I'm posting this a day early, first because I'm at the LFF all day tomorrow and secondly because next Saturday is Halloween, and I've got a triple bill post planned for all hallows eve itself.
Cannibal Holocaust
Dir: Ruggero Deodato
You may well find Ruggero Deodato's infamous video nasty to be a hateful, disgusting film. It is unspeakably violent, incredibly lurid and exploitative and unrelentingly gory. It features real sequences of both animal and human death (Deodato bought in footage from the atrocities in Cambodia, which forms the 'last road to hell' segment of the film). The thing is that, for all Cannibal Holocaust's lurid nastiness, its also a really great movie. The acting is a litte ropey, but Deodato's brilliantly maintained conceit of setting the film up as a documentary, abd in the second half as found footage, makes that easy to excuse. It is also this construction that gives the film much of its undeniable power. Cannibal Holocaust is a film that hits you between the eyes and dares you to look at it. You should, because while its tough this is groundbreaking, often brilliant, horror cinema. I can't embed the video, so simply click the title for the film.
Freaks
Dir: Tod Browning
Even now the BBFC seem to view horror with something of a disapproving glare, like a parent shooting a look at a naughty child. In the 1930's though, they were far less amused. Freaks, Tod Browning's beautiful, melancholy, film about a family of circus freaks was victim of one of the longest bans in BBFC history. The was made in 1932, but only saw a UK release (under the old X certificate) three decades later. The film has lost some of its power to shock (the uncut release is now a 12), but it reamins beautiful, creepy, and brilliant.
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