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Overview
Gird your loins for a week of gripping and provocative cinema on the World Movies channel this March. The only station in Australia permitted to show R18+ rated films, their latest marathon features five button-pushing flicks presented in their original, uncut form. From a groundbreaking Korean revenge thriller to a primo slice of bona fide Ozploitation, these are the sorts of movies that need to be seen to be believed. Here are five compelling reasons to tune in.
GET A BIT OF THE OLD ULTRA VIOLENCE
Director Stanley Kubrick made a career out of dividing audiences, but never to the same extent as he did with 1971's A Clockwork Orange. Adapted from Anthony Burgess’ controversial novella of the same name, this darkly comic dystopian crime film proved so shocking upon its release that the director himself had it pulled from UK distribution for close to 30 years. The violence looks positively tame by today’s standard, but the movie remains a classic all the same. One thing’s for certain: you’ll never think about 'Singin’ in the Rain' the same way again.
EXPERIENCE THE NEW FRENCH EXTREMITY...IF YOU DARE
As unsettling as the other four films in this marathon may be, none of them hold a candle to Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs. The poster child for a recent trend in French cinema characterised by unflinching violence that makes Hostel look like The Teletubbies, this traumatising thriller has been called “the new yard stick against which all forms of extreme genre films should be measured.” Whether that’s a good thing is up to you. Regardless, it's hard to imagine anyone watching this movie more than once.
SEE A VERY DIFFERENT SIDE OF THE AUSTRALIAN FILM INDUSTRY
Australian cinema during the early 1970s was a wild wild west of sleaze and cheap titillation. One of the most notorious examples of so-called Ozploitation is Alvin Purple, a ridiculous comic sex romp about a naive young man (Graeme Blundell) who for some inexplicable reason is simply irresistible to women. Full of gratuitous nudity and bawdy humour, the film was panned by critics but proved a hit with local audiences. We’ll leave you to figure out exactly why that was.
WITNESS BLOODY VENGEANCE, KOREAN-STYLE
A personal favourite of Quentin Tarantino, Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy is one of the most gripping tales of vengeance ever put to film. The movie tells the story of Oh Dae-Su (Choi Min-sik), a man held prisoner for 15 years and then released and given a week to uncover the identity of his captor. In addition to its horrifying twist ending, the film is famous for its incredible one-take fight sequence and a scene in which the lead actor eats a live octopus on camera. Spike Lee recently directed an English-language remake, but the less said about that version the better.
GET A GLIMPSE OF MICHAEL FASSBENDER'S FASSBENDER
Come for the full-frontal male nudity, stay for the searing portrait of loneliness and addiction in the modern world. Directed by Steve McQueen, who would later go on to make the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, this haunting story about a sex addict (Michael Fassbender) and his volatile relationship with his sister (Carey Mulligan) might well be one of the least sexy films in the history of cinema. Sounds like perfect Friday night viewing to us.
World Movies Uncut is on from March 23 - 28, nightly at 9.30pm. Channel 430, only on Foxtel.