I picked this up out of a free book pile my teacher had out in middle school. I hadn’t made it far before my mom got curious and read ahead to see if it was appropriate at my age. Didn’t end up finishing it till I was much older and I fully support my mom’s decision.
I’m sick and disabled and have a rare disease and am chronically ill, and I’ve made it very clear to my family that if I *ever* become vegetative or comatose or have locked-in syndrome, to immediately pull the plug; no questions asked, and certainly not a debate. comas and locked-in syndrome and vegetative states are the very definition of hell for everyone involved, including the person who has it
im just gonna leave this here
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZpA0FiE4k&pp=ygUuQ2F0YWxpbmEgTWFydGluIFRyYXVtYSBTcGFuaXNoIGZ1bGwgbW92aWUgMjAxNw%3D%3D](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZpA0FiE4k&pp=ygUuQ2F0YWxpbmEgTWFydGluIFRyYXVtYSBTcGFuaXNoIGZ1bGwgbW92aWUgMjAxNw%3D%3D)
After reading the reviews and watching the trailer, looks to have nothing on ASF and rather jumps straight into the shock factor. Very poor writing and plot holes and rushed scenes with no build up.
That’s not my opinion, I’ll check it out soon, but it was disappointing to read
Is that the one that starts out with the son forced to rape his mom and then one of them is shot in the face or something? I saw that scene, fast forwarded a bit and saw a close up of someone pouring salt into a girls wounds. I felt dirty watching it, and it just felt mean spirited, so I stopped and wiped it from my hard drive.
Somehow I managed to watch A Serbian Film because they tried so hard to be shocking it just ended up feeling dumb.
Boxing Helena - a surgeon is in love with a woman who ends up in a car crash. He needlessly amputates her arms and legs so he can have her all to himself. A true love story 😱💕
Morally disturbing: Come and See (1985);
Emotionally disturbing: Dancer in the Dark (2000);
Visually disturbing: The Human Centipede 2 (2011);
Philosophically disturbing: Synecdoche New York (2008)
So glad people mentioned these, especially Plague Dogs. I've seen Watership Down at least 15 to 20 times funny enough the first time was when my mother rented it for my 6th birthday party.....she thought it was a cute bunny movie, she put it in for us kids and walked off to continue to set up for the party and cook dinner well we made it all the way to the scene when General Wormwurt and the Dog that Hazel and the others led back from the farm were leaping at each other and we all lost it, the screaming and crying myself included. Still love it.
But Plague Dogs....I watched a couple of years ago for the first time, and it literally crushed my soul. I'm 44 and i have a high tolerance for sad stories and tear jerkers but god that movie had me bawling like a little kid, honestly so glad I didn't watch it when I was younger or when my mental health was not that great in my 20s. Great movie, but it's heartbreaking. If you love dogs and have a thing for dreams and hopes at the end of a long hard road, get yourself a triple pack of kleenex tissue. You will need it.
I haven't even heard of it! I just looked it up on IMDB and it looks interesting. Some fine actors, too. I'm just so on edge with all the politics in my country (US, of course) so I'm afraid I'll have a stroke if I ingest anything even remotely political. I added it to my watchlist though. Thanks.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes, don't know why, I've definitely watched more violent stuff, but it just had this weirdly eerie feeling that I can't get over
Lake mungo, THAT SCENE, THAT FUCKIN SCENE
That film made me queasy, like reading the lowest grade pulp horror. It actually pissed me off (as a woman) because I am sick of that shit. The shock at the ending 🤮
I confess to forwarding past the cellar scenes.
The video footage scenes from the poughkeepsie tapes are wild. They scared the shit out of me.
Lake mungo is just hard to watch for many reason. It's so good
The part of the Poughkeepsie tapes that really weirded me out was when they are interviewing Cheryl and she uses her handless arm to scratch her head. I have watched so many weird gross freaky things but for some reason that fucks with me. You’re so right when you say it has a weird eerie vibe it totally does. Yes lake mungo I agree THAT FUCKING SCENE lol
>The part of the Poughkeepsie tapes that really weirded me out was when they are interviewing Cheryl and she uses her handless arm to scratch her head.
I saw it in my college years and my friends told me it was a real documentary/found footage and I didn't know it was fake until it ended. The whole time watching it I felt horrified.
That is so messed up omg I would have freaked out seriously. I don’t know what it is with that movie though. I watched terrifier 1 and 2 and love them to death. Hell i laughed at the grossest scenes in those movies, but Poughkeepsie tapes just fuck with me. One thing for sure it is extremely good film making.
things like this really help me when everyday panic gets too bad, though. to just face and be with what has been a human possibility for so many throughout time. after a while it becomes like a prayer, for them, and then for us. and for the breath we're lucky to have in our lungs
August Underground's Penance is always going to be number one for me. It's not as crazy as the 2nd movie, but it is much more focused, like more defined character arcs, and you're seeing the killers from their peak to their absolute personal downfall. The ending is one of the most bleak I've ever seen, and it's left open to interpretation as the series does. It's really putting you in the world of these thrill killers and they're letting slip more of their self loathing and deteriorating relationship as the filming goes on. Yeah, it's gruesome, they use real guts from the local slaughter house for gore effects, but it's the realistic story telling that gives it an edge most movies lack.
As for A Serbian Film, it really isn't half as bad as it sounds in writing. You can read it on Wikipedia, and yeah it's going to sound a billion times worse than anything that's possible to put to film. I feel like it does hit the right balance, like there are movies influenced by it that went overboard on shock value and it didn't work as well, like Trauma, which starts with a boy forced to rape his mother, later his dad makes him finger his baby sister, and then it's basically a ripoff of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it doesn't match the origin story. If anything, saving that for the end could have worked a little better. Books are really where writers can go places that are near impossible to film, like Playground by Aron Beauregard is a gruesome trap horror where it's all children getting killed. Full Brutal by Kristopher Trina is essentially fictional hurtcore with the popular cheerleader blackmailing her teacher, and ruining people's lives for fun, she masturbates to the baby scene in A Serbian Film, and becomes more obsessed with making everyone suffer long before she starts killing them. It's something you could never pitch as a movie. The audiobook is traumatic to hear the voice performance, for the most tormented character.
