Check out Rec. Spanish horror film from last year. Very very good, very very frightening.
There is one film that probably nobody on this board ever heard of that is still one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. Sooooo bad in fact, that I have YET to watch it all the way through after this many years cause alls I do is get upset. And that film is called “Last Summer” with Barbara Hershey, Richard Thomas, Bruce Davidson, and Cathryn Burns. In a nutshell, it’s basically a study about how cruel teenagers can get. The movie is honest. It is perhaps the most accurate portrayal of teenagers ever to this day – it was made in 1969. But damn, I can barely get one hour into it and my heart starts racing a tad and I ALWAYS say “No, can’t do it”, and end up turning the movie off. And I might add, I’m 48 now. I originally saw the film as a second feature (they used to have double features at one time) with “Romeo and Juliet”. What makes this even more amazing is that two theaters were showing the same double bill. One had it as an "R"rated program, and the other a “PG” rated program. NATURALLY I went to the PG one so I could get in to see it. Only years later did I learn that the very print shown at the “PG” theater was, in fact – now get ready for this – the “X” rated version!! So I managed to crash an “X” rated movie at age 13. Hehehehe. But at what a cost – “Last Summer” is still one of the most disturbing movies for me, and it took years before I would convince myself that a) IT WAS ONLY A MOVIE and b) Barbara Hershey was ACTING – she is probably a really nice person in real life……………
guys, can I just point out something— instead of opening new topics every five seconds, why not read some of the old ones? because half of these new threads already existed under different titles. I understand that it’s nice to have a fresh canvas sometimes, but it’s disrespectful to others when someone just overwrites an old topic with a new one on exactly the same subject. One of the joys of this site is that old threads get revisited, sometimes months after the first. this haste and no forethought, all urgency and no reading….
it’s not good.
David, I read The Exorcist when it came out and was so frightened by it that I couldn’t go see the movie for a long time. When I finally did, I was even more scared by it than I thought I’d be. I’ve seen it a few times over the years, and it always has the same effect. It’s been several years since my last viewing, so I don’t know how I’d feel about it now. I can’t address Irreversible as I haven’t seen it—yet. Here are some others I’ve found disturbing for a variety of reasons, Rosemary’s Baby, The Tenant, In a Year of 13 Moons, and Repulsion.
These are probably 2 of the most disturbing films I’ve ever seen and I don’t want to see them ever again.
They aren’t scary, just plain screwed up.
I Stand Alone (Seul Contre Tous) – Gaspar Noe
I believe there were cinematic and sociological achievements in this film that deserve a pat on the back, but the bleak shock value was just a little too much for me. It didn’t relay enough of a message about middle-aged solitude for it to go anywhere critically in my book.
Visitor Q (Bizita Q) – Takashi Miike
Miike’s known for shock and awe, yet he usually puts a little bit of fantasy into his work. This one had none, what-so-ever, and it made me a little sick watching some scenes that I won’t go into.
But hey, you’re asking… :-)
I thought I Stand Alone was going to be much more brutal than it was. In the end it was just sort of a pointless mess.
I can never watch the burying alive scene in Kill Bill. Every time I watch it I have to leave the room until Pai Mei comes on. Just can’t watch it.
I also have to be in a really strong frame of mind to watch The Honeymoon Killers. I know she’s a silly old biddy, but the way that old woman dies is just beyond cruel and unusual.
To me the scariest horror film will always be the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Unlike other horror films, which give you room to breathe now and then, this one never lets up. It’s like holding your head in a bucket of water. No, make that blood. Even the scenes where nothing in particular is happening are fraught with malevolence.
The most disturbing films I think I’ve seen are maybe:
The Exorcist
The Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (upon first viewing)
Deliverance
I never thought The Exorcist was that scary. I was always rooting for Mercedes McCambridge.
The Shining
Ringu
The Descent
Salo
Oh yeah, The Descent was insane. Made me want to never go spelunking anywhere…ever.
Justin, the thought of spelunking already gives me the willies.
This is also true. Apologies…hahaha
I just watched “Audition” for the first time last night. I think you can call it just a tad disturbing. . . . deeper, deeper . . . that’s a sick movie right there. Damn! I highly recommend it.
Salo or the 120 days of Sodom is really disturbing. I didn’t even finish it. The film was just utter trash, it’s not the piece of art people make it out to be (or at least, I don’t think so). No wonder Pasolini’s family didn’t want it out.
It’s strange, Salo is like the only film I know of where people truly forget that these are all actors playing roles. It looks and feels so real. I mean, you should be able to say to yourself, “This is chocolate fudge,” but you just can’t. I guess it’s the strength of the taboo itself. But it’s really like being subjected to something that you can’t remember is just a movie. I get the same way. I can’t imagine what it was like on the set, for instance, between the takes. And yet, you know, I’m sure it was like any other movie in many ways.
Listen to OK, man with the plan!
I’ve been screwed up by Memento and Resnais’ films, memory disturbs and inebriates in a horrific sense, the future and the past seem as one, what is true?!
JP, surely Raoul Duke wouldn’t be troubled by a few blank spots in the memory bank.
hmm. just throwing in on the subject of not started new threads on the same subject—— whens the search function coming?
The most disturbing film I’ve ever seen is Salo, in fact I found it to be so disturbing that I would probably never watch it again – it’s my least favorite Passolini film. Salo, although disturbing and disgusting, isn’t scary at all. The scariest movie that I’ve ever seen is The Shining. The first time I saw that film I was about ten years old and it scared the hell out of me. Each time I watch it I feel that same kind of dread that I felt the first time I saw it. I’ve seen a lot of horror films since, and nothing has ever affected me as much as the shining did.
I’d have to agree with most and say that The Exorcist is probably still the scariest movie I have seen, but I think that’s because it had such an influence on me when I first saw it. I’m not sure if most people would agree with this, but I have to say that I think the portion “Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite” in 2001: A Space Odyssey is pretty frightening. Just the thought of being stranded so far out in space, aimlessly floating around and without hope of rescue or survival, with the menacing monolith, is terrifying. I would imagine it’s like being stranded at sea, only intensely magnified.
I remember Jigoku messing me up quite a bit. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen it, so I’m not sure what I would think of it if I saw it again.
Vampyr by Carl Theodor Dreyer creeped the living daylights out of me when I first saw it.
The Exorcist is one film I refuse to own, it deeply disturbed me when I was a kid. From what I can remember though, the most terrifying film I ever saw was The Entity. It might not hold up now but, I’ve never wanted to watch it again to find out.
Seven, by David Fincher. I came out of that movie while still living in Vancouver, and it was as rainy and dark out as it had been throughout most of that whole movie. Intense.
I know it’s a bit trite, but those animal-killing scenes in “Cannibal Holocaust” were not cool. And “Last House on The Left” was hard to watch. The logic of some of the character’s was frustratingly AWOL, man. Why would you blow somebody for that long before doing them a mischief?
… and speaking of blowjobs, that final twist in “Brown Bunny” was gut-wrenching.
Re: Justin
Maybe not for Duke, but balance that with the others and I forget my identity as well! Somewhat troubling to say the least.
Re: Justin
Maybe not for Duke, but balance that with the others and I forget my identity as well! Somewhat troubling to say the least.
Inland Empire.
David
I personally think the horror genre is dead or dying, therefore I never really see a movie that really scared and or disturbed me. One that never fails to scare or give me the chills is The Exorcist. and one that has disturbed me to the point of losing sleep is Irreversible. Other than those I can’t really think of any others. Any suggestions?