Frightening Horror Movies That Were Banned

Horror movies tend to be offensive by design, primarily because they tend to focus in on topics and themes that aren't always suitable for wider audiences. They are violent, often will involve sacrilegious elements to their storyline, and may even aim for the "shock factor" in horror.

Over the years, horror film writers and directors have made a lot of movies that pushed the envelope of what was deemed acceptable at the time of their creation. Some took it too far—and that's why there are so many horror movies that were banned over the years.

The following flicks were considered too obscene or incendiary during the time of their creation. That's why authorities banned them, and why they still remain pretty intriguing in their own right today.

Perhaps the trashiest and most gruesome horror movies that were banned were the ones that came from the 70s slasher gore era. I Spit On Your Grave was one that was literally designed to be gore for the sake of gore—and it succeeded.

Lots of blood, a 30-minute long gang rape scene, insane amounts of nudity, and ridiculous amounts of graphic language was only the tip of the iceberg with this one. Some even say that the plot itself was more or less an excuse to have a woman do torture porn on screen.

Among horror fans, the movie was a smash hit. It ended up getting a later-made set of sequels that ended up faring reasonably well in the box office.

One of the more surprising choices among horror movies that were banned at the time of its release was The Exorcist. The reason this now-tame film was given the axe by authorities was due to the way they portrayed sacrilege on film.

The Exorcist pushed the limits on every level, especially when it came to the whole crucifix masturbation scene. The church (as well as teachers and other conservatives) found it impressively offensive—and that's why it was originally banned in the US.

That being said, maybe critics were onto something when they banned The Exorcist. There allegedly was some weird vibe due to the Satanic theme of the movie that ended up causing a curse to those who were involved in its making.

Due to the sheer number of deaths and tragedies associated with the film, The Exorcist is called one of the most cursed movies of all time.

With I Spit on Your Grave and The Exorcist, there's still a lot of elements to those movies that would probably make them banned in movie theaters today, too. (Hello? Gang rape? Crucifix masturbation scenes?)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, though, would definitely pass for standard slasher fare in most people's eyes. It was actually the amount of violence paired with the concept of it being "based on a true story" that made this classic horror film banned in a number of countries.

Though it's one of the best horror films ever made, it had a bit of trouble when it was first released. Apparently, obscenity laws were a lot stricter back then when it came to slasher flicks.

Before the internet was invented and used by masses to gawk at weird stuff, there were underground movies. Faces of Death was the closest thing to real snuff that people had back in the day—which is exactly why this ranks as one of the most controversial films of the 70s.

As far as horror movies that were banned go, it's understandable why this one made the list. It had people (very realistically) dying, scenes involving cults that were actually real, and at times, even had real shots of people as they died.

Faces of Death spawned a massive following and a wide range of different sequels. However, this series still banned in a multitude of countries for charges ranging from obscenity to excessive violence.

Cannibal Holocaust was one of those horror movies that were banned for extreme violence, sexual acts, and just about every other crude attempt at making a shock film imaginable.

The thing about this movie is that it's still banned in many parts of the world—and perhaps rightfully so. Unlike I Spit on Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust took things to a level that also included real scenes of animal cruelty and exploited South American indigenous tribes during its making.

It's racist. It's violent. It's torture porn. It's foul. It's considered to be one of the most controversial films ever made due to the sheer amount of vile stuff crammed into its plot.

The director of this movie was actually arrested on obscenity charges as a result of its release.

A Serbian Film might be the only movie to tie with Cannibal Holocaust in terms of offensive material. It is banned in a number of countries, including Norway, Singapore, and New Zealand. (It was not, however, banned in Serbia, where it was filmed.)

This film followed the story of a porn star who wanted a clean break from the adult film world, and chose to do an art film as a way to get out of the industry. The only problem? The porn star finds out that the "art film" is actually a snuff film with pedophilic elements.

Despite the horrific elements to it, A Serbian Film premiered at SXSW in 2010 with great results. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Seems like zombie movies really don't get much love from critics, huh? Among other classic horror films that were banned by entire countries, Evil Deadremained banned in over half a dozen countries for years after its initial release.

The UK, Iceland, Norway, and Ukraine were just a handful of the countries where the film was banned. This also was one of the first "UK nasty" films ever to be released, making it a slightly historic film in at least one sense of the pop culture word.

Evil Dead's reason for censorship was its ridiculous, over-the-top violence. The movie was such a hit, it gained an entire franchise and has now become one of the most celebrated horror movies ever made. Go figure, right?

Salò is a film that's also known as 120 Days of Sodom, and currently remains banned in most parts throughout the world. The film follows the storyline of a book written by the Marquis de Sade—the man who most people would consider the father of sadism.

Utterly sadistic, depraved, and downright scary at times, this is one of those films that makes most people sick to their stomach. Rape, torture, murder, and even eating excrement are involved in the plot here.

Don't watch this one without a barf bag and a therapist's phone number in hand.

Speaking of eating excrement, this notorious 2000s film series is also known for being banned in a number of countries. Both The Human Centipede and its sequels are horror movies that were banned in Australia and New Zealand at its initial release.

The reason they were banned is obvious: it has people surgically altered to be force-fed shit. The second film also had a woman who was in a human centipede getting raped by barbed wire, so that definitely didn't help things with censors.

In order to actually get both films approved, over 30 different edits had to be made. It's horrific as a series, and was so inflammatory that even South Park had to mock it.

Perhaps the most surprising horror movies that were banned by countries aren't the gruesome ones, but the ones for political reasons. Land of the Dead is a campy cannibal zombie movie that involved people eating people. It's a classic tale, right?

Not to Ukraine!

Censors blocked this camp-tastic film because they were concerned that it would remind citizens of the 1933 famine that struck the country. During that time, Ukrainians actually did have to eat each other in order to stay alive.