MovieChat Forums > Hardcore (1979) Discussion > Sleaziest films of all time?

Sleaziest films of all time?

posted 20 years ago by ken68imdb
41 replies | jump to latest

What are your sleaziest films of all time? And what makes them sleazy (taboo subject matter, explicit sexuality, nudity, violence, porno, etc.)?

In addition to Hardcore, here's my Top 10 list, in no particular order:

Taxi Driver - underage hooker, incredible violence
The Exterminator - forced sexual servitude on 42nd Street
Joe (w/ Peter Boyle) - drugged up sex, revenge killing
American Gigolo - prostitution, but maybe too visually slick to be sleazy
Auto Focus - downward spiral into pornography
In the Realm of the Senses a.k.a. Ai No Corrida - actual sex scenes
Irreversible - Monica Bellucci's disturbing scene
Straw Dogs - sexual assault, cuckoldry
Cruising - strange look at gay S&M scene
Night of the Juggler - NYC cop looks for psycho holding his pre-teen daughter

By the way, NOTJ has a brief scene where James Brolin (the cop) gets directions from Sharon Mitchell outside of a 42nd Street peep show. Serena also has a role.

Whatever you wish for me, I hope you have twice as much.

[–] kamikaze-4 16 years ago

the sleaziest film I ever saw was Night Train Murders aka Last Stop of the Night Train and Xmas Massacre. The thought of a trio of sadists on a train torturing a couple of school girls and all they went through made me want to take a bath I felt so filthy.
For once the tag line told the truth.
YOU MAY SAY TO YOURSELF... IT'S ONLY A MOVIE....... IT'S ONLY A MOVIE....... IT'S ONLY A MOVIE....... IT'S ONLY A MOVIE....BUT IT WON'T HELP.

[–] iwantu2hitme 15 years ago

That's tough.

Even disgusting films that are barely watchable like Salo:120 days of Sodom and Cannibal Holocaust are dressed up as morality tales. I think you have to look at a lot of the Asian cinema...maybe some of the American exploitation stuff that is coming out now.

I feel like I need a bath anytime I watch a film by Larry Clarke although Ken Park was probably the most disgusting.

A lot of the stuff by newer filmmakers like Alexander Aja or maybe Chan-wook Park are far more visceral and relentless.

Still though, nothing really comes close and probably never will to I spit on your grave. It is a truly ghastly film that is completely amoral in how it treats it's characters.

I think a lot of it is how you are disturbed. I know friends who can not watch stuff by David Lynch, they just find it too sleazy and unsettling to enjoy. Particularly his work from Twin Peaks through The Lost Highway.

[–] wildpeckinpah 15 years ago

The original Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Keitel is pretty sleazy.

[–] iwantu2hitme 15 years ago

I'm a grown man but I have to admit, I giggled during several scenes in the bad LT. Despite the movie being a realist-style film, I can't but find it absurd.

[–] joonas2058932 15 years ago

I DONT KNOW BUT I LIKE THE FIL,

[–] BERSERKERpoetry 15 years ago

I definitely agree on "Bad Lieutenant"
it's the most convincing film of its kind out there

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] john-s-2 15 years ago

I'd say "Maniac" from 1980--the whole film, it's actors, setting, violence, and overall look gave new definition to the word Sleazy. Very well done, though.

[–] politicaldefiance 15 years ago

Both the 1992 and 2009 versions of Bad Lieutenant would have to be pretty high up there, but the '92 one is sleazier in my opinion.

[–] iwantu2hitme 14 years ago

The first one was definitely sleazier. Personally, I thought it was sort of pretentious though. It was in the realm of hyperrealism and if you are going to go that gritty and make characters that awful, the film has to have a sense of humor, if not within the story, within the film itself. Films like Naked, which is an extremely gritty...to the point where it is over the top, is still funny because of the awful things the characters say.

The first Bad Lieutenant though had a biblical vibe to it, and while smoking crack as a last supper is sorta funny, the film took itself way too seriously.

That's what I thought made PoC so entertaining. The director is a strange man, and his odd sense of humor worked perfectly with what would be a terrible, over-the-top movie in another's hands.

Since we are on the topic of sleazy, I just watched Mandingo. It is one of the only films I think to offer a somewhat accurate portrayal of the slave-era southeastern part of the united states. It's about a plantation owner who arranges a bare knuckle boxing match between his slave and someone else's. While this is going on, there is a lot of sex. Some consensual, some not so much. Anyway, it's a dirty classic from 1975 that I recommend to everyone.

The 70s were truly the golden era of these types of films although there seems to be something of a re-emergence of this style of filmmaking. Unfortunately it often manifests itself in cheesy horror films, often watered down in the process. Still, some filmmakers like Fernando Meirelles are phenomenal great story tellers who show pretty unflinching stories. His films don't have a hyper-real dialog like some of the 70s films, but the aesthetic is similar and intent to explore ugliness is obvious.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] sir rooke 9 years ago

"Bully" (2001) -- I always feel the need to shower after watching it...

[–] lemonhead1 (424) 2 years ago

Not to mention, 8M, Kids, Bully, and The River's Edge. All those films make you want to take a shower and go to church afterwards.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 2 years ago

Too bad Marilyn Manson has never released Groupie