The Blu-ray.com Community's Top 25 Most Disturbing Films

[Red Dragon]

Blu-ray.com Community's Top 25 Most Disturbing Films

Although I possess (and am possessed by), an abiding love of all types of film, I find myself curiously, somewhat inexplicably drawn to the darker, more horrific realms of cinema. Moreover, I recognize within me a deep and perhaps morbid fascination/appreciation of truly disturbing films.

What makes a film truly disturbing may, of course, vary considerably from individual to individual... and of course, the film need not necessarily be strictly classified within the genre of 'horror'.

By disturbing I'm referring to either specific content or thematic quality. So if a film disturbs you simply because you dislike a certain actor, director, casting choice, etc... it would not count. I'm asking for all of us to dig deep down and hopefully, come up with a top 25 list of the films that managed to get a bit under your skin... those uncomfortable (yet perhaps somehow still enjoyable - hey, who knows, you might be as twisted as I am), movies that stayed with you long after the end credits rolled. These are the movies that, in their own little way, assaulted your sensibilities and in doing so, etched a well earned, albeit infamous place within the recesses of your mind.

Films like "Triumph of the Will" (perhaps the greatest propaganda film of all time) and "Martyrs" (a modern day cinematic classic of psychological and philosophical horror) are obviously two extremely distinctive films and yet they both would obviously qualify (which works out quite well for me, as they are actually both on my list).

The rules are fairly simple in that basically, I'm not looking to limit film genres. Once again, what is profoundly disturbing to one person might simply not be to another. If the films you list are the twenty-five movies that genuinely disturbed you more than any other films you've ever seen (as opposed to 'joke answers' such as "Showgirls"), then they qualify, regardless of the genre.

Point System

01. 60 points
02. 50 points
03. 40 points
04. 30 points
05. 25 points
06. 20 points
07. 19 points
08. 18 points
09. 17 points
10. 16 points
11. 15 points
12. 14 points
13. 13 points
14. 12 points
15. 11 points
16. 10 points
17. 9 points
18. 8 points
19. 7 points
20. 6 points
21. 5 points
22. 4 points
23. 3 points
24. 2 points
25. 1 point

Voters must submit a minimum of 10 titles and a maximum of 25 titles.

Deadline is April 1st!

[TripleHBK]

I really wanted to contribute to this thread but I came up with 5-7 films instantly without problem. After an hour of thinking I identified maybe another 3. That still leaves me well short of what you're after though.

[Red Dragon]

Originally Posted by TripleHBK

I really wanted to contribute to this thread but I came up with 5-7 films instantly without problem. After an hour of thinking I identified maybe another 3. That still leaves me well short of what you're after though.

... so I might have been a bit overzealous, I think it might be easier if I lower the minimum amount to 10. I hope this helps, please let me know.

[Red Dragon]

1.) "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom" (1975)



2.) "A Serbian Film" (2010)



3.) "Triumph of the Will" (1935)



4.) "Night and Fog" (1955)



5.) "Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America" (featuring "Cutting Moments") (2003)



6.) "Aftermath" (1994 short film)



7.) "In A Glass Cage" (1986)



8.) "Cannibal Holocaust" (1980)



9.) "Funny Games" (1997 - original)



10.) "Martyrs" - (2008)



11.) "The Human Centipede II: Full Sequence" (2011)



12.) "Subconscious Cruelty" (2000)



13.) "The Bunny Game" (2011)



14.) "I Spit on your Grave" (1978 - original)



15.) "Nekromantik" (1987)



16.) "Nekromantik 2" (1991)



17.) "August Underground" (2001)



18.) "Africa addio" (1966)



19.) "Goodbye Uncle Tom" (1971)



20.) "Slaughtered Vomit Dolls" (2006)



21.) "Grotesque" (2009)



22.) "Irreversible" (2002)



23.) "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" (1986)



24.) "The Girl Next Door" (2007)



25.) "The Last House on the Left" (1972)

