“If You Haven’t Seen It, Please… Just Don’t”: 30 Disturbing Movies That Left People Traumatized
Interview With Expert
Given the number of people who excitedly wait for a new chilling movie to come out every time, we have to admit that they are often mediocre at best. Perhaps it’s the result of a low budget, inexperienced writers, predictable twists, or repetitive plots that dampen the whole experience.
But all is not lost, as people in this online thread were recently sharing films that still give hope to the terror connoisseurs at heart. Below, you’ll find a list of the most disturbing movies guaranteed to send some creepy crawlers down your spine.
While you're busy adding these films to your own must-watch list, don't forget to check out a conversation with screenwriter, actor, novelist, and story coach Neil Chase, who kindly agreed to tell us more about this genre and even shared his favorite chilling movie!
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Human centipide.
YossiTheWizard:
For me, it’s just such an absolutely disturbing concept that I can’t believe the person who came up with it doesn’t have issues that need to be addressed.
Requiem for a Dream it's not a horror movie but definitely one of the most disturbing movies I've watched.
conn_r2112:
I remember watching it when I was younger, and at a certain point I legit had to pause the movie and go outside just to hear some birds chirp and see some sunshine.
This movie was a masterpiece but I will never watch it again, it's traumatic. But I respect it as it saved a lot of lives by just telling the consequences of the d**g abuse
Schindler’s List. I will never watch it again.
u/ToBeReadOutLoud:
It’s an extremely good movie and I’m glad I watched it, but once was definitely enough.
Why is this on a list of "could not be made today" movies? if it didn't already exist, someone would absolutely be making it.
Naturally, the first thing Bored Panda was interested in learning about was the film expert's all-time favorite disturbing movie. Chase shares with us that it's Ghost Stories, a 2017 film starring an ensemble cast that includes Martin Freeman, Samuel Bottomley, Deborah Wastell, and Amy Doyle.
For those who aren't familiar with the movie, he kindly summarized it. "The film centers around a paranormal debunker who tries to disprove three separate supernatural encounters. But he discovers they are connected in a chilling way. What stands out to me in this film are a number of moments that play upon the psyche of both the main character and the viewer."
A Clockwork Orange was up there on the list.
VidelSatan13:
I can watch a lot of horror but I watched it once and never again
Grave of the Fireflies (1988).
Foolish_Flame:
That was just such a devastating movie. Must’ve seen it about 20 years ago and I still think about it often. It still gives me goosebumps.
A Serbian Film.
minish4w:
Came here for this. I wouldn’t watch the movie again but, in terms of accomplishing what they set out to accomplish, it was a good movie. I feel bad for even saying that, lol. But man, that’s one that just can’t be unseen. Almost feel terrible for having actually seen it. On that note, if anyone comments about a movie that’s more disturbing than this one… I don’t think I’d want to watch it. And I’ve of gone on horror movie binges that span the globe.
"A great example of this is found in the second story that he is trying to debunk - where he enters the home of a disturbed young man and sees the boy's parents standing in the kitchen," Chase continues telling us.
"They have their backs to him (and the camera) and appear to be standing at the sink, washing dishes. However, when the protagonist takes a second look, he sees that they are completely motionless. The camera lingers on this image, and the longer it does so, the more disturbing the effect gets.
Why aren't these people moving? Why aren't they speaking? Why do they have their backs to us? And, just as the investigator is about to take a step towards them, the boy gets his attention, and it pulls us away from those faceless characters. It's never revealed why they were behaving this way, which only adds to the mystery of that moment."
Hotel Rwanda.
u/becuzurugly:
I own it but have only watched it twice. I cry about it for days on end.
Threads... By far.
SV650rider:
I saw it years ago and still think about it regularly. Sometimes my friend and I need to talk about it to continue the processing.
Saintdavus:
This changed my idea of surviving nuclear war. I’m now glad I live in a high target city and I only hope I get vaporized instantly if or when the time comes.
Threads and The Day After are recognized as the media that most effectively swayed public opinion towards widespread support of nuclear weapon reduction programs. They happened to be published at a time when the media had a predominantly propaganda-driven nationalistic rhetoric.
