# Movies That Really Disturbed You **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066 "2002-07-21T06:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/121 "2002-07-28T13:27:22Z")
We’ll just have to differ over our definitions, I think, although I’d agree that the sensationalism is certainly an important element in my definition. Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/122 "2002-07-28T14:39:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > \*\*Well, I don’t know about y’all, but I’m getting pumped for the upcoming release of the US version of **The Ring** , which may or may not be retitled simply **Ring**. The original Japanese film has been lauded by some on this very board as among the creepiest they’ve ever seen. Gist of the plot, as I understand it: there’s a videotape that contains some weird, static-filled, disjointed images. When you finish watching it, your phone rings, and a voice tells you you’ll die in a week. \*\* Being Canadian, I have to point out that this sounds a lot like David Cronenberg’s '82 film _Videodrome_, where people get brain tumors from watching an obscure porn channel on satellite. James Woods is great in that one! Since we’re now talking about disturbing documentaries, I’ll bring up _Titticut Follies_ (about conditions within a very unenlightened '60s mental hospital). I also thought _American Movie_ was a queasy, voyeuristic piece of trash, more so than anything by Jerry Springer. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/123 "2002-07-28T16:02:35Z")
Hmmm, late for the party, as usual. End ‘o’ the world flicks, even if sometimes badly made, always seem to do me in. Here are a few that haven’t been mentioned yet (I think). _Fail Safe_: the screeching of the phone lines as cities go up in nuclear smoke _Dr. Strangelove_ (yeah, it’s intended as comedy, but the ending chills me to the bone) _Colossus_: the Forbin Project (computer takes over the world) _Miracle Mile_: (Anthony Edwards has a hot date interrupted by global thermonuclear war) _The Quiet Earth_: New Zealand-shot “last person on earth” flick; flawed but nightmarish, especially in the early going _Reign of Fire_: the overall story is utter bollocks, but the realization of the dragons was really effective and actually gave me nightmares _The Day After_: the destruction of Lawrence, KS, and the horrible fates of the survivors is haunting, even on a TV-movie budget * * * And a few others: _The Apartment_: IMO, by far Roman Polanski’s most disturbing film, and that’s saying something _Schindler’s List_ (well, duh): the oozing sentimentality at the end does nothing to wash away the horrors of what came before; when people talk about the new, ‘darker’ Steven Spielberg of _Minority Report_, why do they forget this film? Cronenberg’s _The Dead Zone_ and _The Fly_: Creepiness incarnate, both of them. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/124 "2002-07-29T00:07:40Z")
Like most children, I was highly disturbed the first time I saw **Old Yeller**. I took an experimental psych class last semester, and we spent one day going around the room listening to ideas for various projects. One girl said she wanted to gauge reactions to different film clips. Girl: I need to find a sad movie. Everyone in the room: _Old Yeller_. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/125 "2002-07-29T01:45:34Z")
**Platoon** disturbed me so much that I walked out. I know that horrible things happen in war, but seeing a soldier bludgeon an infant to death was just too damn much. **Elephant Man** left me emotionally raw. **Leaving Las Vegas** was the antithesis of the feel-good **Pretty Woman**. The rape scene was particularly brutal. And it didn’t have a stereotypical Hollywood Happy Ending. Damn it was depressing! **Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?** was freaky disturbing in the same sense that **Psycho** and **Silence of the Lambs** is. ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/126 "2002-07-31T02:51:54Z")
I have to go with The Shining Boy’s Don’t Cry Silence of the Lambs My vote is The People Under The Stairs ---
**Author:** ![lothos2002](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@lothos2002](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lothos2002)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/127 "2002-07-31T06:07:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Avalonian \* > \*\*Movies that have disturbed me so much that I saw them once and **Never Want to see Them Again** , _Dancer in the Dark_ - An excellent film, and Bjork is wonderful in it, but its unbearably sad. I was in a piss-poor mood for at least a day after watching it, and even now listening to the soundtrack puts me straight into a funk. \*\* I completely agree with you on this one. I had the soundtrack first and I loved every song sooo much, I thought they were so uplifting. After a while, I bought the DVD and watched the movie and I don’t remember ever crying so much on a film before in my life. I was truly unconsollable and disturbed for days. I haven’t been able to see the movie again or even listen to the songs after that. I think it’s one of the most disturbing. Also David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET left me with a not - so whlesome feeling for days on end, and that song creeps me out when they play it as muzak at my office. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/128 "2002-07-31T06:41:32Z")
Another vote for **Raise the Red Lantern** which left me a weepy mess. And another for **Testament** , which also left me a weepy mess. (The weeping there started with the scene with the mom, the son and the mentally challenged boy in the car in the garage. Ugh.) For a couple of new offerings - **Last Tango in Paris** is consistently referred to as a gripping, classic film. I found it distasteful and dreadful. After I watched it, I was simply nauseated. And **Lady Jane** , Helena Bonham Carter’s first major movie, about Lady Jane Grey, who ascended the British throne very shortly in the 1500’s. I was sickened by the manipulations and political game playing throughout the story, but it was the end that got me. Lady Jane, as a “pretender” to the throne, is to be executed by beheading. Blindfolded, she is led to the chopping block and forced down on her knees. She is _told_ to place her head on the stone, which was awful enough, but when she reached out her hands to guide herself to the stone, she couldn’t reach it, and she groped and fumbled to find it for it for an unending moment before the executioner reached down and roughly pushed her towards the place of her death. It was all so cold and heartless I am actually getting a lump in my throat just thinking about it! ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/129 "2002-07-31T14:57:58Z")
