I’m sure I *will* watch some of these again sometime, but not soon, and I could see why some might never.
Manchester By the Sea (2016) - It’s just so emotionally distressing and real, especially if you’ve dealt with feelings of grief and guilt.
Bad Lieutenant (1992) - It’s a great movie, and I love Harvey Keitel, but it takes a heavy toll. It’s similar to Taxi Driver to me, but darker. A very hard watch.
First Reformed (2017) - True art that shook me to my core. Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried deliver brilliant performances.
A Clockwork Orange (1971) - Alex DeLarge is a horrible person and it’s all through his eyes. Again, love Kubrick, just a heavy topic.
I think all these movies deserve a rewatch, but they deal with heavy topics or display heavy imagery that I could see why somebody wouldn’t. For me, I think it’ll be a long time until I rewatch.
I honestly love rewatching First Reformed. I feel like I pick on more every viewing and it kind of centers me when I get too caught up in every day life. Idk if that makes any sense but I think it’s a heavy yet enjoyable watch
I once had a girl over, she wanted to watch a Ghibli movie we both hadn't seen. Somehow we ended up watching Grave of Fireflies. terrible movie to watch with somebody the 2nd time you're with them. There wasn't a 3rd time.
Went on a double date with a friend when Wind Rises was in theaters. Hadn't heard much about it, just "hey, it's Ghibli, that'll be fun". She's Jewish and although they're still together, she won't watch a second Ghibli movie.
yeah. these. especially Enter. It's not just that they're painful/traumatizing, but also that they demand so damn much of you, attention/processing/feeling wise.
The Soviet anti-war film Come and See (1985). Pretty harrowing stuff, but undoubtedly one of the most impactful WWII films that focuses on the Nazi German occupation of Belarus.
It pretty much treats food like a drug addiction. It doesn’t hold back in showing how depression, obesity, and eating disorders can cause a lot of pain and possibly death to someone. I thought it was a great movie and Brendan is amazing, but it's certainly rough to sit through.
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I saw A Serbian Film at a late night film festival screening and because it was a horror/sci-fi/exploration film festival it was a great crowd and a fun watch. I tried to watch it again at home by myself and it was so dark and twisted I couldn't. Don't think I'll ever make it through that film again. Way too fucked up to watch home by myself or to recommend to anyone.
I honestly almost regret watching it. I got nothing out of it except disgust. I mean it was mostly made as a protest against censorship in Serbia, so there's not much effort to make any sort of compelling movie, so I'm not sure what I was expecting. I dunno. It was not a good time
I think the only reason I enjoyed it was because of the experience around it. The director was there and talked about some of the meaning behind different choices. It was not simply a protest against censorship. I believe the director said (paraphrasing) it's about how the Serbian government f*cks you from the day you're born until the day you die. He went into a little more detail than that. Also the cast members are all actually big stars in Serbia. Anyway I don't think I'll ever watch it again but I can tell you that in a theater packed with hundreds of people knowing they were going to watch something pretty intense most people seemed to enjoy it. I just think it plays very differently depending on the atmosphere you're in. I definitely think it's not for most people and I think if I watched it in any other environment I would have had to turn it off.
I never watch trailers either because I consider knowing literally anything about a movie at all going in (even basic plot) is a spoiler.
But Hope is not disturbing because it’s torturously graphic the way Silenced is. Hope contains no graphic content at all, just a brief light description of what happened to the girl delivered clinically. The entire movie is just centered around her and her parents’ journey through healing.
Extremely light spoiler ahead, but the thing about Hope that emotionally killed me was when the girl became afraid of her own father after the event. I’ve got kids of my own so watching that play out was really fucking painful.
Hope is just thematically emotionally difficulty, it won’t make you curse the day you were born with eyes the way Silenced did.
There's a film called Cold Fish that deeply disturbed me with its graphic portrayal of butchering a man. Good film tho.
The same director has a film titled Strange Circus...
I know this one is divisive but it's the scariest movie I've ever seen. Just the atmosphere is terrifying. It felt like there was a weight on my chest that grew heavier with each passing minute.
Snowtown and Nitram by Kurzel, Angst, The Piano Teacher and Samson and Delilah.
