Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom poster

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1976)

Film · 1h 57m · In Italian

Drama, Foreign (non-English), Horror

Four depraved libertines subject teenagers to 120 days of sadistic torture in a chilling, slow-burn nightmare.

Bleak and surreal. A full-attention watch that takes its time. Emotionally it is devastating.

Not on a US subscription service as of Oct 28, 2026.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom parents guide

There is no US rating to lean on, so here is what we tagged: real scares, strong sex and nudity, and brutal violence.

Scare
Properly scary
Frightening, not just tense.
Jump scares
None noted
Gore
Extreme gore
Our top level for gore.
Violence
Brutal violence
Our top level for violence.
Sex and nudity
Strong
Strong means explicit or repeated sex, extended nudity, or sexual assault shown on screen, attempted or completed, even partly off screen. Any one of these is enough.
Language
Moderate
Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom scary?
Yes, properly. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom is the real thing without being an endurance test.
How gory is Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom?
Extreme gore and brutal violence. If graphic gore is a dealbreaker, skip it.

What is Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom about?

Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

No. Brace yourself.

Cast and crew

Directed byPier Paolo Pasolini
StarringPaolo Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi, Uberto Paolo Quintavalle, Aldo Valletti, Caterina Boratto, Elsa De Giorgi

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.