8. Boogie Nights
Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 effort Boogie Nights positively bounced onto the scene, drenched in florid 70's glamour and brimming with period tunes we could all dance to. At least, that's what the marketing would have you believe. To be fair, there's worse ways to sell a movie, and to those not exactly enthused by tunes from the decade razors forgot there was no small amount of sex scenes thrown in for good measure. It seemed a perfect combination of light, bouncy (in tone, you perverts) fun that would appeal to genre afficiandos, 70s enthusiasts and dirty mac-wearers alike. What's not to love? A lot, apparently. This certainly wasn't what they said on the tin. Perhaps we weren't as familiar with PTA back then, but he prefers more serious fare, even if he sometimes dressed it up with a goofy hook. So for those expecting a glorious, adult-orientated ode to the 70's was going to come away disappointed this film was going to shine a light on the era's porn industry, and portray it warts and all. So in that vein, we got child pornography, coke addiction, murder, misogynistic exploitation, assault and all sorts of other desperately grim fare. Those of us who came in for something less draining were treated with a matter-of-fact appraisal of the era's sins, and we were shaken by just how deep the depraved rabbit hole went. Sure, it wasn't on the harrowing levels of Requiem For A Dream, but at no point did Aronofsky's drug awareness mindf**k lie to us while wearing flares, bitching facial hair and playing Marvin Gaye. Damn you, Anderson I never expected such a thematic kick in the balls.