5. Immoral Tales (1974)
Why it's controversial: Helmed by master of perverse cinema - Polish director Walerian Borowczyk, Immoral Tales certainly lives up to its title. It is an anthology of tales dealing with themes of incest, bloodlust, masturbation, rape and virginity. One of the tales is about Countess Elizabeth Bathory rounding up village virgins in order to slaughter them all to bathe in their blood. Another tale relates the antics of Lucrezia Borgia and the incestuous relationship she shared with her father and brother. Does that sound controversial enough for you? It is only two of the four chapters. I will leave it up to you to uncover the further controversy...
Why it's good: The music is excellent, Borowczyk goes out of his way to get authentic music for each period in history and it really adds to the atmosphere. Borowczyk was once the critic's darling blue eyed boy but fell out of favour with them following Immoral Tales as they thought he had vacated the Art House and taken up place in the soft core gutter. I disagree with the critics. I see Immoral Tales as a high art film that deals with erotic matters in a restrained and stylish manner. It is not a soft core porn movie, it is a wonderful piece of erotic art that connoisseurs of such art forms will vastly enjoy and appreciate.