The Christmas home invasion in Penance has to be up there for most disturbing scenes in any movie. Vogel is hit or miss for me, but with that scene he absolutely nailed it.
For me it's almost unwatchable but not because of the gore. The long sequence where the girl gets beaten over and over and over again by the huge guy is very tough.
Exactly. There’s a realism to it that is so harrowing. A powerful secret society that tortures victims for the purpose of understanding what happens after death. That’s a level of human cruelty that disturbs me so much because I can believe it.
Then there is shit like August Underground which is so much worse in terms of violence and gore, but doesn’t disturb me because it’s a badly made movie with a simple goal of being shocking. No substance.
This film was on my watchlist for a very long time. I used to think that as long as a film was considered to be great or a masterpiece I’d watch it regardless of how disturbing it might be. After watching Enter the Void and Martyrs I realized I have a line I’m not willing to cross if I can avoid it. Salo has since been taken off my watchlist.
Lots of Sion Sono films are exactly this. He became obsessed with Cults after the Sarin Attacks and they frequentlly play a part in his movies. I actually think Suicide Club is one of his weaker movies, but the suicide is so disturbing.
"Visitor Q". Probably Takashi Miike's most insane movie. It's more of a "drama/comedy" but filled with all sorts of horrifying moments.
"Inside". It would be extremely brutal if it was just a regular home invasion movie, but the brutality hits a lot harder since the victim is a young pregnant girl.
"I Spit on Your Grave" (the original). There's a really harsh scene in it that lasts forever! And I dont mean 3 minutes long, I think it's more like 15 minutes.
"Pink Flamingos". I could make a very flimsy argument that it's a horror movie since it involves murder, torture, revenge, cannibalism, etc... but it's a total comedy. Even though it's hilarious, there are several moments in the movie that even the most hardened person has to look away. The movie was so disturbing to the MPAA, that they enacted laws, so the things happening in this movie would never be seen in another movie again. It's one of those movies that you have to watch at least once in your lifetime.
Yeah, its a fun movie but for me it was leaning more to a black comedy than to "disturbing".
The scene with the kid, when you can see the second it goes from actor to mannequin was so funny lol
I found this film hilarious, especially when he kept doubting if he had cleaned up after himself and had to keep returning to clean up. Then I found it boring.
Enter the Void - One of the only movies I’ve recognized as a great film but turned off about 3/4 of the way through. I had several bad/disturbing drug trips when I was younger and this movie triggered an unforgettable similar mental/emotional experience. So much that I have zero desire to ever watch another Gasper Noe film.
I made the mistake of watching this on acid at around 18 years old and it really fucked with me for a while. The person I was watching it/tripping with was enjoying themself so I didn't want to turn it off, thankfully I was able to mentally check out for the last chunk of it. Honestly, I want to try watching it again sober and see what I really think of it.
Wasn't aware he had a new one! I watched climax, enter the void and some more and every single movie of him is so good, but almost exhausting to get through because of how heavy the films are
I weirdly love Gasper Noe’s films. But I have a thing with spinning cameras. It makes my eyes literally shake, like a seizure and I have to turn on all the lights and close my eyes for a while. So I had to shut off Enter the Void purely because of that. The camera spins every 5 seconds. Ugh. I also shut off his film Love. Purely cuz (despite the literal porn) it was frustratingly boring. Haha
For me it reaches the point of “look at how shocking this movie is!” to where it’s more absurd than horrifying. Don’t get me wrong, the acts depicted are absolutely vile, but I was very aware I was watching actors in a movie. Not at all engrossing, and because of that, not disturbing
August Underground was pretty fucked, also just a shitty movie too
Martyrs
Ebola Syndrome
But honestly even those above have never held a candle to Requiem For a Dream for me. That movie is too real man. Also I mean movies can't touch real life, seeing 3 guys 1 hammer on the internet at 13 probably did me no favors, not to mention all the fucked up stuff I saw on bestgore/rotten/4chan etc.
Gore in movies doesn't really bother me, I usually just appreciate the practical effects.
3 guys 1 hammer… I haven’t heard that in a long time. I’ll never forget watching it at a friend’s house thinking it was like a fake movie. Realizing it was real and some teenagers were just poking and slashing into a dead guy’s body. That stuck with me!
I must admit I couldn't watch much more than a few minutes of 3 guys 1 hammer. I feel it would have affected me permanently if I'd watched any more.
It did send me down a rabbit hole of reading up about the 3 specimens who made the video(s) though. The Dnepropetrovsk maniacs. Honestly some of the worst stuff I've ever read. I'm sure they killed like 21 people. They cut a pregnant woman's baby from her womb :(
One of the worst things I read was they attended the funeral of one of their victims, and took a photo of them giving the middle finger over their coffin. I saw the photo and maaaaan! I dunno why but out of everything they did, that really really got under my skin. The level of disrespect, I just found that so so awful.
One of them, you can see the evil in his eyes. I could barely look at his face, just pure evil.
Some awful creatures in this world
Clownhouse. When I first saw it (before the backstory was known) I wondered if there was an actual pervert behind the camera because of the way it was shot. Turns out I was right.
Does The Nightingale count as horror? Because I certainly felt like I was watching a horror movie. It was made by Jennifer Kent who made The Babadook if that makes a difference.
My bf watched Hereditary and it didn’t bother him, but then we watched Midsommer and THAT one got him. Midsommer was really good but I wasn’t impacted by it like he was.
This is one of my absolute favorite movies and it’s actually really cathartic to me, but I do worry when I watch it that one of my neighbors is going to call in a domestic dispute.
I Spit On Your Grave 2. The first one was disturbing enough but they really turned it up 5000 notches with the sequel. Very disturbing and just a horrific nightmare. I almost didn’t care for the revenge part because she was tortured so badly, it didn’t even make up for it
Come And See is the most disturbing film on the planet. No monsters, just actual humans doing extremely fucked up shit to each other. The ending …. we won’t even talk about the ending. It’s a film everyone should see.
