# Most depressing movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912 "2000-09-12T18:04:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/1 "2000-09-12T18:04:34Z")
I was inspired to start this thread after I watched the movie _Angela’s Ashes_. In fact I watched it two days ago, and I **still** want to slit my wrists! Great movie, but DAMN was it sad! NOTHING good happened the entire movie! I sort of like sad movies, though. I’m not quite sure why, but I do. Anyone else have any other good ones? ---
**Author:** ![barker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@barker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/2 "2000-09-12T18:14:15Z")
Most depressing _Leaving Las Vegas_ I was able to drink for a whole day after watching that one. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/3 "2000-09-12T18:17:31Z")
I thought the ending scene of “The Last American Virgin” was very depressing. I felt sorry for that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/4 "2000-09-12T18:17:33Z")
The Deer Hunter. Oh Christ, hand ME the gun, I need to end it all now! ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/5 "2000-09-12T18:19:16Z")
God yes, I have a good one. Ever see “Sante Sangre?” If not, I must highlight the elephant scene: The circus boy has a pet elephant that he loves very much. Then the elephant gets sick and dies, and the circus people have an elaborate funeral for it. The put the elephant in a huge coffin with wheels and push the cart off the cliff. The boy watches as starving people below break open the casket and tear the elephant apart by hand, tossing out the trunk and other parts for the masses to devour. Then there’s “I Spit on Your Grave”, but it’s not good to talk about that one in mixed company. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/6 "2000-09-12T18:19:57Z")
Taxi Driver or The Deer Hunter. Both left me unwilling to talk to other humans for at least 24 hours. (yea, I know, send a copy home so my SO can have some peace). I found both to be profoundly disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Sea\_Sloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Sea\_Sloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sea_Sloth)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/7 "2000-09-12T18:25:06Z")
Kids. or maybe American History X. erm, Waterworld? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/8 "2000-09-12T18:34:24Z")
Pink Floyd’s _The Wall_. It was all I could do to keep from running into the street and playing in traffic after that movie. Gah. ---
**Author:** ![magdalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@magdalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magdalene)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/9 "2000-09-12T19:36:28Z")
The Killing Fields A Clockwork Orange - I saw it the first time as a double feature with The Wall at the $1 theater in Georgetown (The old KB Cerebrus). Me and a coupla stinky homeless people taking shelter from the cold. It was a very hostile walk home from the theater. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/10 "2000-09-12T19:40:47Z")
**Like Water For Chocolate** – I know it’s supposed to be a happy ending, but I just found it sad. **Stalingrad** – not sad, just grim; basically everybody dies and that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Nen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Nen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nen)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/11 "2000-09-12T19:44:11Z")
Dead Poets’ Society ---
**Author:** ![Diane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/12 "2000-09-12T19:53:35Z")
Leaving Las Vegas 'Night Mother ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/13 "2000-09-12T20:07:01Z")
_Return to Paradise_, only in terms of context. Based on the setup, you really expect a nice tidy resolution, or maybe the American government to come in and fix things with guns blazing, or a tense courtroom battle. Instead, you get the inevitable brutal execution. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Mofo\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mofo\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mofo_Rising)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/14 "2000-09-12T20:36:45Z")
**The Sweet Hereafter** - Nice movie about a small town where all the kids have just died in a schoolbus accident. There’s all sorts of stuff in this movie to depress the hell out of you. Ian Holm’s character’s relationship with his daughter is what really gets me, though. ---
**Author:** ![PRNYouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PRNYouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PRNYouth)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/15 "2000-09-12T21:01:53Z")
_When a Man Loves a Woman_ is horribly depressing. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, something else bad happens. Talk about being kicked while you’re down … The acting is good, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/16 "2000-09-12T21:31:33Z")
Many good nominations here. **pldennison** , you’re right, the ending of _Return to Paradise_ caught me flat-footed. And kudos to **mattk** for _Stalingrad_, one of the most brutally grim movies of all time. I’ll nominate _Testament_, starring Jane Alexander. It’s a post-nuclear-war drama about a small town family. They weren’t close enough to ground zero to suffer any blast damage, so over the next few weeks and months everybody gradually dies of radiation sickness. Watching it is like being slowly bled into a coma. It’s a very well-made and worthwhile movie, but Jesus, it’s a downer. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/17 "2000-09-12T21:38:56Z")
As much as I love the movie, _Leaving Las Vegas_ always makes me really depressed. I don’t know why, exactly. Now, if we’re talking about depressing because of how bad the movie is…okay, I won’t start making Kevin Costner/Pauley Shore jokes. How about _Showgirls_? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/18 "2000-09-12T21:40:30Z")
“Seven” without a doubt. Man, I felt so much for Brad Pitt’s character. I wouldn’t have killed him so easy if it would have been my wife and child. If I had it do over again, I would not have seen “Seven” it made me feel yucky. I pay for a movie to be entertained. “The Green Mile” although I did like the movie very much. But those poor little girls. I felt the pain that the big black dude did. I could see why he was ready to leave this place. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Creant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Miss\_Creant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Creant)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/19 "2000-09-12T21:41:33Z")
Schindler’s List If that movie doesn’t make you ashamed to be a human being , you’re not. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2000, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/20 "2000-09-12T21:43:22Z")
[Once Were Warriors](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0110729) . It ends on a positive note but it still stands as one of the most powerful movies about family violence I have ever seen . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912.md?page=2)