12. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut is a wildly popular film about a bank heist gone wrong featuring an impressive ensemble cast. Voted by Empire as the best independent film of all time, I must profess that I like Tarantino as a director and I admire his oeuvre probably because his heart is in the Grindhouse and in freaky ultra cult movies like mine. Well, enough of that. The scene in Reservoir Dogs which drew some controversy was the torture and de-earing of policeman Nash at the hands of Mr Blonde - a psychopath - for his own amusement. He does a little dance to Stuck in the Middle With You and the de-earing thankfully happens off screen as the camera pans away. But we can hear from the policeman's screams that it is agonising. Psycho Mr Blonde throws gasoline over the policeman with the sick intention of burning him to death. Thankfully Mr Orange shoots Blondie before we can watch death by immolation.