People Name Disturbing Films They Can’t Rewatch
Part of the fun of going to the movies is knowing that eventually you can always go back and watch something that really connects with you later. Seeing something in the theater is just step one for many movie fans! There is a select group of films that are so good, weird, or whatever that some people just refuse to sit through more than once. It’s not a statement against the movies, but a statement of how effective some of them are in delivering an unsettling or disturbing feeling. The movie doesn’t even have to be a horror to elicit those feelings, which just makes those flicks even more legendary! Spoilers abound below but buckle up, we’re revisiting some of the most disturbing films people can’t sit through more than once!
One Hour Photo
Some actors, no matter how talented they are, are synonymous with a certain type of movie. Whether they’re cast as “The One” or just so happen to spread joy in every flick they’re in, it can be tough to see a favorite star do something drastically different. While Robin Williams can deliver a great and comedic performance in most of his films, he also had some skill in delivering terror.
One Hour Photo wasn’t just an intro into Williams’ dark side. It was also an unsettling and creepy glance at the ease with which someone could become obsessed with a stranger. Seymour Parrish is rarely mentioned as a great villain, but he should always be mentioned when talking about the most unsettling and disturbing ones.
Marriage Story
A movie doesn’t have to be a horror or thriller to be disturbing. Sometimes, it’s the scariest plots and scenarios that actually emulate real life. Marriage is hard. It’s basically a full-time job where the only two outcomes are a lifetime of happiness or utter disaster. The very idea of something so life-changing failing can terrify even the most stalwart of people.
Marriage Story, starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver is a hauntingly realistic look at some marriages and their eventual outcome. Despite seeming to end on a positive note, the fights and turmoil the leads take the audience on almost isn’t worth it. Some people couldn’t even deal with the fictitious fighting due to how realistic it all seemed!
Lost Highway
There’s just something about a good neo-noir film that brings out an unsettling feeling of dread in someone. Maybe it’s the depressingly dramatic stories. Perhaps it’s the fact that most characters in a film like that aren’t blameless. Or maybe, just maybe, they’re disturbing because they know how to get under someone’s skin. David Lynch is a master of this type of film and Lost Highway is a testament to it.
The film doesn’t exactly line up in terms of a timeline, but the visuals and some individual scenes in it have a way of making sense only to a select few viewers. The ones that get it can’t seem to ever forget they saw such a weird and unnerving story. The loop that’s created at the end just wraps up everything in a weird and terrifying bow.
Whiplash
The search for musical perfection and immortality is a dark and twisted journey for many musicians. Many films don’t harp on it and tend to focus on the art itself instead of the struggle. When a movie comes around and shows how tough things can truly be, they tend to stand out. Whiplash is an extreme journey through what some musicians and their coaches go through to realize their potential.
While it’s slightly overblown, it’s pretty eye-opening and unnerving. Watching Andrew getting pushed to his limits, and then past them, is a tough time. It leads to some great performances and uncomfortable atmospheres, too!
Requiem for a Dream
Are you ready to be irreversibly depressed, haunted, and cationic with the state of the world? Call a safety buddy and then pop in Requiem for a Dream. This bright and shiny-looking film is a terrifying trip through hope, addiction, and where it can lead for a lot of people. The individual tales of the kids that become addicts, and the mom, are some of the most anxiety-driven and horrifyingly sad things anyone in a theater has had to sit through.
Nobody ends up okay and the film never promises that it’s going to get better. That’s part of what makes it great, but at the same time, so disturbing. This is one of those watch-once-and-then-never-again films, even if only for the viewer’s sanity and sense of well-being.
Dogtooth
Dogtooth is one of the most unnerving and disturbing movies to come out of the early 00s. Part of what makes it so successful in being scary is that it taps into one of people’s most undiscussed fears: What happens when the people you trust most are working against you? Going on this journey of kids finding out their world is fabricated and darker than most’s is not something anyone would choose.
Watching the abuse, horror, and odd choices by the father to control his kids is not fun. Toss in the heavy dose of childhood sexual assault and you’ve got a compelling and unique project that nobody felt comfortable watching. Do people and places like this exist in real life? Yes, and that’s why it’s so effectively horrible and well done.
Gravity
The feeling of helplessness, once someone realizes they screwed up, is one of the most isolating and true experiences we can all understand. The “oh crap” moment is terrifying and disturbing, but never really explored much. Then Gravity came out and we all learned why. Watching someone come to terms with their mortality and eventual (possible) demise, those fleeting seconds of honest realization is a basic human emotion that nobody can deny or express with words.
