My Most Disturbing Movie Experiences

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There have been a lot of threads on this subject and I have finally decided to construct my own list. This is a list of the movies that have made me uncomfortable in any form or fashion, the movies that made me squirm for the majority of their running time. These are the movies whose prickly subject matter sometimes made it difficult for me to understand exactly what is going on. These are the movies that features characters getting away with things they shouldn't get away with. These are the movies that had me talking back to the screen. These are the movies that had me literally turning away from the screen because they contain things I literally could not watch. These are the movies that, for one reason or another, just pissed me off. Some of these movies are crap and some of them have won Oscars. Some are movies that are well made and I'm glad that I saw them, but I will NEVER watch them again. This list is probably going to ruffle feathers and may even contain a spoiler or two, but I was up all night thinking about this and I have to do this list...and I will be taking my time with this list because I really want to get it right. And now, my most disturbing movie experiences:



This might just do nobody any good.
Berberian Sound Studio (2012) got to me. It's terrifying in an abstract sort of way with its hostile tone, indifference towards continuity and a very endearing performance by Toby Jones.

I can't really describe it. It just sort of... sinks you.

On the subject of "moments that made you turn away", the last couple minutes of Dogtooth are painful to watch. Literally. I squirmed.



50.

Bamboozled



This truly disturbing and unsettling entry from the resume of Spike Lee continues to be an enigma in the annals of cinema for which I have been unable to come up with something positive to say about it. This is the story of a black television executive (Damon Wayans) who decides that it is a good idea in the year 2000 to bring an actual minstrel show to network television starring two unknown New York street performers (Tommy Davidson, Savion Glover). This idea wouldn't have been so offensive and squirm-worthy if Lee had chosen to do this in the form of a satire, but he didn't...this story is told with a straight face. I might feel different if I wasn't black, but I am black and I found this film offensive on several different levels. The idea of a minstrel show on network television in the year 2000 was pretty hard to digest, not to mention the fact that the idea came from a black television executive. I was also troubled by the fact that black men would agree to star in something like this. We even witness the stars applying actual blackface makeup over their own dark skin for every performance. There is also approximately 10 minutes of screentime devoted to how the makeup was made. The film also features a lengthy epilogue documenting the history of minstrel shows that was supposed to respect the history of this historical aspect of entertainment, but only made it more embarrassing. Even the poster for the movie offends..."Starring the great Negro actors"...seriously?



49.

What Lies Beneath



This movie was troubling for two reasons...first of all, Harrison Ford, one of our most likable screen heroes, plays the most despicable character he ever played. Second, is the climax of the film, which involves Michelle Pfeiffer and a bathtub...my stomach starts churning at the thought of it...I literally had to turn away from the screen.



And did you notice that Michael Rappaport, a white actor, is listed there? I guess Spike thought it was OK because the character Rapaport plays thinks he's black.



I just seen this list, what an excellent idea, this is a good one Gideon! I have clicked the 'subscribe' at the top of the page so I know when there's new post. I'm glad someone told me about this thread as I hadn't seen it yet.

I hope a movie that I recommended to you, and you didn't like (which is fine with me) ends up on this list, I would actually be honored.

So bring on those disturbing movies!



I'm actually working on my own list which is based on the same idea, so I'll be following this with keen interest.

I haven't seen Bamboozled, but in a coincidence I used that word today for what was probably the first time in my life.

I saw What Lies Beneath a few years back, but nothing about it stuck with me.



I didn't see Caligula when it first came out, but a little while ago I browsed through the scenes on Youtube and realized that the movie and the main character were as sick and twisted as it was made out to be.



Years ago I saw a movie at the theater called "Those Crazy Canucks". I walked out of the theater pissed of because it was about the stupidest and lamest movie I've ever seen, and as a Canadian myself, I felt insulted by it.



I didn't see Caligula when it first came out, but a little while ago I browsed through the scenes on Youtube and realized that the movie and the main character were as sick and twisted as it was made out to be.
Never seen Caligula, but have heard a lot about it...might have to add it to my watchlist.



48.

Welcome to Me



Sorry, Citizen, I know you liked this movie, but I had to include it here...Kristen Wiig plays a mentally unbalanced woman who wins $86,000,000 in the lottery, moves to Las Vegas and invades a television station where she writes a check for $15,000,000 to fulfill her dream of having her own television talk show. As I wrote in my review of this film, it sends some really disturbing messages, particularly regarding the power of money. I could not believe this station just gave this woman whatever she wanted just because she could pay for it, and what she wanted was nothing more than a public forum to air all her personal laundry. I was bothered that her show was actually getting an audience, a better story would have been told if the woman kept pouring money into the show and no one was watching. The straw that broke the cinematic camel's back for me was when the show went on the air for the first time, the woman froze and said nothing for about 10-15 seconds...it was like watching $15,000,000 being pissed down the drain.



I'm actually happy to see, Welcome to Me here. I liked it a lot, but yup I can see why some wouldn't. It can be uncomfortable watching this bi polar woman go off her meds and then precede to get her own cable show after she wins a multi-million dollar lottery. Watching her act out all of her problems on live TV was an experience to say the least.



I'm actually happy to see, Welcome to Me here. I liked it a lot, but yup I can see why some wouldn't. It can be uncomfortable watching this bi polar woman go off her meds and then precede to get her own cable show after she wins a multi-million dollar lottery. Watching her act out all of her problems on live TV was an experience to say the least.
Hey, I just saw from the poster that Linda Cardellini (one of the most beautiful women in the world) is in it! I may have to check it out for that - I used to watch her on E.R. and even sat through those two awful Scooby Doo movies to see her version of sexy Velma!



I haven't seen that movie, and I wonder if you'll have any show up that'll be on my list.

Do you like any of these movies?
I think it depends on your meaning of the word "like"...there are going to be movies on this list that I like. I think a lot of films that will appear on this list are very well-made, but it doesn't necessarily mean I like them. I will say that I didn't really like any of the three movies that I have posted thus far.



47.

Extremities



This 1986 film version of a play by William Mastrosimone would be the first film on this list that I actually like, but it doesn't make it any less disturbing. The late Farrah Fawcett plays Marjorie, a woman who fights off an attempted rape in her car by a creep (James Russo) who steals her wallet. He shows up to her house the next day and again, attempts to rape her. At one point, Marjorie does manage to overpower the man and, realizing that attempted rape cannot be proved, keeps him prisoner in the house until he confesses. Rape is not a new subject to movies, but attempted rape is. It's virtually impossible to prove and this movie makes that clear. I was initially disturbed when a brief scene before he arrives at Marjorie's house revealed that the man is married and has a daughter. What was really disturbing is the way this guy tried to make what he was doing look like Marjorie wanted him there...I hated when asks her to make him something to eat to make it look like she invited him to dinner and threatens to burn her face on the stove. I wanted to kill this guy when he takes Marjorie up to her bedroom, shoves her in the room first and tells her to invite him in. This guy knew exactly what he was doing and, as we learn during the film's climax, this is not the first time he has done this. The story gets even more aggravating when Marjorie's roommates (Alfre Woodard, Diana Scarwid) come home and jump all over Marjorie, that what she's doing is wrong and that she should just call the police and being unaware of what happened while they weren't there, the guy actually tries to elicit the roommates sympathy about what Marjorie is doing to him, actually playing the victim. Yeah, this was one of those movies that not only had me squirming but had me talking back to the screen.