Random Horror Movies That Got People Jailed, Punished, or Officially Investigated (12 items)

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  (#1) Cannibal Holocaust

  • Ruggero Deodato, Luca Barbareschi, Robert Kerman, Gregory Snegoff, Edward Mannix, Carl Gabriel Yorke, Paolo Paoloni, Salvatore Basile, Ricardo Fuentes, Luigina Rocchi, Francesca Ciardi, Enrico Papa, Perry Pirkanen, Lucia Costantini, Lionello Pio Di Savoia

  Cannibal Holocaust has two claims to fame. First, it was one of the first found footage horror films. Second, it is consistently ranked as one of the most controversial films of all time. These two elements came together to create a firestorm for the film's director. Released in 1980, Cannibal Holocaust contained images so gruesome and realistic the Italian government tried director Ruggero Deodato for the murder of his lead actress, based on the footage.

  It was only when the stars of the film to plead Deodato's case (and prove they were alive) that the charges were dropped. The controversy surrounding Cannibal Holocaust has eclipsed the movie itself, and made it the most obvious choice for inclusion on this list. 

  See the creepy house where this all went down here.
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  (#4) Marla Mae

  For independent horror film Marla Mae, the truth behind the scenes was stranger than the fiction on screen. In 2015, an uneventful filming process in Washington State concluded with an interview with filmmakers and cast in a local paper. This article alerted federal agents that Jason Sange, a man convicted of armed robbery, had nabbed a lead role in the production.

  Stange used his own name during auditions, won the role, and went on to play a major part in the film, all of this after violating parole by abandoning his halfway house. The police re-arrested him after seeing his name and photo in the paper. Sometimes when that acting bug bites you, it sucks out your sense of reason. 
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  (#9) The Films of Remy Couture

  In a genre as controversial and subversive as horror, is it a badge of honor if your work is so offensive it gets you arrested for moral corruption? That's what happened to Remy Couture, a special effects artist in Quebec, Canada. Couture posted some horror shorts on his website, Inner Depravity, in 2005 and gained worldwide attention.

  However, not all of the attention was positive; a complaint in Austria made its way to Interpol, and Couture was arrested and charged with moral corruption and the production and distribution of obscene material. Acquitted in 2012, Couture's case hinged on the jury agreeing Couture's work was not just obscenity but had true artistic merit. That seems like a very complicated way to earn your artistic merit badge.
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  (#6) Eldorado

  • Peter O'Toole, Daryl Hannah, Steve Guttenberg, Brigitte Nielsen, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Sylvester McCoy, Bill Moseley, Patrick Bergin, Jeff Fahey

  When making a horror movie, that old phrase rings true: nothing is certain but death and taxes. Every horror film has death and every production has taxes. When the maker of low-budget horror-comedy Eldorado tried to film the death without paying the taxes, he got himself in a lot of trouble with the British government.

  Producer Roger Driscoll falsified forms to inflate the budget of his film, claiming it cost £9 million ($13.8 million), which qualified it for £1.5 million ($2.3 million) in tax rebates and government funds. In fact, the film cost less to produce than the £1.5 Driscoll got back. Along with four conspirators, the producer forged documents and invoices to inflate expenses. He pocketed the money, spending it on crucial horror-related projects like his a hair transplant. Driscoll, whose entire professional life is a bizarre, sordid affair, was found guilty in 2013.

  Apparently the movie's not very good, either. According to UK paper The Telegraph, "Eldorado, you see, is weapons-grade awful. By turns toe-curling and wholly baffling, this is 116 minutes of laughable prosthetics, shifting sets and appalling CGI.
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  (#10) Night of the Living Dead

  • Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Marilyn Eastman, Kyra Schon, Charles Craig, George Kosana, Russell Streiner

  Night of the Living Dead, George Romero's classic 1968 zombie film, is so scary a man used it to punish a child he babysat. So scary, in fact, his use of the film was considered a crime. Englishman Robert Bayliss, babysitting an unnamed 6-year-old girl in the early '90s, forced her to watch the film as a punishment for "behaving like a child" (which seems a little unfair, since she was a child). 

  In 2016, Bayliss, who confessed to a drinking problem at the time of the incident, was convicted on one count of child cruelty more than 20 years after the event. He received a suspended sentence, probation, and community service. 
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  (#12) Dudleytown Curse - The 49th Key

  Dudleytown was a Connecticut settlement in the 18th and 19th century, which many now consider haunted or cursed. Bad things seem to befall anyone associated with the town, with legends of ghosts, demons, and vanishings dating back centuries. The hardship that befell the crew of a horror film based on these legends is much more firmly rooted in reality. Police arrested eight filmmakers, in the process of shooting Dudleytown Curse - The 49th Key, for trespassing on the site of the old settlement, which is now private property.

  Is it a case of bad luck or did the Dudleytown curse strike again? Maybe they should've gotten some permits. Or maybe the ghosts cursed their permits? 

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