most brutal violence (1 Viewer)

[Anthony*B]

chris, Southern Comfort had a scene of a pig being slaughtered, very disturbing (even though it happens every day & my stepdad regularly did it for food at our house every year-i never had the heart to be around when this happened though)
animal abuse has been written about a lot in relation to it's role in film (Chas Balun's Deep Red publications wrote a lot about the matter), & it will continue to be a hot topic among genre fans I'm sure...both sides raise interesting & pertinent questions...I'm sure doing a Google search can uncover some articles/threads arguing both sides...
when it comes to "horse tripping", I know they used to do it a lot in westerns domestically & stopped, but other countries often have no such rules unfortunately

 

[chris winters]

I supose if you are documenting a real practice, i.e. the butchering of animals for food, and it works to show a certain culture in your films, I have less of a problem with the practice. Of course I understand in filmaking you often have to run take after take for lighting, composition, etc...and then you are manufacturing the violence to get the shot. It starts to get more uncomfortable and wrong at that point.

The tripping of horses, however, falls into the category of damaging animals simply to create an effect for a scene. Harming animals to generate the desired action and/or comedy for a shot is in a different category in my opinion. Perhaps the butchering of a pig in Southern Comfort was used to show the backwoods culture, and simply documented an actual practice. It may be uncomfortable, but I would have less of a problem with it.

 

[chris winters]

Of course in this day and age with all the tools at a filmakers disposal, there really is little excuse to film any harm to actual animals. I could see, for example. Terrence Malick filming the natives in his new movie hunting/fishing and cooking authentically.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Sadly, not too many people will watch them or even listen to someone talk about them. If you check the software section you'll probably find me bashing Criterion because I think the likes of Synapse, Blue Underground and Shriek Show are a lot more brave in what they release. People claim Criterion delivers the goods to small films but I have to laugh at this. The films they release are all rather safe and are known by film buffs and even casual viewers. If people haven't seen them they at least heard about it. However, no one knows the work of films from BU, Synapse and SS, which is rather sad.

An elitist attitude runs high among film buffs (myself certainly included) so I'm always a bit disappointed that fellow film lovers won't at least check some of this foreign titles out.

 

[Fred Bang]

How about the pants zipper scene in There Somthing About Mary?

Ouch!

On a more serious note, I was disturbed younger by the movie LE VIEU FUSIL with Philippe Noiret and Romy Schneider

where Romy Schneider is blowtorched alive by the nazis... such a wonderful woman!

 

[Anthony*B]

Mike, I always held Criterion in high regards not so much because of their "bravery" in what they release (Salo alone does not make a company "edgy" hehe)-i respect them because they almost single-handedly introduced the world to "special editions" of movies back when laserdisc was the preferred medium for "elitists" like me ( yeah right...I've never even seen Citizen Kane or Casablanca-a problem I aim to rectify soon)...back then, the idea of a commentary track was a strange one indeed, now it is common place...Criterion were innovators, not boundary-pushers IMHO

and yes, thank the gods for Synapse, BU, SS & those guys...they really are making our dreams/nightmares come true

now where is the Grindhouse release of Cannibal Holocaust?!?!?! how about an uncut release of Ken Russel's the Devils?!?! MOVE IT PEOPLE, GET THESE OUT!!!

 

[chris winters]

I was looking around Tower recods at lunch and ran across a title called Massacre in Dinosaur Valley. I picked it up for 10 bucks, impulse buy and Ill watch it tonight. It seemed like one of the movies were discussing here, but I really have no idea what to expect. I may turn it off if it gets to be too much. Anyone know anything about it?

 

[Robert Anthony]

Here's one that doesn't really fit with all the gorehound talk, but as an act of violence, it REALLY threw me the first time I saw it:

The pistolwhipping in Goodfellas.

When Ray Liotta marches across the street to the preppie's house. It's one long take, no cuts, no camera moves. He pulls out the pistol and in one motion cracks this guy over the face with it. The guy jumps back. The pistol lands on his face again. Blood starts to flow. The pistol crashes onto his face again. The guy finally drops to his knees. The guy starts to make these SOUNDS..not cries, not whimperings, but these odd, cut-off, gurgling noises. And the pistol slams into his face again. And again. And then Ray Liotta grabs the guy by the back of the head and screams into his bloodied, gurgling face.

