My Most Disturbing Movie Experiences
For non-film... Trying not to laugh at Ramsay Snow waving a sausage around while taunting the guy he turned into a eunuch.
These are some good write ups, Gideon. Out the one listed these disturbed me as well:
The Exorcist - saw it as a kid growing under religious grandparents.
Glengarry Glen Ross - another movie that "sinks" you. Death of a F***ing Salesman indeed.
A History Violence - the ending is the most devastating part. Viggo' look at the end is all time great cinematic moment of silent expression.
The Hours - a lovely, excellently acted film. The opening moment got to me, mainly because I knew nothing about Woolf before I watched it.
The Exorcist - saw it as a kid growing under religious grandparents.
Glengarry Glen Ross - another movie that "sinks" you. Death of a F***ing Salesman indeed.
A History Violence - the ending is the most devastating part. Viggo' look at the end is all time great cinematic moment of silent expression.
The Hours - a lovely, excellently acted film. The opening moment got to me, mainly because I knew nothing about Woolf before I watched it.
15.
American Psycho
Once again, don't get me wrong...I love this movie and Christian Bale is nothing short of brilliant in the starring role, but it doesn't make this movie any less disturbing. Patrick Bateman is in-your-face insane and this story makes no bones about, it comes out in every move he makes...whether he's screaming at a dry cleaner who is not dealing well with having to remove blood from his sheets, chasing a prostitute down a hallway stark naked with a chainsaw, killing a security guard in the building where he works, chopping up a business rival to the beat of Huey Lewis and the News, or going into a dark alley and murdering a homeless person for no reason, Bateman is the personification of cool, which is even more disturbing than the things he does. His lack of remorse until the final scene is just bone chilling.
American Psycho
Once again, don't get me wrong...I love this movie and Christian Bale is nothing short of brilliant in the starring role, but it doesn't make this movie any less disturbing. Patrick Bateman is in-your-face insane and this story makes no bones about, it comes out in every move he makes...whether he's screaming at a dry cleaner who is not dealing well with having to remove blood from his sheets, chasing a prostitute down a hallway stark naked with a chainsaw, killing a security guard in the building where he works, chopping up a business rival to the beat of Huey Lewis and the News, or going into a dark alley and murdering a homeless person for no reason, Bateman is the personification of cool, which is even more disturbing than the things he does. His lack of remorse until the final scene is just bone chilling.
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14.
Magnolia
A wonderful movie filled with some of the most messed up characters I have ever seen assembled for a single movie: The unrepentent trophy wife (Julianne Moore); the pathetic junkie (Melora Hardin); the former quiz kid who can't let go of his past (William H. Macy); the bitter dying millionaire (Jason Robards) and his morally questionable nurse (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), and a sleazy, sexist television star with daddy issues (Tom Cruise). These people were just painful to watch.
Magnolia
A wonderful movie filled with some of the most messed up characters I have ever seen assembled for a single movie: The unrepentent trophy wife (Julianne Moore); the pathetic junkie (Melora Hardin); the former quiz kid who can't let go of his past (William H. Macy); the bitter dying millionaire (Jason Robards) and his morally questionable nurse (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), and a sleazy, sexist television star with daddy issues (Tom Cruise). These people were just painful to watch.
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13.
No Country for Old Men
This movie makes this list for one reason and one reason only...Anton Chigurh...Jarvier Bardem won an Oscar creating, arguably, the most bone-chilling villain in cinema history...I'm getting chills just writing this.
No Country for Old Men
This movie makes this list for one reason and one reason only...Anton Chigurh...Jarvier Bardem won an Oscar creating, arguably, the most bone-chilling villain in cinema history...I'm getting chills just writing this.
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12.
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood's Oscar-worthy performance as the central character only enhanced the disturbance factor here...Eastwood plays a blue collar veteran whose accidental friendship with an Asian brother and sister gets him involved with a very dangerous Asian gang...it is frightening and heartbreaking watching Walt Kowalski, Eastwood's character, make a sacrifice that he really doesn't have to make, but does what he feels he needs to do to protect other people...the ending of this movie just destroyed me.
