4) Natural Born Killers (1994)
Probably considered to be one of the most controversial movies of all time, Natural Born Killers shoots its way into our number four spot. Director Oliver Stone is no stranger to making films that test boundaries and audiences’ thresholds, and Natural Born Killers is no exception.
Filled with lurid violence, spot on performances by all and some very creative scene construction, Stone tells his story in a unique yet disturbing way. The film centres around husband-and-wife killing duo Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory (Juliette Lewis) as they commit mass murder after experiencing abusive childhoods. Along the way, they’re made out to be cult heroes by the media after being arrested, and this is where the film gains its satire. Sure, it certainly works as a social commentary on how the media can sway the opinion of the masses, but how it achieves this is not easy to stomach.
The violence is very much in your face, and the whole film itself feels like a nightmarish hallucination. The sequence that features the late Rodney Dangerfield as Mallory’s abusive father is played like an old time sitcom in which Mallory is subjected to multiple instances of sexual and physical abuse. Another sequence in which we get inside Mickey’s head gives us a glimpse of his own abusive childhood, and that was where I had to leave.
It’s been a while since I first tried to watch Natural Born Killers, but I have to admit that the entire experience was not very pleasant. The film is extremely disturbing and unsettling and more than deserves its notoriety. It also has the graphic violence and the demented psychological aspect to go along with it.
This isn’t to detract from Oliver Stone as a filmmaker, quite the contrary. He is extremely skilled as a craftsman and I praise him for it, Natural Born Killers is just an experience that I couldn’t get through.