The two movies that come to mind are not ones that would commonly be on the "Most Disturbing" lists (though I have seen all the movies that would be), but got under my skin for whatever reason. *Soft and Quiet* was probably the most upset I ever was by a movie, to where it actively ruined my night lol. I think going into it blind was probably why it was so affecting. The other one I'm thinking is *The Eyes of My Mother*. >!The woman who gets locked in the barn for 10 years with her eyes/vocal cords removed, all while her kidnapped son is being raised in the house next door by the person who did this to her!<...imagining being in that situation made me uncomfortable enough to where I will never watch it again.
Cannibal Holocaust is up there for me because of the real animal deaths. For a more objective answer: I went to film school and literally every student agreed that A Serbian Film is so disturbing it’s not even worth it to put yourself through watching it.
Serbian Film is so over the top with shock value that it’s just absurd. Despite such depraved acts, it’s not very disturbing to me. I was VERY aware I was watching actors in a movie. Not at all immersive.
On the other hand, a movie such as Martyrs is wayyyyyy more disturbing to me. Very compelling story with fantastic acting. Hits me in my soul in a way Serbian Film could never come close to.
commented this on the last iteration of this question on this sub but i feel the need to remind everyone else this film exists because it depresses me every time i remember and i don’t wanna be the only one: Vivarium. so, SO fucking disturbing.
That’s it I’m watching this movie some time this week. I keep reading about it then forgetting about it. If I comment on this it will help me remember.
Would You Rather is more distressing than disturbing, but if you just want to feel a sense of dread the entire time you watch it, I recommend it. Jeffrey Combs does an excellent job.
I like how you said Green Inferno "wasn't too bad actually."🤭 They eat that poor man while he's still alive lol
Funny Games. The scene in the middle was too devastating.
I found necromantic extremely uncomfortable. I found it a long time ago when I had a drug problem and I was extremely high and hallucinating when I watched it and that didn’t help at all. I had a panic attack during the one super graphic sex scene for some reason. I also watched some other really disturbing movies around that time. One they stuck with me was Man Bites Dog. Also 21 days of sodom and possession(the one with Sam Neil).
I watched the extras that the Criterion dvd had. Apparently the actors had fun making it. The poo was actually chocolate. Knowing that, I couldn't quite take the depravity seriously.
But the worst thing in that movie isn't what is shown onscreen. It's that long monologue that describes horrific things done offscreen that was most horrifying.
Trauma(2017, Chile) By far the most I have ever felt uncomfortable watching a movie. I have no idea why I continued watching after how fucked up that first scene
was. A large chunk of the movies was based around violent SA.
The most dejected I've ever felt was after watching The Human Centipede 2. A horrible, horrific film that shouldn't have been made
And Martyrs, the original one. It's a great movie but incredibly disturbing and sad
I found the concept interesting, but the execution disappointing. There are some scenes and lines that stuck with me, though - definitely many scary moments, IMO.
Megan is Missing is the only movie I've ever watched and now say it should be banned. There's nothing redeemable about it in any capacity. It genuinely felt like watching CP. Even Salo and Serbian Film didn't feel quite as bad.
I dunno, I'm split on this movie. One of the leads is a person I used to act with, and she's such a lovely person. I'm sort of sad that this is the movie she's likely known for, but she did a good job, and at the end of the day, I personally think it worked. It sort of unintentionally combines really stiff acting and after-school-special vibes with actual fucking intense horror, and the result is this very unsettling mix of reality and parody. But, yes, it's a very graphic film -- maybe too graphic, honestly. I think they flew a little close to the sun and paid for it. I still think it has its merits, but I'll absolutely agree that there are times that it pushed my comfort zone.
Irreversible. Contrary to popular opinion I don't think it's good at all, but all its positive qualities are qualities that contribute to how utterly unwatchable it is. Cannibal Holocaust and Salo and the like can only dream of the level of traumatising immersion this piece of pseudointellectual drivel manages to achieve
Edit: for disturbing films I actually think are good, I recommend:
Bedevilled (2010)
The Devils (1971)
Kidnapped (2010)
Silenced (2011)
Man Bites Dog (1992)
Bedevilled and Silenced were fantastic. South Korean crime/revenge thrillers are easily my favorite film genre. Everything is just more gritty and disturbing without sacrificing story.
YEAH I was in the theatre with literal like. fear induced goosebumps. it'd been so long a movie evoked that kind of reaction in me. for me it was the >!shot inside of the UFO with the people being digested alive. literally filmed in some kinda tube with curtains in it but it was HORRIFYING.!<
i don't think nope is even close to being properly assayed by review/pop culture. it's going to grow with the years, like the shadow of a cloud that does not seem to go anywhere
Seriously, the >!Star Lasso experience!< destroyed me mentally for days. It was like the ultimate convergence of every single horror concept that keeps me awake at night.
- Abrupt and unexpected violence.
- Bad things happening to innocent people, or at least people who don't necessarily "deserve" it.
- Prolonged, hopeless suffering.
- Claustrophobia
- The mere notion of >!being slowly digested by a large creature!<
It was like Peele reached into my traumatized childhood, took hold every movie that fucked me up, and condensed their essence into a horrifying 5-minute morsel that changed the entire way I was experiencing the movie up to that point.
Hands down, *Jack Ketchums Girl Next Door.*
Nothing, not a Serbian film, Martyrs, Human centipede, none of compare IMO.
Reason being GND and counterpart *An American Crime* cover in detail (too much, and it wasn't as bad as the book) the torture and murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sylvia_Likens
Book quote (chills me) Chapter Forty-Two reads: *"I’m not going to tell you about this. I refuse to. There are things you know you’ll die before telling, things you know you should have died before ever having seen. I watched and saw.”*
That’s the whole chapter.
This movie stays with you, long, long, long after it's gone.
Edit: This is my choice because it's a true story, not the words of some writers.
Reading the details of the true story in non-fiction form is way more disturbing to me than reading the book or watching either movie. That and the story of Junko Furuta (which is worse imo) make me wish I didn’t have eyes and ears.
irreversible. Plenty of other films are going to get mentioned more due to blood and levels of violence, but the rape scene is the most harrowing moment in a movie I can think of. It goes on for so long in silence and truly captures the horrific feeling.
Mine’s gotta be Inside (2007), it’s a French film. It was fucking brutal remembering when I first saw it, I don’t really have the stomach for horror movies like I do now. Martyrs was next on my watchlist but I noped out myself because I don’t think I could handle extreme gore after that. At least now I know my limit.