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood's Oscar-worthy performance as the central character only enhanced the disturbance factor here...Eastwood plays a blue collar veteran whose accidental friendship with an Asian brother and sister gets him involved with a very dangerous Asian gang...it is frightening and heartbreaking watching Walt Kowalski, Eastwood's character, make a sacrifice that he really doesn't have to make, but does what he feels he needs to do to protect other people...the ending of this movie just destroyed me.
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11.
Demolition
This was the story of man who loses his wife in a car accident and finds the only plausible outlet for his grief is destruction. Watching this man completely drop out of his life and want nothing more than to destroy anything that he could get his hands on was really frightening, while trying to broker a relationship with a young divorcee (Naomi Watts) and her son...yeah, this one really left my stomach in knots.
Demolition
This was the story of man who loses his wife in a car accident and finds the only plausible outlet for his grief is destruction. Watching this man completely drop out of his life and want nothing more than to destroy anything that he could get his hands on was really frightening, while trying to broker a relationship with a young divorcee (Naomi Watts) and her son...yeah, this one really left my stomach in knots.
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Some interesting choices here. I also quite enjoy To Die For. I've been meaning to give that one a rewatch soon. Of course, I'm not watching it for Nicole Kidman...
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10.
Requiem for a Dream
This stomach-churning look at the horror of drug addiction went places where a lot of films on this subject haven't gone before, particularly in its story of Sara (Ellen Burstyn), a middle-aged woman whose addiction to diet pills takes her to some dark and disturbing places...watching Marian (Jennifer Connelly) take prostitution to a new level in order to continue getting high or watching her boyfriend and Sara's son (Jared Leto) and his running partner (Marlon Wayans) thinking because they do drugs that they mistake that for the ability to sell drugs and mess that up as well as their lives. No musical comedy here.
Requiem for a Dream
This stomach-churning look at the horror of drug addiction went places where a lot of films on this subject haven't gone before, particularly in its story of Sara (Ellen Burstyn), a middle-aged woman whose addiction to diet pills takes her to some dark and disturbing places...watching Marian (Jennifer Connelly) take prostitution to a new level in order to continue getting high or watching her boyfriend and Sara's son (Jared Leto) and his running partner (Marlon Wayans) thinking because they do drugs that they mistake that for the ability to sell drugs and mess that up as well as their lives. No musical comedy here.
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All excellent movies on this page so far, except I'd say for Demolition, even though I probably considered it the most disturbing, but for different reasons than you.
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Gran Torino, that one just showed up on Cob's countdown list too. I enjoyed that movie! I always like Clint and his movies. But I'm surprised it's as popular, as it is, which is cool, but I never thought it would be a movie with broad appeal. I guess Clint at any age is just plain cool!
I was thinking the exact opposite when Gideon posted To Die For. She looks great in that movie poster.
Some interesting choices here. I also quite enjoy To Die For. I've been meaning to give that one a rewatch soon. Of course, I'm not watching it for Nicole Kidman...
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Gran Torino, that one just showed up on Cob's countdown list too. I enjoyed that movie! I always like Clint and his movies. But I'm surprised it's as popular, as it is, which is cool, but I never thought it would be a movie with broad appeal. I guess Clint at any age is just plain cool!
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9.
Taxi Driver
For many, Scorsese's masterpiece and De Niro's best performance, but the film's brilliance doesn't make it any less disturbing...Travis Bickle drives a cab from midnight to dawn because he never sleeps. His life eventually becomes about three things: assassinating a political candidate (Leonard Harris), dating one of his campaign workers (Cybill Shepherd) and getting a 12 year old hooker (Jodie Foster) off the streets. The political candidate actually patronizes his cab at one point and Travis treats him like a king. He finally gets the campaign worker to go out with him and he takes her to a porno movie. He doesn't even ask the hooker if she really wants to get off the streets, he just decides that it must stop and even enters a deadly confrontation with her pimp (Harvey Keitel) to seal the deal. This guy definitely has a blown microchip upstairs and is completely unaware of it. Every move this guy made (including saving Iris) gave me the creeps. It's also a film a I never tire of re-watching.
