When a movie is deemed unsuitable for audiences, it can be banned. There are lots of reasons why movies get banned, from the use of unsimulated sex to graphic content and sometimes just the pure disturbing nature of the film. Luckily for viewers, in the modern era of streaming and digital rentals, it's become increasingly hard to outright ban a movie because there are so many ways to release films without having to deal with regulatory bodies like the MPA (Motion Picture Association), which is who applies ratings like PG, PG-13, and R.
The horror genre is especially notorious for getting banned, for obvious reasons. Gore, torture, macabre…it’s all ripe for controversy, especially among the conservative-leaning regulatory agencies like the MPA, which is loaded with its own controversies thanks to its biased viewpoints. (Check out This Film is Not Yet Rated for more on that). But how do movies get banned? There’s a few ways…
How Movies Get Banned
Full Ban
Sometimes, a movie can be deemed so obscene that local or national governments will flat-out declare that the movie is not allowed to screen in their region. These types of bans are still very common in areas like China and the Middle East.
MPA Refuses to Rate
Sometimes the MPA will reject a film, or a filmmaker will understand that their movie is going to be rejected by the MPA, so they don’t even try. Oftentimes, this will happen to movies that use unsimulated sex, like Shortbus and Antichrist. But other films like The Human Centipede also released as “Unrated.” When a film is unrated, major theaters won’t screen it, and the small indie ones that do have to make the screenings 18+ and normally won’t screen them before midnight. This effectively bans a movie because it reduces its release to just a handful of theaters at midnight screenings.
NC-17 Becomes a Deathblow
The harshest MPA rating is NC-17, which means no one under 17 is admitted. However, culturally (especially for older people), NC-17 has a connotation with pornography, and, therefore, all major theater chains refuse to screen NC-17 movies. Countless films have had to be re-edited to obtain an R-rating instead of an NC-17 because studios know that an NC-17 rating essentially bans a movie. Sausage Party, Scream, and House of 1000 Corpses are examples of movies that had to delete content in order to get an R-rating.
10 Horror Movies That Were Banned
From undeniable classics to questionable releases, here are the 10 most controversial banned horror movies of all time and where to find them on streaming.
Wolf Creek (2005)
One of Australia’s most notable horror films is Wolf Creek. The movie gained international praise and became so popular it even earned a wide release in America. The film follows Mick Taylor, a serial killer who stalks the outback waiting for vulnerable travelers that he then tortures and kills. The movie was touted as a true story, which eventually led to its ban in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The reason for the ban was because one of the real killers Wolf Creek was based on, Bradley John Murdoch, was in the middle of his murder trial when the film premiered. According to ABC News, a Chief Justice ordered the ban, fearing that the movie would impact Murdoch’s “chances of getting a fair trial.” Murdoch was eventually deemed guilty of rape and murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The Hunt (2020)
The Hunt was originally slated for release in 2019 and preyed upon the growing divide in America, especially the conservative narrative that they are the victims of some sort of woke cabal of shadowy elites. In the film, a group of Elites capture and hunt Deplorables for sport. However, before the film’s September 2019 premiere, two politically-motivated mass shootings took place in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. With The Hunt already gaining negative publicity, these two events forced the Universal Pictures to pull the movie.
In March 2020, Blumhouse decided to finally release the film, this time even using January 6 and The Hunt’s first cancellation as selling points to help build notoriety. But ultimately, the movie got what it deserved. Released on March 13, 2020, The Hunt premiered just in time for the COVID pandemic to shuttered theaters around the country, turning the movie into a box office bomb. On a $14 million budget, The Hunt only made a little over $10 million worldwide.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
All horror fans know The Texas Chain Saw Massacree. Inspired by the real serial killer Ed Gein, the movie follows a group of young travelers who are pursued by the cannibalistic, skin-wearing, chainsaw-wielding killer known as Leatherface. Filmed in the grindhouse style and loaded with an overbearing sense of sadism and macabre, the movie is downright disturbing. So much so that it was banned from theatrical release in numerous countries around the world. The Yorkshire Post reports that for decades, the movie was banned in the UK, Australia, Ireland, and West Germany, among others.
Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
In 1990, the MPA (then called the MPAA) was in the process of switching out the X rating for NC-17. X was originally assigned to theatrical movies that were not suitable for children, but throughout the ’80s, it started being associated with porn. As the rating became more notorious (especially during the ultra-conservative Reagan years), cinemas stopped screening movies that were rated X, fearing that audiences would view them as adult theaters.
To help clear up the difference between porn and mature filmmaking, the MPAA swapped X for NC-17…but sadly, the damage was already done and the stigma was already there, instantly turning the NC-17 rating into death knell for any film that had it. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III was released during this transition and was originally given an X rating. (Fun fact: It was the last film to ever be rated X). Because getting an X rating in 1990 meant your film would be banned from theaters, the filmmakers had to rework large chunks of the movie. Bloody Disgusting reports that to work the movie down to an R, it had to go through extensive cuts and reshoots.
