Extreme Cinema

Unflinching works pushing cinema to its limits.

Irreversible

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

Drama
2002
93 mins
Gaspar Noé

Crash

Technology and sexuality meet in head-on collision in David Cronenberg’s controversial adaptation of writer J.G. Ballard’s transgressive 1973 novel.

Drama
1996
100 mins
David Cronenberg

In My Skin

Marina de Van’s deeply personal debut about a young woman's addiction to self-mutilation stretches the body horror genre in new ways.

Drama
2002
95 mins
Marina de Van

Un Chien Andalou

A scabrous study of desire, the subconscious and anti-clericalism - Buñuel and Dalí’s provocative first film is a classic of Surrealist cinema.

Animation & Artists Moving Image
1928
21 mins
Luis Buñuel

Funny Games

Haneke’s most controversial film is a terrifying home invasion thriller.

Thriller
1997
109 mins
Michael Haneke

Dogtooth

Yorgos Lanthimos' scary, witty tale of a dysfunctional Greek family is original, ingenious and sadly relevant as a study of parent-child relationships

Drama
2009
93 mins
Yorgos Lanthimos

Climax

Gaspar Noé's visually dazzling feast of music and mayhem reveals a director at the height of his provocative filmmaking powers.

Drama
2018
96 mins
Gaspar Noé

Martyrs

A revenge mission leads two young women to the heart of a deranged cult, in Pascal Laugier’s notoriously brutal and unflinching horror.

Horror
2008
99 mins
Pascal Laugier

Benny's Video

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

Crime
1992
110 mins
Michael Haneke

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song

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

Thriller
1971
98 mins
Melvin Van Peebles

Audition

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

Horror
1999
115 mins
Takashi Miike

The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael

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

Thriller
2006
94 mins
Thomas Clay

BFI Restoration

Central Bazaar

Five strangers explore their fantasies over a period of five days in Stephen Dwoskin's remarkable experimental film.

Drama
1976
142 mins
Stephen Dwoskin

Romance

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

Drama
1999
98 mins
Catherine Breillat

Salon Kitty

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.

Drama
1976
133 mins
Tinto Brass

The Untamed

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

Horror
Fantasy
2016
98 mins
Amat Escalante

Christiane F.

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

Drama
1981
131 mins
Uli Edel

Shivers

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

Horror
1974
87 mins
David Cronenberg

Suspiria

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

Horror
1977
101 mins
Dario Argento

Scum

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

Drama
1979
97 mins
Alan Clarke

BFI Restoration

Naked

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

Drama
1993
131 mins
Mike Leigh

The Act of Killing

Groundbreaking documentary in which former Indonesian death-squad leaders re-enact their crimes through scenes inspired by different film genres.

Documentary
2012
117 mins
Joshua Oppenheimer

King of New York

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

Crime
Thriller
1990
103 mins
Abel Ferrara

The Honeymoon Killers

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

Crime
1969
107 mins
Leonard Kastle

Maitresse

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.

Drama
1976
113 mins
Barbet Schroeder

The Descent

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

Horror
2005
99 mins
Neil Marshall

Trouble Every Day

Clare Denis’ transgressive erotic horror … with cannibals, starring Béatrice Dalle and Vincent Gallo.

Drama
2001
101 mins
Claire Denis

Enter the Void

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

Drama
2010
161 mins
Gaspar Noé

The Piano Teacher

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.

Drama
2001
131 mins
Michael Haneke

Hardcore

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

Drama
1979
108 mins
Paul Schrader

Twentynine Palms

A young couple take a road trip through the Californian desert towards a shocking climax in Bruno Dumont’s stripped-back horror.

Drama
Horror
2003
119 mins
Bruno Dumont

Dancer in the Dark

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

Drama
Musical
2000
141 mins
Lars von Trier

BFI Restoration

Central Bazaar

Five strangers explore their fantasies over a period of five days in Stephen Dwoskin's remarkable experimental film.

Drama
1976
142 mins
Stephen Dwoskin

Oldboy

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

Thriller
2003
120 mins
Park Chan-wook