Abel Ferrara is a strange director. Equal parts exploitation panderer and respected auteur, his films walk a very thin line between trash and art. They range from extremely low-budget thrillers such as The Driller Killer, Ms. 45 and Fear City which rest uncomfortably next to more respected fare like The King of New York, The Addiction and Passolini. One of the director's strangest films is Bad Lieutenant, which attracted significant controversy for, in the main, the amount of drug use (as well as for the stark, realistic portrayal of said use). Along with drug use, the film was criticised in some circles for its liberal use of coarse language, sexual violence and nudity (the rape of a nun was a major talking point). British newspaper The Sunday Mirror cried that the film 'should carry some kind of health warning or, better still, a complete ban'. They almost got their wish, as the film was heavily cut for its British VHS release. In America, Bad Lieutenant was given an NC-17 rating, meaning video rental chain Blockbuster couldn't carry it. An R-Rated cut was created specifically for the video market, but even that version was vilified by some critics, who felt it was still in exceptionally poor taste.
