Titles rated NC-17 (No one under 17 admitted), the modern equivalent of the X Certificate, are often considered to have stigma attached to them. They are often old X rated movies that have been reclassified. Usually what happens is that the makers of the films surrender their movies from ratings so that they are unrated and don't receive the NC-17 badge. they will also frequently submit NC-17 films with significant cuts to ensure they are more respectably dubbed 'R rated' movies. NC-17 does not have the allure or mystery of the X certificate but for the cognoscenti, there is much awesome fun to be had. The NC-17 rating is not necessarily a death knell for films. Many of them - like Showgirls go on to achieve a fortune in Video and DVD sales - and build up a cult around them. Some NC-17 films are of a very high calibre with directors such as Darren Aronofsky and Alejandro Jodorowsky having their work rated NC-17. I have concentrated on the saucier NC-17 movies in a twin article, this article concentrates on the more dark and disturbing NC-17s...
10. Frontiers (2007)
A far right candidate has been elected to the French Presidency and Paris is in a state of chaos. A group of friends decide to stage a robbery, they are scattered in different directions after the act and some of them end up in a hostile hostel run by Neo Nazis. Grim stuff ensues. I'm sorry, I haven't fleshed out the plot very much, but I have this DVD in my collection and it only got watched until half the way through. It was that bad, which is amazing considering it is from one of my favourite genres - the New French Extremity. It is filmed in an annoying cinema verité style, the actors can't act for toffee, the premise of the movie wouldn't hoodwink my six month old nephew. If it is making an anti-fascist statement, it is clumsily done because frankly I would pay Josef Goebbels a ton of money to get out of his grave and kill these stupid, irritating characters - old school Nazi style. The movie is clichéd to the hilt and is trying to get a Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe going - it fails miserably and comes across as a cheap knock off of TCM. Egregious enough for the MPAA to issue an NC-17 rating, they probably did that as an act of mercy to keep people safe and away from this dreck which fails on every level as a piece of entertainment.