Movies That Still Scared You Weeks After Viewing

[BadOctopus]

Heaven help me, I might try watching a few minutes of A Serbian Film.
Or maybe not.

I will not be watching that, ever. Just reading about it made me ill.

The words "infant rape" were enough to dissuade me from indulging my curiosity.

 

[Totenkindly]

Yeah. That's why "maybe not" was a valid option.
I did watch HC2. I can't say that was much better.

I did see most of Rob Schneider's "The Animal." That was disturbing, but in a completely different way.

EDIT: Oh good god. Look what is releasing on May 22. With Eric Roberts??
The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[BadOctopus]

You know, I have to wonder about the mental state of the people who write movies like A Serbian Film or Human Centipede. Or the people who are involved in the making of them. I mean, duh, the movies aren't real. But how do they reconcile themselves to the subject matter? I know I couldn't be involved in the making of any of those films, for any amount of money. I'm not sure how I'd be able to live with myself.

 

[Totenkindly]

You know, I have to wonder about the mental state of the people who write movies like A Serbian Film or Human Centipede. Or the people who are involved in the making of them. I mean, duh, the movies aren't real. But how do they reconcile themselves to the subject matter? I know I couldn't be involved in the making of any of those films, for any amount of money. I'm not sure how I'd be able to live with myself.

Yeah... considering how much time and energy and money you have to invest to put a movie like that together. I don't understand the point of why Tom Six is doing a third, except perhaps trying to make his movies like a centipede (apparently the plot moves from one movie to the next to the next). I will say, watching HC2, I thought it was just a big huge FU to the fanbase that might have enjoyed the first one... I honestly felt like he was making fun of them, especially with the ending. [The first one sucked too. I happened to walk in when someone else was watching it, and was just like wtf? It wasn't just horrific, it was bad/stupid from a plot/character behavior POV.]

I wouldn't want to be in those movies either.

I remember getting into comics, though in the 80's, and there was a huge current of gore/horror mags (Fangoria?), its own little industry of publishing and movies and whatever else. I was never really into that and had trouble understanding the excitement of the fan base.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Brazil.

I'm just glad it's a fictitious story.

 

[Destiny]

Meh.. I rarely encountered movies that scared me.

I started watching horror movies at a young age of 5, and I watched those movies after midnight too. I guess I have de-sensitized myself to scary movies, so no matter what movies I watched, it doesn't really scare me.

 

[á´…eparted]

The Skeleton Key.

I was in a really bad head-space at the time which made it a lot worse, but I still would have been very messed up from it regardless.

 

[windoverlake]

I will not be watching that, ever. Just reading about it made me ill.

The words "infant rape" were enough to dissuade me from indulging my curiosity.

Yes, that's straight horror, not horror as genre.

Wow. Did a quick scan of Wiki page and enough words popped out for me to consider bleaching my eyeballs.

 

[Qre:us]

Heaven help me, I might try watching a few minutes of A Serbian Film.
Or maybe not.

I did find this useful collection which could act as a shopping list for the crazier among us:
The 50 Most Disturbing Movies of All Time | Complex

"Audition" and "Requiem for a Dream" made their top ten.

Maybe I'll watch the original Funny Games instead.

Great find!!

I've been thinking about what makes a movie "disturbing" for me, and I was looking through the list, and there are quite a few that I've watched, but I can't recall any one *scene* that imprinted in my mind, for a lot of them. Which...is disturbing....about what it perhaps says about my mind and how it interprets and reacts to things. Threshold of "disturbing", as it were.

I had watched A Serbian Film years ago, and for the life of me, I can't remember any one scene that stood out as truly horrific or memorable due to its horrific-ness. I vaguely remember a scene where

a naked woman is tied up (?) on all four, and he is being forced to kill and fuck her. But, even that, I'm not sure. And another about a man's penis and its demise. I think...

I think that's the thing about this film; it's that it is so gory, without very little exploration of the human pyche, that it all just melds into one giant gore-fest, which can be easily forgettable, for me.

***
Mental exercise

Of the top ten, I've watched, what I can recall of those films:

- 20 Days of Sodom (1975)
- Italian, weird house with the affluent and their slaves. Rape, spanking. HUMILIATION. Feces eating, I think? Can't recall any more.

- Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
- This one fucking angers me!!! Brutal and ridiculous. No plot. Like seriously. There was a boiling the human, scene, I think? And most notably, some crazy, agonizing things they did to animals. THOSE STUCK OUT. And make me livid. This is not art. This is inhumane. I think there was a very disturbing scene with a turtle and monkeys? Anyway, I have found that animal torture/abuse stays with me more than human torture. Partly because I think they actually *do* torture those animals, in that fashion. I believe I was so angered and disgusted that I looked it up online after watching it, and this film and its asshole director, did indeed torture those animals as shown on screen.

- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
- weird dependent relationship between the main character (Henry) and his dumb & dangerous sidekick. Weird power dynamics. Don't remember much about the kills.

- Requiem for a Dream (2000)
- A drug trip. Can't remember any of the depravity. WTF? Why not? Is something wrong with me? Was it not "that bad"?

Honorable mentions, even if they're not top 10:
- Martyrs
- I remember the gore in this one

- Antichrist
Oh god, the genital mutilation scene. Scathed into my memory.

- Man behind the Sun

Distinctly remember one scene, where they freeze a prison's arms, and then hit it with a hammer or something, to see it break off like a popsicle. Some fucked up shit. This was the most disturbing for me.

