20 Most Controversial Movies Since 2000

15. Hard Candy

The internet can be a potentially dangerous place for the young and the vulnerable, the anonymity it affords providing cover for weirdos, perverts and sexual predators who set out to groom children online and lure them into meeting up in the real world. This is the subject matter for Hard Candy, which serves up the concept with a few neat twists, not least subverting the roles played by adult and child and transforming the victim into the aggressor.

Starring Patrick Wilson as photographer with a sordid secret,Jeff Kohlver, and Ellen Page as Hayley Stark, the young girl he attempts to groom online, director David Slade delivers a revenge thriller turned on its head, as Stark lures Kohlver into a trap and tortures him in order to get him to admit his guilt ffor the kidnapping and murder of another girl. Paedophilia is a subject matter likely to draw controversy more than most others, and Hard Candy was no exception - scenes of torture only added more fuel to the reactionary fire. Thanks to fine performances from the leads, especially Ellen Page, Hard Candy is more than the sum of its controversial parts, recalling the misanthropic films of Neil LaBute.