Seeing Sandra Bullock spiral out of control in the peaceful and always neutral environment of space was performance art. There’s nothing quite like this movie, but we also wouldn’t subject anyone to it. It’s so difficult to sit through because we all feel like we’re falling out of control from time to time.
Tusk
Kevin Smith’s body horror fright-fest, Tusk, is a movie that stands on its own merits and oddities. The premise of someone being forced to become a walrus sounds bizarre and an instant flop. Then, Tusk came out, and Smith proved he could make such an outlandish story into a compelling and terrifyingly realistic oddity. Body horror movies tap into people’s uncomfortable feelings about losing humanity and Smith’s masterpiece is no different.
No cast or superstar could soften such an abrupt and horrifying image. It’s both what makes it work and what doesn’t. If you don’t feel uncomfortable watching Tusk, then you’re probably as maliciously evil as the one who created the monster.
Midsommar
The fear of the unknown neighbor is a fun concept to turn into films. Movies like The Wicker Man turn horror into an ancient fear of beliefs and lifestyles that many thought were long gone. Midsommar is like that but hyped up on caffeine and some sort of mind-altering drug. We’re never going on vacation ever again.
The visually stunning landscape coupled with the pagan beliefs in an older time create an unsettling and disturbingly peaceful environment for horrors to unfold. Even the small details, like the single tear mixed with accepting and terrified smiles just make this all the more unnerving of a summer flick to watch. Never follow strangers to a village, word to the wise.
Trainspotting
Who likes to be confronted with the reality of drug abuse and poverty? Nobody? Well, too bad, we’re talking about Trainspotting. This 1996 cult hit is a smack in the face to anyone trying to avoid the real world during that era. Following a group of people succumbing to addiction is never a funny ride, but for a dark comedy, Trainspotting does its job fairly well.
You don’t even have to have experience with the substances the characters are using to feel their pain. Specifically, the withdrawal scene is enough to turn anyone off of drugs forever. We wouldn’t be surprised if some people even began to feel feverish just watching the scene!
Ex Machina
Most people don’t equate progress and technical marvels as a form of horror. However, when you think about it, the idea that the next iteration of intelligent life could be sand emotions is enough to make anyone scream into the void. Humans are so wrapped up in thinking that we’re the be-all-end-all of all species.
The very thought that we can be replaced and then dismissed is pretty scary. Ex Machina takes that idea and throws it in everyone’s face with a heavy dose of CGI and questions. The idea that something we create will one day replace us and deem us immaterial is enough to disturb even the most stalwart sci-fi fan.
Dr. Strangelove
How easy is it to make a great film that combines comedy, the terrors of World War II, and a heavy dose of existential dread? For Stanley Kubrick, it’s just another Tuesday. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a satirical take on nuclear war and ego.
It’s equal parts hilarious, horrifically realistic, and possibly plausible. That alone makes it its own brand of terror. It’s wild to think that if a few different decisions were made years ago, this would be seen as a documentary instead of a one-of-a-kind Kubrick fantasy.
The Shining
Having a great horror book translated into a great horror movie is like finding a needle in a haystack. The Shining is one of the best horror movies to ever exist and that’s in huge part thanks to a mix of Stephen King’s brilliance, Jack Nicholson’s insanity, and Stanley Kubrick being himself. This film is so unnerving that we’re still not convinced that Shelley Duvall didn’t genuinely lose her mind during shooting.
The Shining is a fantastic way of showcasing how reality can be almost as terrifying as the unknown. Isolation, winter depression, and all sorts of other mind-breaking terrors are on full display here. If you want to see a truly upsetting and disturbing film, check into the lodge and watch this.
Closer
Adapting an older play into a modern classic can be tough. Interpreting the themes and styles of a Mozart-era production into the modern age is wildly difficult. The 2004 drama Closer does a beautiful job of this with little to no issues. The problem with the film that stuck with audiences was the bleakness that each of the characters portrayed.
Nobody really finds a happy ending in the traditional sense. The movie itself even ends with a mystery mixed with a possible suicide! What in the world was the ultimate message here? Probably something like, “Don’t catfish people online as a prank just to be petty.” Nobody reached any closure.