I second **suburbia** , **faces of death** , and the Lynch flicks mentioned: **twin peaks** and **eraserhead**. I cannot believe that no one has mentioned **Bad Lieutenant** yet! Harvey Keitel plays a cop behaving very very badly, Nuns being raped with crosses, sick sick sick. Oh, and also all the Troma films: **toxic avenger** , **class of nukem high** etc. They are more funny than anything else, but definately not for the weak of heart. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/130 "2002-07-31T15:24:09Z")
Closet Land (Alan Rickman/Madeleine Stowe). That just freaked me for days. Jacob’s Ladder, ditto. Memo to anyone who thinks Event Horizon came up with disturbing images; Jacob’s Ladder does it better. Failsafe gave me nightmares, American History X, Seven, Romper Stomper… : brrr : Soylent Green, but not for the makeup of Soylent Green itself; rather, Edward G Robinson’s death scene utterly shattered me. ---
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/131 "2002-07-31T17:37:46Z")
Wow, **The People Under the Stairs** scared the hell out of me as a kid. I had forgotten about that one. This has been mentioned already, but **The Talented Mr. Ripley** disturbed me for weeks. I can’t even bear to look at the box cover in the video store. It was just so damn depressing and sad… ---
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/132 "2002-07-31T18:32:09Z")
I was quite stoned when I saw **Se7en** and it gave me nightmares, which is very rare for me. **Videodrome** is also freaky as hell. It’s been a good decade or so since I’ve last seen it but I recall thinking that **Blue Velvet** was quite repulsive. Also, **Brazil** left me unable to do anything but rock back and forth and stammer for a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![QueenAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/d26b3c/32.png) [@QueenAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenAl)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/133 "2002-08-26T04:21:33Z")
There have been tons of movies that have disturbed me, most so much that I don’t even want to think about them enough to name them here. However, I hate not seeing a movie through to the end, and the only movie I had to stop watching was the later version of **Cape Fear**. It’s a little embarrassing, as I don’t think anyone else was as horrified by this movie as I was. It was the scene where the bad guy is having sex with a woman, consensually, but then, when he’s taking her from behind, he anally rapes her and bites half her ear and cheek off. Damn, I shouldn’t have thought about that scene when I’m already sick with food poisoning. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![constantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@constantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constantine)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/134 "2002-08-26T08:11:29Z")
**eraserhead**. I hated this movie. I first saw it in high school. I remember seeing a poster for the movie in a Rush video on MTV and I was expecting a kind of off-beat, funky, funny movie. Instead I found it utterly disgusting, and still 15 years later, I have to try to avoid thinking about some of the disgusting images in that film. **Blair Witch Project**. This really disturbed me too, but I did not hate it. I did not see it in the theaters. I saw it at home (I think the first DVD I ever rented, actually) with my then-girl friend. I know lots of people found the movie boring, but I was completely drawn in by it. It seemed so realistic: no background music blaring “be scared now,” no stupid recycled dialog. Just a very freaky situation that felt incredibly real to me. We went to bed after watching it, and I still remember that the next morning I _woke up_ feeling scared. **The cook, the thief, his wife, and her lover.** I second the comments made above. I just found this gross. Not in a guy exploding after eating a “wafer thin mint” kind of outrageous way, but in a vivid way that made me nauseated. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/135 "2002-08-26T12:30:52Z")
Freaks, because you cannot distance yourself from the movie by saying “Those are just special effects”. They aren’t. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![HomeSlice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9d8465/32.png) [@HomeSlice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomeSlice)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/136 "2002-08-26T13:27:05Z")
Event Horizon ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/137 "2002-08-26T14:27:02Z")
Did anyone else see “naked lunch” on the Sci-fi channel a while ago? ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/138 "2002-08-26T18:41:08Z")
One and only one : KIDS. I don’t know how I made it without leaving the theatre… Lot of people did… And the curb scene in American History X. ---
**Author:** ![Zazie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Zazie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zazie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/139 "2002-08-26T18:46:50Z")
Oh yeah, forgot about Blair Witch, scared to crap out of me… ---
**Author:** ![skot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@skot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skot)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066/140 "2002-08-27T14:48:27Z")
A second vote for **Miracle Mile** …still scares the crap out of me. I didn’t see any mention of **Once were Warriors** , a New Zealand film about the Mauri and the effects of cultural assimilation. Very disturbing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-really-disturbed-you/120066.md?page=8)