10 Movies You Turned Off After The Opening Scene

In 1785, the Marquis de Sade wrote The 120 Days Of Sodom, a book thought lost in the storming of the Bastille until it resurfaced and was published in 1904. It, like Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1975 movie, tells the sordid tale of four maniacs and a four month orgy of profoundly disturbing depravity.

The film, retitled Salò, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom and brought into the modern era of mid 20th century fascism, repeats the same basic story with modern updates, now burned onto your retinas with the very personification of regret.

The opening scene here introduces the four men (president, duke, bishop and magistrate) in Salò, the fascist occupied portion of Italy in 1944 and their frankly tapped idea of seeing how far they can push the boundaries of 'libertarianism.' They hatch upon a scheme to marry each others daughters and kidnap a group of young men and women to imprison and abuse over said 120 days. The visuals will not be described here, if you want that kind of detail, be it on your own head - it's disturbing and the very definition of gratuitous.

The film divides itself roughly into four chapters, Anteinferno, Circle Of Manias, Circle Of Sh*t and Circle Of Blood, all of which largely consist of scenes of rape, murder, humiliation and brutality. It is said that Pasolini was attempting to illustrate the depravity of the human soul - well done sir, you did just that.

Should anyone fancy a deeper dive than the opening scene (good luck, you'll be one of the few) Mark Kermode made this insightful mini-doc, should your curiosity outweigh your gag reflex.