List of the Most Controversial Films Ever Made. (18+)

Disney originally refused to let its subsidiary distributor Miramax release the film and it only arrived in cinemas after it was sold to the Weinstein brothers (who donated 60% of profits to charity). The movie - the first documentary to go straight to number one - was met with right-wing calls to ban it and former New York mayor Ed Koch branded it propaganda.

Upon its release the BBFC has taken the unusual step of refusing outright toclassify the proposed this straight to DVD sequel on the basis that it was "sexually violent and potentially obscene". The ruling meant that the film could not be legally sold anywhere in the UK, effectively banning the film from landing on these shores. Justifying their decision the BBFC said that there was unacceptable material throughout the film and that no amount of cuts can remedy it for commercial release. They concluded that the thrust of the film was the "sexual arousal of the central character at both the idea and the spectacle of the total degradation, humiliation, mutilation, torture and murder of his naked victims". It was the first film to be banned outright for almost two years and sparked a media furore over the role of censorship in society.

Writer-director Srdjan Spasojevic's hideously lurid litany of vicious misogyny, graphic child rape and "newborn porn" (think about it) was apparently a "diary of our own molestation by the Serbian government." Really? Then why did it look like a tedious attempt to shock without even the grubby commercial honesty of torture porn such as Hostel?. British censor the BBFC made 49 compulsory cuts, trimming 4 minutes 12 seconds off the original running time to give it an 18 certificate. The cuts were required "to remove portrayals of children in a sexualised or abusive context." Australia banned it completely.

The movie was refused an 18 certificate in 2009 with BBFC director David Cook claiming "Unlike other recent 'torture' themed horror works, such as the Saw and Hostel series, Grotesque features minimal narrative or character development and presents the audience with little more than an unrelenting and escalating scenario of humiliation, brutality and sadism." In response the film's director and screenwriter Koji Shiraishi told reporters that he was "delighted and flattered by this most expected reaction from the faraway country, since the film is an honest conscientious work, made sure to upset the so-called moralists."

Lars von Trier is a diabolical provocateur, and Antichrist his most controversial movie. An already legendary Cannes press conference was more like an open assault on the director and stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Issue was taken with the extreme imagery, that includes hardcore sex, bloody ejaculation, a clitorectomy, and a talking fox. The BBFC felt compelled to justify its uncut "18" certificate, stating that the sexual content is thematically justified and the movie is not a "sex film", and that the self-mutilation is unlikely to "encourage emulation or arousal". It may reacquaint some viewers with their lunch, however. Now that von Trier has so boldly pushed the envelope, what is next? Kids movies?

The controversial fall-out from Borat ranged from resentful TV presenters blaming him for losing their jobs to allegations that Baron Cohen had fraudulently embroiled victims in a dishonest expose of prejudice. The villagers of Romanian village Glod whinged that they were deceived and were portrayed as incestuous and ignorant. Two American fratboys also unsuccessfully sued. Banned all over the Arab world (except for Lebanon), the film was branded in Dubai "vile, gross and extremely ridiculous." The Kazak government branded it "a concoction of bad taste and ill manners."

The Vatican - branding the film "full of calumnies, offences, and historical and theological errors" - led the call for a global ban. Falling in behind the Holy Father were America ("deeply abhorrent"), Peru ("terrorism"), Philippines (Dan Brown compared to Hitler), Thailand (insisted on biblical quotes being inserted) and the Solomon Islands ("undermines the roots of Christianity"). Even Hanks was moved to comment the movie "is loaded with all sorts of hooey and fun kind of scavenger-hunt-type nonsense."

The offended raised their shrill voices at the naked bath scene (see above) but Bright was never naked and the two actors were never even in the same room (apart from one shot when they are wearing hidden clothing). Glazer was moved to insist the scene was not "salacious". Kidman also rejected criticism of a kiss she shared with Bright as part of her intention to "make a film where you understand love."

Mullan's depiction of the asylums - the last one closed in 1996 - caused a furore, particularly in Italy when he likened the activities of some of the nuns to those of "Taliban militants". Andrea Piersanti, head of an Italian Catholic commission on the performing arts, said the Venice Film Festival jury - which gave Mullan the Golden Lion - had been more "influenced by the newspapers than the content of the film".

Unsurprisingly, the movie was banned in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain but the main criticism concerned its alleged anti-semitism. One key scene perceived as an example was in the dialogue of Caiaphas: "His blood [is] on us and on our children!", a quote interpreted by some as a curse taken upon by the Jewish people. Even US Catholic bishops conceded "it one of the most troublesome texts, relative to anti-Semitic potential, that any of us had seen in twenty-five years." With regard to violence, although only one sentence in three of the Gospels mentions Jesus's flogging, and it is unmentioned in the fourth, the film lingers for ten minutes on Christ's flagellation.