Taxi Driver
For many, Scorsese's masterpiece and De Niro's best performance, but the film's brilliance doesn't make it any less disturbing...Travis Bickle drives a cab from midnight to dawn because he never sleeps. His life eventually becomes about three things: assassinating a political candidate (Leonard Harris), dating one of his campaign workers (Cybill Shepherd) and getting a 12 year old hooker (Jodie Foster) off the streets. The political candidate actually patronizes his cab at one point and Travis treats him like a king. He finally gets the campaign worker to go out with him and he takes her to a porno movie. He doesn't even ask the hooker if she really wants to get off the streets, he just decides that it must stop and even enters a deadly confrontation with her pimp (Harvey Keitel) to seal the deal. This guy definitely has a blown microchip upstairs and is completely unaware of it. Every move this guy made (including saving Iris) gave me the creeps. It's also a film a I never tire of re-watching.
Last edited by Gideon58; 11-28-20 at 04:55 PM.
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8.
Network
Actually released the same year as Taxi Driver, this scorching drama written by Paddy Chayefsky is about a television anchorman named Howard Beale (the late Peter Finch) who announces on the air that he plans to kill himself, but instead of getting the man the help he obviously needs, the network gives him his own show as a "mad prophet of the airwaves", programmed by a workaholic ice goddess (Faye Dunaway) who never stops talking about work, even during sex and wants to develop a television show loosely based on the terrorists that kidnapped Patty Hearst. The most disturbing element of this story is that once Howard is given his own show, the network realizes they have unleashed a Frankenstein who is affecting their own bottom line, forcing them into making a truly disturbing choice on how to handle it. This movie won four Oscars and I never tire of re-watching it, but it still makes my stomach churn.
Network
Actually released the same year as Taxi Driver, this scorching drama written by Paddy Chayefsky is about a television anchorman named Howard Beale (the late Peter Finch) who announces on the air that he plans to kill himself, but instead of getting the man the help he obviously needs, the network gives him his own show as a "mad prophet of the airwaves", programmed by a workaholic ice goddess (Faye Dunaway) who never stops talking about work, even during sex and wants to develop a television show loosely based on the terrorists that kidnapped Patty Hearst. The most disturbing element of this story is that once Howard is given his own show, the network realizes they have unleashed a Frankenstein who is affecting their own bottom line, forcing them into making a truly disturbing choice on how to handle it. This movie won four Oscars and I never tire of re-watching it, but it still makes my stomach churn.
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You have included Network and my all time favorite film on this list. Instant validation! Great picks!
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A couple of great movies there. I never thought of Network as disturbing but I can definitely see Taxi Driver.
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7.
Nightcrawler
This movie is just beyond creepy and the ending redefines disturbing. Jake Gyllenhaal (in a brilliant performance), plays an unemployed techno geek who becomes a freelance crime journalist who becomes completely obsessed with obtaining the goriest and most disgusting crime footage. When he asks a local news director (Rene Russo) what kind of footage she's looking for, she replies "Imagine a woman running down the street with her throat cut." As this guy get better at what he does, the more callous and dangerous he becomes, even putting his assistant at risk. He was actually no prize before he started filming crime...during the film's opening, this guy is observed beating up a security guard for his watch. This guy does a laundry list of reprehensible things in pursuit of the most gruesome footage and at the end of the film, he comes out smelling like a rose, which I absolutely hated.
Nightcrawler
This movie is just beyond creepy and the ending redefines disturbing. Jake Gyllenhaal (in a brilliant performance), plays an unemployed techno geek who becomes a freelance crime journalist who becomes completely obsessed with obtaining the goriest and most disgusting crime footage. When he asks a local news director (Rene Russo) what kind of footage she's looking for, she replies "Imagine a woman running down the street with her throat cut." As this guy get better at what he does, the more callous and dangerous he becomes, even putting his assistant at risk. He was actually no prize before he started filming crime...during the film's opening, this guy is observed beating up a security guard for his watch. This guy does a laundry list of reprehensible things in pursuit of the most gruesome footage and at the end of the film, he comes out smelling like a rose, which I absolutely hated.
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A couple of great movies there. I never thought of Network as disturbing but I can definitely see Taxi Driver.
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I've already told you why i disagree that Nightcrawlers ending was bad but i understand why you'd find it disturbing. I do think the film did what it was intended with you, i get why you don't like it though.
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