One Hour Photo. Robin Williams as a psycho. Brilliant but disturbing.
To learn more about the film genre itself, we were curious to find out what elements make a movie truly chilling.
Chase explains, "Disturbing films typically come in two varieties - those that are meant to disturb on a visceral level (such as shock-horror films like Hostel or A Serbian Film) and a smaller class of disturbing films that are meant to affect the viewer on a psychological level (such as the aforementioned Ghost Stories, and even non-horror such as Thirteen). I find psychologically disturbing movies to be most effective, much more so than movies with just gore and shock value."
American History X.
EgonsBrokenTie:
I can remember by buddy showing me the film. He had the video tape rewound and back in the case and I still had my jaw dropped while staring blankly into the turned off TV.
Come and See, written and directed by two men who were on the eastern front during Germany's genocide campaign in Belarus, the campaign that k*lled 27 million Russians. The movie depicts the writer's experience as a teenage soldier. It was made during the time of the Soviet Union and the actions of the Germans depicted in the movie were deemed so intense and disturbing that even the Soviet Union who basically controlled all media at the time asked then to tone it down. The movie uses a real child actor, real animals, and real live ammunition. It could never be made today. It is haunting, disturbing, and based 100% in reality. It shows there are no heroes in war and will destroy any notion one may have that war is ever a good idea. It makes Saving Private Ryan look like Over the Hedge. Edit: The movie is free in its native Russian on Youtube.
Johnny Got his Gun. It took me years to watch it all the way through. Being stuck in your body not being able to move or communicate all the while being conscious to everything around you. It's like being buried alive for years.
According to Chase, the quality of unsettling cinema might be declining because studios aren't willing to take risks with storylines and are often playing it safe.
"To me, it all comes down to the quality of storytelling," he explains. "In recent years, the quality of storytelling in films has gotten worse. It's not that there aren't great storytellers or even great stories available - it's that, increasingly, studios are unwilling to take storytelling risks and are simply playing it safe. It's difficult to create disturbing content of any kind when the filmmakers are mandated to make content to please audiences rather than disturb them. "
Chase finds an interesting paradox in this. "Disturbing content, by its nature, is meant to throw viewers off and unsettle them, not to please them. And yet, most studios these days are trying to make films that will please as wide an audience as they can. These two viewpoints are in direct contradiction. How can you please a wide audience while also creating content that will disturb them? You just can't."
Irreversible.
Only movie I tapped out on the first time then revisited just to get through it. Not only is it gruesome, the atmosphere and camera angles make it really unsettling.
rupa_rockstar:
This film stuck with me for so long, so awful, tragic and beautiful as well. Quite a feat.
Midsommar.
u/woahwoahwoah28:
That was one of the first movies I saw where nausea set in while I was watching it.
As a Swede this was a movie that just felt completely ridiculous. I saw it at the cinema with family and I have never experienced a whole theatre audience laugh so hard during a horror movie. I’ve tried to watch it again because I am a big fan of his other movies but no, I find it ridiculous.
I Spit On Your Grave. The Hills Have Eyes. Both originals and remakes.
I love i spit on your grave! I've tried showing it to friends and they can't get to the point where the revenge starts, which is SO SATISFYING. very few movies have gotten me so invested in a character and wanting them to do terrible things to rapists. Such a good and disturbing movie!
Apocalypse Now.
It had an impact on me like no other. The movie feels so intensely real, and unfortunately it is a very accurate depiction of what happened in the Vietnam War. The way that the movie dehumanises Vietnamese people (which is what the Americans did) just kills me. It’s absolutely horrifying.
It's horrifying, but it is so on purpose and with a clear message behind. The approach to evil of the protagonist through its journey and its steps, is mirrored by the sacrificial ascension of the antagonist posing a lot of questions about what's good and what's bad in ethically challenging scenarios. It's another film that could not be made today but only because it takes a great director and a lot of artistic freedom to commit to a story without falling into the temptation of turning it into a rhetoric, generic war movie.
Not the most disturbing, but the car scene in Hereditary shocked the absolute s**t out of me more than any other horror scene. I’ve watched a lot of horror movies.
bokin8:
It was so unexpected in that moment of the movie for some reason that's why it was so shocking too. That one is really burned into my brain.