Gallo's response to Ebert was to describe the veteran reviewer as a "fat pig with the physique of a slave trader." Gallo then claimed to have put a hex on Ebert's colon, cursing the critic with cancer. Ebert then replied that enduring his colonoscopy would be more entertaining than watching it again. After a re-edit, Ebert eventually voiced his approval...and succumbed to cancer.

Gaspar Noe's I Stand Alone was controversial, but the director's follow-up truly stands alone in the cinema-to-annoy stakes. At the Edinburgh Film Festival Mark Kermode had to help escort out a woman who fainted during Irreversible's opening fire extinguisher to the head scene. But, it was the 10 minute rape scene that offended most cinema-goers: Newsweek reported it was the most walked out of film in the US that year, and in the UK the BBFC released a press statement defending their uncut "18", stating the rape was not eroticised - the video release was also uncut. But, Irreversible is a film to damage your health - the opening 30 minute's bass drone mixed at the frequency to inspire nausea, and the climactic strobing required warnings on the cinema poster and DVD box.

Ichi the Killer is a wild parade of murder, mutilation and sexual violence. The BBFC were unamused, demanding 3 minutes and 15 seconds of cuts before granting it an "18" in 2002, the most cuts to an 18 rated movie since 1994. The Board took umbrage with what they called "erotically explicit violence" which "could have a harmful effect on certain viewers". They stated that the violence against women "seemed to have no function other than the pleasure of the onlooker." As with all censorship, these cuts are debatable, but Ichi the Killer is available uncut in Japan, America, France, Australia and elsewhere, and to date has not been cited as the inspiration for any violent crime.

The film was met with a choruse of disapproval for its plain treatment of underage sex and was banned in the Canadian province of Ontario (this ban was later overturned). Conversely, in South Korea, it was the first film to be passed uncut with sex scenes including nudity.

Uproar greeted the French censors' decision to give it a 16-rating, particularly amongst members of the right-wing Promouvoir religious group. It become the first film to be banned in France for 28 years although it was eventually granted an X-certificate. In the UK, it was rated 18 after ten seconds of cuts but received a police-backed ban in Australia.

The brickbats and praise he's receiving for Antichrist must remind Lars von Trier of the response to The Idiots. At Cannes Mark Kermode was ejected for declaring, "Il est merde!" at a screening, while Empire's Kim Newman awarded the movie five stars. As well as criticism over what some saw as mockery of disability, hardcore sex in an orgy scene forced the BBFC to justify releasing the film uncut. They stated the shots were justified because the orgy represented the point where the group crossed a line and began to disintegrate. The two hardcore shots were pixellated when shown on FilmFour in 2000, but shown unaltered in 2005 on Channel 4, with warnings before the film and in a commercial break before the part containing the orgy.

Lyne went about as far as a mainstream filmmaker can go in showing carnal passion between a grown man and underage girl - reportedly cutting to specifications of the 1996 Child Pornography Prevention Act, which restricted screen portrayals of sexual conduct involving children. Release of the movie was delayed for a year thanks to its controversial subject matter.

Calling for the film to be denied an 18 certificate, Daily Mail film critic Chris Tookey attacked it for "the attempt by the filmmakers to eroticise mutilations and fetishise orthopaedic appliances". UK censors the BBFC, who consulted a QC to determine whether the film contravened the Obscene Publications Act, gave it an 18 although the film was banned by Westminster Council, meaning it could not be shown in any cinema in central London. It was also banned in Chester, Cardiff and Durham. In the US, the film was released in both NC-17 and R versions.

Scenes of date rape, sickening violence, narcotics-pushing, theft, seduction of barely post-pubescent minors and teenage sexual displays earned the original a restrictive N-17 rating in the US. This was a problem for the distributor's parent company Disney who never release N-17s. Simple - they created an off-the-shelf company for distribution. In Britain MPs - the same MPs who would cheerfully fiddle their expenses - condemned the movie.

In 1994 Natural Born Killers was regarded by the UK press as the end of civilisation. Originally intended for a winter '94 release, this was pushed back to Spring '95 after the BBFC said they needed time to consider reports of copycat violence in other countries. John Grisham attempted to sue director Oliver Stone and Warner Bros after an acquaintance was shot and paralysed by two teens who took acid, watched the film, and claimed it inspired them. In the UK the video release was scheduled for the same week as the Dunblane Massacre. Warner Bros ultimately held the video release back two years, making it one of those rare films to have a TV airing (on Channel 5) before being available on video.

When the director of The Last House on the Left walks out of your film, you know you've struck a nerve. Wes Craven ditched a screening at a festival in Barcelona, and soon Reservoir Dogs was branded the most violent film of all time by moral guardians. It isn't, but the famous ear-slicing torture of a cop had audiences fleeing before they could see the film cleverly hides any extreme imagery. Reservoir Dogs was also embroiled in the Jamie Bulger video nasties scare, finally being released in 1995 after a three year wait. When shown on TV in 1997, Channel 4 pushed it back from 10.30pm to 11pm at, fittingly, the eleventh hour following complaints they were showing it at all.

