Top Ten Most Disturbing Movies of All Time...

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed

According to this site...

http://www.alternativereel.com/includes/top-ten/display_review.php?id=00043

...They are:

10. Freaks
9. I Spit On Your Grave
8. El Topo
7. Audition
6. A Clockwork Orange
5. The Last House on the Left
4. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
3. Salo or The 120 Days of Sodom
2. Irreversible
1. Eraserhead

My personal entry would be "Fat Girl." What else is missing?

Ben Boyerrr, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 18:50 (eighteen years ago)

Funny Games.

pisces, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 18:54 (eighteen years ago)

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MMPO/505125~Little-Man-Posters.jpg

latebloomer, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 18:54 (eighteen years ago)

please lock this thread now

Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 18:56 (eighteen years ago)

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 18:56 (eighteen years ago)

Reflecting Skin

John Justen, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 18:57 (eighteen years ago)

"Last House on the Left" on original list is questionable at best.

John Justen, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 18:58 (eighteen years ago)

as if you posted a poster that said "white chicks" on it and yet... not white chicks

Will M., Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:00 (eighteen years ago)

For some reason Caligula disturbed me to the point where I couldn't finish watching it.

Matt #2, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:02 (eighteen years ago)

I think that reason may have been the fact that it's really, really bad.

John Justen, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:03 (eighteen years ago)

ichi the killer is the only movie i've ever seen that made me physically ill (definitely moreso than audition)

impudent harlot, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:03 (eighteen years ago)

Titicut Follies

admrl, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:04 (eighteen years ago)

I sat through "Little Man" the other day (it seems to be on a loop on some Sky channel). It's interesting - even though you expect the joke about the baby having a large penis, it's still creepy when it happens. (Not to mention the gag built around the baby raping Shawn Wayans' wife). It's an astonishing movie, actually, in many ways (most notably its almost pathological witlessness)

Ben Boyerrr, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:04 (eighteen years ago)

That movie my roommate was watching on Lifetime circa 2001 where the crazy ex-husband drags the battered wife from her apartment and beats her up in broad daylight and JUMPS UP AND DOWN on her face while the whole town stands around doing nothing.

Kerm, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:05 (eighteen years ago)

Sin City

admrl, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:05 (eighteen years ago)

i felt kind of lame being disturbed by Happiness because that's obviously what dude was going for but it still creeped me out

n/a, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:15 (eighteen years ago)

googled "movie domestic violence husband jumps on head"

A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story

I mean come on.

Kerm, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:16 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, man. That scene in A Cry For Help may be one of the creepiest I've ever seen on TV. (Nancy MacKeon, aka Jo from Facts of Life, played Tracey.)

mike a, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:19 (eighteen years ago)

oh man i could not stand Happiness.

Mr. Que, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:19 (eighteen years ago)

i still have never watched all of eraserhead because the baby creeped me out too much (though i was watching it by myself at night)

n/a, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:20 (eighteen years ago)

I may lead a sheltered existence, but Pan's Labyrinth disturbed the crap out of me.

o. nate, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:20 (eighteen years ago)

Cook, Thief, Wife & Lover seconded.

Also, how about The Vanishing?

Joe, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:23 (eighteen years ago)

Straw Dogs
The Birds

C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:24 (eighteen years ago)

Some of the movies are genuinely disturbing, but I found Eraserhead and Salo more like boring.

I wonder if the people making this lists assume that "disturbing" automatically equals "good"? Cause Irreversible may be disturbing, but it's still not a good movie.

Tuomas, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:28 (eighteen years ago)

do you see the word good anywhere?

cutty, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:29 (eighteen years ago)

I really dislike Cook, Thief, Wife, etc., but it absolutely deserves to be on this list.

John Justen, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:31 (eighteen years ago)

xpostssss

John Justen, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:31 (eighteen years ago)

No, but I see little point in making these sort of lists unless they're considered recommendations or something.

(xx-post)

Tuomas, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:31 (eighteen years ago)

well, if you liked to be disturbed by art, then they are recommendations. if you do not like to be disturbed by art, then they are not.

cutty, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:34 (eighteen years ago)

it's certainly not a list of MOVIES NOT TO SEE

cutty, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:35 (eighteen years ago)

you are a mystery

cutty, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:35 (eighteen years ago)

salo is a movie that is meant to be disturbing in one way, fails, but is still disturbing cos people being made to eat shit is horrible to watch however the scene is intended.

i think i just find watching intense cruelty hard to watch, though, rather than 'disturbing' -- if something contradicts my 'moral scruples' or whateverthefuck i'm not 'disturbed', just hostile to it.

