IMHO, Salò is one of the best movies ever made, but not exactly something you can invite your friends over for a movie night. It’s not just going for shock value, there’s something more about the way that fascism and power are tied to the exploitation of children.
Cannibal Holocaust is similar in that its reputation is overshadowed by the gore. The tribe isn’t as evil as the people making the “documentary.” It’s a critique of colonialism, underneath the blood and guts. (Wish they didn’t kill real animals for it though.) It’s not nearly as good as Salò, at the end of the day it’s an exploitation film with a bit of thought in it, but it’s more than just a torture fest.
I won’t extend any of the same praise to A Serbian Film - it’s like if a bunch of internet edgemasters stitched together a bunch of random scenes designed to be as offensive as possible.
Funny Games made me deeply uncomfortable. I can’t really say that I “liked” it, it’s probably the most upsetting movie I’ve seen.
What do you think about this type of movie? I haven’t watched any of the more famous Japanese ones - a lot of them seem to be “what if we shot an hour or so of dissecting a woman” which strikes me as boring and pointless. Are there any that are worth watching?
while not extreme horror, to answer ops question, I thought Threads (the umm… second half) was surprising to watch that made an impact.
oh yeah. that film.
i hated Serb’ film not just for it’s content which is completely just a regret, but I was just so angry someone filmed (any of) the scenes and just tried to make it in general. it’s like a shit stain of humanity. but like a willful shit.
like someone really forcing out the turd with full blood veins clinched. like an eye popping, back of toilet shattering paramedics calling shit.
fuck that move and thanks for the reminder.
I watched it with a buddy in college. We had basically a game of showing each other the most fucked up shit we could find - exploitation films like Stalag 69 or a documentary about some danish woman who had a farm were she fucked animals. We both found it ultimately kind of boring compared to the other stuff, even lazy exploitation films which would recycle the same 5 minutes of footage for half of their runtime.
Your comparison to a strained shit is apt. It’s trying it’s damnedest to offend, but it’s the same vibe as a middle schooler in a hentai hoodie telling dead baby jokes.
Threads does sound interesting, I’ve been recommended it multiple times before.