Saving Private Ryan
Most war films aren’t necessarily considered “scary” or “disturbing”. Most war films also aren’t Saving Private Ryan. This is one of those movies that came out at just the right time with the right cast and hit all the right notes. It’s dramatic. It’s historical. It’s also a massive tearjerker. For all the dramatics, it also has a few hair-raising moments. The scene recreating D-Day is one of the most disturbing in modern movie history.
The camera effects and intensity of those moments, when troops are storming the beach, is something few historians refuse to play down. Showing how horrific World War II was can be tough without being dry. This movie did it with a level of class and skill that few have been able to replicate since.
Chinatown
One of the best examples of a dark film, aka neo-noir, has to be Chinatown. Roman Polanski’s 1974 mystery has all the ingredients for a depressingly successful and twisted sequence of events. Every character in Chinatown is flawed, frightened, and doing what they need to do to survive or make things work in their favor.
There’s no real hero, just some people who get off easier than others. The big lead-up to the climax and unsettling ending encapsulates the essence of the genre. It also leaves the audience with a bit of dread over the implications of what happens just moments after the film ends.
Parasite
Hollywood really needs to take a long look at films and artists from other countries. Parasite’s worldwide success is a testament that just one movie-making town doesn’t hold all the cards for greatness. The intense and stressful atmosphere created in Parasite paralyzes audiences from the very first scene right to the big reveal at the end.
Nearly every moment is an uncomfortable but fascinating look at a family’s desperation. They’ll do whatever they need to present themselves in the most perfect way that they can. It’s a fantastically done horror that doesn’t rely on supernatural and disturbing effects to get its message across.
The Whale
Some drama can be too much for just one emotion to explain. Instead of latching on to the sadness of a film, some audience members spill out into the realm of disturbing when watching certain tales. Brendan Frasier’s return to the big screen in The Whale received mixed reviews and emotions. People were delighted to see Fraser in a big-budget film again.
They also applauded his performance. That didn’t stop the same people from being terrified and revolted at seeing Fraser’s character deal with his grief. Tying a sad addiction into a larger issue is a great way to build up suspense and sadness without losing any speck of disturbing footage to capture someone’s attention.
Mulholland Drive
It’s creepy. It’s unsettling. It’s weird. It’s Mulholland Drive. Take away all the humor from Pulp Fiction, toss in a lot of weirdness and amnesia tropes, and you have something close to what Mulholland Drive aspires to be. This neo-noir thriller is a classic David Lynch film that was originally supposed to be a TV series. It’s like Twin Peaks set in LA.
While a lot of it is dry and tense, a select few scenes really drive the audience over the edge. The entire sequence of the demon and homeless man is so stretched out and terrifying, that some people won’t even watch the entire scene! Whatever he was trying to achieve in this scene, it worked, because people were spooked!
Annihilation
The Southern Reach Trilogy is an amazing collection of books. Following the story of a biologically diverse and ever-changing environment, and seeing it as both a villain and a nonentity, is fascinating. It also makes for some incredibly terrifying moments on the page. Translating all of that to the big screen in a single film can be tough.
What Annihilation did best in this sense is the foreboding and oftentimes too intense music. The deep bass and horns at the right moments drove in the sense of hopelessness and wonder that Area X was creating for the research team! It also opened up a world of possibilities and questions for later films to answer.
The VVitch
You don’t need monsters, the Devil, or even witchcraft to make a good and scary movie. Those all help when used correctly, but a lot of the time you just need a family on the verge of total collapse. Stress out a family unit enough and they’ll basically terrorize each other until only one person is left!
The VVitch explores this idea while also adding a healthy dose of Satan and some black magic for good measure. The imagery in the film alone is enough to turn stomachs. However, the acts of evil carried out by those with faith are the true unsettling beast in this film.
District 9
While many movies carry some sort of message or theme with them subtly and artistically, District 9 beats you over the head with its message. The thinly veiled metaphor for life under apartheid is always apparent during the found footage hit. Pete Jackson blended incredible effects, a heartbreaking story, and some great talking points into a sci-fi journey that people are still discussing and dissecting to this day.
The thing is, regardless of genre, people like to leave a theater with a sense of completion or at least hope. You’re not going to find either in District 9. From the beginning through to the end, a sense of foreboding and despair can be seen and felt in nearly every frame!
Joker
Just because a film is critically acclaimed doesn’t mean it’s good. Joker is a great movie, don’t get us wrong. Does that make it a great Batman movie? No. Does it make for an easy watch? Absolutely not. Even though it’s not technically a horror film, the prep work that Joaquin Phoenix had to do before filming was close to torture.
