10 Most Savage Japanese Horror Films Ever

The censorship of films by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has become very liberal and progressive since the dark days of the Video Nasty scare mongering, and all of the brutal, problematic, yet kinky films that hit the screens in the 1970s (Straw Dogs, The Devils, Last Tango in Paris, The Exorcist, Deep Throat...) But there are a few films that still stick in their craw and Grotesque leads the vanguard of these deplorable slices of filth.

Grotesque is a full on torture porn flick which seems to have been made by director Koji Shiraishi with the intent of being both outrageously offensive and gratuitously unpleasant. Plot? There is no plot - and that is what maddened the BBFC about the film - they like context.

The movie revolves around two young lovers going on a date, only to be abducted by a mad man who ties them up in a basement and commits acts of heinous sadistic violence against them. The couple undergo a living hell to put it mildly. Is there any hope for freedom?

Let's face it, no one is going to view Grotesque and proclaim it a worthy masterpiece. And that is exactly what the director wanted. When he heard of the ban in Britain on his film, he had a jolly good laugh and announced that his intent in making Grotesque was purely to evoke mass disgust, to be as unpleasant as possible and the ban by the BBFC was the highest honour he could have achieved. Yes, it is a disgusting film but the banned status of Grotesque has ensured that many horror fans have flocked to the movie due to morbid curiosity and a desire to see if the film's notorious reputation is justified. Definitely a hot potato of a film.