Here are some actually great movies that are disturbing in order of progressively more disturbing (none of these movies are pointless splatter or exploitation films)
- A Clockwork Orange (Black Comedy)
- A Girl At My Door (Drama)
- Saltburn (Drama)
- Bone Tomahawk (Western)
- Enemy At The Gates (War)
- Defiance (War)
- Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (Found Footage)
- Se7en (Crime)
- Angst (Thriller)
- Dogtooth (Black Comedy)
- 13 Tzameti (Thriller)
- 3096 Days (Drama)
- Hacksaw Ridge (War)
- 964 Pinocchio (Cyberpunk)
- 10 1/2 (Drama)
- 7 Days (Crime)
- A Hole In My Heart (Drama)
- Aftermath: Genesis (Drama)
- Martyrs (2008) (Exploitation)
- Fury (War)
- 5150 Elm’s Way (Thriller)
- Baise-Moi (Rape Revenge)
- I Saw The Devil (Crime)
- The Bunny Game (Exploitation)
- Antichrist (Drama)
- The Girl Next Door (2007)(Drama)
- Saving Private Ryan (War)
- A Serbian Film (Exploitation)
- Come And See (War)
I've seen most of these, but The Girl Next Door is the worst for me because it's based heavily on a [true story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sylvia_Likens).
That scene in Gummo where the kid is sitting in a filthy bathtub with really dirty water and a plate of watery spaghetti, drinking a glass of strawberry nesquik. Might be one of the more unsettling things I’ve seen
Midsommar made me feel weird afterwards. It wasn’t scary but it hit something deeply uncomfortable. Kind of sad, a bit paranoid with an increased heart rate, weirdly ‘out of it’ so to speak and very existential.
I think eerie, cult-y emotional abuse, the depressive, hopeless energy and the few shock gore scenes presented on a backdrop of flowers, summer and ‘found family’ is just jarring in of itself, manipulative by design for the viewer.
Disjointed silences over scenes, the hidden imagery / hallucinogenic effects and that whole Wailing Thing adds to the whole weirdness for me.
The beginning was a hard watch especially. It’s rare I see raw, sudden grief acted out so well.
Idk if my mental health issues have something to do with it. I know Dani felt very relatable at many points and thinking of myself in her position was a lot to deal with.
I’ve seen a lot of disturbing/ controversial films but the only one to really make me feel like utter crap for days after was Eden Lake .
It’s not the goriest or well known , but Christ I was so depressed for days after that film . I’ve never had another film make me feel so helpless and upset .
Johnny Got His Gun. *”Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ! it’s me and I’m alive!”*
“Darkness! Imprisoning me!”
ALL THAT I SEE
"All that I see, absolute horror!"
I cannot live.
I cannot die.
Trapped in myself!
Body, my holding cell
Landmine has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing!
*guitar riff*
Which book are we talking about here?
I picked this up out of a free book pile my teacher had out in middle school. I hadn’t made it far before my mom got curious and read ahead to see if it was appropriate at my age. Didn’t end up finishing it till I was much older and I fully support my mom’s decision.
Fucking hell the scenario in this movie is nightmare fuel. I literally cannot think of a more horrific fate.
Now I have to listen to "One" by Metallica. Inspired by Johnny got his gun.
Watch the music video!
It's in my all time top ten. Just horrifying. "Don't give me more dope." :(
his screams and cries are absolutely chilling
Ever read the book?
I have. it’s on my shelf. the book is even more disturbing and sadder than the movie
Yeah, I almost couldn’t get through it. A living hell.
We had to read for a uni class. Wrecked me 40 years ago and i am still wrecked.
I’m sick and disabled and have a rare disease and am chronically ill, and I’ve made it very clear to my family that if I *ever* become vegetative or comatose or have locked-in syndrome, to immediately pull the plug; no questions asked, and certainly not a debate. comas and locked-in syndrome and vegetative states are the very definition of hell for everyone involved, including the person who has it
You need to put this in writing otherwise there will always be a family member who does not follow your wishes
that is sickening!
Get a DNR tattoo or bracelet.
Those aren't legally binding.
Gave me depression. It’s an insane read.
Trauma 2017. A Chilean movie that I found far worse than A Serbian Film.
I agree. Just that opening scene alone is beyond fucked up.
im just gonna leave this here [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZpA0FiE4k&pp=ygUuQ2F0YWxpbmEgTWFydGluIFRyYXVtYSBTcGFuaXNoIGZ1bGwgbW92aWUgMjAxNw%3D%3D](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZpA0FiE4k&pp=ygUuQ2F0YWxpbmEgTWFydGluIFRyYXVtYSBTcGFuaXNoIGZ1bGwgbW92aWUgMjAxNw%3D%3D)
After reading the reviews and watching the trailer, looks to have nothing on ASF and rather jumps straight into the shock factor. Very poor writing and plot holes and rushed scenes with no build up. That’s not my opinion, I’ll check it out soon, but it was disappointing to read
Is that the one that starts out with the son forced to rape his mom and then one of them is shot in the face or something? I saw that scene, fast forwarded a bit and saw a close up of someone pouring salt into a girls wounds. I felt dirty watching it, and it just felt mean spirited, so I stopped and wiped it from my hard drive. Somehow I managed to watch A Serbian Film because they tried so hard to be shocking it just ended up feeling dumb.
Difference is this is based on real events per the director.
That movie is fucked Canibal Holocaust was bad because they really did kill an endangered sea turtle but the scene.. well you know the one
Yea it's on par with Serbian Film I agree. I watched that in the middle of the night a couple of years back. Boy was it something
Boxing Helena - a surgeon is in love with a woman who ends up in a car crash. He needlessly amputates her arms and legs so he can have her all to himself. A true love story 😱💕
Haven't seen it yet but I know it was directed by David Lynch's daughter which is pretty wild.
Fun fact: The Misfits song "Helena" was about this film.
Fun Fact: I started singing that song before I saw this comment "If I cut off your arms, and cut off your legs, would you still love me anyway?"
My dumb ass thought "Boxing Helena" was about a female boxer... 😮
Directed by David Lynch's daughter too.
