What makes a great movie? We live in a time when the film industry is pumping out countless films because of the emergence of streaming services. But unfortunately, a good number of those movies are two hours of your life you will never get back.
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00:00Most movies that withstand the test of time are known for their breakthrough performances,
00:04supreme direction, or just plain good storytelling. But for some films,
00:08their continued cinematic relevance has more to do with how controversial they were,
00:12and how notoriously difficult it is for audiences to endure the movie even still.
00:16Here are a few films that will forever be associated with how much public pushback
00:20they received upon release. Last House on the Left
00:24Nowadays, Wes Craven's name tends to conjure up images of Freddy Krueger or Ghostface from screen.
00:29But years before Craven reshaped the horror genre, he started his directing
00:33career with a dark, dirty, uncomfortable movie called Last House on the Left.
00:37The 1972 movie follows a gang of psychos who brutally destroy two teenage girls,
00:42then seek refuge in a house that happens to belong to the parents of one of their victims.
00:46Last House's graphic assault sequences were controversial enough, but when combined with
00:50an uneven tone that includes a bizarre sheriff, the movie got some seriously negative press.
00:55The British Board of Film Classification rejected the film and labeled Last House
00:59on the Left a video nasty, meaning that all copies of any VHS tapes within England
01:04were to be seized by the police. The movie was only reclassified in 2008.
01:08Even one of the film's villains, actor Fred Lincoln,
01:11stated that he wished the film was banned internationally rather than just in the UK.
01:15This low-budget movie, produced for under $90,000, quickly gained such an unsavory
01:19reputation that some conspiracy theorists debated whether it had been funded by the
01:23mob or adult filmmakers.
01:26The Last Temptation of Christ
01:27Biblical adaptations are never more than a few inches away from the cliffs of controversy,
01:31but this movie stirred up a reaction like no other. At first, 1988's The Last Temptation
01:36of Christ doesn't sound like a movie that would cause such a ruckus. It pulled in an
01:40Academy Award nomination for Catholic director Martin Scorsese, with a script by Calvinist Paul
01:45Schrader. However, the movie's depiction of Jesus Christ as played by Willem Dafoe
01:49is quite unconventional. Dafoe's Jesus is weary, run down, and tormented by self-doubt
01:54over his impending sacrifice. And on the cross, the movie's Jesus experiences a sort of dream
01:59sequence wherein he's tempted to climb down, get married to Mary Magdalene, have kids,
02:03and live an ordinary life. Jesus overcomes his last temptation by accepting his role as God's
02:08son. But the film was condemned before it was even finished, with its production igniting
02:12campaigns, protests, and petitions. Evangelist Bill Bright publicly offered to pay off the studio
02:17in exchange for handing over all prints of the film. The film was so loathed that a Paris theater
02:21showing The Last Temptation of Christ was even set on fire, landing 13 people in the hospital.
02:27Not as bad as what happened to the film's Jesus, but still, you know, pretty bad.
02:31The Human Centipede 2, full sequence
02:34We all remember back when the first Human Centipede came out, even if we wish we didn't.
02:38The story centered on a mad scientist's rather innovative idea of how to spread one
02:42supersized digestive system between three people. Understandably, the movie kicked up
02:47a flurry of controversy. However, upon its release, the actual Human Centipede movie
02:51turned out to be a surprisingly conventional B-horror movie, albeit one more gruesome than
02:55the norm. But that wasn't the case with the even more graphic sequel, The Human Centipede 2.
03:00This movie features a fanboy of the original film being so inspired that he creates a homemade
03:05copycat centipede of his own, using staple guns, duct tape, and barbed wire. The BBFC argued that
03:11the grotesqueness of these sequences made it unfit for public consumption, and effectively
03:15banned the movie in 2011. It met a similar fate with the censorship boards of Australia. Of course,
03:20the movie was followed with Human Centipede 3, a film that upped the violence even more,
03:25but also dropped off the radar much more quickly.
03:28Song of the South
03:29Almost everyone has heard Disney's famous Zippity-Doo-Dah melody because it's practically
03:33a symbol of the House of Mouse. But even if you know the Academy Award-winning song,
03:37you've probably never seen the movie it originally came from. That's because the
03:41film in question, titled Song of the South, has been locked away in Disney's forbidden
03:44vault for almost three decades. It's widely regarded as a racially insensitive movie
03:49that perpetuates Southern slave stereotypes, with black characters like Uncle Remus being
03:53portrayed as jolly, happy-go-lucky folk who cheerfully serve their white oppressors.
03:58This romanticized, cozy remaking of slavery's dark history has only become more shameful with time.
04:03Due to its infamy, Disney has tried to burrow the film out of the world's collective memory.
04:07The primary residual traces that remain are that famous tune,
04:10and the strange fact that many of the characters have survived as part of the splash mountain ride.
04:15The Devils
04:16Though The Devils engendered a massive, controversial backlash when it first came
04:20out in 1971, the studio-driven hacking and slashing that the film went through
04:24caused it to mostly disappear off the radar until a recent cult revival.
04:28The Devils is loosely based on the true story of Urbain Grandier, an unconventional Catholic
04:33priest who was burned at the stake under accusations of witchcraft in the 1600s.
04:37Russell's fusion of religious iconography with graphic imagery set off a volcano of
04:41anger, with thundering protests greeting The Devils' release. Desperate to calm the reaction,
04:46the studio ordered countless cuts to the already expensive movie, slicing out so many key sequences
04:51that few people today have ever seen the original cut. However, various versions of the film have
04:55survived, going on to inspire contemporary filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro and Joe Dante.
05:01Life of Brian
05:02Monty Python might have been heralded for the Holy Grail, but their 1979 comedy Life of Brian
05:07was a different story altogether. The film is a satirical take on the life of Christ,
05:11introducing the world to Brian of Nazareth, a regular guy who happens to be born on Christmas.
05:16Brian then ends up with the bad luck of being named as the Messiah,
05:19and is eventually crucified by the Romans.
05:22The little rascal has spirit?
05:24Has what, sir?
05:25Spirit?
05:26Yes, he did, sir.
05:27Playing the Jesus story for laughs stirred up a tornado of controversy.
05:31Theaters showing Life of Brian were picketed, the film was banned in Norway,
05:34and the whole enterprise was condemned by religious groups. The BBC even aired a
05:38television debate pitting two Monty Python members, John Cleese and Michael Palin,
05:42against the Bishop of Southwark and religious spokesman Malcolm Muggeridge.
05:46Despite all the controversy, Life of Brian ended up being an enormous box office success.
05:51No! F*** off!