# Movies that disturbed/sickened you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706 "2010-04-11T05:57:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/101 "2010-04-15T19:29:25Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > The movie \*\*Wolf Creek \*\*is horrifying and has no redeeming qualities at all. I had nightmares for months. [Here](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416315/) I feel weird having to keep defending these movies, but I have to say it’s horrifying and also full of redeeming qualities. I can think of few recent horror movies that humanize their characters so skillfully, and the film’s philosophical angle is deeply moving and impressive. (Agreed, though, that it sticks in the mind for a long time.) ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/102 "2010-04-15T19:30:14Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Jacob’s Ladder- Everything about the film is meant to make you feel nervous, nauseous (again without being graphic) and ill at ease. It does all this VERY well. Agreed. I’ve seen the movie one time, and enjoyed it, but won’t see it again. **Eraserhead** is another. Getting high before watching that movie was a BAD idea. And for personal reasons, **Leaving Las Vegas**. The symptoms of alcohol withdrawal as presented in the movie EXACTLY mirrored my own. Maybe I’m just angry Elisabeth Shue never came to my rescue. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/103 "2010-04-16T20:36:32Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Probably the grossest film I’ve seen was _August Underground Mordum_. The only point of that film is to be as shocking as possible, so it’s not like I wasn’t expecting it. There’s no plot to it, it’s just a hand held camera showing people doing incredibly sick things. > > I also saw this short film called \*Aftermath \*that was pretty disturbing. About a morgue technician performing an autopsy who > > gets turned on and fucks a female corpse who had it’s torso cut open & exposed. That’s the whole film. What made it disturbing was that it had high production values, and was extremely realistic, it wasn’t just cheesy special effects & bad lighting. And if I remember right, there was no dialogue, just ambient noises. > I’m curious to see \*Martyrs \*now. Did you actually watch Mordum? Because while its not the whole film, you know there’s a scene that beats Aftermath completely, right? Spoiler alert: the most perfectly grotesque thing ever put on film that I can think of, and I’ve seen a lot: [spoiler]A corpse has been split open, sitting up, and the guts are spilling forth from the hole. A man pulls out his dick and proceeds to fuck the hole in the gut. There seems to be some debate about whether that scene is the worst, or the one later in the film, featuring the same person, fucking the murdered corpse of a child that is face down in a bathtub. Good times. :eek:[/spoiler] And it might not have bothered me at all, if I believed that it was just some whacked out fiction. It bothered me primarily because I am 100% certain that such things have happened many times in human history, that there are people who have existed who are exactly that sick. As for why any of us who watch this stuff do so… I think it’s our fundamental natures. Think of all the gory REAL entertainments that have existed throughout history. As much as I can be fascinated by hardcore gore in a movie, I still can’t imagine having a front-row seat for Guillotine Day, or this week’s drawing & quartering of whomever at the King’s order, watching people and animals tear each other apart in Rome. And it persists to this day. I was just yesterday exposed to a film of several people being burned alive as witches in Africa, while crowds of people watched, participated, and cheered it on. We are a brutal species. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/104 "2010-04-16T20:42:00Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > **Eraserhead** is another. Getting high before watching that movie was a BAD idea. In the early '80s, getting high and watching **Eraserhead** in repo houses was a rite-of-passage mistake. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![capeo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@capeo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capeo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/105 "2010-04-16T20:59:11Z")
_Trouble Every Day_ is a tough one. _In My Skin_ is great at well. Of course, _Irreversible_ has to be up there. It depends on what you mean by disturbing and also is it disturbing because of the whole of just certain scenes? Like _Mordum_ is gross and vile but pointless and bludgeoning. The fish hook scene in _The Island_ is extraordinarily squirm inducing. _Inside_ has one particularly squirm inducing scene as well but on a whole I wouldn’t classify it as disturbing. _Martyrs_ is rough. _Fat Girl_ also has a horrifying climax. There’s a Japanese film called Banquet of the Beast that actually disturbed me quite a bit. Also, you have all of Miike’s oeuvre. All of his films have some disturbing scenes. _Icchi the Killer, Audition, Visitor Q_. _In a Glass Cage_ is incredibly disturbing just due to its subject matter. The original _Funny Games_. _Clean, Shaven_. That’s all I can think of right now because I’m at work and just about to get the hell out of here 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/106 "2010-04-16T21:25:33Z")
Not a movie… Miracleman #15. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/107 "2010-04-16T22:17:23Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > Did you actually watch Mordum? Because while its not the whole film, you know there’s a scene that beats Aftermath completely, right? Oh yeah. I know exactly what scenes you’re talking about. If you go by what is actually being depicted onscreen, then those bits in \*Mordum \*are leagues worse than _Aftermath_. The only thing that could top those is what I read happens in the film mentioned in the OP (and seriously you are warned, this spoiler is incredibly disgusting): A woman gives birth to a baby, and a man then rapes the newborn to death while it’s still attached by the umbilical cord to it’s mother. Yeah. That’s gonna be hard to top in terms of fucked-up-edness. I think, for me at least, because \*Mordum \*was shot so crappily (it’s supposed to be a “found” snuff film made by the perpetrators just going about recording their crimes), _Aftermath_ just seemed worse because the camera really seemed to be in love with what is was showing. There was an artistry there, in the lighting, sound design, etc. (Actually the scene in Mordum that I really thought was nasty was when the female killer starts inducing herself to vomit on the face on one of their victims, and then proceeds to tongue kiss her. That was particularly gross because it sure looked like that was actually _real_.) ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/108 "2010-04-16T22:36:57Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Yeah. That’s gonna be hard to top in terms of fucked-up-edness. :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::(:(:(:eek::(:eek::(:eek::(:eek: > [@](#): > > (Actually the scene in Mordum that I really thought was nasty was when the female killer starts inducing herself to vomit on the face on one of their victims, and then proceeds to tongue kiss her. That was particularly gross because it sure looked like that was actually _real_.) See, now THAT is the stuff I turn away from. I am a delicate flower when it comes to vomit and other scat. Blood, guts, murder, rape, torture… ho hum. Barf? ACK! No way. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/109 "2010-04-16T23:37:31Z")
