15 Most Controversial Movies Of The 90s

8. Boxing Helena

Leave it to David Lynch's daughter to almost out-weird her father in her debut feature film. Boxing Helena, which tells the story of an obsessed surgeon's plot to amputate a woman's limbs and keep her held captive in his home, received a staggering critical backlash when it was released in 1993. A hit at the Sundance Film Festival, the film was slapped with an NC-17 rating when submitted to the MPAA, although that was later reduced to an R. Censors took issue with the sexual violence and fetishism that the film displayed. Feminists were also dismayed, branding the film misogynist. The dark tone upset audiences and critics (it was ravaged by the press and currently holds a 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but, off-screen, it was also controversial due to a high-profile lawsuit. The filmmakers successfully sued Kim Basinger for $9m, after the star reneged on her contract and backed out of the role in the eleventh hour.