The 1990s was a brilliant time formovies, and some of the best films of the decade pushed boundaries and were absolutely twisted pieces of cinema. With independent films on the rise, and Hollywood movies becoming more subversive, the ’90s was unlike any decade that came before or since.
Every genre was given new life as up-and-coming filmmakers cleverly reimagined what movies were supposed to look like. Many ofthe definitive movies from the ‘90sreflect the disaffected mood of the era, with the rebellious Gen-X attitude coloring every creative decision. Even if the whole decade was edgy, some movies from the ’90s took things another step further.
Whether it’s horror movies with copious amounts of gruesome gore, or comedies that weren’t afraid to touch extremely taboo subjects, there were plenty of movies from the ’90s to shock and disgust. Unfortunately, the intentionally confrontational nature of these movies means they have largely been forgotten in the modern day.
Director/writer Todd Solondz has earned a reputation as the master of dark comedy, and his 1998 filmHappinessis still his magnum opus film. The ensemble story features a cast of characters each trying to find love and acceptance in a cruel world. Unfortunately,many of them are terrible people with devious urges that make them patently antisocial.
Happinessearned an NC-17 rating upon release.
Happinessis the kind of movie that needs to be seen to be believed, and Solondz goes places that no other filmmaker would ever dare. Ultra-taboo subjects are handled with the bleakest of laughs, and the movie is as disgusting as it is hilarious. Long before cringe comedy was invented,Happinesshad audiences cringing with every new scene.
By the 1990s, John Waters was already world-renowned for his edgy and intentionally gross comedies, butSerial Momwas something new for the filmmaker. Instead of focusing on counterculture like in classics such asPink Flamingo, the film instead attacks stereotypical suburbia with hilarious results. Kathleen Turner is stellar as a stay-at-home mom who goes off the rails.
Picking apart the stuffiness of suburban America,Waters combined his love for satire with his fascination with true crime. ThoughSerial Momisn’t nearly as disgusting as other Waters films, it’s the subject matter that makes it so confrontational. As was the style at the time, the humor of1990s dark comedyis aimed squarely at the “average” American family.
After starring in iconic movies likeLost BoysandBill and Ted,Alex Winter was allowed to make a passion project, which becameFreaked. The absurdist black comedy involves dangerous toxic chemicals, a nightmarish carnival, and boatloads of genetically-mutated freaks. The film was never destined to be a hit, and its subversiveness has made it a true cult classic.
Freakedis such an oddball experiment that could have only come out in the 1990s.
Lacking much of a narrative thrust,the film is instead a showcase of over-the-top makeup effects and plenty of gross-out humor. It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch of the imagination, butFreakedis such an oddball experiment that could have only come out in the 1990s. Modern re-releases have gotten the Alex Winter vehicle the attention it deserves.
The United States wasn’t the only country producing truly subversive cinema in the 1990s, andBad Boy Bubbyis Australia’s addition to the genre of messed-up movies. The titular character is a man with a mental disability who finally escapes the captivity of his possessive and abusive mother, and is set loose in the world.
Bad Boy Bubbyis like a checklist of things that are usually banned in so-called “respectable” cinema, but it also has a heartfelt narrative about acceptance and freedom.The gritty and low-budget production adds another layer of grime to the already disgusting story, andBad Boy Bubbyis a truly unhinged film from start to finish.
6Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)
Body Hammer Somehow Tops Its Predecessor
Tetsuo: The Iron Manwas a shocking little piece of obscure Japanese cinema, butits sequel somehow managed to top the original in terms of head-scratching weirdness. Essentially a revenge story at heart,Tetsuo II: Body Hammersees a man transform himself into a cybernetic monstrosity to take down the thugs who kidnapped his son.
1989
82%
1992
62%
2009
38%
Aquintessential part of cyberpunk cinema, the sequel uses similar visuals to the original, but is in color, which allows for more gore. The melding of machine and man isn’t just frightening and gross, but downright strange at times.Body Hammeralso explores the same themes as its predecessor,warning of the destructive path of revenge.
Post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror black comedy is a description that can really only be applied to one movie, and that’s 1991’sDelicatessen. The French film is set in a strange apocalyptic world and centers on a butcher who uses his handymen as meat for his shop. The Sweeney Todd-like narrative is really just a backdrop for the movie’s absurdist vision.
The sets have a German Expressionist quality, and every detail is exaggerated and hyperstylized. While not as intentionally gross as other weird ’90s movies,Delicatessenhas an unsettling, stomach-churning vibe that never leaves. Despite being gross,the movie is also quite beautiful as well.
The mockumentary is typically used for strictly comedic purposes, but the Belgian filmMan Bites Dogtook a much darker turn. In a vicious satire of rising violence in media, the film concerns a documentary crew who chronicle the exploits of a serial killer and get roped into his nightmarish world of death and destruction.
Man Bites Doghas a lot to say about how trivialized violence has become in modern media. The film starts as a bleak but funny romp, but quickly devolves into a series of truly harrowing scenes that push the limits of taste.Man Bites Dogis so effective thatit is sometimes difficult to discern what’s real and what’s fake.
David Cronenberg’s moviesare known for being disgusting displays of body horror, butCrashwas unlike anything the filmmaker had made before. Adapting J.G. Ballard’s controversial novel, the movie is all about the boundaries of pleasure and pain, and follows people who are aroused by automobile collisions. WithCrash,Cronenberg found a new wrinkle in body horror.
There’s a bleak and fatalistic tone to the film, and the graphic depictions of grievous car crash injuries are enough to churn even the toughest stomach. Unlike other twisted ’90s movies which try so hard to be shocking or controversial,Crashis a classy film about a truly nightmarish concept.
Unlike other twisted ’90s films which try to shock using violence or taboo subjects,Clean, Shavenis so unflinchingly dramatic that it becomes an exercise in cinematic endurance. Director Lodge Kerrigan tells the story of a man suffering from schizophrenia, and the film graphically depicts the struggles and stigmas of the disease without resorting to outlandishness.
Clean, Shavenfeatures a few moments that are effectively disgusting, but it is all in service of the narrative. The tragic arc of Peter Winter is choreographed from the start, andthere is an unbearable suspense as everything plays out. The Canadian film is as sad as it is frightening, and that was the point Kerrigan was trying to make.
After penning the script for 1995’sKids, Harmony Korine came into his own as a director with the release ofGummo. Set in a crumbling Midwestern town,the film is a loose tangle of interwoven storiesinvolving a few of the people that live there in the wake of a destructive tornado.
The movie is shot a lot like a documentary, with long sequences playing out without any relief for the cringing audience.The realness is almost too much to bear as the movie alternates between disgusting and hilariousfrom scene to scene.Gummois the perfect twisted ‘90smoviebecause it aims to shock, and succeeds.
