If you’re looking to ramp up for Halloween by watching some horror flicks, you could go the typical route of Friday the 13^th and Nightmare on Elm Street marathons, but if you’re really looking for a spooky movie fest, why not go the extra mile?

The films on this list are all so violent and so offensive that they have been subject to protests, boycotts or censorship and many have even been banned in a few countries. While many of these are lesser known and hard to find, some of the big name controversial movies may surprise you. Because offensiveness and scariness are so subjective,  these are presented in order of release date.  

Warning: this post contains video clips that may be disturbing to some viewers, as they are from intentionally disturbing films.

The Last House on the Left (1972)

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This movie was the directorial debut of Wes Craven and depicted two teenage girls who are kidnapped by escaped convicts on their way to a rock concert. They are then sadistically tortured, raped and eventually murdered. By using a grainy, hand-held 16 mm camera, Craven’s picture seemed all too real to many movie viewers. He tried to defend the violence by saying it was "a reaction on my part to the violence around us, specifically to the Vietnam War." Craven’s excuses didn’t do much to quell the controversy and the movie was censored in many countries, particularly the U.K., where it was banned for seventeen years and remained subject to censorship until 2008.

The Exorcist (1973)

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You probably already know this is a darn creepy movie, but you may not know that it was so shocking to movie goers that many viewers were subject to nausea, convulsions, fainting and shocking displays of anger –one viewer in San Francisco attacked the movie screen, attempting to kill the demon. Paramedics began to be called to the screenings and it wasn’t long before picketers started showing up at the theaters. The film was even banned on video for 14 years in the U.K.

After the film was released, there was a major increase in requests for priests to perform exorcisms and a drastic rise in alleged spiritual possessions and psychoses by people claiming to be possessed. Taking advantage of the hysteria, Reverend Billy Graham  claimed he "felt the power of evil buried within the celluloid of the film itself."

The American Library Association has compiled stories of haunted libraries across the country -plus an international post. Who knew the dead love to go back to their favorite library? http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/10/ghosts-in-the-library-the-haunted-library-series-is-back/ -via the Presurfer

For Halloween, Andrew Lindstrom of Well Medicated Blog has something special for all of us. He's posting his collection of 100 vintage horror posters. The first 50 has a link to the rest: Link - via IZ Reloaded

Kids helping each other out on Halloween can put a chalk mark at the bottom of the driveway to let later trick-or-treaters know what to expect. The pictured symbols mean "Dentist", "Werther's Originals", and "Reeces Pieces"! I'm afraid I'll go from "miserly portions" to "out of candy, now giving out sauce packets from Taco Bell." Link -via a comment at YesButNoButYes

The Cushing Center is in the basement of the medical school at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Named after neurosurgeon Harvey Williams Cushing, the center is also known as the brain museum. Cushing began collecting and preserving brains and tumors in 1902, and kept them in his office. The huge collection was eventually sent to the basement, but in 1990, the school decided to display the brains to the public. Read more about the brains in the basement at mental_floss. 

(Image credit: Flickr user Pattie Belle Hastings)

It's pumpkin season again! That means that master pumpkin artist Ray Villafane, whose work we've featured extensively here at Neatorama, faces a busy month.

A week ago, Mr. Villafane attended a pumpkin festival in Ludwigsburg, Germany. He did a lot of work with the Hubbard squash. As usual, he carved vividly expressive faces into them, such as the one above. You can view more photos of the series here or at Mr. Villafane's website here.

The cupcake you see here will be sold at the Eat Your Heart Out 2013 pop-up cake shop in London, England, open October 25-27. Food artists will be offering the world's most gruesome and delicious treats. These cupcakes are made by Twisted Fondant, a macabre division of Fantasy Fondant. What makes them so gruesome? The explanation may be a bit disturbing, visually, so if you are up for it, continue reading.

Say hello to my new little friend! This little guy is all ready for Halloween in his tiny pinata costume complete with a decorative sombrero. While it looks like something that you would have to buy from the store, Studio DIY has the directions on how to make it yourself and it sounds relatively easy -just glue strips of crepe paper glued to a dog sweater. Of course, you probably will have to buy your own dog sombrero.

Via True Blue Me & You

We've previously talked about Evil Mad Scientist Lab's Eggbot machine and while decorating eggs is certainly the main purpose of the Eggbot, it's not the only thing you can do with the great device. In fact, you can actually use it for decorating pumpkins and if you have the ostrich egg version, you can even decorate full-size pumpkins up to 6" in diameter (the original Eggbot only can handle pumpkins up to 4" in diameter).  They even have a great blog post showing exactly how to do it.

Of course, if you prefer to limit your Eggbot for only eggs, you can always turn your eggs into adorable little ghosties like these for Halloween.

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For Halloween, Dark Roasted Blend has a roundup of weird wearable art and over-the-top costumes that you probably won't see at your doorstep tonight -but wouldn't it be cool if you did? Jason Hackenwerth designed this balloon outfit. Link

Halloween is nearing, and AskMen has a really neat article about the 5 Things You Didn't Know About Halloween. For example:

2- Halloween trick-or-treating originated from begging
The only real difference between begging and trick-or-treating is in perspective: The former is lowly, the latter is sanctioned. In fact, some U.S. states don’t hide it, calling Halloween “Beggars' Night,” while some groups have campaigned against the practice, labeling it extortion.

Although no documentary evidence exists, trick-or-treating resembles a practice known as "souling," once performed in the British Isles by poor people around November 1. They would go door to door begging for food; in exchange, they would offer to pray for the souls of the dead.

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Matthew Inman at The Oatmeal made a chart of how different age groups celebrate Halloween. I have experienced all these phases, with the difference that when I was younger, teenagers had lots more fun! Link -via Geeks Are Sexy

When you produce a skull every day, what are you going to do for Halloween? Noah Scalin at Skull-a-Day carved a pumpkin and found the skull inside! Link -via The Daily What

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YouTube user Hickok45 doesn't need a knife to carve a pumpkin. He has a Glock. At the end of the video, he shows what it looks like when it's lit up. via Say Uncle

Eeek, looks horrific right? Well, that's kind of the point! This Instructable makeup tutorial can help you make this creepy, monsterous bone fracture this Halloween. If you're wondering what it's made from, the bone is actually just three straws glued together and wrapped in latex -the rest is just usual Halloween makeup tricks.

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