What were the envelope pushing movies?
 

I was watching a video of the uncut scenes in the 1989 Kickboxer that the film censors deemed were too violent and forced them to be cut

And I seen comments from people saying that by todays standards all of those scense would be considered very tame.

This got me thinking. Which films were the ones that really pushed the envelope to get us from the 80s where seeing Van Dammes foot break the jaw of Tong po upclose was too graphic to scenes in fight movies today where you get guys ripping off jaws in fights.

I suspect the obvious one would be the first Saw movie. And likely Hostel too.

But are there any others that jump out?

Not sure if these thoughts are what you're after but there are older films that 'pushed the envelope.' John Carpenter's The Thing instantly springs to mind. I first saw it in the mid 80's and it really shocked me. I'd never seen anything like it before. btw I had similar feelings when I first saw uncensored dvds of Lucio Fulci's Zombie, City of the Living Dead and The Beyond. :) Saw and Hostel I find quite tame by comparison.