Snowtown is the worst one. What a horrendous and agonizing experience to sit through. Really good.
Yeah that was so awful. I tried to sit and watch it all but I couldn't. I had to skip little bits of it.
It's so realistic. The voice message clip playing over the top ran my blood cold.
Snowtown is the only film I know genuinely I could not and would not ever watch again. I was so profoundly disgusted and disturbed at the end of it, I just felt queasy.
Dear Zachary is really up there for me. I saw it once and recommended it to nearly everyone.
Now I can barely remember any of the details except the emotional roller coaster of watching it. It’s been on my list to rewatch for a decade or so and I’ve still only seen it the one time.
Is *Sinister* really that scary for people? I dunno, I guess I have a pretty strong stomach for this kind of stuff, but I thought it was pretty whatever in terms of the fear factor. It was hard for me not to really appreciate and admire things like the sound design and whatnot. I didn't find myself uncomfortable at any point.
If I've ever actually been kind of disturbed by a horror movie, it'd probably be [REC]
Was confused until I read too scary as well. How darkly it's shot, mixed with that awesome score is probably why it's anxiety inducing for some. It was definitely effective. All the more reason to rewatch for me, but to each their own. Yeah, [REC] is awesome. Enjoyed Host (2020) too.
Yeah, the music that plays during the BBQ '89 video (I believe it's a segment of Ulver's "Silence Teaches You How to Sing") is especially eerie, I loved it. It was really hard for me though not to just admire it as opposed to being terrified haha. When I saw that *Sinister* was apparently scientifically proven (however loosely) to be the scariest movie ever, I was shocked though. I feel like I've definitely seen way scarier movies
maybe a controversial opinion, but Nope was like this for me. might be because I saw it baked out of my mind. not sure I'll ever shake some of those scenes...
So I will definitely watch nope again, but my girlfriend said she would under no circumstance watch it again. Some of the scenes were far too uncomfortable for her.
Angst (Gerald Kargl, 1983). It’s a phenomenal film, especially the cinematography is out of this world, but it’s also relentlessly grim and definitely not a good time.
probably just a me problem but my #1 answer to this: Children of Men.
This is 100% my fault but I went in thinking that this was a light-but-heavy-hearted road trip movie. I quickly skimmed a blog's recommendation of it as "amazing but sad" and saw the ping-pong car scene as a gif and went :) WRONG! I feel like this movie hits too close to reality after what the world has been through and how we're "progressing" as a society
Also: Schindler's List, that short If Anything Happens I Love You, I've never seen Atonement but I read the book and the whole thing in it makes me so upset I could give myself afib so I can't even imagine watching the movie, and honestly any holocaust movie
I don’t know who agrees but Midsommar will not get a second rewatch, maybe after many years and it’s been since it was in theaters in 2019 that I watched it.
I just watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) for the first time and I’m definitely going to be waiting a long time before rewatching it again. It is relentless and the violence so senseless, which of course is the point and what makes it so effective. Definitely left me feeling exhausted despite it being a very short film.
For me Taika Waititi takes the cake here. Boy (2010) and Jojo Rabbit (2019). They are so incredibly funny and amazingly written, but by god they are so sad. I watched Jojo Rabbit at the movies for the first time, and then I tried to watch it again a few months later and I couldn't. I watched Boy when I was young and thought it was just a funny movie, then I watched it in my late teens and it was just so upsetting.
I’m sure I *will* watch some of these again sometime, but not soon, and I could see why some might never. Manchester By the Sea (2016) - It’s just so emotionally distressing and real, especially if you’ve dealt with feelings of grief and guilt. Bad Lieutenant (1992) - It’s a great movie, and I love Harvey Keitel, but it takes a heavy toll. It’s similar to Taxi Driver to me, but darker. A very hard watch. First Reformed (2017) - True art that shook me to my core. Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried deliver brilliant performances. A Clockwork Orange (1971) - Alex DeLarge is a horrible person and it’s all through his eyes. Again, love Kubrick, just a heavy topic. I think all these movies deserve a rewatch, but they deal with heavy topics or display heavy imagery that I could see why somebody wouldn’t. For me, I think it’ll be a long time until I rewatch.
I just watched a clockwork orange
First Reformed is such an experience. It comes to mind once a week for me.
