Best Unrated Movies 2022
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Best Unrated Movies 2022
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15 Best NC-17 And Unrated Movies
By Keith Langston
Updated Dec 05, 2021
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Most films do what they can to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating or going unrated, but the best NC-17 movies manage to leave an impact anyway.
NC-17 movies have long fascinated film fans. Back in 1990, the MPAA (The Motion Picture Association of America) replaced the X rating with NC-17 because X had become synonymous with pornography. Unfortunately, even when changed to NC-17, the stigma of the rating still lingered and made almost impossible to place these movies in theaters.
Numerous high-profile movies like American Psycho , Saw , Boys Don't Cry , and Goodfellas all had to alter or cut scenes in order to get their NC-17 ratings changed to an R. Some films, however, threw caution to the wind, stood up against censorship, and refused to change. These films went on to be released with an NC-17 rating or were released as Unrated.
Updated on December 5th, 2021 by Keith Langston: Luckily, in recent years, many filmgoers have become more welcoming and accepting of NC-17 and Unrated movies, and the two ratings are no longer the "kiss of death" they used to be in earlier decades.
This French drama was actually based on a graphic novel with the same name and featured knockout performances by Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos, who play two women who fall in love. The movie got its NC-17 rating due to its unapologetic depictions of sex, though that wasn't what caused most of the controversy.
According to reports chronicled by publications like Vulture , working conditions with director Abdellatif Kechiche were extremely poor, which created massive tension on set. In the end, the film received positive critical reviews and awards, but it failed to win over much of the LGBTQ+ community due to concerns largely revolving around authenticity.
Larry Clark struck a nerve with critics, censors, and parental groups during the 90s, thanks to a string of highly controversial films that included Kids, a story about several New York teenagers engaged in everything from drugs to unprotected sex.
The content is extremely hard to stomach, leading to a tragic final act. Kids is a film that tries to sound the alarm regarding the dangers of aimless, misspent youth during an era when many young people felt morally rudderless.
Showgirls was supposed to make Saved by the Bell star Elizabeth Berkley a bonafide actress. It was her chance to show she had grown up and could star in a gritty drama. To date, Showgirls is the only NC-17 movie to get a wide release in theaters. The film centers on Nomi, a young woman who heads to Vegas with dreams of becoming a showgirl.
The film is filled with backstabbing, assault, blackmail, and even murder. Showgirls received tons of negative press before release due to its nudity and violence. Though it was a box-office bomb, the movie went on to be popular at video stores and became one of MGM's highest-grossing movies in the rental market.
2009's The Human Centipede is graphic and extremely controversial . An insane German surgeon decides to create a human centipede by sewing three people together. The movie, naturally, was never going to hear anything good from the MPAA, so it was released by IFC as Unrated. The film played in select theaters across the globe at midnight, only admitting viewers who were over the age of 18.
As word of the "grossest movie ever" spread, audiences began lining up in droves. It has become of the only true "Midnight Movies" in modern times and became a cultural phenomenon, leading to numerous spoofs including a South Park episode. It also pushed the boundaries of free speech and what constitutes being considered a"film." It's a grotesque yet important piece of cinematic history.
This little-known film about the holocaust centers around two gay men who fall in love after being sent to a concentration camp. The movie's cast is superb, starring Clive Owen, Ian McKellen, Jude Law, Mick Jagger, and Rachel Weisz, just to name a few.
Despite the graphic holocaust content, the MPAA cites "a strong scene of graphic sexuality" for its NC-17 rating. The MPAA has long been known for being more likely to give harsher ratings for sexual content than violence.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated is a documentary about how absurd the MPAA's rating system is. The film's investigations found that the MPAA gives much harsher ratings to scenes of homosexual intimacy, is harsher on depictions of female climax, and even gives harsher ratings for films that show pubic hair.
The movie interviews numerous filmmakers who had to fight the MPAA such as Matt Stone, John Waters, and Kevin Smith. Ironically, since the movie shows clips from NC-17 movies to help prove its point, the MPAA slapped the documentary with an NC-17 rating as well.
• Available on Pluto TV, Tubi, Vudu, Crackle, Fubo TV, and Prime Video
The 2005 documentary The Aristocrats interviewed many of entertainment's top comedians, all of whom tell their versions and experiences with "the world's dirtiest joke". The joke in question is an intentionally disgusting and disturbing tale of a family who auditions for a nightclub act. In the joke, comedians try to be as gross and taboo as possible when describing what the family does onstage in their act.
Comedians like Whoopi Goldberg, Lisa Lampanelli, Andy Dick, Lewis Black, Bob Sagat, and more all tell their versions of the joke which includes murder, defecation, and more. Naturally, to avoid an NC-17 rating, the movie had to be released as Unrated.
Adapted from the 1995 novel of the same name, Mysterious Skin stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Neil, a teenage hustler in Kansas. Neil eventually moves to New York City, where he discovers a much-darker world of prostitution that deal with drugs, HIV, and abuse. A simultaneous storyline follows Neil's friend, Brian. Brian is convinced he has a memory of being been abducted by aliens.