One take. No cuts. totally threw me when I saw it. Wasnt' a curbstomping, or a rape, or an evisceration, but it was pretty jarring, unflinching, and it looked and sounded VERY real.

 

[Drew Mertz]

Here are couple scenes that came to my mind when reading this thread.

The movie KIDS had a scene where a kid get beaten pretty badly by a bunch of other kids with skateboards. It looked pretty brutal.

Also the anal rape scene in I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE was a good one. THe scream she lets out has yet to be matched by any so-called hollywood scream queen.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Absolutely! Great call.

Re: I Spit on Your Grave - The bathtub scene. He deserved it, but still....yowch.

 

[Justin_S]

This movie is really cheesy, nothing really disturbing to be found in it. I still need to pick up the SS disc myself.

I personally think Cannibal Holocaust is an amazing piece of work, and easily the best of the cannibal films. Quite disturbing, but also a morbidly beautiful and poetic film with a hauntingly lovely score played over the scenes of violence. I hate the animal violence, especially the tortoise scene (the only scene I have trouble watching), but aside from that, I think the film is quite amazing. None of the other cannibal films can compare, and none are as disturbing either. The infamous pig scene in Mountain of the Cannibal God is more laughable than offensive. I do find the John Morghen scene in Cannibal Ferox to be very grotesque though.

Jorg Buttgereit's Nekromantik films have some pretty hard stuff in them. Truly warped films, yet quite artistic. Definitely not for all tastes, but I think they're great, and quite unique at that. Then there's Der Todesking...

The Irreversible scenes are definitely up there, and contain the most emotional weight of the ones listed in this thread. The film devestates me every time.

In a Glass Cage is a more low key film in this category. An astonishing film that really works the viewer over with its subtle, yet still very brutal sadism.

Salo is probably the film I've had the hardest time watching, and I've seen my share of brutal cinema. The horrible, perverted torture on display just really crawls under my skin.

 

[Anthony*B]

Justin, all good points / recommendations...CH IS an oddly poetic film, & Riz Ortolani's score at the beginning certainly does lull one into a sleepy almost dreamlike state (we used the theme as a basis/inspiration in one of our songs-my band that is)
I personally found Nekromantik a bit over-rated, but it's been a long time since I saw it...
I guess I need to see Irreversible...I keep hearing good things about it...
In a Glass Cage is on a "to buy" list in my wallet right now, hehe,
it has been evr since the DVD came out...
I wish I could get my laserdisc player to work...I need to watch Salo again (or do I? )
Robert, Goodfellas has MANY hard-to-watch scenes...the fate of
"shoeshine man" was particularly tough to watch..

 

[JonZ]

SPOILER.......



Although fairly tame compared the Cannibal films - Ive always loved the scene in Hellraiser 2:Hellbound where Pinhead gets his throat cut.

One of my alltime favorite horror moments.

 

[Stevan Lay]

Cidade De Deus / City of God: in the scene where Steak & Fries is forced to kill one of the Runts.

 

[Francois Caron]

Essentially, it's the scenes that progress very slowly and show very little that freak me out the most. My imagination always gets the better of me.

I'll have to rent "Deliverance" one of these days. I've always heard about the "Squeal like a pig" scene, but have never actually seen it.

 

[Lev-S]

How about Spartan?

The Where's the girl, Gerry?
scene.

 

[Shaun]

Another scene that is quite brutal is one where Joe Pesci is beaten by a couple of guys with baseball bats, followed with him being buried partially alive in the dirt. I think it was Casino, but I could be mistaken.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

The opening scene of Suspiria is pretty brutal.

 

[BarryR]

Yes, that bat beating is from CASINO, and I now always stop viewing the film at that point!



There was a disturbing sequence that forever soured me on SLEEPY HOLLOW, when the Headless Horseman barged into a peaceful family setting and killed everyone, including the baby,in a particularly brutal fashion. The baby murder wasn't shown, but it was still way too nasty a scene, even for this spooky, gothic tale.

 

[Doug Miller]

I'll toss in a few, I would say I Spit On Your Grave followed by the overall feel of Last House on the Left. 2 movies that don't make you feel really good. Speaking of Christ (above), makes me think of Mel Gibson, the end of Braveheart is pretty brutal.

Doug