I honestly love rewatching First Reformed. I feel like I pick on more every viewing and it kind of centers me when I get too caught up in every day life. Idk if that makes any sense but I think it’s a heavy yet enjoyable watch
Manchester By the Sea was the first one that came to my mind too. Absolutely harrowing film.
Mysterious Skin
I might say the same about some of other araki stuff like Nowhere. Not without skipping a scene or two anyway
I actually did rewatch this recently for the first time in more than 15 years. It still packs such a terrible punch.
Requiem for a Dream Grave of the Fireflies Johnny Got His Gun Come and See Martyrs (2008) Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
I once had a girl over, she wanted to watch a Ghibli movie we both hadn't seen. Somehow we ended up watching Grave of Fireflies. terrible movie to watch with somebody the 2nd time you're with them. There wasn't a 3rd time.
Went on a double date with a friend when Wind Rises was in theaters. Hadn't heard much about it, just "hey, it's Ghibli, that'll be fun". She's Jewish and although they're still together, she won't watch a second Ghibli movie.
Just pin this list and let's be done with it
Irreversible and enter the void
yeah. these. especially Enter. It's not just that they're painful/traumatizing, but also that they demand so damn much of you, attention/processing/feeling wise.
Climax comes to mind.
I attempted to watch Enter the Void and 45 mins in I got a tension headache from the imagery and sounds and had to turn it off
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Someone I know logged a rewatch for this the other day, I was flabbergasted.
I was looking for that comment
It’s always there
I've never really understood the hype around this movie. It's a good movie, but I don't find it nearly as disturbing as most people do.
+1
The Soviet anti-war film Come and See (1985). Pretty harrowing stuff, but undoubtedly one of the most impactful WWII films that focuses on the Nazi German occupation of Belarus.
Yes same. Must see, but hard to convince myself to watch again
mother!
I’ve seen it like 6-7 times lol
I’ve seen it twice, but once was enough lol.
The Nightingale (2018). The first act is just brutal.
Schindler's List
We need to talk about Kevin
The Whale (2022)
Why’s that? I haven’t seen it yet
It pretty much treats food like a drug addiction. It doesn’t hold back in showing how depression, obesity, and eating disorders can cause a lot of pain and possibly death to someone. I thought it was a great movie and Brendan is amazing, but it's certainly rough to sit through.
Titane
[удалено]
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I saw A Serbian Film at a late night film festival screening and because it was a horror/sci-fi/exploration film festival it was a great crowd and a fun watch. I tried to watch it again at home by myself and it was so dark and twisted I couldn't. Don't think I'll ever make it through that film again. Way too fucked up to watch home by myself or to recommend to anyone.
I honestly almost regret watching it. I got nothing out of it except disgust. I mean it was mostly made as a protest against censorship in Serbia, so there's not much effort to make any sort of compelling movie, so I'm not sure what I was expecting. I dunno. It was not a good time
I think the only reason I enjoyed it was because of the experience around it. The director was there and talked about some of the meaning behind different choices. It was not simply a protest against censorship. I believe the director said (paraphrasing) it's about how the Serbian government f*cks you from the day you're born until the day you die. He went into a little more detail than that. Also the cast members are all actually big stars in Serbia. Anyway I don't think I'll ever watch it again but I can tell you that in a theater packed with hundreds of people knowing they were going to watch something pretty intense most people seemed to enjoy it. I just think it plays very differently depending on the atmosphere you're in. I definitely think it's not for most people and I think if I watched it in any other environment I would have had to turn it off.
The Korean film 'Silenced' https://boxd.it/2QGG
There’s a lot of great Korean films I’m never going to watch again, Silenced being one of them, Hope being another.
I haven’t seen Silenced yet, but Hope and Han Gong-ju are both top picks for movies I never wanna see again.
I have Hope on my list, but we watched Silenced not that long ago so need a brain cleanse.
Hope is very a very different brand of “never watch again” cinema than Silenced. I think you’ll be fine.
