10 Horror Movies Banned Around the World (2024)

Movies from just about any genre can prove shocking or controversial, if handled by certain filmmakers willing to challenge sensibilities or matters of taste. It might not be too surprising, though, to see that horror movies seem to find themselves banned in certain territories more often than other genres. After all, this is a genre where grisly violence, terror, and confronting scenes can be expected more often than not; it's what fans of the genre might well find themselves actively looking for, at times.

The following horror movies are all distinguished by the fact that they were banned by at least a handful of countries, though usually temporarily, and most often around the time they were first released or distributed. For consistency's sake, the numbers below are based on ratings info that can be found on IMDb for each title, with the site showing that all these movies were refused classification or banned by certain countries. The numbers might not be exhaustive, because IMDb doesn't always have everything, but it's best to stick to one source that usually contains at least a decent amount of data. These banned horror movies are ranked below, based on how many countries/territories they are (or were) banned within.

10 'Faces of Death' (1978)

Banned in 5 countries

While Faces of Death is technically a documentary movie (sort of; it’s a mix of real-life footage and staged sequences), its subject matter is grim and disturbing enough for it to also function as a horror movie. It aims to shock and provoke, showing disturbing sights of a wide variety of things in life, including some wartime footage, the aftermaths of grisly accidents, and scenes of surgery.

As an intentional shock to the system, Faces of Death was effective enough to be banned in a handful of territories, while tending to get the equivalent of adults-only or X-ratings in the countries that didn’t ban it. It was refused classification in Australia, for example, which stayed in effect for a number of years before being eventually re-rated, and a similar thing happened in the UK, where it was effectively banned for almost two decades.

9 'Ichi the Killer' (2001)

Banned in 5 countries

Takashi Miike has made his fair share of alarming, gory, and oftentimes over-the-top movies that tend to blend genres like action, crime, and/or horror, but little he’s made has proven as relentless as Ichi the Killer. It’s a contender for his most controversial movie, following a yakuza associate crossing paths with a terrifying and dangerous serial killer, relating in much chaos, death, and bloodshed.

Ichi the Killer arguably functions like a very, very dark comedy – perhaps depending on one’s sense of humor – but the level of violence made it alarming enough to warrant more than a handful of bans around the globe. According to IMDb, a good chunk of these haven’t been lifted in the 20+ years since Ichi the Killer originally came out, including places like Germany, Ireland, and China.

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8 'The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)' (2011)

Banned in 6 countries

The Human Centipede was The Human Centipede, and as far as confronting horror movies go, it probably doesn’t need an introduction. Also, if you wanted an introduction, you might not be able to find it on sites like this one that need to keep language and most descriptions generally as PG as possible… though “thankfully,” the title does conjure up enough horrifying imagery for it alone to explain the basics.

Of course, to top The Human Centipede, The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)had to push things further when it came to what shocking sights it would subject viewers to, and this resulted in at least half a dozen bans. It was only refused classification for a short period of time in places like Australia, but the banning proved permanent in other locations like the Philippines, Germany, and Ireland.

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7 'Braindead' (1992)

Banned in 6 countries

In its uncut version, Braindead (sometimes known as Dead Alive) was surprisingly banned in quite a few places, even though those who’ve seen it would agree it’s gory, but might not agree it’s intense enough to be hidden from even adults. Yet in Finland, it was initially banned, and was also banned in places that required recuts before ratings would be given, like in South Korea.

Braindead is primarily a comedy though, and it pushes things so far when it comes to showing bloodshed and scenes of extreme zombie carnage that most will probably become numb to it at worst, and, more likely, will eventually find themselves finding it all hilarious. It certainly shows a different side to Peter Jackson (in a good way), for those who are only familiar with his Middle Earth-set films.

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6 'The Devils' (1971)

Banned in 6 countries

Most horror movies find themselves banned because of the level of violence featured, and while The Devils can get graphic with its violence, it was also controversial because of its sexual content and the way it explored religion. It’s one of Ken Russell’s most well-known (or notorious) films, and also can’t be called a horror movie exclusively; it’s perhaps more of a very dark historical drama than an outright horror movie.

