the top violence I’ve ever seen along with the Story of Rikki.
The most disturbing violence I’ve ever seen (actually I didn’t see it because it was physically impossible for me to watch) was in The Descent when the girl fell down the hole in the cave and they had to push the bone back into her leg.
Also pretty disturbing violence (because it was real) was the animal slaughtering in Cannibal Holocaust. I almost threw up but i think that was from the shock value.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records…it’s Rambo 3
Hot Shots Part Deux.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. It’s one that literally made my stomach turn.
Eli – I agree, Henry:Portrait… was quite disturbing. It was way too real for me. Most violent films I can brush off afterwards, but I felt really violated after watching this film.
The other film is Natural Born Killers. Granted there was supposed to be some kind of social commentary or parody behind it, but I really felt the excessiveness of it went too far. I really felt like I need to take bath afterwards to wash it off of me.
Films like Rambo, Die Hard etc. are violent, but in a moronic cartoonish manner. They do not bother me.
The Wild Bunch
i’m gonna give a nod to the mainstream on this one:
Saving Private Ryan and Braveheart were definatley more than i think most audiences at the times were ready for. love the movies or hate ’em, they were not afraid to make you cringe.
my vote is for IRREVERSIBLE!
Guinea Pig 2 and the August Underground movies serie
hooray someone else dropped august underground. GIANLUCA, u should also check out murder set pieces if u liked AU (if u already haven’t).
Strawdogs and Irreversible. There are no doubt many more truly violent depictions, but these two are the only films whose violence has ever haunted me.
…not sure i get why Straw Dogs and Clockwork Orange get labled as being SO violent. yea, they’ve got some hard to watch shit that’s not really up for debate, but when i think most violent, i think of off the hook, constant bloody and guts and shit you’ve never really seen on the screen before.
like Cannibal Holocaust…fucking violent. horrible piece of shit movie, but very fuckin violent.
yeah AUGUST UNDERGROUD is one of the most shocking, disgusting films in the history, SALO looks like Disney with that film
In a cartoonish way, Peter Jackson’s “Dead Alive” and “Meet the Feebles”. In a more realistic way, “Salo” or maybe “Audition”.
I just watched the french horror movies “The Inside” and “Martyrs”. I’m not squeemish when it comes to gore and graphic violence but these two really went above and beyond “the call of duty”.
Rambo 4
Perdita Durango
i guess you could also add Van Sant’s Elephant to the list, just because of how frighteningly real the violence is.
Michael Haneke’s “Funny games” (1997) of course
Anything by Gaspar Noe, Salo, Videodrome, Film Phobia.
Rob Zombie’s Halloween
Showgirls made me want to kill myself if that counts.
Martyrs gives Irreversible a run for its money.
I never usually watch violent movies. I watched Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and I’ve never been the same since.
Rudy
Most violent film I’ve seen is Guiena Pig Flowers of Flesh its a japanese straight to video gore series. In the 80s Charlie Sheen
supposedly got his hands on the volume one of the series i think it was released in 85 and he called the FBI because he thought he had seen a snuff movie..this is all according to IMDB’s triva so who knows..But I can see I own the second volume and its just gorey and almost unwatchable its just a torture. I like special effects, espcially gore special effects so I feel its worth owning to study it.