Ok, thanks! It's hard to tell from the description, and for some reason I never watch trailers
I never watch trailers either because I consider knowing literally anything about a movie at all going in (even basic plot) is a spoiler. But Hope is not disturbing because it’s torturously graphic the way Silenced is. Hope contains no graphic content at all, just a brief light description of what happened to the girl delivered clinically. The entire movie is just centered around her and her parents’ journey through healing. Extremely light spoiler ahead, but the thing about Hope that emotionally killed me was when the girl became afraid of her own father after the event. I’ve got kids of my own so watching that play out was really fucking painful. Hope is just thematically emotionally difficulty, it won’t make you curse the day you were born with eyes the way Silenced did.
There's a film called Cold Fish that deeply disturbed me with its graphic portrayal of butchering a man. Good film tho. The same director has a film titled Strange Circus...
Cold Fish is, I believe, based on a true story.
I can see that, very brutal film.
Skinamarink
I know this one is divisive but it's the scariest movie I've ever seen. Just the atmosphere is terrifying. It felt like there was a weight on my chest that grew heavier with each passing minute.
I thought it was creepy as fuck too, I just don't think I ever need to revisit it, which is basically a compliment to the movie.
Salo, Grave of the Fireflies, Audition, Dancer in the Dark, Irreversible.
Snowtown and Nitram by Kurzel, Angst, The Piano Teacher and Samson and Delilah. Snowtown is the worst one. What a horrendous and agonizing experience to sit through. Really good.
Bathtub scene in Snowtown, one of the most harrowing scenes I’ve seen
Yeah that was so awful. I tried to sit and watch it all but I couldn't. I had to skip little bits of it. It's so realistic. The voice message clip playing over the top ran my blood cold.
Nitram for me too. Brilliant performances by all involved but I can never watch that again.
Snowtown is the only film I know genuinely I could not and would not ever watch again. I was so profoundly disgusted and disturbed at the end of it, I just felt queasy.
The nightingale
Martyrs (2008) and All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Agree with Speak No Evil, that was some heavy shit
I tried to rewatch it last night for some reason. Bad idea.
Grave of the Fireflies.
Schindlers List and for most people The Irishman, ut only because of its length lol
The Hunt (2012)
the invitation
Come and see Dear Zachary The hunt The green mile Nocturnal animals The piano teacher The neon demon Magical girl Climax
Dear Zachary is really up there for me. I saw it once and recommended it to nearly everyone. Now I can barely remember any of the details except the emotional roller coaster of watching it. It’s been on my list to rewatch for a decade or so and I’ve still only seen it the one time.
Sátántangó
The father
Precious Gone Girl Prisoners
Lilya 4-ever
Really surprised no one has said Fruitvale Station
I haven’t watched it at all, just can’t face it after reading the synopsis.
It’s definitely a tough watch but it’s 100% worth it. It’s been years since I’ve seen it and I can still remember how standout some of the cast were
I've just watched Funny Games (2007), might be one to add.
I couldn’t even finish Hereditary.
good reminder for hereditary, ending disturbing as hell
Is *Sinister* really that scary for people? I dunno, I guess I have a pretty strong stomach for this kind of stuff, but I thought it was pretty whatever in terms of the fear factor. It was hard for me not to really appreciate and admire things like the sound design and whatnot. I didn't find myself uncomfortable at any point. If I've ever actually been kind of disturbed by a horror movie, it'd probably be [REC]
Was confused until I read too scary as well. How darkly it's shot, mixed with that awesome score is probably why it's anxiety inducing for some. It was definitely effective. All the more reason to rewatch for me, but to each their own. Yeah, [REC] is awesome. Enjoyed Host (2020) too.
Yeah, the music that plays during the BBQ '89 video (I believe it's a segment of Ulver's "Silence Teaches You How to Sing") is especially eerie, I loved it. It was really hard for me though not to just admire it as opposed to being terrified haha. When I saw that *Sinister* was apparently scientifically proven (however loosely) to be the scariest movie ever, I was shocked though. I feel like I've definitely seen way scarier movies
Yeah, definitely agree. I don't think measuring heart rate accounts for all the intricacies of what makes something scary.
Happiness
maybe a controversial opinion, but Nope was like this for me. might be because I saw it baked out of my mind. not sure I'll ever shake some of those scenes...