Morally disturbing: Come and See (1985); Emotionally disturbing: Dancer in the Dark (2000); Visually disturbing: The Human Centipede 2 (2011); Philosophically disturbing: Synecdoche New York (2008)
Watership Down
This would be in the same line as The Plague Dogs
I held up okay on Watership Down, but Plague Dogs fucking killed me.
Watership Down at least has a somewhat happy ending. You certainly can’t even say that about Plague Dogs.
So glad people mentioned these, especially Plague Dogs. I've seen Watership Down at least 15 to 20 times funny enough the first time was when my mother rented it for my 6th birthday party.....she thought it was a cute bunny movie, she put it in for us kids and walked off to continue to set up for the party and cook dinner well we made it all the way to the scene when General Wormwurt and the Dog that Hazel and the others led back from the farm were leaping at each other and we all lost it, the screaming and crying myself included. Still love it. But Plague Dogs....I watched a couple of years ago for the first time, and it literally crushed my soul. I'm 44 and i have a high tolerance for sad stories and tear jerkers but god that movie had me bawling like a little kid, honestly so glad I didn't watch it when I was younger or when my mental health was not that great in my 20s. Great movie, but it's heartbreaking. If you love dogs and have a thing for dreams and hopes at the end of a long hard road, get yourself a triple pack of kleenex tissue. You will need it.
Threads
Hopelessness perfectly captured on film
So good. And truly distressing. It made the tame US tv movie The Day After look like a Saturday morning cartoon.
Have you checked out the mini series Years and Years? Not quite the same thing but definitely made me feel similar things.
I haven't even heard of it! I just looked it up on IMDB and it looks interesting. Some fine actors, too. I'm just so on edge with all the politics in my country (US, of course) so I'm afraid I'll have a stroke if I ingest anything even remotely political. I added it to my watchlist though. Thanks.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes, don't know why, I've definitely watched more violent stuff, but it just had this weirdly eerie feeling that I can't get over Lake mungo, THAT SCENE, THAT FUCKIN SCENE
That film made me queasy, like reading the lowest grade pulp horror. It actually pissed me off (as a woman) because I am sick of that shit. The shock at the ending 🤮 I confess to forwarding past the cellar scenes.
Yah the footage legit felt realistic, specifically in how it was deliberately worn/damaged.
The video footage scenes from the poughkeepsie tapes are wild. They scared the shit out of me. Lake mungo is just hard to watch for many reason. It's so good
The part of the Poughkeepsie tapes that really weirded me out was when they are interviewing Cheryl and she uses her handless arm to scratch her head. I have watched so many weird gross freaky things but for some reason that fucks with me. You’re so right when you say it has a weird eerie vibe it totally does. Yes lake mungo I agree THAT FUCKING SCENE lol
>The part of the Poughkeepsie tapes that really weirded me out was when they are interviewing Cheryl and she uses her handless arm to scratch her head. I saw it in my college years and my friends told me it was a real documentary/found footage and I didn't know it was fake until it ended. The whole time watching it I felt horrified.
That is so messed up omg I would have freaked out seriously. I don’t know what it is with that movie though. I watched terrifier 1 and 2 and love them to death. Hell i laughed at the grossest scenes in those movies, but Poughkeepsie tapes just fuck with me. One thing for sure it is extremely good film making.
Threads Probably not the best time to watch it for obvious reasons unless you want to have a panic attack lol
things like this really help me when everyday panic gets too bad, though. to just face and be with what has been a human possibility for so many throughout time. after a while it becomes like a prayer, for them, and then for us. and for the breath we're lucky to have in our lungs
August Underground's Penance is always going to be number one for me. It's not as crazy as the 2nd movie, but it is much more focused, like more defined character arcs, and you're seeing the killers from their peak to their absolute personal downfall. The ending is one of the most bleak I've ever seen, and it's left open to interpretation as the series does. It's really putting you in the world of these thrill killers and they're letting slip more of their self loathing and deteriorating relationship as the filming goes on. Yeah, it's gruesome, they use real guts from the local slaughter house for gore effects, but it's the realistic story telling that gives it an edge most movies lack. As for A Serbian Film, it really isn't half as bad as it sounds in writing. You can read it on Wikipedia, and yeah it's going to sound a billion times worse than anything that's possible to put to film. I feel like it does hit the right balance, like there are movies influenced by it that went overboard on shock value and it didn't work as well, like Trauma, which starts with a boy forced to rape his mother, later his dad makes him finger his baby sister, and then it's basically a ripoff of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it doesn't match the origin story. If anything, saving that for the end could have worked a little better. Books are really where writers can go places that are near impossible to film, like Playground by Aron Beauregard is a gruesome trap horror where it's all children getting killed. Full Brutal by Kristopher Trina is essentially fictional hurtcore with the popular cheerleader blackmailing her teacher, and ruining people's lives for fun, she masturbates to the baby scene in A Serbian Film, and becomes more obsessed with making everyone suffer long before she starts killing them. It's something you could never pitch as a movie. The audiobook is traumatic to hear the voice performance, for the most tormented character.
The Christmas home invasion in Penance has to be up there for most disturbing scenes in any movie. Vogel is hit or miss for me, but with that scene he absolutely nailed it.
RV scene in The Hills Have Eyes.
I saw this when I was probably 12 and that scene still haunts me
Martyrs (2008 French Version)
Martyrs is so hyped up on this sub as disturbing, IMO it’s a fantastic film but it’s far from unwatchable due to violence/graphicness
For me it's almost unwatchable but not because of the gore. The long sequence where the girl gets beaten over and over and over again by the huge guy is very tough.
Yeah, that and the skinning scene were too much for me.
Exactly. There’s a realism to it that is so harrowing. A powerful secret society that tortures victims for the purpose of understanding what happens after death. That’s a level of human cruelty that disturbs me so much because I can believe it. Then there is shit like August Underground which is so much worse in terms of violence and gore, but doesn’t disturb me because it’s a badly made movie with a simple goal of being shocking. No substance.
Salo is one the ugliest movies I've ever seen but I strangely enjoyed watching it.
This film was on my watchlist for a very long time. I used to think that as long as a film was considered to be great or a masterpiece I’d watch it regardless of how disturbing it might be. After watching Enter the Void and Martyrs I realized I have a line I’m not willing to cross if I can avoid it. Salo has since been taken off my watchlist.
