Exploitation films

Turkey Shoot

The budget vanished mid-shoot and they kept going. Chaotic, mean, fun.

Island of Death

Mykonos has never looked prettier or hosted anything uglier. Mastorakis dared himself to be banned and won.

SS Experiment Camp

A DPP video nasty far better known for its poster than for anything in the film.

Cannibal Apocalypse

Vietnam veterans as cannibals. Sillier and kinder than the jungle cycle.

Contamination

Alien via Rome, with exploding chests and a Goblin score doing heavy lifting.

The House on the Edge of the Park

Deodato points Last House at a dinner party. Grubby, mean, effective.

Killer Nun

Anita Ekberg, morphine, and a plot that gives up around the hour mark.

Anthropophagus

Almost entirely people walking around an island. Then two minutes of infamy.

Eaten Alive!

Lenzi recycling other films' footage into a Jonestown story. Grim work.

The Driller Killer

Abel Ferrara's debut. More interesting as a document of downtown New York.

The New York Ripper

Genuinely nasty and hard to defend. The killer quacks. It doesn't help.

Maniac

Savini's effects, Spinell's performance, and a very bleak little film.

Mountain of the Cannibal God

The cannibal cycle in a dinner jacket, ex-Bond girl and real animal deaths included.

The Burning

The raft scene is the best kill in any slasher. The rest is fine.

Cannibal Ferox

Lenzi chasing Deodato with none of the argument. Real animal deaths, no defence.

City of the Living Dead

The drill scene. Otherwise thin, but the atmosphere is thick.

Possession

On the nasties list by pure bureaucratic accident. An actual masterpiece about divorce.

Tenebrae

Argento's coldest and cleverest. That crane shot earns its reputation.

The Beyond

Makes no sense whatsoever and is Fulci's best film. Dream logic, fully committed.

Zombi 2

A zombie fights a shark. Fulci's splinter shot is still the worst thing here.

I Spit on Your Grave

The most argued-about film on this site. Read the glossary entry before deciding.

The Hills Have Eyes

Craven's meanest. The suburban family turn out to be the better killers.

The Last House on the Left

Bergman's Virgin Spring, brutalised. Genuinely unpleasant and knows it. Tonally a mess.

Cannibal Holocaust

A serious film about media atrocity that committed real atrocity.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Almost bloodless, and still the most upsetting film here. The heat is the horror.

The Evil Dead

Prosecuted in Britain. Actually a comedy, though it took years to admit it.