# Bleakest movie you have ever seen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901 "2013-05-09T16:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Neo-Calredic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/96bed5/32.png) [@Neo-Calredic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neo-Calredic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/221 "2013-05-20T18:20:47Z")
[In the Company of Men](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119361/?ref_=sr_1http://) I saw this movie once right after it came out, and the details are still burned into my brain. Many moments I felt like I had to look away from the screen; they were just too horrible to watch. I could definitely not bring myself to watch it again, even now. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/222 "2013-05-20T22:20:40Z")
_Requiem for a Dream_. I can never watch that one again. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/223 "2013-05-20T23:19:43Z")
> [@Neo-Calredic](#): > > [In the Company of Men](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119361/?ref_=sr_1http://) > > I saw this movie once right after it came out, and the details are still burned into my brain. Many moments I felt like I had to look away from the screen; they were just too horrible to watch. I could definitely not bring myself to watch it again, even now. I also saw that when it came out on video. I hadn’t thought about that movie in a long time. It’s pretty rough. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/224 "2013-05-21T00:43:14Z")
The Days of Wine and Roses Magnolia The Virgin Spring Crime and Misdemeanors Happiness Paths of Glory Grave of the Fireflies Straw Dogs (the ORIGINAL) Touch of Evil Not a movie but I must add the stage play “We Bombed In New Haven” ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/225 "2013-05-25T02:32:25Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I really shouldn’t be using this thread for film recommendations, but I can’t resist. However, when I looked up “The Grey Zone” I saw David Arquette was the first billed. Is he the main character? Because I don’t think I can take it seriously if he’s the main character. > > I have also added “Grave of the Fireflies” to my reading queue. **Arquette** was shockingly good in _The Grey Zone_. The movie was also directed by **Tim Blake Nelson** , I believe, who despite an impressive range of roles, will always be Delmar O’Donnell to me. “They loved him up and turned him into a horny toad!” He apparently based the movie off an adaptation of a play he penned as well. (based on someone else’s novel.) Pulling one of out of left field here: _The Secret Agent_ (1996). Terrible movie, great cast, sadness abounds. It just looks bleak. The colors, the griminess. And then the ending… Joseph Conrad must have been a fun chap to pal around with. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/226 "2013-05-31T06:37:27Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > I’ll add another : “Jacobs Ladder” HA! I remember going to a “horror film” party at a friend’s house, and we were striking out on anything actually being scary. Mostly we watched American versions of Japanese horror flicks. Then we saw a Jacob’s Ladder VHS sitting on a shelf and someone said “eh, why not, might as well.” So we popped it in. Cue one of us, after our whole (typically chatty) group was dead silent for the film’s first scene, blurting out “this movie has more creepy in its first five minutes than that last one did in its entire MOVIE.” That was a great film. Also, add me to the list of _Grave of the Fireflies_’ victims. I was okay until the flashbacks. I needed an entire day to recover from that. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/227 "2013-05-31T07:33:26Z")
Very late to the game here, but can I slot in **The Constant Gardener**? Not many laughs in that. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/228 "2013-05-31T07:36:31Z")
…and while I’m thinking of Fiennes, how about **The English Patient** as well? ---
**Author:** ![Anna\_Nimity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Anna\_Nimity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anna_Nimity)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/229 "2013-05-31T08:38:27Z")
Sophie’s Choice Brokeback Mountain Come and See ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/230 "2013-05-31T13:06:04Z")
Here’s another: _The Wizard of Oz_. What could be bleaker than waking up and realizing you’re still stuck in gray, windy, dusty Kansas, surrounded by yokels and farm animals, and knowing you can never ever escape no matter how much you dream of it? ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/231 "2013-05-31T15:18:54Z")