Still, by the standards of 1971, The Devils had a great deal of alarming content featured within it… and honestly, even by today’s standards, parts of it can still prove shocking. If it didn’t get the highest rating available within a given country, chances are, it was banned (at least temporarily), with this happening in countries like New Zealand, Ireland, and Finland (twice for the latter; both for its theatrical release and attempted home video release).

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5 'Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom' (1975)

Banned in 9 countries

Like The Devils, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom is a 1970s release that still has the power to disturb and sicken those who watch it all these decades later, and it’s earned its reputation for being one of the most shocking films of all time. It’s also similar to The Devils in the way it’s more of a horrific drama with a historical setting over being an outright horror film (though its influence can be felt in infamous torture-heavy horror films that became popular in the 2000s).

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom was one of many controversial Pier Paolo Pasolini movies (arguably his most disturbing), and was met with its fair share of bannings as a result. For example, it was refused classification in Australia for almost 35 years, and was also banned for 25+ years in places like New Zealand and Norway.

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4 'A Serbian Film' (2010)

Banned in 12 countries

It might have the same infamy as other horror movies that were controversial decades ago and remain confronting, but when it comes to crowning the most controversial and frequently banned movie of the 21st century so far, A Serbian Film is undoubtedly a contender. Like the films in The Human Centipede, it’s also hard to discuss what it’s about without divulging unpleasant details.

Essentially, everything that happens in it is some level of grim, upsetting, violent, depraved, or even some kind of combination of all of the above. It should also be noted that it takes more nowadays for most horror films to get banned in most places, compared to how things were some years or decades ago, meaning the fact that A Serbian Film received at least a dozen bans in the early 2010s is significant.

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3 'Cannibal Holocaust' (1980)

Banned in 13 countries

Functioning as a very dark satire/social commentary alongside being an early found-footage movie and one of the goriest horror films ever made, Cannibal Holocaust lives up to its reputation. It depicts, in sickening detail, what happens when a film crew encounters a tribe of cannibals and pays a heavy price for antagonizing and exploiting them.

Speaking of “exploiting,” some would call Cannibal Holocaust an example of intentionally shocking and in-your-face exploitation filmmaking, though others might point to the social commentary and the way it defined or codified certain horror conventions as signs that it was actually kind of groundbreaking. Whether you like the movie or not, however, all would agree that it houses some truly horrifying acts of violence against both humans (staged) and animals (sadly not staged), leading to it becoming one of the most often banned movies of its time.

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2 'I Spit on Your Grave' (1978)

Banned in 14 countries

Combining a revenge/thriller premise with plenty of confronting scenes that also cause it to cross over into the horror genre, I Spit on Your Grave is another film that lives on in infamy. Perhaps like Cannibal Holocaust, people are split on whether there’s some level of subversion or intelligence to the film, or whether it’s simply a cheap exercise in shocking and upsetting its audience for the hell of it.

For a film with a simple and easy-to-understand premise, I Spit on Your Grave sure is difficult to watch, even for those who think they might’ve seen it all when it comes to the horror genre and on-screen depictions of brutal violence. It’s been banned in a decent number of countries in its time, including Australia (temporarily), Ireland, Thailand, and Iceland.

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1 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' (1974)

Banned in 14 countries

It can be inspiring to see a low-budget horror movie do well and become something legendary, especially for aspiring filmmakers who want to enter the industry and find popularity while lacking the finances to pull off something super elaborate. Of these kinds of horror films, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of the best and most well-known, taking a slasher movie premise (arguably before it was cool) and making it down-and-dirty, gritty, and particularly intense.

Despite the title suggesting violence, and the film being quite a lot to handle anxiety-wise, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre really isn’t all that graphically violent, implying much of its violence or having it occur somewhat off-screen, and by showing very little by way of actual blood. Despite this, it was still intense enough to have a huge number of bans early on, including places like Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden (though in all those cases, the bans were temporary).

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