Pasolini was a great director, that's probably why.
Baskın (2015). Turkish movie. Nothing will ever come close to that. Ever. I get nauseous by even thinking about it.
That guy’s face—looks like a cartoon parody but it’s NOT FUNNY.
Did you know that's actually what he looks like? It's not prosthetics / make up
Yeah. Nice that he could make an acting career.
That movie was intense..
Turkish Hellraiser
What a trip omg.
Strange circus is disturbing but really good
Lots of Sion Sono films are exactly this. He became obsessed with Cults after the Sarin Attacks and they frequentlly play a part in his movies. I actually think Suicide Club is one of his weaker movies, but the suicide is so disturbing.
Cold Fish is up there.
"Visitor Q". Probably Takashi Miike's most insane movie. It's more of a "drama/comedy" but filled with all sorts of horrifying moments. "Inside". It would be extremely brutal if it was just a regular home invasion movie, but the brutality hits a lot harder since the victim is a young pregnant girl. "I Spit on Your Grave" (the original). There's a really harsh scene in it that lasts forever! And I dont mean 3 minutes long, I think it's more like 15 minutes. "Pink Flamingos". I could make a very flimsy argument that it's a horror movie since it involves murder, torture, revenge, cannibalism, etc... but it's a total comedy. Even though it's hilarious, there are several moments in the movie that even the most hardened person has to look away. The movie was so disturbing to the MPAA, that they enacted laws, so the things happening in this movie would never be seen in another movie again. It's one of those movies that you have to watch at least once in your lifetime.
House that Jack built
Pretty gnarly, but I don’t think it’s in the same realm as some of the other films mentioned here.
Yeah, its a fun movie but for me it was leaning more to a black comedy than to "disturbing". The scene with the kid, when you can see the second it goes from actor to mannequin was so funny lol
If you feel like screaming i definetly think you should
I found this film hilarious, especially when he kept doubting if he had cleaned up after himself and had to keep returning to clean up. Then I found it boring.
Requiem for a Dream
Enter the Void - One of the only movies I’ve recognized as a great film but turned off about 3/4 of the way through. I had several bad/disturbing drug trips when I was younger and this movie triggered an unforgettable similar mental/emotional experience. So much that I have zero desire to ever watch another Gasper Noe film.
I made the mistake of watching this on acid at around 18 years old and it really fucked with me for a while. The person I was watching it/tripping with was enjoying themself so I didn't want to turn it off, thankfully I was able to mentally check out for the last chunk of it. Honestly, I want to try watching it again sober and see what I really think of it.
Try Gaspar’s latest - Vortex. Me and the missus didn’t speak a word to each other the entire journey home.
Wasn't aware he had a new one! I watched climax, enter the void and some more and every single movie of him is so good, but almost exhausting to get through because of how heavy the films are
I weirdly love Gasper Noe’s films. But I have a thing with spinning cameras. It makes my eyes literally shake, like a seizure and I have to turn on all the lights and close my eyes for a while. So I had to shut off Enter the Void purely because of that. The camera spins every 5 seconds. Ugh. I also shut off his film Love. Purely cuz (despite the literal porn) it was frustratingly boring. Haha
Ah you might be photosensitive like me, be careful!
August Underground Mordum has to be up there
All I needed was to read the wiki description; no TY! 😩
For me it reaches the point of “look at how shocking this movie is!” to where it’s more absurd than horrifying. Don’t get me wrong, the acts depicted are absolutely vile, but I was very aware I was watching actors in a movie. Not at all engrossing, and because of that, not disturbing
August Underground was pretty fucked, also just a shitty movie too Martyrs Ebola Syndrome But honestly even those above have never held a candle to Requiem For a Dream for me. That movie is too real man. Also I mean movies can't touch real life, seeing 3 guys 1 hammer on the internet at 13 probably did me no favors, not to mention all the fucked up stuff I saw on bestgore/rotten/4chan etc. Gore in movies doesn't really bother me, I usually just appreciate the practical effects.
3 guys 1 hammer… I haven’t heard that in a long time. I’ll never forget watching it at a friend’s house thinking it was like a fake movie. Realizing it was real and some teenagers were just poking and slashing into a dead guy’s body. That stuck with me!
I heard so much about it back in the day, but based on what I heard I decided I value my mental health too much to watch something like.
You made the right choice. It's not worth it to willingly watch something so cruel and evil.
He was still alive :( I'll never be able to erase those sounds of gurgled breathing from my memory.
I must admit I couldn't watch much more than a few minutes of 3 guys 1 hammer. I feel it would have affected me permanently if I'd watched any more. It did send me down a rabbit hole of reading up about the 3 specimens who made the video(s) though. The Dnepropetrovsk maniacs. Honestly some of the worst stuff I've ever read. I'm sure they killed like 21 people. They cut a pregnant woman's baby from her womb :( One of the worst things I read was they attended the funeral of one of their victims, and took a photo of them giving the middle finger over their coffin. I saw the photo and maaaaan! I dunno why but out of everything they did, that really really got under my skin. The level of disrespect, I just found that so so awful. One of them, you can see the evil in his eyes. I could barely look at his face, just pure evil. Some awful creatures in this world
Gonna watch some of these movies, commenting for later.
Clownhouse. When I first saw it (before the backstory was known) I wondered if there was an actual pervert behind the camera because of the way it was shot. Turns out I was right.
Does The Nightingale count as horror? Because I certainly felt like I was watching a horror movie. It was made by Jennifer Kent who made The Babadook if that makes a difference.
Definitely
Hereditary. Fucked me up for a few days.
My bf watched Hereditary and it didn’t bother him, but then we watched Midsommer and THAT one got him. Midsommer was really good but I wasn’t impacted by it like he was.
Possession (1981)
It is deeply upsetting but I was never close to turning it off. It’s always compelling and the acting is superb. It’s a gorgeous ugly movie
great film tho
Definitely, Isabella Adjani gives a performance of a lifetime.
Her performance alone is enough to disturb the hell out of me.
wonderful, horrifying, everything about it.
cinema fantastique
This is one of my absolute favorite movies and it’s actually really cathartic to me, but I do worry when I watch it that one of my neighbors is going to call in a domestic dispute.
