The 10 Most Violent Films of All-Time
Posted by Maggie Van Ostrand (maggie@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 11, 2007
Just as a keg of beer needs a bung hole to relieve pressure, we need violent movies to relieve the pressures of every day life.
10. The Godfather
If guns and garroting aren’t enough to convince you The Godfather belongs on this list, how about punchouts of Sonny’s pregnant sister or mass killings simultaneously shot with the latest Corleone baptism.
9. Apocalypse Now
On location in the insect-filled, muggy air of the Philippines, Francis Ford Coppola allegedly went quite mad as his adaption of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” threatened to devour him in a maelstrom of despair. The result of all this horror was a magnificent film, the story of Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) who’s sent on a secret mission upriver to execute renegade Colonel Kurtz (Brando), once a ‘Nam hero but now gone mad himself and in a state of murderous, mystical insanity convincing the natives he’s a God.
8. Training Day
Rogue cop Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington), a veteran LAPD narc detective, enforces the law in a violent if not unethical manner. Training rookie Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) to follow in his footsteps brings into play Harris’ unorthodox methods of police work.
7. Silence of the Lambs
In his Oscar-winning performance, Anthony Hopkins makes chianti popular again but only if taken with a bowlful of people innards.
6. A Clockwork Orange
A rampaging gang rapes and pillages, eventually leaving a charismatic sociopath namedAlex (Malcolm McDowell) one of their members, for the cops to find and try to rehabilitate by brainwashing. The art of Stanley Kubrick’s vision is supremely evident in this violent story with amazing musical counterparts. This 1971 masterpiece still shocks today.
5. True Romance
(2-disc unrated director’s cut) James Gandolfini pulverizes Patricia Arquette, Christian Slater and Gary Oldman get it on in a bloody smackdown, Brad Pitt is stoned throughout, and Christopher Walken and his thugs make mincemeat of Dennis Hopper.
4. Ed Gein
Ed Gein, the Butcher of Plainfield, is the true story of the psycho after whom Leather Face, Buffalo Bill and Norman Bates were based. Gein (Steve Railsback) wore his dead mother’s skin (Carrie Snodgress) as a mask and vest. He also dug up corpses and from the skins and body parts, made furniture and lampshades. Horror story lovers eventually immortalized him in film and song including Blind Melon’s “Skinned,” Macabre’s “Ed Gein,” Slayer’s “Dead Skin Mask,” and Mudvayne’s “Nothing To Gein.” A real psycho-nutter, he died in the Rubber Ramada in 1984.
3. Natural Born Killers
Written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Oliver Stone, this violent film stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as Mickey and Mallory Knox, the sweetest and most loving pair of psychopathic serial killers as ever hit the big screen.
2. Reservoir Dogs
With favorites like Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, and even actor/writer/director Quentin Tarantino, this story of men who don’t know each other’s name team up for the perfect crime which goes horribly wrong.
1. Scarface
Bloody killings with a chainsaw, mass slaughter of authorities, other gangsters and just about anyone close at hand; weapons galore and Pacino’s immortal “Meet my li’l fren,” this 1982 Brian de Palma film with story by Oliver Stone, has enough violence to insure its place in cinema history.
If these historical movies were not supplied by Hollywood’s finest, we would all be forced to watch the evening news for our gore and violence.
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