20 Depraved Movies Only Truly Sick Individuals Could Enjoy
10. Salò, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom (1975)
Some unbearably scathing flicks, including several on this here countdown, parcel their shocks throughout the course of their running time; Salò, however, never steps out for air. From top to bottom, notorious Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini’s relentless “statement” film subjects the viewer to uncompromising cruelty, nastiness, and escalating grotesqueries.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Salò’s only moments of calm are its opening and closing credits, though the latter’s more apt to serve as the background noise for one’s inability to pick his or her jaw off the floor.
Based on the Marquis de Sade’s 1785 book of the same name, four wealthy men kidnap 18 teenage boys and girls and over the course of four months they physically, sexually and mentally torture them before slaughtering them. That’s basically the whole movie. It’s four men raping the teenagers, making the teenagers eat feces and finally killing them in brutal and grotesque ways. Some would call Pasolini a bold visionary when it comes to this film, while others simply call him a filthy pervert. Either side could make a convincing argument.