If you’ve watched terrifyingly disturbing films like “Come and See” or “Schindler’s List,” you might think that you’ve seen it all as far as the terrors that occurred during the fascist dictatorships of World War II. If you’re brave enough to attempt to endure “Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom,” you’ll almost certainly discover that you were wrong.
Like “A Serbian Film,” the premise of “Salo” is basically used as an excuse to show as many depraved and harrowing acts on film as humanly possible. Both men and women are raped and sexually assaulted with impunity, and anyone who attempts to escape or fight back is summarily murdered.
This is just the beginning, though. There are scenes where the many victims who have been abducted by Italian fascists are forced to eat excrement. And, in perhaps the film’s most horrific moment, the surviving abductees begin turning on one another in hopes of currying favor with their captors.
The remaining victims are killed through means like scalping, dismemberment, burning, and … well, you get the idea. Of the movies on this list, “Pink Flamingos” and “Salo” are the two that have the most favorable reputation with critics, but you’re going to really have to test your mettle if you want to watch any of these five mind-scarring films. On the other hand, maybe sit down with something like “Amelie” or “Paddington” if you want to cleanse your mind of everything you just read.
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