La Grande Bouffe
Fat Girl
Salò
Irreversible
Kids
Mulholland Drive
Requiem for a Dream
Oldboy
Cries and Whispers
Naked Lunch
Stalker
Avalon
I think I may be just an echo here, but I’ll put it out there anyways:
La Pianiste
Murmur of the Heart
Breaking the Waves
Dancer in the Dark
Ma Mere
Damage
Requiem for a Dream
Crumb
Spanking the Monkey
I suppose I have a soft spot for incest themes.
Lindsay Anderson’s “If…”
If you were in high school in the late 1990s as I was, this film will be very tough to swallow. Regardless, it is among the finest of British cinema, and I love it.
Funny Games
Rosemary’s Baby
I think I might be the only one that didn’t find “Freaks” disturbing. There was some weird stuff in it, but nothing that ever frightened me.
Another film that I found to be somewhat disturbing was “Eyes Wide Shut”. Some of the scenes (The orgy comes to mind) are very frightening, just because you’re constantly wondering what’s going to happen to Tom Cruise’s character.
Happiness- Solondaz
Sweet Movie- Makavejev
Benny’s Video- Haneke
Brazil- Gilliam
Hour of the Wolf- Bergman
Jubliee- Jarman – (not entierly disturbing, although The mob crucifixion scene was incredibly frighting. The music and the slow-motion pan really clashed well)
SALO- Pasolini (of course)
Shohei Imamura’s Black Rain
the entire Louis Malle canon
Gummo
“Men Behind the Sun” and “Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre” by T. F.Mou
The very crudeness of the filmmaking and the storytelling coupled with horrific violence make for grotesque, unpleasant viewing experiences….yet I have both on DVD.
The saving grace of both films is that they are, to my knowledge, the only explicit films made about these true events.
All my other ‘favorites’ have already been mentioned.
I kind of liked the ones in bold
Clockwork Orange
Elephant
Suspiria (its got a heroic ending, but until that point Argento does a decent job visually and aurally)
Mulholland Drive
Rosemary’s Baby
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (old version)
21 Grams
Requiem for a Dream
Oh gosh. I only love disturbing movies. But to me they’re not so disturbing, they’re just… truthful. And insightful. Now, movies like “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” — THOSE movies disturb me, and not in a good way.
So… I love
In a Year with 13 Moons
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Gods of the Plague
Fat Girl
Salo
Pigsty
Shock Corridor
The Naked Kiss
She-Devils on Wheels
Haxan
The Wounds
Pretty Village Pretty Flame
Elephant
Last Days
Small Time
Magnolia
Joy Ride
The Addiction
The Funeral
Ms. 45
Dangerous Game
Quintet
Images
The Honeymoon Killers
The Curse of Her Flesh
The Touch of Her Flesh
The Kiss of Her Flesh
Fireworks
Scorpio Rising
The Damned
The Devil, Probably
That Cold Day in the Park
Female Trouble
Romance
Water Drops on Burning Rocks
The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes
The Brood
Rabid
Videodrome
Under the Sand
Blue Velvet
Wild at Heart
Inland Empire
Mulholland Drive
The Chelsea Girls
Trash
2,000 Maniacs
The Violent Years
Lost Highway
These films are my world. They are the films where I feel at home. They are essential viewing.
Forbiden Zone. Just typing it and reading it gives me the chills. I saw the first 10 minuets of it years ago, and the thought of it scares me. Never have cardboard sets and midgets been scarier and more disturbing.
Tzameti 13
La Aventura
Shock Corridor
White Dog
The Trip
Barton Fink
I agree with Fat Girl. For me it was the last ten minutes of the film. The distressed mom driving home at night, weaving in and out of traffic, the horns, was a great tension builder…and when that hammer wen through the window, I had never been so frightened in all my life…I let out a scream…didn’t sleep that night.
Miike’s Visitor Q disturbed me as well…I felt a little molested as I was watching it.
Cache
The Dark Knight
Deliverance
Straw Dogs
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Shining
A Clockwork Orange
Full Metal Jacket
Hard Candy
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Eyes Wide Shut
Eastern Promises
Gomorra
Magnolia
Teeth
Psycho
Taxi Driver
To Die For
American History X
Apocalypse Now
Funny Games (original and US)
A History of Violence
Sunset Blvd.
The Silence of the Lambs
Se7en
Rosemary’s Baby
Revolutionary Road
Ravenous
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Misery
Memento
There Will Be Blood
American Psycho
Boys Don’t Cry
Oldboy
And I realize, I haven’t even seen most of the REALLY disturbing stuff in film…but I’ve heard about it, and I want in >:D
audition
funny games
brazil
oldboy
straw dogs
requiem for a dream
sunset blvd
body double
day of the locust
….dumb and dumberer……disturbing
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun. Takes the question of cannibalism up a few more notches from Fire on the Plain.
No one has mentioned James Fotopoulos’ Zero
the one movie that immediately came to mind was oliver hirschbiegel’s das experiment. i’m sure i’ve seen more disturbing things, but this is the only movie that i’ve ever had a physical reaction to. when it was done, i honestly thought i was going to puke. in an amazingly fantastic way though.
has anybody mention Come and See by Elen Klimov
for me come and see is a haunting, disturbing and amazing movie!!
Irreversible
I Stand Alone
Inland Empire
Martyrs
Benny’s Video
The Seventh Continent
Hard Candy
Begotten
Landscapes in the Mist
I’ve become a recent Haneke devotee. 71 Fragments is next.
pretty much everything has been mentioned already b ut 2 favorites are Gummo and Salo.
Man Bites Dog
Funny Games
Happiness
Kids
Irreversible
The Piano Teacher
A Clockwork Orange
Cries And Whispers
Murmur of the Heart
The Collector
Quills
Breaking the Waves
Henry And June
Freaks
Dahmer
Taxi Driver
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
Blue Velvet
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Palfi’s Taxidermia
Ernie
I love watching Takashi Miike and Park Chan-wook films every once in a while to take a break from a lot of the slice of life films I watch.