The Human Centipede 2 (2011)
2010’s The Human Centipede shocked audiences and was so graphic that it released “unrated,” screening only at select cinemas around the country at midnight showings. In the movie, a mad scientist wants to create a “human centipede” by sewing three people together. Taking things even further was The Human Centipede 2, which sees a disturbed superfan try to create a real human centipede.
The movie is loaded with rape, violence, and body mutilation. Like the first, it was released Unrated in America and was banned in various countries, like the UK and Australia. According to the New Zealand Herald, because of its ban in Australia, the film’s distributors said they “wouldn’t bother” even attempting to release the movie in New Zealand.
Cruising (1980)
1980’s Cruising was banned in multiple ways. The film is loosely based on the 1970 novel of the same name and follows a detective (Al Pacino) who is trying to track down a serial killer that’s targeting gay men, specifically gay men in the leather scene. From the start, Cruising had problems. Director William Friedkin filmed extensive amounts of sex scenes and nudity. So much so that the MPA originally wanted to slap the film with an X rating. To spare the movie from financial ruin, Friedkin had to delete 40 minutes (yes, 40 minutes!) of graphic footage just to get the film down to an R-rating. In 2013, James Franco made the movie Interior. Leather Bar., a meta film that attempted to recreate those lost 40 minutes.
Still, Cruising’s problems weren’t done yet. Being 1980, conservatives hated the film for centering on the gay community, and many protested its release. Even worse, the gay community also hated the movie for its portrayal of gay men as BDSM-obsessed, leather-clad fetish fiends who get murdered. Protests erupted in New York during filming, and theaters dropped their scheduled showings because of demonstrations in San Francisco. According to SF Gate, then-mayor Diane Feinstein even personally asked production company United Artists to not screen the movie in San Francisco at all.
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
Easily the most notorious example of a banned movie is Cannibal Holocaust. The movie was marketed as “found footage” and reported to show a documentary crew that travels to the Amazon to harass and murder natives to create “better” documentary footage. But as they get more aggressive, the natives fight back, leading to absolute bloodshed.
The movie was controversial because many thought it was a snuff film that showed real people being murdered. In fact, in Italy, the movie was banned by the government, and director Ruggero Deodato was put on trial for murder, with many thinking the deaths in the film were real. It was also banned in countries like the UK, Norway, and Singapore, among others. What needs to be noted is that, while no humans were really killed in the movie, the film does depict the real murders of numerous animals, which has raised its own controversies throughout the years.
Terrifier 3 (2024)
There’s a few common rules in horror: Don’t mess with kids, animals, or pregnant women. In 2024, Terrifier 3 broke the first rule with its wild opening scene, where Art the Clown returns to cause havoc once more. While nowhere near as disturbing as the other films on this list, the film’s heavy amount of gore and its already-notorious opening scene were too much for many viewers.
Not only did people walk out of Terrifier 3’s UK premiere, but it was banned in France. The film received the rarely-used 18+ rating, which essentially kills a movie by deterring theaters from screening it. In fact, Bloody Disgusting reports that Terrifier 3 was the first time France used the rating since 2006’s Saw III. In an interview with Empire, Art the Clown actor David Howard Thornton even admitted there were a few scenes in the movie that made him nauseous while filming.
I Spit On Your Grave (1978)
I Spit On Your Grave continues to be one of the most controversial films ever made. The movie follows a young girl named Jennifer Hills who is violently raped by a group of men and left to die. Little do they know she actually survives and then hunts them down one by one. Since its premiere almost 50 years ago, the film continues to ignite debates about whether it's a story of empowerment or exploitation.
Censors around the world saw it as exploitation. It was banned in countries like Iceland, Canada, and Norway. It also remained banned for decades in the UK and Ireland. In fact, when the filmmakers tried to release a DVD version of the film in 2010, Ireland re-banned it once again. The movie was also re-banned in the UK in 2022, with censors demanding over 7 minutes of cuts for it to get a release.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986…and also 1990)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer wasn’t just banned, it struggled to even find anyone willing to distribute it. The film follows a serial killer on a rampage through Chicago, who, at one point, even gets his friend to join him in his murder spree. Henry originally premiered at the Chicago Film Festival in 1986 where it immediately caused controversy for its depictions of murder and rape.
The movie was so controversial and disturbing that it couldn't even find a distributor until 1990, a whole four years later. And just like with Leatherface…1990 was a weird year for controversial movies because the MPAA was in the middle of swapping the X rating for NC-17. Henry was given the outdated X rating, which the filmmakers knew meant it wouldn’t be screened in most theaters. Instead, they decided to release the movie Unrated.
In the UK, the film was banned even longer until 1992. To make the movie acceptable, not only was footage cut, but the BBFC (the UK’s ratings organization) actually went in and re-edited footage, which caused its own controversy about who has the right to edit an artist’s work.
Where To Watch The Most Controversial Banned Horror Movies Online
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