20 Most Controversial Movies Of All Time
8. Natural Born Killers
Oliver Stone's acid-tinged, ultra violent social satire makes the list not only for its violence (it has plenty) but also for its potentially backwards message. A sort of Gen-X version of a Bonnie and Clyde-style crime couple, Killers follows the cross country murder spree of young lovers Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis), who soon become media superstars.
Stone's aim was clearly to mock and analyze the American media's obsession with violence; whether he succeeded in that aim is a whole different story.
While Stone supposedly set out to make a movie that mocks the celebrity status of serial killers, the film he ended up with (depending on how you look at it) makes Micky and Mallory easily the most likeable and enjoyable characters in the film. By having them become the heroes of the movie, it was easy to say that Stone achieved the exact opposite of what he set out to do.
Worse than that, numerous charges came that film had inspired real crimes based on the onscreen exploits of the Knoxs', further working against Stone's intentions.