10 Films That Were Too Shocking For Audiences

Even before a single cinema opened its doors, filmed entertainment had acquired a sleazy reputation courtesy of the Kinetoscope, or peepshow. Popular at funfairs and amusement parks, and such a novel invention that showmen didn’t require a licence to operate them, the little black boxes allowed the working classes to view such unforgettable tableaux as What The Butler Saw and Beware My Husband Comes.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, peepshows were eclipsed by movie palaces that projected two-minute (or shorter) moving pictures onto their walls. Actually, palace is too grand a word for the converted shops where Britain’s poor gathered to watch the earliest films. The rooms lacked lighting and often stank of urine, it being easier to relieve oneself in the dark rather than visit the outdoor conveniences.

The point seems worth stating: movies began as cheap entertainment for the poor who, unlike the upper classes, were transfixed by the new medium. Much to the chagrin of moral watchdogs, they wanted to see action, violence and sex, though not necessarily in that order. 

In 1912, the idea for a British Board of Film Censors was proposed. Financed by the fees paid by producers seeking a certificate, it would effectively filter culture for consumption by the masses.

Over the years, several pictures were found unfit for exhibition. Here are 10 of them.

Directed by the auteur behind the skin flicks Hot Honey and The Violation Of Claudia, Maniac is your typical story of a Vietnam veteran who places the scalps of his female victims on his assembly on mannequins. After clothing a mannequin, he carries it over to his bed and starts talking to it, pretending it’s his dead mother.

There’s gore galore as our “hero” goes about his business and because the effects are by Tom Savini, it all looks shockingly realistic. The BBFC thought so, and refused to grant the picture a theatrical certificate.

As late as 1998, the film was refused a video certificate, but it was finally released in 2002 with 58 seconds of cuts. A decade later, a much softer remake starring Elijah Woods appeared in cinemas. It was passed uncut.