Just...NO!

The Snowtown Murders

I've mentioned it before on this site, and highly recommend. The mood of the film is subdued but weighty. It hangs in the air, palpable. The alpha male lead is terrifying, in his "calmness". Brilliant acting.

The Last House on the Left

I've watched the original (70s) and the newer remake. I think I found the original far more disturbing and graphic. The rape and torture scene. It disturbed me for days after.
I can still recall it.

The rest on the list that I watched, that weren't in the top 10, were not memorable for any of the horror or the gore, for me. Which. Is. Weird. Right?

 

[violet_crown]

Love Black Mirror, it's part dark comedy (the wit is impeccable, when it's there), a dash of wry observations, and a whole heap load of social commentary on humans interaction, consumption, and dependency on technology/social media, in its many forms/outlets. So intelligent and relevant! Love the whole angle of, 'let's just take this to its logical (extreme) conclusion...and see what that looks like!'

This, what Jen said below, is exactly it. You can't give away the plot without messing with the punchline. Just go in with a clean slate, and let the story (each episode is a self-contained story) do to you, what it will/what you took away.

I highly recommend it. It's not scary but a mindfuck.

I thought this was a really eloquent send up of that show. I remember thinking a couple of times that watching Black Mirror now must have been what watching Twilight Zone in the 60s must've been like. Similarly, there may be something of a double edge sword to just how impeccably that show manages to capture the zeitgeist in that--like TZ--some episodes may age better than others. It'll be something interesting to rewatch 10 years from now.

Heaven help me, I might try watching a few minutes of A Serbian Film.
Or maybe not.

I'd tell you there's no need to be a hero, but honestky, if you're gonna do it, might as well.

You and I have had convos elsewhere about how 2015 has been shaping up to be a pretty great year for horror. We have The Witch in theaters soon, which was up there with It Follows as one of the top rated horror films of all time on Metacritic). I'm also looking forward to seeing Goodnight, Mommy, which is an Austrian joint that I think debuted in North America at Toronto. Trailers have a Jacobs Ladder meets Funny Games feel to it with an Oedipal twist just to keep shit interesting.

Watch here:

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Oh, nope nope nope. Never watching that again. The only good thing I can say about that movie is that it gave me a glimpse of what it might be like to suffer from psychosis.

Eraserhead is an interesting take on fatherhood, for sure.

 

[Tellenbach]

"Whatever happened to Baby Jane" with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. It's more creepy than scary and it's not the movie but the actresses. Both of them scare me; they've got those creepy Steve Buscemi eyes.

 

[Totenkindly]

 

[BadOctopus]

I love Steve Buscemi.

But yeah, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? was freaky. I always remember the part where Bette Davis serves Joan Crawford her dead bird under a covered platter.

 

[violet_crown]

Great find!!

I've been thinking about what makes a movie "disturbing" for me, and I was looking through the list, and there are quite a few that I've watched, but I can't recall any one *scene* that imprinted in my mind, for a lot of them. Which...is disturbing....about what it perhaps says about my mind and how it interprets and reacts to things. Threshold of "disturbing", as it were.

I had watched A Serbian Film years ago, and for the life of me, I can't remember any one scene that stood out as truly horrific or memorable due to its horrific-ness. I vaguely remember a scene where

a naked woman is tied up (?) on all four, and he is being forced to kill and fuck her. But, even that, I'm not sure. And another about a man's penis and its demise. I think...

I think that's the thing about this film; it's that it is so gory, without very little exploration of the human pyche, that it all just melds into one giant gore-fest, which can be easily forgettable, for me.

I don't know if this was run of the mill internet tough guy stuff or if you actually meant it. If you were being serious here, I think it says more about you than the movie lol.

 

[windoverlake]

"Whatever happened to Baby Jane" with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. It's more creepy than scary and it's not the movie but the actresses. Both of them scare me; they've got those creepy Steve Buscemi eyes.

Yesss .... Creepy movie and creepy(-looking) actresses. It's their huge, wide eyes with lots of white around the pupils. Those eyes plus the lighting, shot in black and white: creeeeepy.

For me, that scene of them on the beach, at the end, creeps me out the most.

 

[PeaceBaby]

It's not a movie, but the theme from "Unsolved Mysteries" in combination with Robert Stack's voice gives me creepy chills, and when it was running on TV, I couldn't watch it when alone in the house. That music gives me the willies even today.

 

[Qre:us]

I don't know if this was run of the mill internet tough guy stuff or if you actually meant it. If you were being serious here, I think it says more about you than the movie lol.

No, seriously, I can't remember any particularly horrific scenes. I watched it a few years ago, and I do watch a lot of horror and gore, so maybe it just meshed into one giant bloody blob. I remember thinking it was utterly stupid, though! Which might be why I tuned it out, on some level.

I am quite puzzled by why I can't really recall it!

E.g., I can still vividly recall Rosemary's Baby, and how disturbed I was by the whole vibe of the movie, the mood. It lingered with me, for days. And there was no explicit gore. Just...the anticipation...the build....

I'm trying to find other movies in the same vein. And, A Serbian Film is so not it.

I think there's something to be said for subtlety, and the art of a mindfuck, through taking your fear on an emotional journey. Not just a visual journey.

 

[Totenkindly]

Haven't watched Rosemary's Baby for years, but yes, talk about the slow build and the creepy mood/ambiance... And yeah, there really isn't a lot of overt crap going on. But lots of surreal unease.

 

[Ingrid in grids]

Logan's Run