I haven’t seen most of these, but I made the mistake of watching _Megan is Missing_ and have never forgiven myself. I can’t believe I didn’t quit halfway through, but being an optimist, I kept thinking something would happen to redeem the whole awful experience. Never happened. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/232 "2013-05-31T15:24:36Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Here’s another: _The Wizard of Oz_. > > What could be bleaker than waking up and realizing you’re still stuck in gray, windy, dusty Kansas, surrounded by yokels and farm animals, and knowing you can never ever escape no matter how much you dream of it? Slightly off-topic, I guess, but related…if you want to talk bleak books, Gregory Maguire’s Oz retellings have done nothing but left me feeling empty inside at the end. I mean, I LOVE Wicked (the book and the show, different as they are), but both Wicked and Son of a Witch left me feeling like I had just swallowed a black hole. Pretty grim, kind of abrupt endings that just left nothing but a vague uneasiness that took days to get over for both of them. I haven’t had the nerve (if you’ll excuse the callback) to start A Lion Among Men for just that reason. ---
**Author:** ![retired-annuitant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@retired-annuitant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retired-annuitant)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/233 "2013-05-31T16:18:32Z")
Not only was the subject matter depressing and grim…the characters and dialogue added to the extreme bleakness of life in that moment of wartime. ---
**Author:** ![tbook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tbook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbook)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/234 "2013-05-31T19:48:20Z")
Winters Bone > **[Winter's Bone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter's_Bone)** > > Winter's Bone is a 2010 American coming-of-age mystery drama film directed by Debra Granik. It was adapted by Granik and Anne Rosellini from the 2006 novel of the same name by Daniel Woodrell. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence as a poverty-stricken teenage girl named Ree Dolly in the rural Ozarks of Missouri who, to protect her family from eviction, must locate her missing father. The film explores the interrelated themes of close and distant family ties, the power and speed of gossip, self-suf The story was depressing and the setting was dismal. ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@Engineer\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Dude)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/235 "2013-05-31T20:00:43Z")
Even though it’s been on Comedy Central many times and has a lot of Porky’s-like humor, I’d have to say [The Last American Virgin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_American_Virgin). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/236 "2013-06-01T02:28:45Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Here’s another: _The Wizard of Oz_. > > What could be bleaker than waking up and realizing you’re still stuck in gray, windy, dusty Kansas, surrounded by yokels and farm animals, and knowing you can never ever escape no matter how much you dream of it? Thank you for reminding me of West Texas. ---
**Author:** ![jrepka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@jrepka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrepka)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/237 "2013-06-01T04:22:02Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > [Testament.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testament_(film)) My wife was so upset she actually walked out. Then it got worse. This. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/238 "2013-06-01T06:03:46Z")
> [@tbook](#): > > Winters Bone > [Winter's Bone - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter's_Bone) > > The story was depressing and the setting was dismal. Yes. Jennifer Lawrence gave a very good performance in that. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/239 "2014-01-25T08:43:30Z")
Bleak - adj. - without hope or encouragement; depressing; dreary: a bleak future. Many of the movies listed in this thread are bad. But are they really bleak? Somehow, I don’t get the feeling that it’s appropriate to describe them as bleak. I suppose it’s subjective. Everyone has their own opinion of what constitutes “bleak”, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/240 "2014-01-25T09:22:54Z")
Of recent movies, the Aussie true story [Snowtown](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1680114/combined). Roger Ebert said: > [@](#): > > In a dismal and defeated Australian suburb, we meet a family that seems put upon Earth to chain-smoke and stare blankly into space in “The Snowtown Murders.” The dog has the most self-esteem of the bunch. One of the sons, Jamie, has been molested by his mother’s worthless boyfriend and by Troy, one of his own brothers. It doesn’t occur to him to seek help. He is so powerless he seems to regard victimhood as his fate. and later > [@](#): > > Serial killers are often described as loners. Bunting is sociable, pleasant, friendly. He likes company. One wonders how his puppets feel as they realize he has charmed his way into ruling their lives. “The Snowtown Murders” is distressing and almost unbearably painful, the most frightening film about a psychopath I’ve seen. There is no way to understand John Bunting. He is quite bluntly an evil man. Since I knew most of the story I wish I hadn’t watched it really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901.md?page=13)