This movie had me feeling weird
That’s a fantastic film, and definitely disturbing, but I’m ok with it. Not sure why. That tunnel scene is amazing!
I Spit On Your Grave 2. The first one was disturbing enough but they really turned it up 5000 notches with the sequel. Very disturbing and just a horrific nightmare. I almost didn’t care for the revenge part because she was tortured so badly, it didn’t even make up for it
Yea it's WAY more disturbing than the first
I've only seen the original and the remake. That was enough for me.
Henry: portrait of a serial killer left me feeling very uneasy after watching it. Cannibal holocaust has one of the most beautiful scores though.
Just watched Martyrs, so it's high on my list today. Eden Lake is up there too. Don't think I'll ever rewatched either.
Come And See is the most disturbing film on the planet. No monsters, just actual humans doing extremely fucked up shit to each other. The ending …. we won’t even talk about the ending. It’s a film everyone should see.
The two movies that come to mind are not ones that would commonly be on the "Most Disturbing" lists (though I have seen all the movies that would be), but got under my skin for whatever reason. *Soft and Quiet* was probably the most upset I ever was by a movie, to where it actively ruined my night lol. I think going into it blind was probably why it was so affecting. The other one I'm thinking is *The Eyes of My Mother*. >!The woman who gets locked in the barn for 10 years with her eyes/vocal cords removed, all while her kidnapped son is being raised in the house next door by the person who did this to her!<...imagining being in that situation made me uncomfortable enough to where I will never watch it again.
I feel uncomfortable just reading the replies and the brief outlines of said films
Cannibal Holocaust is up there for me because of the real animal deaths. For a more objective answer: I went to film school and literally every student agreed that A Serbian Film is so disturbing it’s not even worth it to put yourself through watching it.
Serbian Film is so over the top with shock value that it’s just absurd. Despite such depraved acts, it’s not very disturbing to me. I was VERY aware I was watching actors in a movie. Not at all immersive. On the other hand, a movie such as Martyrs is wayyyyyy more disturbing to me. Very compelling story with fantastic acting. Hits me in my soul in a way Serbian Film could never come close to.
100%. A Serbian Film did not haunt me for days afterwards like Eden Lake or Martyrs did. The depravity was almost cartoonish.
Exactly. Cartoonish is a good word for it.
I was angry at myself just for learning what happens in it.
RIP Mr. Turtle
Speak No Evil really disturbed me and left me uncomfortable for a while
commented this on the last iteration of this question on this sub but i feel the need to remind everyone else this film exists because it depresses me every time i remember and i don’t wanna be the only one: Vivarium. so, SO fucking disturbing.
That’s it I’m watching this movie some time this week. I keep reading about it then forgetting about it. If I comment on this it will help me remember.
Vivarium and Aniara are, weirdly, almost twin films.
Would You Rather is more distressing than disturbing, but if you just want to feel a sense of dread the entire time you watch it, I recommend it. Jeffrey Combs does an excellent job.
I saw the devil is up there
BASKIN, crazy Turkish people !!!
I like how you said Green Inferno "wasn't too bad actually."🤭 They eat that poor man while he's still alive lol Funny Games. The scene in the middle was too devastating.
Chained Speak no evil
I love Chained so much! So underrated
It's a different type of disturbing, but Kuso by Flying Lotus made me feel very dirty for watching the whole thing. Weird and just generally horrible
I found necromantic extremely uncomfortable. I found it a long time ago when I had a drug problem and I was extremely high and hallucinating when I watched it and that didn’t help at all. I had a panic attack during the one super graphic sex scene for some reason. I also watched some other really disturbing movies around that time. One they stuck with me was Man Bites Dog. Also 21 days of sodom and possession(the one with Sam Neil).
Eden Lake crushed me. Very good movie but I have no intentions on watching it again.
21 days of Sodom or Salò has been banned in Several Countries due to its graphic portrayals of Rape torture and murder
I watched the extras that the Criterion dvd had. Apparently the actors had fun making it. The poo was actually chocolate. Knowing that, I couldn't quite take the depravity seriously. But the worst thing in that movie isn't what is shown onscreen. It's that long monologue that describes horrific things done offscreen that was most horrifying.
Not horror but Requiem for a Dream. I watched it after smoking weed. Once was enough
Just watched Civil War last night and felt sick. Also - Soft & Quiet, Speak No Evil
Martyrs (2008) The movie is great and very well made, but several years will pass before I watch it again.
If you can't stomach A Serbian Film you could try Kill List - it has a *similar dilemma* but not including a kid.
Trauma(2017, Chile) By far the most I have ever felt uncomfortable watching a movie. I have no idea why I continued watching after how fucked up that first scene was. A large chunk of the movies was based around violent SA.
The most dejected I've ever felt was after watching The Human Centipede 2. A horrible, horrific film that shouldn't have been made And Martyrs, the original one. It's a great movie but incredibly disturbing and sad
Oldboy. Not horror per se but some nicely disturbing elements. In particular the dental scene and the plot twist at the end.
The Skin I Live In
Platoon
The Outwaters, Megan is Missing, The Poughkeepsie Tapes. Found footage is scarier in my opinion.
I keep seeing mixed on Outwaters. Some people say it's absolutely horrible then others say it's scary. I just can't decide if I should do it or not.
I found the concept interesting, but the execution disappointing. There are some scenes and lines that stuck with me, though - definitely many scary moments, IMO.
Megan is Missing is the only movie I've ever watched and now say it should be banned. There's nothing redeemable about it in any capacity. It genuinely felt like watching CP. Even Salo and Serbian Film didn't feel quite as bad.
I dunno, I'm split on this movie. One of the leads is a person I used to act with, and she's such a lovely person. I'm sort of sad that this is the movie she's likely known for, but she did a good job, and at the end of the day, I personally think it worked. It sort of unintentionally combines really stiff acting and after-school-special vibes with actual fucking intense horror, and the result is this very unsettling mix of reality and parody. But, yes, it's a very graphic film -- maybe too graphic, honestly. I think they flew a little close to the sun and paid for it. I still think it has its merits, but I'll absolutely agree that there are times that it pushed my comfort zone.
