The article discusses 10 early films that are still unsettling today, often due to their graphic content, disturbing imagery, or themes. These films include:
1. Freaks (1932) - a horror film featuring real circus performers with deformities, which was considered too disturbing for mainstream audiences.
2. The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1959) - a sci-fi horror film with graphic violence and gore.
3. Ah! La Barbe! (1906) - a short film with disturbing imagery and hallucinations.
4. The Man Who Laughs (1928) - a melodrama featuring a character with a permanent grin, inspired by the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
5. L'Inferno (1911) - the first Italian feature film, based on Dante's Inferno, with disturbing depictions of hell.
6. Maniac (1934) - an exploitation film with graphic content, including partial nudity and animal cruelty.
7. Haxan (1922) - a documentary-style film about witchcraft, featuring disturbing imagery and full-on nudity.
8. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) - an experimental film with a hallucinatory atmosphere and disturbing imagery.
9. Eyes Without a Face (1960) - a horror film with graphic content, including a face transplant sequence.
10. Un Chien Andalou (1929) - a surrealist film with disturbing imagery, including a famous eye-slicing scene.
These films were often banned, censored, or considered too disturbing for mainstream audiences, but have since become influential in the horror and film genres.
Here are the key facts from the text:
1. Filmmakers have been trying to create grand spectacles and scare audiences since the early days of Hollywood.
2. Tod Browning was a veteran film director who scored a huge success with the 1931 film "Dracula".
3. Browning was given free rein to create a unique vision for his next project, which became the 1932 film "Freaks".
4. "Freaks" was populated with actual circus performers, including conjoined twins and a limbless man.
5. The film's original ending was considered too disturbing and was cut, but it still caused controversy upon its release.
6. "Freaks" was banned in the UK for 30 years and effectively ended Browning's career.
7. "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" was shot in 1959 but didn't see a theatrical release until 1962 due to its content.
8. The film features a mad transplant scientist who keeps his fiancée's head alive in his lab.
9. "Ah! La Barbe!" is a short film by Segundo de Chomón that features a man who sees grotesque caricatures in his mirror after tasting his shaving cream.
10. "The Man Who Laughs" is a 1928 film that features a character with a permanent grin, which was considered unsettling.
11. "L'Inferno" is a 1911 Italian film that depicts scenes of hell and was considered too disturbing for some audiences.
12. "Maniac" is a 1934 film that was directed by Dwain Esper and features a Vaudeville actor who murders his doctor and assumes his identity.
13. "Haxan" is a 1922 Danish film that presents itself as a documentary but features disturbing scenes of witchcraft and torture.
14. "Meshes of the Afternoon" is a 1943 short film by Maya Deren that features a woman who experiences a series of strange and unsettling events.
15. "Eyes Without a Face" is a 1960 French-Italian film that features a mad doctor who is obsessed with finding his disfigured daughter a new face.
16. "Un Chien Andalou" is a 1929 film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí that features surreal and disturbing imagery, including a scene where a woman's eyeball is sliced open.
17. The film "Un Chien Andalou" was created with the intention of having no rational explanation or symbolism.
18. The film "L'Inferno" was the first Italian feature film ever made.
19. The film "Haxan" was banned in the United States.
20. The film "Meshes of the Afternoon" was cited by the BBC as the 40th greatest American film of all time.