10 Hidden Meanings Behind Famous Horror Movies

Quite possibly the most controversial horror movie of all time, Cannibal Holocaust was so convincingly gruesome that it was banned in over 50 countries and director Ruggero Deodato charged with murder after Italian courts surmised the movie was a genuine snuff film. Luckily Deodato was able to prove his innocence by demonstrating his supposedly murdered actors were in fact alive and kicking, but the point he was really trying to make is often lost in the controversy the film kicked up.

Inspired by the Italian media’s coverage of militant group the Red Brigades’ activities during the 1970s, which although brutal were subject to sensationalism, Deodato saw how journalistic integrity was sacrificed in the media’s quest for violent, shock-worthy content to boost ratings. So, he set out to make a film in which the subjects of media coverage, in this case a cannibalistic Amazonian tribe, are not the villain but rather a film crew who are willing to fabricate content for violent, sensationalist imagery. As Professor Harold Monroe, an anthropologist sent to retrieve the film crew after they go missing (read: savagely murdered because of their own stupidity) ponders, ‘I wonder who the real cannibals are’.

Ironically, during the filming of Cannibal Holocaust Deodato found himself in a similar situation when his producer demanded he make the film even gorier after snippets shown to film market bigwigs proved incredibly popular. Proof if there ever was that violence sells, and no doubt bolstering the point Deodato was trying to make.