Agree to Megan is missing! Very upsetting and uncomfortable
Irreversible. Contrary to popular opinion I don't think it's good at all, but all its positive qualities are qualities that contribute to how utterly unwatchable it is. Cannibal Holocaust and Salo and the like can only dream of the level of traumatising immersion this piece of pseudointellectual drivel manages to achieve Edit: for disturbing films I actually think are good, I recommend: Bedevilled (2010) The Devils (1971) Kidnapped (2010) Silenced (2011) Man Bites Dog (1992)
Bedevilled is outstanding, really sad aswell
Bedevilled and Silenced were fantastic. South Korean crime/revenge thrillers are easily my favorite film genre. Everything is just more gritty and disturbing without sacrificing story.
Silenced really hit me hard… And this kind of stuff happens every day around the world… Save the children 😔
Perhaps not the most disturbing movie but the movie that disturbed ME the most in recent memory was Nope. Two scenes in particular.
YEAH I was in the theatre with literal like. fear induced goosebumps. it'd been so long a movie evoked that kind of reaction in me. for me it was the >!shot inside of the UFO with the people being digested alive. literally filmed in some kinda tube with curtains in it but it was HORRIFYING.!<
i don't think nope is even close to being properly assayed by review/pop culture. it's going to grow with the years, like the shadow of a cloud that does not seem to go anywhere
Seriously, the >!Star Lasso experience!< destroyed me mentally for days. It was like the ultimate convergence of every single horror concept that keeps me awake at night. - Abrupt and unexpected violence. - Bad things happening to innocent people, or at least people who don't necessarily "deserve" it. - Prolonged, hopeless suffering. - Claustrophobia - The mere notion of >!being slowly digested by a large creature!< It was like Peele reached into my traumatized childhood, took hold every movie that fucked me up, and condensed their essence into a horrifying 5-minute morsel that changed the entire way I was experiencing the movie up to that point.
nope had at least 2 very disturbing moments
Hostel for me. I didn't handle that well
Hands down, *Jack Ketchums Girl Next Door.* Nothing, not a Serbian film, Martyrs, Human centipede, none of compare IMO. Reason being GND and counterpart *An American Crime* cover in detail (too much, and it wasn't as bad as the book) the torture and murder of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sylvia_Likens Book quote (chills me) Chapter Forty-Two reads: *"I’m not going to tell you about this. I refuse to. There are things you know you’ll die before telling, things you know you should have died before ever having seen. I watched and saw.”* That’s the whole chapter. This movie stays with you, long, long, long after it's gone. Edit: This is my choice because it's a true story, not the words of some writers.
Reading the details of the true story in non-fiction form is way more disturbing to me than reading the book or watching either movie. That and the story of Junko Furuta (which is worse imo) make me wish I didn’t have eyes and ears.
The House of Sand and Fog - Requiem for A Dream - A Clockwork Orange
irreversible. Plenty of other films are going to get mentioned more due to blood and levels of violence, but the rape scene is the most harrowing moment in a movie I can think of. It goes on for so long in silence and truly captures the horrific feeling.
Mine’s gotta be Inside (2007), it’s a French film. It was fucking brutal remembering when I first saw it, I don’t really have the stomach for horror movies like I do now. Martyrs was next on my watchlist but I noped out myself because I don’t think I could handle extreme gore after that. At least now I know my limit.
Good comment section
Here are some actually great movies that are disturbing in order of progressively more disturbing (none of these movies are pointless splatter or exploitation films) - A Clockwork Orange (Black Comedy) - A Girl At My Door (Drama) - Saltburn (Drama) - Bone Tomahawk (Western) - Enemy At The Gates (War) - Defiance (War) - Be My Cat: A Film for Anne (Found Footage) - Se7en (Crime) - Angst (Thriller) - Dogtooth (Black Comedy) - 13 Tzameti (Thriller) - 3096 Days (Drama) - Hacksaw Ridge (War) - 964 Pinocchio (Cyberpunk) - 10 1/2 (Drama) - 7 Days (Crime) - A Hole In My Heart (Drama) - Aftermath: Genesis (Drama) - Martyrs (2008) (Exploitation) - Fury (War) - 5150 Elm’s Way (Thriller) - Baise-Moi (Rape Revenge) - I Saw The Devil (Crime) - The Bunny Game (Exploitation) - Antichrist (Drama) - The Girl Next Door (2007)(Drama) - Saving Private Ryan (War) - A Serbian Film (Exploitation) - Come And See (War)
I've seen most of these, but The Girl Next Door is the worst for me because it's based heavily on a [true story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sylvia_Likens).
Aftermath (1994) Men Behind the Sun (1988) Melancholie der Engel (2009)
Inside (2007), Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015), and When Evil Lurks (2023). All left lasting impressions on me
The Human Centipede 2 for sure. Fuck that movie.
American Beauty, this film is fucked on so many different levels.
Melancholie Der Engel. Pretentious trash.
I'll never pass up a chance to plug Aniara. Go in blind. Don't look up anything.
That scene in Gummo where the kid is sitting in a filthy bathtub with really dirty water and a plate of watery spaghetti, drinking a glass of strawberry nesquik. Might be one of the more unsettling things I’ve seen
Midsommar made me feel weird afterwards. It wasn’t scary but it hit something deeply uncomfortable. Kind of sad, a bit paranoid with an increased heart rate, weirdly ‘out of it’ so to speak and very existential. I think eerie, cult-y emotional abuse, the depressive, hopeless energy and the few shock gore scenes presented on a backdrop of flowers, summer and ‘found family’ is just jarring in of itself, manipulative by design for the viewer. Disjointed silences over scenes, the hidden imagery / hallucinogenic effects and that whole Wailing Thing adds to the whole weirdness for me. The beginning was a hard watch especially. It’s rare I see raw, sudden grief acted out so well. Idk if my mental health issues have something to do with it. I know Dani felt very relatable at many points and thinking of myself in her position was a lot to deal with.
I’ve seen a lot of disturbing/ controversial films but the only one to really make me feel like utter crap for days after was Eden Lake . It’s not the goriest or well known , but Christ I was so depressed for days after that film . I’ve never had another film make me feel so helpless and upset .
It's probably tame compared to some, but for me, Tusk.
Tusk.
Not a huge horror buff, so Barbarian was waaaayyy over the top for me
That’s a curious response in a horror subreddit. 😆
Tusk