That one guy that hit it and quit it, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:40 (eighteen years ago)

a clockwork orange is not a tenth as disturbing as it needed to be.

J.D., Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:41 (eighteen years ago)

Freaks is just a very sad little unrequited love story. I didn't find it disturbing. I forget how the lady turned into a chicken at the end.

Abbott, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:44 (eighteen years ago)

the piano teacher was plenty disturbing

cutty, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:53 (eighteen years ago)

googled "movie domestic violence husband jumps on head"

A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story

I mean come on.

-- Kerm, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:16 (35 minutes ago) Link

Before I saw this post with the link, I was about to ask if the wife was played by Jo out of Facts of Life. I too have seen this and it's burned in my memory forever.

ENBB, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:54 (eighteen years ago)

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUSTO

sexyDancer, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

2 girls 1 cup

bell_labs, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:56 (eighteen years ago)

SPANKING THE FUCKING MONKEY

sexyDancer, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 19:57 (eighteen years ago)

armageddon

the sir weeze, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:06 (eighteen years ago)

i think dead ringers is inexplicably disturbing

cutty, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:11 (eighteen years ago)

piano teacher movie not quite as disturbing as the book, except for prolonged BJ scene.

ian, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:13 (eighteen years ago)

Oh jesus cutty is SO RIGHT...Dead Ringers,,,,gah

Abbott, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

I think Salo, like its source novel, is meant to be more blackly humourous than disturbing. I also wonder if he's skitting Fellini with it.

Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:20 (eighteen years ago)

SPOILER ALERT:

DAY OF THE LOCUST
Donald Sutherland gleefully stomps young girl to death, is torn limb-from-limb by angry mob. Also features Karen Black

sexyDancer, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:21 (eighteen years ago)

the Gary Indiana BFI book on "Salo" is excellent. the film is most definitely not.

anyway, i've not seen "Begotten" but from what i've heard it should probably be on this list.

jed_, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:26 (eighteen years ago)

Begotten is almost too abstract to be really disturbing. Post-human, though.

sexyDancer, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:30 (eighteen years ago)

BULLY

milo z, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:32 (eighteen years ago)

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MMPO/505125~Little-Man-Posters.jpg

otm but let's not forget

http://www.tlavideo.com/images/catalog_gaybase/201725.jpg

da croupier, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:33 (eighteen years ago)

Did we ever have a Charles Grodin poll?

C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 7 November 2007 20:34 (eighteen years ago)

Exorcist disturbed me big time.

ledge, Monday, 12 November 2007 14:52 (eighteen years ago)

does the Exorcist disturb anyone besides Catholics...? I like it fine but it's always struck me as more overwrought than frightening or disturbing.

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 12 November 2007 16:57 (eighteen years ago)

As you may or may not recall from the various atheist threads, I ain't no catholic. It was just, for me, a terrifying and 100% convincing depiction of precisely the kind of EVIL that I don't believe in.

ledge, Monday, 12 November 2007 17:00 (eighteen years ago)

ah, sorry.

it's all coming back to me!

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 12 November 2007 17:04 (eighteen years ago)

it does work better if you have a catholic/christian background, p
robably

latebloomer, Monday, 12 November 2007 17:47 (eighteen years ago)

the opening scene in the desert is way creepier for me than linda blair projectile vomiting, to be honest. that sequence was really awesome on the big screen when i saw the re-release.

latebloomer, Monday, 12 November 2007 17:49 (eighteen years ago)

xp: it's a comedy if you don't

sexyDancer, Monday, 12 November 2007 17:49 (eighteen years ago)

i agree with latebloomer about the opening scene in the desert.

rockapads, Monday, 12 November 2007 18:16 (eighteen years ago)

The movie that left me the most freaked out for the longest time has to be "Funny Games."

Rock Hardy, Monday, 12 November 2007 18:32 (eighteen years ago)

The Shining, for me. Or perhaps Don't Look Now. Donald Sutherland's howl of despair as he pulls his dead daughter from the lake is genuinely disturbing.

Neil S, Monday, 12 November 2007 18:39 (eighteen years ago)

A Clockwork Orange is really not that disturbing.

