Extreme

Thomas Clay’s unflinching story of teen drugs and violence scandalised the British film industry 20 years ago, but is arguably ripe for rehabilitation

Melvin Van Peebles’ seminal, taboo-breaking Blaxploitation thriller about a young Black man on the run from corrupt cops in 1970s Los Angeles.

Takashi Miike burst to prominence with this disturbing tale of a deadly young woman who turns the tables on her middle-aged suitor.

Gaspar Noé's retina-searing shocker about an assault and its revenge, told in reverse chronology and starring Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel.

A ferocious dystopian nightmare, this was the first film directed by a Black British woman to receive a UK theatrical release.

Shockingly explicit, Catherine Breillat’s critically acclaimed Romance is one of the most controversial films of modern cinema.

Abel Ferrara's disturbing character study of a corrupt N.Y.C. cop and his slide into insanity, starring Harvey Keitel in a career-best performance.

Before Caligula, Italian provocateur Tinto Brass directed this controversial and transgressive drama, inspired by the true story of a Nazi-run brothel in 30s Berlin.

Amat Escalante follows Heli with a boundary-pushing, mind-blowing mix of sex, sci-fi and social drama.

David Bowie’s image and music gives brooding energy to this tale of a junkie sex-worker in 70s Berlin.

Cronenberg's early horror sees a mad scientist experimenting with parasites that turn residents of a high-rise apartment into ferocious nymphomaniacs.

Todd Solondz’s outstanding sophomore feature is a darkly comic portrait of suburban teen angst.

Dario Argento’s phantasmagoric gothic nightmare blends operatic violence, disorienting dream logic and hyper-real visuals to create a horror classic.

Director Alan Clarke examines the grim reality of borstal life in this searing remake of his previously banned television play.

David Thewlis stuns as the motormouth predator of Mike Leigh's divisive masterpiece.

Christopher Walken is the dogged drug-lord determined to keep his empire together, in Abel Ferrara's brutally gritty crime thriller.

The disturbing true story of a pair of twisted lovers who posed as siblings to seduce, con and - if necessary - kill.

Gerard Depardieu plays the young innocent who falls for the mysterious maitresse Ariane (Bulle Ogier), a leather clad dominatrix, in Barbet Schroeder’s controversial film.

Six friends on a caving expedition get trapped deep underground and discover they are not alone in this visceral, claustrophobic horror.

Gaspar Noé’s psychedelic, unflinching journey through life and death, a defining work of New French Extremity set in neon-soaked Tokyo.

Isabelle Huppert’s turn as a woman disturbed yet consumed by her own desires has lost none of its gut-punching torment, in Haneke’s unsettling drama.

Schrader’s neo-noir about a devout conservative businessman venturing into a sordid Californian underworld in search of his runaway teenage daughter.

Michael Haneke’s drama explores a teenager’s obsession with screen violence, and his inability to distinguish between reality and fiction.

Lars von Trier’s unique and divisive dissection of the American Dream, featuring Björk as an immigrant worker finding escape in musical cinema.

Park’s wilfully grotesque fable about an abductee trying to fathom the mysteries of his past.