Four men of power, the Duke, the Bishop, the Magistrate, and the President, agree to marry each other’s daughters as the first step in a debauched ritual. With the aid of several collaborator young men, they kidnap eighteen young men and women (nine of each sex), and take them to a palace near Marzabotto. Accompanying them are four middle-aged prostitutes, also collaborators, whose function in the debauchery will be to recount erotically arousing stories for the men of power, who, in turn, will sadistically exploit their victims.

The director fused with the film with a political allegory subtext, and was murdered prior to the film’s release. Criterion has issued the film twice on DVD, and this new Blu-ray set will be just a port of the spectacular 2-disc set, released a few years back.

Here’s the extras:

Salò”: Yesterday and Today: Thirty-three-minute 2002 documentary featuring interviews with director Pier Paolo Pasolini, actor-filmmaker Jean-Claude Biette, and Pasolini friend Nineto Davoli

Fade to Black: Twenty-three-minute 2001 documentary featuring directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, and John Maybury, as well as scholar David Forgacs

The End of Salò: Forty-minute documentary about the film’s production

Video interviews with set designer Dante Ferretti and director and film scholar Jean-Pierre Gorin

Optional English-dubbed soundtrack

Theatrical trailer

Booklet featuring essays by Neil Bartlett, Breillat, Naomi Greene, Sam Rohdie, Roberto Chiesi, and Gary Indiana, and excerpts from Gideon Bachmann’s on-set diary

The disc is scheduled for an October 4th release.

Source: Blu-ray

It is Life of Brian which was voted the most controversial film of all time besting films like A Clockwork Orange and The Last House on The Left with the polls spokesmen stating:  “The success of films like Life Of Brian proves that scandal sells.”

-The Mirror

1. The Life of Brian

2. A Clockwork Orange

3. The Last House on the Left

4. The War Game

5. Pink Flamingos

Now of course this is not the first, nor will it be the last time a most controversial film of all time list is done, so the fact that films like Caligula, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her lover,Salo,The Last Temptation of Christ,Crash,Kids,The Birth of  a Nation, The Passion of the Christ,Lolita,Deep Throat or Bad Lieutenant were forgotten to be mentioned is heresy.  It does though make you wonder who, in fact, classifies a film to be controversial or inappropriate.  Is it mere coincidence that 2 of the films mentioned are comedies while the other a pseudo documentary and not a full length  narrative film, or does it say more about ourselves that films of that nature or ‘quality’ do not get made today?  It is more often than not religion and sex, more so than violence that seems to anger certain viewers such as is the case with every film mentioned previously.  With the sole exception of The War Game which was deemed too frightening and graphic so much so that the film was made for television viewing back in August of 1966 and the same year won an Oscar for best documentary but was banned by the BBC for viewing until 1985 a full 11 years later due to ”the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting”.

Or maybe its the filmmakers themselves that are too afraid to make controversial films like in the case of Theo Van Gough who directed the 10 minute film Submission about muslim women which got him stabbed to death (as seen below)

There is even to this day rampant discussion as to whether Pier Paolo Pasolini had been murdered out of sheer vengeance from his captor or if it in fact had been done due to his final film Salo: The 120 days of Sodom.  Either way it is up for debate that if films that can cause such outright hate and debate are more controversial than a biblical comedy by the famed British troupe.

Best DVDs:

-The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Wall-E: Of course these studio releases would be here. Great films, great transfers, audio, and some good extra features made these the hottest releases and ones worth owning this year.

- Fist of Legend: Dragon Dynasty, in case you aren’t up on Asian cinema, tackles the genre with great bonus materials and decent releases. Some have complained about the so-so transfers and the use of subtitles, but this is one great release. Jet Li’s best film and a solid disc worth picking up for fans of him, martial arts, and Asian cinema.

- Rodan/War of the Gargantuas: Classic Media has done Criterion-level work on Toho’s kaiju eiga films.  Mostly with the Godzilla films they own, but this release features good transfers, original Japanese versions, and an awesome hour long documentary on the suit work that make this one of the best releases this year.

Worst DVDs:

- Mongol: Now Mongol is a great movie, except New Line just dumped it on the DVD; no extras, no real care put into one of the better foreign films to come out. Shame.

- Walk the Line: Extended Cut: Another release of this movie was pointless and just a cash-grab.

DVD Reissue of the Year: Dark City and Salo: or 120 Days of Sodom: Criterion Collection

Cult DVDs of the Year:

- Inglorious Bastards: Severin Films packed this rarely seen film with a bonus CD soundtrack, interviews, making-of featurettes.  All on three discs, making this one heck of a release.

- Savage Streets: BCI goes out of their way for this trashy flick with multiple audio commentaries, interviews, a collection of the one-sheets used and a great transfer.

TV Release of the Year: Spaced-Complete Series

Best Extras:

- I am Iron Man documentary on the Iron Man disc: a fantastic, thorough making-of that we don’t get enough of these days.  It covers all aspects making the film. Informative and entertaining.

- Commentary on the Faces of Death disc: If any film needs to be accompanied by such a track it’s this film, but Conan LaClaire dissects the making, and the myths for a revealing track we rarely get now days.

- Fade to Black on the Salo disc: Criterion Collection: This 33-minute feature covers the appropriate historical context of the film, a misunderstood classic.

Best Trend: Solid releases with great extras.

Worst Trend: Reissues

On to Blu Ray now (Most of these are self-explanatory on why I picked them)!

Best in Blu Ray:

Discs to Own:

The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, and Proposition (Picture, audio, and extras make these worth buying immediately).

Discs to Avoid:

Gangs of New York, Speed Racer, Mongol, Amityville Horror, and Hunt for Red October (all because the transfers don’t look better than the DVD, and the lack of extras).

Best Transfer/Audio:

Iron Man

Worst Transfer/Audio:

Gangs of New York

Best Catalogue Releases:

Godfather-The Coppola Restoration Collection, Dr. No, and the Day the Earth Stood Still.

Best New Company: First Look Studios (affordable prices and great transfers on titles like Proposition, Sukiyaki Western Django, and Immortal make this studio one to watch).

Best Company: Disney Studios

Worst Company: MGM (high MSRPs and little extra content. Some titles have crappy transfers.)

Best Trend: Lowering prices (new releases are down $5-10 from a year ago)

Worst Trend: Not porting over existing DVD extras.

Hope you enjoyed collecting these titles as much as I did. Post your own list below in our comment section!