Cannibal Holocaust was a good suggestion. Kids and Exorcist both had effects on me (my mom never let me use a ouija board because of The Exorcist). I think Audition is one of Miike's LEAST upsetting films (which doesn't mean it's not upsetting, obv), so it always baffles me why it gets stuck on these lists over, say, Visitor Q.

While I agree with Morbs that there are some really spooky sequences in Twin Peaks, Eraserhead really disturbed me because I was actually YELLING at my TV for Jack Nance to kill the baby and then later I realized what I was doing (David Lynch you trickster). Lost Highway would be disturbing if it wasn't REALLY BORING.

Those Ilsa of the SS movies are disturbing due to "why the fuck did anyone think this was a good idea"-ness.

jessie monster, Monday, 12 November 2007 19:02 (eighteen years ago)

Sopranos University ep.

Eazy, Monday, 12 November 2007 19:05 (eighteen years ago)

no votes for this?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000CCJOA8/ref=dp_image_0/105-6672461-2675619?ie=UTF8&n=130&s=dvd

akm, Monday, 12 November 2007 19:15 (eighteen years ago)

fuck you ilx and or amazon or something.

it was 'riding the bus with my sister', featuring rosie o'donnel as a retarded adult

akm, Monday, 12 November 2007 19:16 (eighteen years ago)

Clockwork Orange generally ends up on these lists over and over again because of the Singin' in the Rain rape scene.

John Justen, Monday, 12 November 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

"Kids" isn't disturbing really, but seeing it in the theater with my dad when i was 17 was a pretty stupid idea.

gff, Monday, 12 November 2007 21:22 (eighteen years ago)

People make such a big deal about that scene that it always seems not as bad as you heard. xpost

Did anyone mention Straw Dogs? Naked was a little disturbing too, but not really.

jessie monster, Monday, 12 November 2007 21:29 (eighteen years ago)

extended pervo-pedo rape scene is totally disturbing. mostly because it made me feel complicit in Larry Clark's totally gross kiddie-porn fantasies.

seriously fuck that guy. what a shitty filmmaker.

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 12 November 2007 21:30 (eighteen years ago)

Straw Dogs is GREAT.

also totally disturbing. there was a good thread about that awhile back.

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 12 November 2007 21:30 (eighteen years ago)

i saw a movie on the SciFi channel this weekend called Pterodactyl! about some pterodactyls that come back to life and terrorize people (it stars Coolio)

iiiijjjj, Monday, 12 November 2007 21:46 (eighteen years ago)

Mansquito >>>> Pterodactyl!

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 12 November 2007 21:47 (eighteen years ago)

i want to see Pterodactyl now

latebloomer, Monday, 12 November 2007 22:37 (eighteen years ago)

i know i hyped this elsewhere, but my best bud lance has a new site devoted to movies/t.v. that creeped people out when they were a kid. and he is always looking for true life confessions to post.

http://www.kindertrauma.com/

scott seward, Monday, 12 November 2007 22:43 (eighteen years ago)

'no country for old men' was too movie-movie to creep me out, but

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1183459/photo_01.jpg

definitely got under my skin.

strgn, Monday, 12 November 2007 23:15 (eighteen years ago)

I’ve seen nearly every film in this thread and few have bothered me, but I agree ‘No Country for Old Men’ made me seriously depressed. I can’t articulate any particular reason why this was but I still feel a bit uncomfortable.

Mr. Goodman, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 00:03 (eighteen years ago)

where's Sleepaway Camp?

Bo Jackson Overdrive, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 00:06 (eighteen years ago)

Audition
Dead Alive (but it was hilarious)
Frailty
God Told Me To
Ichi the Killer

Bo Jackson Overdrive, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 00:07 (eighteen years ago)

in the last five years only session 9 and cure got to me. both through the sound design, mostly.

, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 00:32 (eighteen years ago)

The Seventh Continent.

jed_, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 00:34 (eighteen years ago)

although that's more depressing, i suppose.

jed_, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 00:34 (eighteen years ago)

recently saw fires on the plain, that's pretty goddamn disturbing.a horrors of war film that is actually horrific.

I would add Come And See to this list (pretty disturbing and way off the scale horrific)

Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 01:43 (eighteen years ago)

No version of Lolita has ever been disturbing enough.

Aimless, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 01:43 (eighteen years ago)

THE PLAGUE DOGS

omg heartbreaking/graphic cruel disturbingness. Plus seeing people get realistically shot in a somber animation!