Righteous indignation centred on the fact Aladdin and Jasmine were always unveiled, the turbaned characters were bald and all the villainous characters were Arab caricatures. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also slammed the words of the opening song, which led to original lyric about the film's Arabian setting ("Where they cut off your ears if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home") being censored/dubbed out and changed to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home" for subsequent video releases.

"Dallas in Wonderland" shrieked one headline, and "Dances with Facts" another. And that came from a leaked script, so JFK was generating controversy even before it hit cinemas. Kevin Costner and Oliver Stone are to be congratulated for getting the film made, and weathering the storm of critical protest that came from all directions. Even Jack Valenti, the head of the MPAA (the US version of the BBFC), muscled in, likening the film to Triumph of the Will as dangerous propaganda. Stone eventually released an anotated screenplay, listing all his research sources and providing counter-arguments to his critics.

The judge in the case of two 10-year-old boys convicted of the murder of Liverpool toddler Jamie Bulger in 1993 speculated about a link with violent videos. The press applied his comment to the movie (among others), claiming one of the boy's fathers had rented the video and the two killers copied a scene from the film where the victim is splashed with blue paint. Despite no evidence the boys had seen the film, a moral panic ensued with The Sun demanding copies be burned and new legislation, The Amendment to the Video Recordings Act, being included in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. A police officer was later quoted as saying: "if you are going to link this murder to a film, you might as well link it to the Railway Children."

"Cutting would not have made it mass appeal. Cutting it would have been the equivalent of what members of the United States government and military leaders said about the Vietnam War. They said, "We have to destroy Vietnam in order to save it," and that's what I would have done to Killer Joe. To get an R rating, I would have had to destroy it in order to save it and I wasn't interested in doing that." William Friedkin on why he refused to censor his film. In the United States, the film received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA for "graphic disturbing content involving violence and sexuality, and a scene of brutality." After an unsuccessful appeal, LD Entertainment announced plans to release the film uncut with the NC-17 on July 27, 2012. On October 23, 2012, the MPAA rating was surrendered, and thus the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc with the unrated version in the United States. An edited R-rated version was also released on DVD. In the United Kingdom, the film received an 18 certificate from the BBFC, for its "strong bloody and sadistic violence and sexual threat".

A rabid chorus of disapproval was led by the late Evening Standard film critic Alexander Walker - a staunch Unionist - who flounced out of a screening, branding the film "a disgrace." He maintained the movie - which was inspired by the British government's alleged "shoot-to-kill" policy - was little more than propaganda for the IRA.

The film - the most violent in the series - was handed a pretty restrictive 15 after the usual Bond rating of PG. Even so, several scenes had to be cut including a woman being shot in each breast, a shot of Felix Leiter's leg floating in the water, Milton Krest's head exploding against the glass of the decompression chamber and Dario's legs being sliced as he fell into the mincer. The censors also weren't too happy about a burning Sanchez meeting his maker.

Religious fundamentalists picketed cinemas weeks before its release and one group offered to buy the $6.5m film from Universal...to destroy it. It's still banned in the Philippines, Singapore and South Africa. In France, a fundamentalist group injured thirteen people - four seriously - when they lobbed Molotov cocktails into a Paris cinema. Channel 4's British TV premier held the record number of complaints.

Avoiding the video nasties list solely because it wasn't released in time, The New York Ripper was for many years the bete-noir of horror films at the BBFC. Director James Ferman ordered the print escorted out of the country by Her Majesty's constabulary, at no small expense to the distributor who were expecting heavy cuts but at least something to show for it. While the violence is extreme (including eyeball and breast slicing) the effects are cheapo even by Italian exploitation standards, although for such a notorious movie, the current UK DVD release is missing a surprisingly low 19 seconds of violence. Director Lucio Fulci had two films on the Video Nasties list, The House By The Cemetery and The Beyond, now both available uncut.

Perhaps the only film to be banned in Italy using a law against cruelty to guinea pigs, Cannibal Holocaust is notorious for its extreme animal cruelty (view the turtle sequence at your peril). An influence on The Blair Witch Project, the movie is two-thirds exploitation nastiness, one-third critique on "documentary objectivity", and is often mistaken for a real snuff film. Branded a Video Nasty in the early 80s video panic alongside classics (The Evil Dead, The Driller Killer), duffers (Terror Eyes, Evilspeak), shockers (SS Experiment Camp) and arties (Possession) on a list of 74 titles, it was finally passed in 2001 with animal cruelty and eroticised sexual violence excised.