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Is Clown This Year's Most Disturbing Horror Film?

It may look like just another killer clown movie on the outside, but Eli Roth’s appropriately named ‘Clown’ delves into very dark corners – places where most horror films wouldn’t, which, so far, affirms it as this year’s most shocking and gutsy horror (it’s certainly not short on guts, figurative or literal).

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‘Clown’ goes to show that, even in the experimental, boundary-pushing horror genre, there are still certain lines that are seldom crossed… but that’s not always the case.

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Below are just a few horror films that have, over the years, dared to break through into said controversial territory…

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Cannibalism - As seen in ’Cannibal Ferox’ (1981)

Here’s one that goes against one of the most sacred of unspoken human laws – that the dead should not be desecrated, let alone sliced up and eaten. Though cannibalism’s not that rare in movies, it’s seldom done seriously (see the pantomime theatrics of a certain Dr Lecter or the barmy ‘Texas Chainsaw’ mob). When it’s played entirely straight – such as in last year’s ‘We Are What We Are’ – it’s unnerving. When it’s graphic, it’s truly shocking. Just take the infamous scene in ‘Cannibal Holocaust’, in which a gang of bloody savages slice off some poor fellow’s manhood and gobble it up.

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Castration - As seen in ‘I Spit On Your Grave’ (1978)

Figurative castration is a common theme in horror. Most academic writing on the ‘slasher’ movie is rooted in that very thing. But literal castration is something else entirely – a rare, eye-watering occurrence that is pretty much guaranteed to give a film the “notorious” stamp. The castration from rape-revenge original ‘I Spit On Your Grave’ is the most notorious of all, partly due to the fact it takes place during a sex scene (no one wants their severed todger thrown back at them during a hand-job that’s “so good it hurts”), but mostly because we all know it’s the most fitting punishment for a horrendous gang-rape.

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Incest - As seen in ‘Bad Boy Bubby’ (1993)

Pretty much everyone can agree on this one – it’s about as wrong as wrong can get. While Australian film ‘Bad Boy Bubby’ is not strictly a horror, it’s a truly disturbing piece of work, in which Bubby is locked in a small room for 30 years with his mother, who he regularly has sex with… until he wraps her head in cling film, suffocating her while she sleeps. Either way, it’s not a happy home life.

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Animal Cruelty - As seen in ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ (1980)

While mentioned above, ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ is notorious for many grizzly reasons. Ruggero Deodato’s horrific tale is perhaps most slammed for its inclusion of real-life animal cruelty, whereby a yellow-spotted river turtle (which is still very much alive) is cut up. Another scene sees the top of a monkey’s head sliced off. Even though a total of six animals were actually killed on-screen, seven were slaughtered after a second take was ‘required’ for the monkey death.

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Forced Body Modification - As seen in ‘The Human Centipede’ (2009)

This remains a prominent taboo as it taps into such a base fear – our bodies being altered, transformed, or generally messed with while we are powerless to defend ourselves. So when Dr Heiter’s victims awake in ‘The Human Centipede’ to discover they’ve been turned into a, erm, human centipede, it’s obscene on such a fundamental level. Arguably, the sequel is even worse – we’re pretty sure the ‘surgeon’ hasn’t received the proper medical training.

Child Killers - As seen in ‘Clown’ (2014)

It’s the one thing absolutely guaranteed to shock. Just think about it – in most horror films that feature kids of a certain age (usually too young to commit the cardinal sin of promiscuous sex, basically) you know that 99% of the time they’ll survive. No matter how gruesome the horror genre gets, killing children remains an inherent taboo, embedded in our humanity. So when our man transforms into a killer clown, it’s his insatiable taste for young human flesh that’s most unnerving – leading to the best ‘severed child’s arm gushing down a slide into a ball pit’ moment in horror history.

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‘Clown’ is out now on DVD & Blu-ray. 

Picture credits: Cross Creek Pictures, Dania Films, Cinemagic Pictures, Fandango, F.D. Cinematografica, Six Entertainment