I liked both of those. Also Flight of the Navigator, A Walk With Love and Death, and even The War Lord. Oh, and Ladyhawke. Heck, I even liked Flesh and Blood.
Carlito’s Way
Good choice! One of the few movies that was much better than the book it was based on.
The Lord of War was amazing.
“Requiem for a Dream” is really dark. I’m not sure I can get past the darkness to see the artistry, but it’s very highly rated.
“Dirty Pretty Things.”
“Sophie’s Choice.”
“Last King of Scotland” is about Idi Amin, stars Forrest Whittaker.
“Hotel Rwanda” is about the genocide over there.
“Rosewood” is about lynchings in Rosewood, FL (which now doesn’t exist).
“Stir of Echoes”
“What Dreams May Come”
“The Seventh Sign”
Here’s one you might not have seen.
Hammer Horror’s Hound of the Baskervilles. Nice and dark, but light-hearted, too.
Also:
The Big Easy
Re-Animator, depending on your definition of gratuitous violence.
Hot Fuzz
The Thing
Thunderheart (One of the best generally overlooked movies I’ve ever watched. I almost moved out to the Badlands because of this movie, but I changed my mind and joined the army instead.)
I’ve just seen Eastern Promises, which was very good and very darkly menacing.
Just off the top of my head, here are some films I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
Pi. The tension and anxiety reach an extreme fever pitch. Probably the best low-budget film I’ve ever seen.
Colossus: The Forbin Project I have a thing for tragic endings. All three novels in the trilogy have them, and I admire them precisely for that reason.
And I want to second Terry Gilliam’s amazing dark masterpiece Brazil. The humor actually makes the film even darker.
One piece of awful dreck that fits the OP (though I strongly recommend against actually watching it) is Gummo. You’ll end up hoping at least 100 more F5 tornadoes hit Xenia and puts everyone out of their misery, especially the “auteur” Harmony Korine.
I forgot to add Woody Allen’s Interiors. It pretty much destroyed me. On the way home, I was crying so hard I had to pull the car over for half an hour before it was safe to drive again.
I haven’t seen Straight to Hell, but the soundtrack (produced by Joe Strummer and featuring the Pogues, Strummer, Zander Schloss, and others) is just fantastic.
You’ve probably seen these, but …
Fury (1936), about the attempted lynching of an innocent man, played by Spencer Tracy. Directed by Fritz Lang.
The Asphalt Jungle (1950), a heist goes wrong. Great final scene. Directed by John Huston.
Hamlet (1948), directed by and starring Laurence Olivier. Shakespeare as film noir.
All are available on DVD.
Not that I recall but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it and I don’t own the dvd.
I took a look at the imdb entry but couldn’t find any reference to a scene like that. This is the link, maybe it will jog your memory better than it did mine.
Excellent choice. I own this one. It’s part of the Controversial Classics set: I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Advise and Consent, Blackboard Jungle, Bad Day at Black Rock, A Face in the Crowd and The Americanization of Emily.
valleyofthedolls, aha! The creepy masturbator was in another Perotta movie, Little Children.
German black and white M, the original film noir, by Fritz Lang starring Peter Lorre (although it concerns children in peril).
Pan’s Labyrinth,
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Fanny and Alexander
He didn’t do it in front of his date, but The Bad Lieutenant did this to someone he was going to give a ticket to. He was a very, very bad lieutenant.
Those two are favorites.
Biggirl, who’s the Bad Lieutenant? Was he in Election?
Will Repair, I’ll put M on the list. I love Peter Lorre.
Here’s another nomination: The Cement Garden. Disturbing.
Don’t Look Now
Venice in winter, brooding mystery, loss of a child, thrilling climax.
(Awesome love scene, too.)
Harvey Keitel was the Bad Lieutenant.
Very dark. One of those movies that’s painful to watch. The kind that you see and are glad you saw it but never, ever want to see again. Blue Velvet was like that for me also.
Thanks for the heads-up on this one; I liked it.
BTW, it may not be as hard to find as you think it is.
But it’s the edited version; apparently the Folks Down Under and Across The Pond are the only types with the fortitude for the full version; us 'Murkins apparently have more delicate sensibilities. At least according to film distributors.