Favorite controversial films

[Paladin]

Ilsa She Wolf of the SS was not controversial necessarily because of the Nazi connection in the title. It was mostly because it was one of the most famous or infamous sexploitation movies which came out in the 1970s.

By the way, She Wolf was filmed on the old Hogan's Heroes set and burning the place down at the end of the movie saved the expense of tearing the place down.
BTW there were at least four Ilsa sexploitation flicks:
    Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS
    Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks
    Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia
    Ilsa, the Wicked Warden
All of them follow basically the same pattern of lets find new and more explicit and often, more disgusting ways to push the limits of obscenity.
These movies featured lots of scenes of torture interspersed with gratuitous soft core sex. 
Oh, and Anchor Bay released them on DVD and are probably still available "PC police" notwithstanding.  It is still on Netflix.

Good to know, Fester. I may check out Ilsa..., since I haven't seen it in years, and a few of the sequels.

[general gruesome]

I'm going to go with: FACES OF DEATH.  The films/film series was very controversial in the early 80s.
So much so, many video stores would not carry or rent out the film series.

I remember seeing the Faces of Death films at the movie store way back in the day/ They are awesome

[marsattacks666]

Of the "controversial" movies I own or like enough to own;

I Spit on Your Grave, Last House on the Left....the originals of course!

The Exorcist, A Clockwork Orange, Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original), Freaks, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Henry: Portrait of A Serial Killer, Dogma,  Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, Blood Sucking Freaks...

Not to mention Frankenstein, Psycho and Rosemary's Baby!!

I own those films, as well.  I remember the controversy with: Henry, Portrait of a serial Killer.

[marsattacks666]

I purchased the DVDs of Ilsa many years ago, in a three-pack. Here's the DVD s from Amazon.....

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0001LJCRU

[Howler]

A Serbian film, wow! That movie is beyond F****D up.  Beyond the realms of controversy.
I don't think the film should have ever been produced.  Which is weird., because I totally
love disturbing, shocking, disgusting and over the top cinema.

Yeah, I was actually going to erase it from my post, but you commented too fast. lol Some of the parts were okay, but others that were implied because they were cut out of the American version were WAY too much for my taste.

[aura of foreboding]

Believe it or not, but Walt Disney's Dumbo and Peter Pan also take flack nowadays from the politically correct crowd.

 

I know.  I was shocked to recently read some of the comments people are making about those two films.  Who knew?! 

[Mord]

I purchased the DVDs of Ilsa many years ago, in a three-pack. Here's the DVD s from Amazon.....

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0001LJCRU

Yeah, the Illsa films are, sadly, no longer available (hence the high prices). My second fave is "Wicked Warden"(originally "Greta the Torturer"). The totally nude shower fight scene is not to be believed (R.I.P. Lina Romay)!

[marsattacks666]

Yeah, the Illsa films are, sadly, no longer available (hence the high prices). My second fave is "Wicked Warden"(originally "Greta the Torturer"). The totally nude shower fight scene is not to be believed (R.I.P. Lina Romay)!

Romay, Jess Franco's love.  R.I.P.

[horrorhunter]

One my all time favorite controversial films is.... Cannibal Holocaust. For its time the film (C.H.) was extremely controversial for its graphic subject matter. The controversy didn't just carry within the film. The controversy
followed many years after the films initial release. One of the many controversies was, what happened to the
actors in the film? Since the movie was filmed as pseudo-documentary. The people/actors were believed to be
murdered making the film. The director ( Ruggero Deodato)  had to prove that the actors he used in his film
were in fact, still alive. Deodatos intent was to have the film audience believe the actors were killed.

The whole mystique of the film has its own charm. Through the years, many horror enthusiast claim
1999's Blair Witch Project borrowed and was heavily influenced by Cannibal Holocaust. Although I
somewhat agree with an influence from C.H. I see no comparison.  Cannibal Holocaust
 is a gritty, shocking, disturbing, visceral and over-the-top gore. Not recommended for the whole
Family.