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Movies that have made me uneasy, gotten under my skin and stayed with me for quite a while based on the entire film at some point in my life whether as a kid or an adult but absolutely love thoroughly, own and revisit frequently. To me a film being disturbing and hitting uncomfortable nerves doesn't make it a bad film by any means but only proves what a powerful medium the art of cinema is. As the late great Roger Ebert put it in his Jacob's Ladder review "Not every movie has to be fun":

1. White Rabbit 2013 (this movie made me extremely uneasy for weeks)
2. John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness
3. John Carpenter's Halloween
4. Alien 3 (traumatized me and my most vivid memory of seeing a movie in the theater when I was a kid)
5. Blue Velvet
6. Schindler's List
7. At Close Range (Christopher Walken is horrifying in his best performance and plays a real life character which makes it even more disturbing)
8. Internal Affairs 1990 (psychologically brutal)
9. Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer
10. Changeling 2008 (extremely disturbing)
11. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 (possibly the most intense experience I've ever had seeing a movie in the theater)
12. Gone Girl
13. Insidious
14. Fat City (very depressing)
15. 8MM
16. Blue Steel (the late great Ron Silver plays one of the most uncomfortably deranged psychotics in film history)
17. Snowden (our wonderful government Lol)
18. The Nightmare (this is really true)
19. Unlawful Entry (too realistically scary)
20. The Last House on the Left 2008 (wasn't a big fan of the original but this one hit the right nerves)

[darkkrisp]

Not much really gets to me but the Human Centipede II really got me to pause and wondered who could come up with some of the stuff I'd seen.

[moviebuff75]

1. American Psycho
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
3. The Amityville Horror (1979)
4. Amityville II: The Possession
5. Burnt Offerings
6. Magic
7. Event Horizon
8. Deliverance
9.The House Where Evil Dwells
10.Fort Apache The Bronx

[Red Dragon]

Originally Posted by darkkrisp

Not much really gets to me but the Human Centipede II really got me to pause and wondered who could come up with some of the stuff I'd seen.

... "The Human Centipede II: Full Sequence" definitely was a special kind of film, and probably the best movie out of the trilogy. It seemed as if Tom Six was trying to top the original in every way possible (scope, gore, creepiness, insanity, etc...) and he absolutely did.

I actually got to meet Lawrence R. Harvey at a Chiller Theatre convention several years ago. He was very interesting and personable, kindly taking the time to speak with my wife and I. When I asked him about the final film in the trilogy, he laughingly admitted that the third film "The Human Centipede III: Final Sequence" was (at the time), being held up because Dieter Laser was demanding more money from Tom Six! He then added that he wished they would come to some sort of agreement as he was (as he put it) "counting on that money, so that I could move to a better flat."

[mja345]

1. Come and See (Easily the most brutal depiction of war I've seen. Stuff like this gets to me far more than any horror/shock film.)
2. Salo (Have to imagine this will be near the top for many)
3. Angst (Unrelentingly realistic, raw depiction of a psychopathic killer)
4. In a Glass Cage (Hard to get through)
5. The Girl Next Door (The fact that this is a true story makes this film unbelievably hard to watch.)
6. City of Life and Death (Second most brutal depiction of war I've seen)
7. Inside (Not a real enjoyable watch haha)
8. Cannibal Holocaust
9. Martyrs (2008)
10. Requiem for a Dream (I first saw this film when I was really stoned. Not a good move...)
11. Antichrist (Good ol' genital mutilation)
12. Gummo (One of the dirtiest, grimiest, most hopeless films of all-time)
13. Begotten (Very unpleasant experience)
14. Dogtooth
15. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (Least glamorized crime/horror film of all-time)
16. Eraserhead (Less disturbing after you've seen it a few times, but packs a hell of a punch on first viewing)
17. Under the Skin (This film just makes you feel very strange)
18. Tetsuo the Iron Man
19. Nekromantik
20. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre-1974 (I first saw the film when I was 12 and it scared the shit out of me. One of the rawest films ever made)
21. Irreversible
22. I Stand Alone (Two Noes in a row. Gaspar Noe is one f**ked-up individual haha)
23. Happiness (Just the one infamous scene is so disturbing that I have to put it on here. Brilliant black comedy though.)
24. In the Company of Men (No gore, no violence, but it contains one of the cruelest characters ever put on screen.)
25. A Serbian Film (Didn't find this as disturbing as many other people because the absurdity reached such laughable levels, but some of the individual scenes are beyond twisted.)

