10 Shocking Movie Scenes Directors Later Regretted
When too far goes a little too far.
Onscreen violence has gotten to the point where viewers are becoming harder and harder to shock. In a world where people can watch Game Of Thrones – a show that averages two beheadings per episode – from the comfort of their own home, it takes something really intense to get viewers unsettled.
A sequence that shocks or upsets viewers works best when it’s for a genuine reason storywise, and not just for cheap titillation. The box scene from Se7en or the beach sequence in Saving Private Ryan work because the audience is invested, making them even more impactful. Directors must also be careful not to push things too far since viewers can reach their limits with gore or violence pretty quick.
Some directors feel they crossed this line and later regretted that choice. Maybe they felt the scene in question was so intense or horrible it overshadowed the rest of the movie, or they could have made the same point with more restraint.
On that note, here are ten extreme scenes that filmmakers wish they’d cut back on, and the reasons why.
10. The Tree Rape - The Evil Dead
It’s strange to look back on the original Evil Dead - which was a scrappy, no-budget horror flick made by a group of friends - and see the effect it had on the genre. It turned Bruce Campbell into an icon, and gave director Sam Raimi a career.
It’s even stranger to think the guy who directed a film that featured a raping tree would direct three Spider-Man movies, but that’s Hollywood for you. It turns out this is a moment the director doesn’t look back on with fondness either. When asked in an interview with Jonathan Ross if he regretted it, he confirms he did, elaborating "Well, I think it was unnecessarily gratuitous and a little too brutal. And finally because people were offended in a way that I didn't...my goal is not to offend people. It is to entertain, thrill, scare...make them laugh but not to offend them."
While he regrets including the scene, for some reason a version of it was later included in the Evil Dead remake, which he co-produced.