20 'Controversial' Movies Everyone Completely Over-Reacted To

The Film:

Tobe Hooper's terrific low-budget horror, which sees a group of unfortunate youngsters run into a family of cannibals in the American South.

The Controversy:

From 1974-1999 this was completely banned in the UK. Many other places have banned it as well, since at the time everyone was just too disturbed by it to allow it to be seen.

Why It Was Wrong:

Few controversial films live up to the hype less than this one. It's utterly terrifying, yet the stuff which actually got everyone up in arms - the violence - is pretty tame. Only one person actually gets downed with a chainsaw and the blood throughout the film is pretty minimal.

It's bizarre that people chose to react so strongly to something fairly tame. It's also odd that people entirely failed to realize the intelligence and technical skill of the film and instead just dismissed it as tasteless and vile, given that Psycho was a major Oscar nominee despite similar subject matter (Both films were also inspired by the same real-life murderer).

The film's disturbing content has a definite purpose. The film was intended as social commentary on the political and economic climate in the US at the time, so it's not violence for violence's sake. Luckily, despite the bans the film has endured and is now seen as a horror classic. It's a shame about all the inferior follow-ups, but still, we'll always have Texas.