10 Stupid Movie Controversies That Totally Missed The Point

7. Did Cannibal Holocaust Feature Real Murder?

Cannibal Holocaust is one of the most infamous films ever made, telling the tale of a US documentary crew who travel to the Amazon to document the local tribes, and find themselves being picked off by the cannibals who live there. It's extremely grim viewing, yet even so, this led to one of the most idiotic controversies in cinema (and possibly legal) history, as director Ruggero Deodato was hauled up on obscenity charges by the Italian courts, who bought into rumours that some of the actors had been killed for real, believing that he had actually made a snuff film. This was exacerbated by the fact that Deodato convinced the actors to sign agreements saying they wouldn't appear in any other projects for a year after release, to help sell the belief that the film was real. Deodato eventually managed to gather the four actors in question together, and explained how the famed impalement scene (pictured above) was put together, at which point the charges were subsequently dropped. However, he did still receive a 4-month suspended sentence for obscenity and violence charges. In this case, the courts missed the point that it is a movie. Nothing more, nothing less.