[AUS1969]

Try this very recent one: Pig Pen

[BuckNaked2k]

I avoid disturbing films if at all possible. That said, The Vanishing (1988), was one I failed to avoid.

[mja345]

"Angst" is one that completely slipped my mind. That movie is ultra-disturbing.

[Red Dragon]

Originally Posted by BuckNaked2k

I avoid disturbing films if at all possible. That said, The Vanishing (1988), was one I failed to avoid.

"The Vanishing" (1988 - original) was an amazing film, mostly due to it's ...disturbing, though perhaps inevitable climax.

[AllHallowsEve]

1. Salo
2. Nekromantik 2
3. Cannibal Holocaust
4. Inside
5. Martyrs
6. The Doom Generation
7. Gummo
8. Island of Death
9. The Gore Gore Girls
10. The Last Supper(2005)

[zbinks]

1. Santa Sangre (1989)
2. Antichrist (2009)
3. Audition (1999)
4. The Wicker Man (1973)
5. The Skin I Live In (2011)
6. Martyrs (2008)
7. Last House on the Left (1972)
8. I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
9. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
10. Maniac (1980)
11. Goodnight Mommy (2014)
12. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
13. Dead Ringers (1988)
14. The Vanishing (Spoorloos) (1988)
15. Possession (1981)
16. The Holy Mountain (1973)
17. Akira (1988)
18. Deranged (1974)
19. The Baby (1973)
20. The Machinist (2004)

[NeMo_ET]

Don't know if I can come up with 10 off the top of my head, but I'll contribute anyways. I know I've seen more, just can't think of them on the spot.

1. Three Extremes (the dumplings were just too much)
2. Requiem for a Dream
3. Last House on the Left
4. Blue Velvet
5. Running Scared (2006 - Mostly just the one scene)

*EDIT* - Adding to my list
6. Hard Candy
7. A Clockwork Orange
8. Deliverance
9. Wolf Creek
10. It Follows

[HD Goofnut]

The uncut version of The Exorcist still disturbs me. The main reason I find it disturbing is that there have been real cases that were similar to the film.

[OgamiittoMcJ]

1. Faces of Death (1978)
2. Salo (1975)
3. Human Centipede II (2011)

[El_Fez]

Okay, here's what I came up with off the top of my head. I'll come back and flesh out the list as I consider it some more:
* Cannibal Holocaust
* The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
* I Spit on your Grave
* Threads
* The Last House on the Left
* Cannibal Ferrox
* Zombi 2/Zombie Flesh Eaters/Island of the Living Dead/Whatever the hell they're calling that Lucio Fulci movie this week
* The Green Room
* When the Wind Blows
* Triumph of the Will
* Grave of the Fireflies
* The Faces of Death

Also, all movies are the original, not the remake versions

[The Great Owl]

The Great Owl's Top 25 Most Disturbing Movies

1. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
2. Naked Massacre (Born For Hell) (1976)
3. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
4. The Last House on the Left (1972)
5. I Spit on Your Grave (1978)
6. Faces of Death (1978)
7. Eden Lake (2008)
8. Irreversible (2002)
9. Audition (1999)
10. Eraserhead (1977)
11. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
12. Straw Dogs (1971)
13. Funny Games (1997)
14. Threads (1984)
15. Don't Go in the House (1980)
16. Possession (1981)
17. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
18. Maniac (1980)
19. Don't Answer the Phone (1980)
20. Eyes Without a Face (1960)
21. Deliverance (1972)
22. Blood Feast (1963)
23. Oldboy (2003)
24. Black Moon (1975)
25. Häxan (1922)