# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/41 "2013-05-09T19:01:11Z")
_Precious_ (based on the novel _Kill Me Now_ by Sapphire) _Synechdoche, NY_- almost my litmus test for a critically acclaimed godawful “we join this partial birth abortion already in progress” mess of an art house movie _Dead Man_- Jim Jarmusch & Johnny Depp film that was Synechoche’s predecessor to that title ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/42 "2013-05-09T19:08:43Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > Leaving Las Vegas for me, too. Wonderfully acted, but so disturbing. > > Also Brokeback Mountain. So sad that people can’t just leave others to live their own lives in peace. These two. Also Boys Don’t Cry The Notebook (my grandmother had Alzheimer’s, so this hit me hard). And, oddly, Interview with the Vampire. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/43 "2013-05-09T19:31:42Z")
_Paths of Glory_ and _All Quiet On The Western Front_ - just a grinding indictment of the futility of World War I. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/44 "2013-05-09T19:38:54Z")
What zombie movie am I thinking of - Dawn of the Dead? When the few survivors make it onto the boat, and finally make it to the island. And then… Can’t remember much else about the movie, or even the darn name, but can still remember how that ending hit me like a punch in the gut! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/45 "2013-05-09T19:45:34Z")
[Testament.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testament_(film)) My wife was so upset she actually walked out. Then it got worse. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/46 "2013-05-09T20:01:01Z")
Agree with _Breaking the Waves_ and to a lesser extent _Dreamlife of Angels_ and _Remains of the Day_. However, bleaker than all of those and as good as the best of them I found the original 1988 version of _The Vanishing_. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/47 "2013-05-09T20:18:55Z")
Salõ. If I never even thought of that depraved, completely unredeemable movie again it would be too soon. And some people think it’s a masterpiece. I hope not to meet any of those people in a dark alley. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/48 "2013-05-09T20:20:11Z")
I’ll second Buried and add Chinatown. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/49 "2013-05-09T20:26:54Z")
> [@Enlightening\_Meditation](#): > > _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. Beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/50 "2013-05-09T20:26:59Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Leaving Las Vegas This. Also - I can’t recall the name of it, but Jeremy Irons played twin brothers who were drug addicted surgeons. Disturbing and unsettling, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/51 "2013-05-09T20:27:44Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > What zombie movie am I thinking of - Dawn of the Dead? When the few survivors make it onto the boat, and finally make it to the island. And then… > > Can’t remember much else about the movie, or even the darn name, but can still remember how that ending hit me like a punch in the gut! Sounds like [Zombie Flesh Eaters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080057/) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/52 "2013-05-09T20:28:05Z")
A Simple Plan, Sam Raimi’s arguably best and most realistic horror film. Two brothers find what they think is a cache of lost drug money in a long-crashed plane and think it’s their only hope at getting out of their dead-end lives. Then things get worse. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/53 "2013-05-09T20:28:09Z")
To the Hillary Swank wing add _Million Dollar Baby_: from poverty and dysfunction to paralysis and amputation and euthanasia and all without a laugh track. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/54 "2013-05-09T20:30:22Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > What zombie movie am I thinking of - Dawn of the Dead? When the few survivors make it onto the boat, and finally make it to the island. And then… I think this is the early 2000s Dawn of the Dead remake. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/55 "2013-05-09T20:32:11Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I think this is the early 2000s Dawn of the Dead remake. Yep. The movie is many times better if you don’t watch the credits. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/56 "2013-05-09T20:33:37Z")
Roberto Rossellini’s _Germany, Year Zero_, about a family trying to scrape by in the rubble of Berlin after the war. The 13-year-old boy has to support the entire family through stealing, because the others are either too sick or too scared of being found out as former SS to leave the apartment. He sells himself to a pederast, who suggests he poison and kill his sick father to leave more food for the rest. \*Then \*it gets bleak. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/57 "2013-05-09T20:35:45Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > This. > > Also - I can’t recall the name of it, but Jeremy Irons played twin brothers who were drug addicted surgeons. Disturbing and unsettling, to say the least. Dead Ringer? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/58 "2013-05-09T20:39:29Z")
Leaving Las Vegas and Plague Dogs I’ll second both of these. I really liked Dead Man, though, and didn’t find it so bleak. Two I’ll add: **Kids** , and **Happiness**. The people in them are so, so terrible, and there’s zero chance they’ll ever get better. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/59 "2013-05-09T20:53:40Z")
> [@Tequila\_Party](#): > > Dead Ringer? That’s the one - thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/60 "2013-05-09T20:54:02Z")
_On The Beach_. Game over. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901.md?page=4)