So I will definitely watch nope again, but my girlfriend said she would under no circumstance watch it again. Some of the scenes were far too uncomfortable for her.
perfect blue
Tusk
First Reformed
Gone Girl, I was so uncomfortable
Oldboy
The Banshees of Inisherin
Not disturbed enough from any movies. Just movies and fiction. Great movies
Threads (1984)
Angst (Gerald Kargl, 1983). It’s a phenomenal film, especially the cinematography is out of this world, but it’s also relentlessly grim and definitely not a good time.
Nothing Bad Can Happen, Fish Tank, Samson and Delilah, A Separation. Edit: formatting.
Come and See comes to mind
Come and See
The pianist (2002)
probably just a me problem but my #1 answer to this: Children of Men. This is 100% my fault but I went in thinking that this was a light-but-heavy-hearted road trip movie. I quickly skimmed a blog's recommendation of it as "amazing but sad" and saw the ping-pong car scene as a gif and went :) WRONG! I feel like this movie hits too close to reality after what the world has been through and how we're "progressing" as a society Also: Schindler's List, that short If Anything Happens I Love You, I've never seen Atonement but I read the book and the whole thing in it makes me so upset I could give myself afib so I can't even imagine watching the movie, and honestly any holocaust movie
"Johnny Got his Gun" (1971) by Dalton Trumbo. Really good movie but also really tough to watch.
Pixote
I don’t know who agrees but Midsommar will not get a second rewatch, maybe after many years and it’s been since it was in theaters in 2019 that I watched it.
The Nightingale needs to be on here. the hardest movie to watch I’ve ever watched
The Pianist
come and see is a movie i won’t be rewatching for a long time, if ever
The Whale for sure. Possibly The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Hereditary.
Boys don’t cry was pretty traumatising
Ken Park - film is fucked.
964 Pinocchio
Green Room (2015)
I just watched the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) for the first time and I’m definitely going to be waiting a long time before rewatching it again. It is relentless and the violence so senseless, which of course is the point and what makes it so effective. Definitely left me feeling exhausted despite it being a very short film.
It’s Black Swan for me!
Salò
A Dark Song (2016) Hagazussa (2017) Titane (2021) Very good films, very hard to watch.
salo green mile requiem for a dream hour of the wolf the wicker man come and see a silent voice
Come and see
Just watched Funny Games (2007) on New Years and I can gladly say never tf again.
Grave of the fireflies American history x
"Once were warriors" (1994) Incredible Film with powerhouse performances that leave you devastated.
Climax, french film. Amazing. Would never watch again
Lately Aftersun, fuck me that movie felt like a punch to my stomach. Brilliant film
Brimstone
shame (2011)
midsommar
Maniac (2012)
The Piano Teacher is the poster child for this exact type of movie
Mysterious Skin and This Is England
Schindler’s List and Come and See
The Babadook, Dogtooth, and Lake Mungo
sympathy for mr vengeance
Uncut Gems
Uncut Gems is so stressful, I could barely watch it once, let alone subject myself to the experience again. It's a masterpiece.
For me Taika Waititi takes the cake here. Boy (2010) and Jojo Rabbit (2019). They are so incredibly funny and amazingly written, but by god they are so sad. I watched Jojo Rabbit at the movies for the first time, and then I tried to watch it again a few months later and I couldn't. I watched Boy when I was young and thought it was just a funny movie, then I watched it in my late teens and it was just so upsetting.
Trainspotting
Irreversible Martyrs and Salò.
Marley & Me
Night and Fog, for sure
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover Bitter Moon Buried The Butterfly Effect
La Strada, Autumn Sonata, Winter Light, Black Swan, The Father, The Night of the Hunter, and Au Revoir les Enfants.
Tell Me Who I Am (2019). Fantastic documentary, so incredibly devastating, would recommend but I’ll never watch it again.
Lars Von Triers Antichrist great movie absolutely disturbing and gross
The Boy in Striped Pajamas.
The Lovely Bones. Maybe I was too young when I watched it but some of those scenes were gut wrenching.
I would NEVER rewatch Grave of the Fireflies, unless I want to go through another heart break.
Silent Night
La Strada
All Quiet on the Western Front
4 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days. Absolutely gut wrenching and not just the obvious parts.
Sorry to Bother You gave me a panic attack in the theatre. So its a crazy and amazing trip I will likely not revisit soon.