As the film progresses, it's slowly revealed that Neil's issues and Brian's false memory of being abducted both stem from one summer when they were kids. The movie is heartbreaking, powerful, chilling, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance is easily the best of his career.
The Dreamers follows the story of an American college student in Paris during the 1968 student riots. At a protest, he meets a brother and sister and discovers they love films just as much as he does. Soon, a strange, erotic love triangle forms between the three.
Though in English, the movie is a modern example of European erotic arthouse, a genre that's been around for decades and includes films like The Beast , Emmanuelle , and Salò , just to name a few. The movie became a box-office success (by NC-17 movie standards) and was one of the first leading roles for actress Eva Green.
• Available for purchase on Prime Video
In 2011, Shame helped reframe how audiences viewed NC-17 movies. The movie starred Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan as two play siblings, Brandon and Sissy Sullivan, both of whom have unhealthy sexual addictions.
The movie was raw and disturbing, but ultimately, melancholic and heartfelt. Both Fassbender and Mulligan managed to play their characters perfectly, creating a story that was both captivating, yet deeply flawed. Shame went on to win a plethora of awards and was placed on over 20 Top-10 lists of 2011.
After the success of Hedwig and the Angry Inch , filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell created Shortbus , a film about a sex club in Brooklyn that was inspired by New York's real underground sex parties. The movie blends comedy, drama, and eroticism. It follows an ensemble cast, exploring their reasonings for attending the club and the people they are outside of it.
The movie gained significant attention because it was filmed entirely with real intercourse. According to Refinery29 , the film's star, Sook-Yin Lee, was even almost fired from her job at the CBC because it until celebrities like Yoko Ono, Julianne Moore, and famed filmmaker, Francis Ford Coppola , came to her defense. The movie premiered at Cannes and was screened as Unrated in various cities around America, where only moviegoers 18+ were allowed admittance.
Bad Lieutenant is one of the few NC-17 movies to get its rating due to pervasive violence and drug use almost exclusively. The film has been banned twice in Ireland, first during its theatrical release, and later with the DVD release, and an R-Rated cut was developed specifically for rental outlets.
It's seen as a story of Catholicism, both embracing and challenging the religion's themes of sin and redemption, and good and evil. Despite the NC-17 rating, the movie was screened at Cannes and was praised by critics. To this day, it's considered one of Harvey Keitel's greatest roles.
The Evil Dead was originally given an X rating because of its intense amount of gore, although, these days, the cheesy effects make the movie come off as more of a campy comedy than a horror. In the 90s, when the MPAA changed the X rating to NC-17, The Evil Dead was slapped with the dreaded rating.
Luckily, being an NC-17 movie never hurt The Evil Dead (likely due to the fact that it had been released years beforehand). It's consistently hailed as one of the greatest horror movies ever made, as well as one of Sam Raimi's best movies , and filmmakers like Eli Roth cite The Evil Dead as being their inspiration for entering the horror genre.
• Available for purchase on Prime Video
A Dirty Shame was the NC-17 movie that launched a debate about what qualifies as "offensive" and helped inspire the creation of This Film is Not Yet Rated . The movie centers around Sylvia, who, after hitting her head, becomes a sex addict. She soon meets a group of people, all with their own unique sexual obsessions.
The movie is a slapstick comedy and doesn't actually contain a single explicit sex scene. Regardless, the MPAA gave it an NC-17 simply for its continual references to sex. In reality, the movie is a raunchy comedy, mocking our perceived norms of intimacy and fetishes. It's hilarious, witty, and like all things John Waters, outrageous.
When Pink Flamingos was first released in 1972, according to The Washington Post , Variety called it "One of the most vile, stupid and repulsive films ever made." The movie is what launched John Waters' career and earned him the honorary title of "The Prince of Puke". Pink Flamingoes follows two warring groups who are both vying for the title of Filthiest Person Alive.
It starred the legendary drag queen, Divine, who even ate real dog feces onscreen in the film. The movie also included kidnapping, rape, murder, necrophilia, infantilism, human trafficking, and more. For decades, and even well into the new millennium, Pink Flamingoes was deemed to be the raunchiest movie ever made. It also led to a whole series of offensive and hilarious movies that John Waters would become known for.
Keith Langston is a writer for ScreenRant, as well as Travel Channel and Passport Magazine. He holds a deep passion for film, travel, and adventure. He fully believes that 'The Faculty' is the greatest movie ever made.
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Indies, horror films, and even big studio movies that didn't catch on make up our curated list.
If you find yourself thumbing through the Netflix queue and saying “I’ve seen that” over and over again, we’ve got you covered. Our list of the most underrated movies on Netflix focuses on hidden gems and films that maybe didn’t hit big when they were initially released, but are well worth watching regardless. These range from little-seen horror movies to splashy, star-driven vehicles that for one reason or another didn’t find their audience. But all of these movies have one thing in common: they’re very, very good.
So peruse our list of the best hidden gems and underrated movies on Netflix below.
Don't see what you're looking for here? Check out our list of the best hidden gems on Disney+ , HBO Max , and Prime Video .
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