[QUOTE=Stoid] And it might not have bothered me at all, if I believed that it was just some whacked out fiction. It bothered me primarily because I am 100% certain that such things have happened many times in human history, that there are people who have existed who are exactly that sick [/QUOTE] You have basically encapsulated why I am generally not able to watch these kinds of films at all. Ghosties, vampires, zombies and so forth – totally yawn-inducing for the most part. But anything where I think, ‘‘Oh, that’s probably happened before’’ just freaks me the hell out. Weirdly, I have read all the plot summaries for almost every movie here. For some reason I have no problem _reading_ about this stuff. I just can’t _watch_ it. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/110 "2010-04-17T00:08:15Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > _Secretary_. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s hotness took the edge off, but man, her character was one sick puppy. Good thing James Spacer’s was, too. Seriously? Just goes to show you how different people are, since I consider this one of the greatest love stories ever put on film. LOVED it, I find it moving and sweet and funny and true and wonderful. I can’t believe anyone would find it disturbing or sickening. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/111 "2010-04-17T04:05:22Z")
Just watched **Sunday Game** Good lord! I could almost not watch it cuz I didn’t want to see it. Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/112 "2010-04-17T04:44:45Z")
I do not see many movies, but one summer vacation was ruined by the Robin Williams film _What Dreams May Come._ Horrid handling of death of children. Questionable from a theological point of view creepy as all get-out. ---
**Author:** ![hankhill911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@hankhill911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hankhill911)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/113 "2010-04-22T18:29:39Z")
Maniac, the classic 80s gore movie about a serial killer loosely based on the Son of Sam… and When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee’s gripping doc about Hurricane Katrina… ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/114 "2010-04-30T20:05:00Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Just watched **Sunday Game** > > Good lord! I could almost not watch it cuz I didn’t want to see it. > > Amazing. Oh, yeah! God help me, I You-Tubed it! Where the hell’s that brain-bleach when you need it?? :smack::smack::smack: I was also dumb enough to watch the trailer for _Human Centipede_. Lord help me. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/115 "2010-04-30T21:29:04Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Oh, yeah! God help me, I You-Tubed it! Where the hell’s that brain-bleach when you need it?? :smack::smack::smack: > > I was also dumb enough to watch the trailer for _Human Centipede_. Lord help me. :smack: Ok, I can’t find a summary and I am definitely not going to watch the film. Can someone please fill me in? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/116 "2010-04-30T22:12:43Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Ok, I can’t find a summary and I am definitely not going to watch the film. Can someone please fill me in? A crazy doctor kidnaps a man and two women, removes their kneecaps so they can only crawl, removes the teeth from two of them, and sews the mouth of one to the rear of the one in front, then the mouth of the third to the rear of the one in the middle. Centipede ensues. Aren’t you sorry you asked? ---
**Author:** ![sapientfanny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@sapientfanny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sapientfanny)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/117 "2010-04-30T22:15:50Z")
Faces of Death - Some idiot brought it to a gathering one day when I was in high school Showgirls - wanted nothing to do with sex for weeks after that one - complete opposite of the effect we were hoping for lol ---
**Author:** ![sapientfanny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@sapientfanny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sapientfanny)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/118 "2010-04-30T22:20:50Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I was sick to my stomach after seeing A Clockwork Orange. It was one of the first truly violent movies I had seen. To this day I am not sure whether it was just the movie or something I ate. > > Mulholland Drive is one of the weirdest movies I have ever seen and a bit bothersome. But not sickening. Had to watch Clockwork Orange for a college American Lit class at MSU freshman year and it was very disturbing. What was worse - we spent the next week analyzing and writing about it. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/119 "2010-04-30T23:01:58Z")
> [@sapientfanny](#): > > Had to watch Clockwork Orange for a college American Lit class at MSU freshman year and it was very disturbing. What was worse - we spent the next week analyzing and writing about it. Funny thing…Years ago, I started teaching at a university. I taught several dystopian novels, one of which was ACW. Later, I offered to rent and show a movie based on any one of the novels we read. The students voted overwhelmingly for ACW. I kept thinking someone would walk out but no one did. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706/120 "2010-04-30T23:21:04Z")
I think it is a measure of Kubrick’s artistry that people come away from _A Clockwork Orange_ feeling like they’ve seen something a lot more explicitly violent than it really is. In fact, the worst of the violence is either not directly shown at all, or is filtered in various ways. The beating of the wino? Shown only in silhouette. The rape? The camera cuts away before the rape actually occurs, and instead we see a few excruciating seconds of the husband’s reaction. The gang fight? Presented as choreographed slapstick. The murder of the cat lady? At least on the version released on video/DVD, the actual killing is replaced by one second of a screaming cartoon face. (Apparently in the original theatrical version, Alex was actually shown bludgeoning the cat lady, but I have never seen this.) By today’s standards of onscreen violence, ACO is downright restrained, but that doesn’t stop it from being all the more powerfully disturbing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-disturbed-sickened-you/535706.md?page=7)