# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/21 "2013-05-09T17:06:17Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I hated _Dogville_, but loved the also bleak/strange _[Dogtooth](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1379182/?ref_=sr_1)_. I saw “Dogtooth” a few months ago. Wow, that was weird, and seeing it referenced is especially unsettling because of the Cleveland story. For me, it was “Death and the Maiden”. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/22 "2013-05-09T17:08:10Z")
**Bad Lieutenant**. Right about the time he pulled over two girls and made them show him their asses while he masturbated against their car door, I was wondering if maybe I shouldn’t be in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/23 "2013-05-09T17:08:53Z")
“The House of Sand and Fog” - the anti-thesis of “happy endings”. Despite awesome performances by all, just felt like slitting my wrists at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/24 "2013-05-09T17:10:16Z")
\*\* Buried\*\*. And I was angry at myself for watching it. ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/25 "2013-05-09T17:14:50Z")
_Gummo_ is the first movie that popped into my mind for bleakest. There are no wars or apocalyptic themes…just a small town of simple people with nothing to do except deal with the boredom. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/26 "2013-05-09T17:41:28Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > _Requiem For A Dream_ +2 Also, _Martyrs_. Not exactly what I would call an “uplifting” movie. Lots of pain and death and a complete absence of hope. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/27 "2013-05-09T17:44:38Z")
_Blancieves_ is pretty damned bleak. Spoiler tag, since it’s still in theaters: Thanks to the power of Twue Wuv, Snow White is _mostly_ dead at the end, though inexplicibly not rotting, and used as a freak-show exhibit for a traveling carnival. But she’s just barely alive enough to shed a single tear when the dwarf who loves her crawls into her coffin to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/28 "2013-05-09T17:46:34Z")
A documentary, [Dear Zachary](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152758/?ref_=sr_5). Left me depressed for days. I even choked up while trying to describe it to someone the day after I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/29 "2013-05-09T17:47:32Z")
_Ironweed_. So depressing no one ever even shows it any more. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/30 "2013-05-09T17:56:35Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > _Dogville_, followed by _Dancer in the Dark_. Lars Von Trier sucks. I haven’t seen _Dogville_, so I’ll just go with _Dancer in the Dark_. An amazing movie, but “bleak” is a polite way of describing it. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/31 "2013-05-09T18:05:39Z")
> [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](#): > > What’s a better way to spend an evening than watching an oppressive religious society try to destroy a mentally simple woman because of her attempts to please an emotionally self-absorbed yet paralyzed husband? Watching a simple-minded immigrant woman who’s trying desperately to save her son’s eyesight get trapped into a corner from which the only escape is murder, for which she will pay the ultimate price? If you think _Breaking the Waves_ is a downer, don’t go anywhere near _Dancer in the Dark_! ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/32 "2013-05-09T18:13:10Z")
_United 93_, for me. J. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/33 "2013-05-09T18:15:36Z")
Manos: Hands of Fate I saw the MST3K version, and I still was depressed. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/34 "2013-05-09T18:30:15Z")
City Of God is one of the only movies I’ve ever had a hard time watching. Blood, gore, violence, sex…doesn’t get to me, but this movie had so much of that directed at kids it really hit me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/35 "2013-05-09T18:41:31Z")
_Mosquito Coast_ ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/36 "2013-05-09T18:44:31Z")
[The Dreamlife of Angels](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120449/). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/37 "2013-05-09T18:45:53Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > _Requiem For A Dream_ Another vote for this one. I’ve seen some of the other nominees in this thread, and Dancer in the Dark and House of Sand and Fog do not exactly make you feel good about yourself, but everything about the outcome of Requiem is so horrible that it’s akin to having an Abrams tank repeatedly drive over your soul except less fun. It makes a hell of an impression even though I have no idea why it was made. By comparison, Dancer in the Dark has some uplifting musical scenes that at least give you a break from the protagonist’s horrible life, and House of Sand and Fog is so contrived that somewhere near the end it becomes merely unbelievable, which reduces its ability to really depress you. If we’re talking about bleak movies that MST3K has tackled, there’s I Accuse My Parents. Jimmy’s circumstances are pretty depressing, but the movie is so bad and he’s so dumb you can’t care much. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/38 "2013-05-09T18:54:59Z")
_Remains of the Day_. That movie almost turned me into a Marxist. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/39 "2013-05-09T18:55:32Z")
Requiem For A Dream and Grave Of The Fireflies probably pretty much tie for this, although Antichrist has to be up there somewhere. The thing with Grave Of The Fireflies is, unlike most films of this type, it’s _worse_ on a rewatch. Still one of the greatest films ever made, though. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/40 "2013-05-09T18:56:55Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > _Ironweed_. So depressing no one ever even shows it any more. Thank goodness the book at least had William Kennedy’s writing, which was the only way I got through that story. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901.md?page=3)