Abbott, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 01:46 (eighteen years ago)

we seem to do this a lot. my list in no order:

- Sombre (this is one of the most beautiful, sickening things i've ever seen)
- Seul Contre Tous (Noe at his best)
- Audition
- Funny Games
- Benny's Video (oh shit this one still gives me shivers)
- Gold Told Me To (surprised others have seen this one, thought it was hard to find for some reason)
- Session 9 (this is a very fucked up movie, esp. for TV)
- Capturing the Friedmans (made me feel sick to my stomach after finishing it)
- Man Bites Dog (duh)
- this film by Ron Giii that contains footage of people cutting into each other's feet with scalpels and other sordid scenes, but which i cannot locate on the internet or remember the name of.... help plz art film nerds?

the table is the table, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 02:26 (eighteen years ago)

God Told Me To (surprised others have seen this one, thought it was hard to find for some reason)

I can thank AllMovieGuide and Netflix for that!

Bo Jackson Overdrive, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 02:27 (eighteen years ago)

seriously, though, has anyone else seen Sombre by Grandrieux?

"A hand-held camera follows murderer Jean (Marc Barbe) as he strangles French women while driving about France. When Claire (Elina Lowensohn) has a roadside car breakdown, she and her sister Christine (Geraldine Voillat) get a lift from the demented Jean, who later attacks Christine while she's at a lake for a swim. Back at the hotel, he menaces both sisters. Claire succeeds in extricating Christine, who leaves on a train for Paris -- while Claire makes the mistake of sticking around in order to "help" the crazed Jean. Shown in competition at the 1998 Locarno Film Festival where it provoked controversy and an official statement: "Half of the jury would like to call attention to Sombre. Our jury split between those who were morally offended by the film and those who saw a purpose in its darkness, and in the strength of its mise-en-scene and images."

the table is the table, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 02:45 (eighteen years ago)

Movie I haven't seen but have high hopes for: <i>Men Behind the Sun</i>.

Eric H., Tuesday, 13 November 2007 03:13 (eighteen years ago)

Triumph of the Will

I'm obsessed with Shinya Tsukamoto, and I don't find any of that sort of thing (Japanese art-horror) to be disturbing. Tetsuo has a happy ending, after all...

The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb is a bit disturbing.

shieldforyoureyes, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 08:19 (eighteen years ago)

seriously, though, has anyone else seen Sombre by Grandrieux?

I've seen this, years ago at a film festival. If I remember correctly, it was done in such a weird artsy way, that half the of the time you couldn't literally understand what was happening on the screen. So it was more boring than disturbing.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 10:16 (eighteen years ago)

actually, city of god, and mainly the young kid.

darraghmac, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 10:19 (eighteen years ago)

holy shit, yes/otm.

John Justen, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 10:39 (eighteen years ago)

tuomas, you is wrong. it's only about half-way through that Sombre becomes remotely understandable.

but eh.

also, City of God isn't 'disturbing' in the same way as most of the films mentioned on this thread... i'd say the violence is incredibly jarring and troubling, but the psychological effects of the film on the viewer don't match Funny Games or Sombre or even Audition.

the table is the table, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 21:50 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

most disturbing intro to a trailer ever?

Make Up? Me? BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAiamgoingtoeatyoursoulHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

as much dandelion as you can put in there (latebloomer), Sunday, 1 February 2009 21:55 (seventeen years ago)

yeah i know "clowns are sooo creepy omg" shit is played out but still

as much dandelion as you can put in there (latebloomer), Sunday, 1 February 2009 22:02 (seventeen years ago)

Surprised nobody mentioned 'Threads'

James Morrison, Sunday, 1 February 2009 22:35 (seventeen years ago)

'Save the Green Planet' should be mentioned here.

fwiw (rockapads), Monday, 2 February 2009 08:13 (seventeen years ago)

Lol at kid in wheelchair outrunning everybody.

╓abies, Monday, 2 February 2009 08:45 (seventeen years ago)

Kids was the one movie that truly made me uncomfortable.

╓abies, Monday, 2 February 2009 08:47 (seventeen years ago)

2 girls 1 cup

― bell_labs, Wednesday, November 7, 2007 8:56 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

1man1jar

StanM, Monday, 2 February 2009 09:24 (seventeen years ago)


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.