     I agree, marsattacks666. That court actually tried to convict Deodato of murder because the film was so believable (and on that miniscule budget!). After he brought the actors out of hiding to keep from being convicted of murder, the judge still pressed animal cruelty charges. I love Cannibal Holocaust. The link to Blair Witch is the whole "found footage" thing. Aside from that the two films are not similar at all. I enjoyed Blair Witch, but the fun frights delivered by it can't compare to the somber, dark, sense of helplessness and turbocharged carnage that CH delivers. It is too over-the-top for many, and a lot of people look down on movies of this sort as "gore cartoons". But, it takes very little suspension of dibelief to be entertained and moved by Cannibal Holocaust. As you say, the legal problems Deodato faced adds an interesting backstory which lends that macabre mystique to it. It's a classic.

[horrorhunter]

I purchased the DVDs of Ilsa many years ago, in a three-pack. Here's the DVD s from Amazon.....

 http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0001LJCRU

     I picked up that Ilsa three-pack a few years ago as well. Man, that's some grindhouse goodness. Uschi Digart was even in the second one. Dyanne Thorn AND "the Oosh".....spectacular! Those commentary tracks are awesome as well as the eye candy.

[marsattacks666]

     I picked up that Ilsa three-pack a few years ago as well. Man, that's some grindhouse goodness. Uschi Digart was even in the second one. Dyanne Thorn AND "the Oosh".....spectacular! Those commentary tracks are awesome as well as the eye candy.

I agree.  Uschi D., hubba, hubba.

[Moonshadow]

I LOVE " Circle of Iron"!! It just speaks to me, and I read that it was supposed to be a different type of movie- but Bruce Lee (the writer) died before it was started.  And some of the violent scenes that he had intended  to be in the film had been changed to comedic scenes- which was controversial. I still have watched it over 20 times.

All right Charpie, I finally watched this film, and I gotta say... I'm not feelin' it! Maybe I was prejudiced against it from the start, after seeing Jeff Cooper's hair. I don't know -he looks like a live action version of Thundarr the barbarian. Anyway, it was pretty freaky, a real bad trip, man. But I stuck with it, mostly because of the beautiful Israel locations.

[marsattacks666]

Another favorite controversial film I enjoy: I watched Sarah Bleed ( aka...Blood Virgin or Angel's
Last Breath) The direction and narrative is something to be seen. Filmed in 1972. The movie was
not released until 1979. Also, the film has many other titles. 

[charp13]

Moonshadow- I can't stop laughing about Thundarr! My husband and I used to watch it together when we were newlyweds! Hahaha!
Nakima! Unk!  Anyway, it takes multiple viewings to appreciate the movie.....yeah...that's it! I really don't know why I love Circle of Iron so much! Maybe it's David Carradine- but you're right about the beautiful locations.  You didn't like the monkeys???

[Moonshadow]

Moonshadow- I can't stop laughing about Thundarr! My husband and I used to watch it together when we were newlyweds! Hahaha!
Nakima! Unk!  Anyway, it takes multiple viewings to appreciate the movie.....yeah...that's it! I really don't know why I love Circle of Iron so much! Maybe it's David Carradine- but you're right about the beautiful locations.  You didn't like the monkeys???

Carradine was one of those guys, he could be equally great and terrible. I loved him in Kung Fu, and Deathrace 2000, but in this film, he was all over the place. The blind teacher wasn't bad, but the weird pseudo-asian warlord guy was just awful! And the less said about the monkeys the better! I watched a short extra piece where Carradine described making the movie and clearly he had fond memories of the film, but boy, I don't think I'd call it his best work.

And what the heck was Eli Wallach doing in a barrel trying to dissolve his pecker? Honestly, I think they were all on acid when they made this. And not the high quality stuff, either.

I did enjoy the line, "You can't kill a horse with a flute!" though.

It would have been interesting to see what sort of film Bruce Lee would have made, if he had lived and pursued this project.