My list of most disturbing movies I've seen
While the discriptions seem mostly negative, it has to be noted that I enjoyed and apprieciated some of the qualities in several of the films but find them difficult to watch because of the subject matters, or strong violence. Watch them if you're brave enough.
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- DirectorJennifer KentStarsAisling FranciosiMaya ChristieBaykali GanambarrSet in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.While many on this list feature only a couple of disturbing scenes, this one has it all ALL the way. Rape, infanticide, violence against women, gang rape, racial violence, genocidal massacres and children getting murdered. A rough two hours, I'll tell you!
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsMonica BellucciVincent CasselAlbert DupontelEvents over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.I get annoyed when the rape scene is shown on either documenteries or on the internet. I never want to see this again, ever. That's how badly disturbing it is.
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsMorjana AlaouiMylène JampanoïCatherine BéginA young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.Sick, horrible and makes you feel so dirty you feel like it's never going to wash off.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyo IshibashiEihi ShiinaTetsu SawakiA widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.So creepy and disturbing I couldn't even finish watching it. Can't even begin to discribe how f - ucked up it is.
- DirectorTom SixStarsDieter LaserWinter WilliamsAshlynn YennieA mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums.Ultimately, nothing more than a sick and gleeful fantasy put on screen. Not the best film on this list, but notorious enough.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJack NanceCharlotte StewartAllen JosephHenry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.David Lynch's first film. And possibly the most unsettling of his collection.
- DirectorKiyoshi KurosawaStarsHaruhiko KatôKumiko AsôKoyukiTwo groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.If you want something scarier and creepier than the Shining, turn to this one. It's scary in ways you wouldn't even imagine!
- DirectorNiels Arden OplevStarsMichael NyqvistNoomi RapaceEwa FrölingA journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.Considering the dark premise of its source material, its bound to be graphic, but as a movie it's even more disturbing and horrific. However, it's such a great film and the acting is terrific, I recommend seeing it!
- DirectorHideo NakataStarsNanako MatsushimaMiki NakataniYûko TakeuchiA reporter and her ex-husband investigate a cursed video tape that is rumored to kill the viewer seven days after watching it.Forget the American remake, the original is absolutely terrifying!
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.Very famously disturbing. Not just because of a little girl being possessed by the devil and doing the most insanely horrible things, but the demons who appear on screen for mearly half a second.
- DirectorBernard RoseStarsVirginia MadsenXander BerkeleyTony ToddThe Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster's myth.So frightening, unfairly cruel and violent, I'm too afraid to watch it again.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsEllen BurstynJared LetoJennifer ConnellyThe drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..Dead hopes and dreams. All because of the drugs. But saddest story lies with a character whose drugs were diet pills. Very smartly filmed.
- DirectorMary LambertStarsDale MidkiffDenise CrosbyFred GwynneAfter tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.I swear this film has some sort of a plague on it, as it makes you so horribly depressed after witnessing the emotional atrocity on screen.
- DirectorCherNancy SavocaStarsDemi MooreShirley KnightCatherine KeenerThe movie examines the abortion issue through three stories set in different eras: 1952, 1974 and 1996.This made me so angry at the amount of bigotry and sexism that's shown in the 1996 and 1952 parts. I know it wasn't a true story but the religious fanatic's attitudes continue to cast a shadow on the freedom of people who simply want to make a choice with their lives.
- DirectorKimberly PeirceStarsHilary SwankChloë SevignyPeter SarsgaardA young man named Brandon Teena navigates love, life, and being transgender in rural Nebraska.One of the saddest stories ever told. Brutally and unflinchyingly honest account of the rape and murder of transgender Brandon Teena.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.Brilliant film that has something most American horror films don't have: The use of music, flashes of disturbing images and great acting.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsWesley SnipesAnnabella SciorraSpike LeeFriends and family of a married Black architect react in different ways to his affair with an Italian secretary.What kind of maniac would beat his own daughter half to death just for seeing a black man? People should be allowed to date who they like and not have a problem with it. Of course the director doesn't see it that way, at least not with a black man and a white woman.
- DirectorMike FiggisStarsNicolas CageElisabeth ShueJulian SandsBen Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.The rape scene and how the victim was treated afterwards was absolutely atrocious. Overall a very depressing movie.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroJodie FosterCybill ShepherdA mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.Dangerously addicting. The main character is like a drug. You like him, compare your life to him and ultimately try to become him. Possibly one of the best American films in history.
- DirectorRobert De NiroStarsRobert De NiroChazz PalminteriLillo BrancatoAn intense drama about a boy torn between his tough, hard-working father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss.A bit like a Spike Lee movie, it has racial fights, fierce beatings, killings, but yet has a very tender side with relationships.
- DirectorTony KayeStarsEdward NortonEdward FurlongBeverly D'AngeloLiving a life marked by violence, neo-Nazi Derek finally goes to prison after killing two black youths. Upon his release, Derek vows to change; he hopes to prevent his brother, Danny, who idolizes Derek, from following in his footsteps.Racist fights, curb stomp, anal rape, graphic shootings, all based on hate and intent to humiliate. Beware.
- DirectorLee TamahoriStarsRena OwenTemuera MorrisonMamaengaroa Kerr-BellA family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.Graphic domestic violence, brutal bar fights, child rape and suicide and emotional battery, but yet the characters have the strength to move on from these horrible events and build a new life. Also a depiction of how a good number of homes are all around the world, not just New Zealand.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsGene HackmanWillem DafoeFrances McDormandTwo F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.Brutal account of the most extreme of insane prejudices that plagued the American south in the early 1960s. The picture of Dafoe and Hackman looking up at a burning cross and the tagline "1964 when America was at war with itself." sums up but does not explore the content of the movie.
- DirectorBrian GibsonStarsAngela BassettLaurence FishburneRaéVen KellyThe story of singer Tina Turner's rise to stardom and how she gained the courage to break free from her abusive husband, Ike Turner.Depicts the domestic horrors that Tina suffered at the hands of Ike Turner, only to turn into one of the most fearless and brilliant singers of all time. The ending is very fufiling.
- DirectorGina Prince-BythewoodStarsDakota FanningJennifer HudsonQueen LatifahIn 1964, a teenage girl in search of the truth about her mother runs away to a small town in South Carolina and finds a family of independent women who can connect her to her past.Set in such hateful time, the sweetness of the characters make the terrible things that happen to them even sadder