The actor basically starved himself and endured an intense and highly restrictive diet. All of this just to drop enough weight to believably look like a clown on the edge of everything going wrong. People don’t seem to think just how extreme some actors will go to ensure they look like a director’s vision for a part.
Eraserhead
The further into the land of surrealism an artist chooses to go, the more open to interpretation their work turns out for viewers or an audience. The 1977 David Lynch classic, Eraserhead, is no different. This bizarre monochromatic journey through the mind of Lynch is a cult hit, even among fans of cult hits. Pulling metaphors from multiple cultures and schools of thought, the film follows the life of Henry Spencer, a probably depressed cog in a larger machine of people going about their day.
What we may see as weird or terrifying is everyday life for Henry, and the audience is just along for the ride. Towards the end, things take an even weirder turn and soon a planet explodes while the main characters celebrate, dance, and enjoy a rain of eraser shavings. It’s a bizarre film that evokes the oddest and most primal of fears in people. It’s also one people can’t seem to stop watching.
Dunkirk
Christopher Nolan has a way with movies that some directors can’t even begin to understand. The filmmaker decided for his 2017 masterpiece to focus on music instead of dialogue to help drive the plot forward. His submission to the world, Dunkirk, exceeded everyone’s expectations. The use of sound and repetitive sequences helped drive home a sense of foreboding, dread, and hopelessness at just the right moments. Nolan once again proved why people flock to his films!
The thing is, some of his planning was too effective. A few audience members even said the tones and effects used made them feel as if they were right in the middle of the action. In any other movie, this would be great. For something as tense and impactful as the war film Dunkirk, it was a terrible situation to be stuck in.
Prisoners
Most people assume Hugh Jackman would only take on roles as bombastic and awesome as he is in the real world. The guy’s just a pleasure to be around and his movies, aside from playing Wolverine, usually reflect that! The thing is, acting is a job, and some roles are just too interesting to pass up. Jackman’s character in Prisoners is probably one of the largest stretches for the veteran of stage and screen.
He plays a father who has little left to lose and is willing to do just about anything to meet his goals. It’s a heartbreaking and almost horrific look at someone’s desperation! The thing is, he plays the part so well, that it’s hard to fault him for being amazing, even when portraying someone at their worst.
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Some movies can be developed and shot in nearly no time at all. Others take a few years just to get off the ground. The psychological terror ride that is We Need to Talk About Kevin took nearly half a decade to make it to the big screen. After seeing the film, we’re not surprised why. There’s an argument for whether people can be inherently born bad, or if evil can creep upon them somehow.
After seeing how Kevin acts around his family and victims, it’s unsettling to think that maybe the first argument is more true than the second. Not all movies need a happy ending. However, some sort of positive anything would have made this film feel less bleak and horrific, despite not really having much true terror in it (aside from that poor guinea pig).
The Machinist
The extremes that some actors will go to to land or carry out a role can be jaw-dropping. Some are even willing to risk their own physical well-being to ensure their part is acted out perfectly to the filmmaker’s vision. One of the best and most disturbing examples of this can be seen in the 2004 hit The Machinist. Christian Bale is unrecognizable as the sleep-deprived and overworked lead!
He starved himself to nearly just skin and bones to act in this production! Rapid weight loss is already unhealthy. We can’t imagine experiencing it and then doing those scenes on camera, over and over again. Hopefully, he got a fat paycheck to make up for the lean conditions he put his body through.
Uncut Gems
Sometimes, the best horror movies are the ones with no horror in them at all. Watching a famous comedian don a heavy and dramatic role can be an eye-opening and almost scary experience. This is especially so when they do their job so well that you can’t even recognize them anymore. Uncut Gems is in no way a disturbing movie.
At the same time, it’s incredibly scary because of how realistic it could possibly be. Seeing Adam Sandler do what he needs to do, or thinks he does, to survive, is tough. Even when he finally gets a big break, life finds a way to blow his good fortune right out of his hand.
The Lighthouse
With enough time, budget, and effects, any movie can be a suspenseful and action-packed ride to thrill and terrorize audiences. You don’t need all of that to make a movie great. Sometimes, all you need is a black & white filter and some fantastic actors. The Lighthouse is an oppressive and terrifying movie that speaks few words but leaves a huge impression.
Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson keep things tense, uncomfortable, and foreboding from the first splash of the ocean to the very end of the isolating tale. It’s a masterpiece of a movie that people should see multiple times. However, it’s so scary and intense that few get past their first run-through.