10 Shocking Movie Scenes Directors Later Regretted

The cannibal subgenre of Italian horror cinema led to a range of nasty gore flicks; some had genuine merit, but most were just exploitive crap. Cannibal Holocaust is probably the most iconic; it’s arguably the original found footage movie, and it was so intense and convincing the director was arrested and made to prove he didn’t actually murder his cast by Italian authorities.

He was found innocent of course, but the film did commit several acts of animal cruelty. Monkeys, spiders, pigs and turtles were all killed on camera, and the movie doesn’t flinch away from showing it. While this has the intended effect of making viewers feels queasy, it’s also unbelievably cruel, with the turtle dismemberment being the most sickening.

Director Ruggero Deodato has subsequently owned up to regrets about this. "The death of the animals, although unbearable – especially in a present-day urban mindset – always happened in order to feed the film's characters or the crew, both in the story and in reality." He wishes he hadn't been so explicit about these animal killings, since they take away from the point of the movie.