Prime’s Saltburn leaves fans ‘disturbed’ over ‘horrifying’ scenes

A new movie tipped for Oscar success has hit Prime video, and it has proved to be wildly controversial.

Rosamund Pike is quickly becoming an Oscar contender following the movie's release. Picture from Twitter.

Prime video movie Saltburn hit streaming this week, and it has sparked a wave of controversy on social media over the inclusion of some “disturbing” and “sick” scenes.

The psychological thriller turned black comedy follows a slightly strange student, Oliver (Barry Keoghan) who spends the summer with his classmate, Felix (Elordi) for a life-changing few months.

Rosamund Pike is quickly becoming an Oscar contender following the movie's release. Picture from Twitter.

Sounds pretty run-of-the-mill right? Wrong. Very, very wrong. Let’s just say it’s not the film to thrown on for Christmas day in front of the family.

Since hitting Prime video, some of the acclaimed film’s more graphic scenes have sparked huge debate online, with many left baffled by their inclusion.

The movie’s now infamous bath scene, which has gone viral on TikTok this week, shows Oliver (Keoghan) hopping in the bath after secretly watching Felix (Elordi) pleasure himself in the bath, only to end up drinking the remaining bath water directly from the tub.

Boy dinner pic.twitter.com/Pqlvaxoem1

— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) December 22, 2023

see i thought #Saltburn was gonna be this cute gay film about this awkward lonely boy hanging at his sexy crush’s house for the summer with his quirky family… twas not. twas not at all. 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/RQPNPpsXD6

— 🦋 kae 🦋 (@ayyyekae) December 21, 2023

Prime remarked on the controversy this week, posting a still from the scene and captioning it: “Boy dinner”.

You’d think that must be the only scene, surely it can’t get more bizarre than that... but it does. Beware, if you don’t want to be spoiled about a major plot twist, make sure to stop reading now.

Another scene features Oliver (Keoghan) visiting the grave of Felix’s (Elordi) character. In the truly bizarre scene, he lies on top of it sobbing, before slowly undressing. Once fully nude, he then begins to thrust into the ground.

Me during *that* scene in Saltburn (and I’m not talking about the bathtub) pic.twitter.com/y70Kgba7Fg

— 🧚🏽‍♂️ (@ungodlysamer) December 23, 2023

Oddly enough, the outrageous moment wasn’t even in the script, but the actor decided to go for it when the cameras began rolling.

“On paper, he wasn’t written to do that,” Keoghan, whose nude dance scene from the film set to Sophie Ellis Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor recently trended on social media, told Variety. “But I wanted to see what actually happened, where I would take it. I wanted to be confused and let my body lead the way. What am I doing? How can I get closer?”

Viewers have been left stunned by the X-rated scenes, with many rushing to social media to share their shock and confusion.

Barry Keoghan's performance has sparked widespread controversy. Picture from X.

“Finishing #Saltburn … is this sicko at the grave????!!!!!!!??!!?!?!!!!?!!!!???!!!!??? What is this movie???” exclaimed one baffled viewer.

Another concerned viewer tweeted: “Everyone out here talking about the bath tub scene in #Saltburn... did no one else watch long enough for the grave scene because that s**t was unfathomable!!”

While a third expressed concern that the scene was improvised, saying: “Watched #Saltburn, Barry Keoghan you are a great actor but how can you improvise that bizarre grave scene??”

Despite the backlash, the movie has also received a huge amount of praise from critics and other fans, with many praising Rosamund Pike’s performance.

“If Rosamund Pike doesn’t win every single applicable award for her portrayal of Lady Elspeth Catton in #Saltburn I will absolutely riot,” wrote one viewer, while another added: “Rosamund better get the Oscar for this!”

Saltburn is in cinemas and available on Prime video now.