SassafrassPudding:
Hereditary stayed with me. It's a long, slow burn until it hits you again, and again. I've watched a whole bunch of "deep dive" video essays to try and work through it, but the effects remain, like a spot on my soul
Eraserhead. You are welcome.
AreYouMeIAmYou:
I saw it for the first time last year and it left a very foul taste in my mouth. Oh, and I'm going to be a dad for the first time this year and the movie is even more unsettling now.
Eden Lake.
SamRaimisOldsDelta88:
I had to scroll far too long for this one. Other movies might be more viscerally upsetting but this one just hurts deep down inside. I’ve seen pretty much all of them. Terrifier, TCM, Martyrs, Cannibal Holocaust…
It’s mean, realistic, and doesn’t give you a payoff or relief in the end.
Glad to see this here. I watched it late at night thinking some brainless horror past time and then got sucked into actual violence with believable characters and unbearable tension with no relief. I've avoided it since.
Funny games. I watch A LOT of horror movies/ thrillers etc. I consider it my favorite genre. That movie got me to my core for some reason. Something felt so real about it.
unoeyedwillie:
I watch a lot of horror and read a lot of true crime, I could not finish this movie. It did feel very real.
Probably Event Horizon.
doomonyou1999:
I still have nightmares related to this film.
Mother….
u/TalkativeTree:
This is the only movie I actively wish I could un-watch.
u/Clom_Clompson:
The only movie I’ve ever seen that truly and I mean truly felt like an unfolding nightmare. I will never watch it again.
I hated this movie with every fiber of my being. I use this movie as a marker about whether or not I will accept someone's recommendations on movies.
Ok, Bone Tomahawk.
Ricemandem:
Only film I've ever watched where I have to actively avoid thinking about it for my own peace of mind
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The 1974 original.
It just feels so grimy, unpleasant and most of all, REAL. It feels realistic and truly disturbing in a way a lot of horror movies don't, to the point where you almost feel like you shouldn't be watching, but you can't look away. The title makes you think you're in for a gorefest, but there's actually very little blood and gore to speak of (Tobe Hooper was shooting for A PG RATING, but the MPAA decided that the subject matter was just too macabre to be anything less than an R). It's all about the atmosphere, the tension, the extremely f****d up imagery in that house, and the erm... eccentric Sawyer family. And it's all made even scarier by Marilyn Burns' uncomfortably realistic terror at everything around her... and much of her fear was genuine.
Yeah, about that... the making of the film was no picnic. Just look up what a nightmare the dinner scene was for everyone involved. Edwin Neal (who played the hitchhiker) said it was the worst experience of his life.... and he'd served in Vietnam.
The hammer scene is incredibly brutal and realistic. It's one of the simplest, but most effective horror movie kills ever.
I found Tusk very disturbing. I love horrors and don’t mind body horror usually, but that one left me with a really uncomfortable feeling.
Brief-Leader-4015:
I'm glad I'm not the only one, everyone laughed at it but I found it very unsettling.
Don't watch it. It is not worth the trauma. It has no purpose and proper storyline except to disgust the viewer. Just a mess of a movie.
The boy in the striped pajamas, it is truly a movie you watch once and never return back to it.
This movie is very well made and horrible at the same time, I have only watched it twice. It makes me cry so much.
I looked the movie up on Netflix back when they sent DVDs out. I decided I wasn't going to be able to either read the book or see the movie. I have yet to change my mind.
I remember having to watch this in school after we read the book still scarred all these years later...
Before he died in 2016, my dad gave me his DVD of this film, and I still haven't been able to watch it.
I watched this. My husband came home, saw it, and just looked at me and said, "Did you just need to cry so you turned this on?" I said "No, I haven't seen it and think it may be an important watch." Yes, it was, but only a once-watch.
It's so devastating especially since it's things that actually happened
HAPPINESS (1998) with Dylan Baker, and Philip Seymour Hoffman (one of the greatest actors ever, imo). It's.......well, uncomfortable to say the least.
HypoxiaJones:
I vomited after this one. I’ve seen some of the more upvoted films on this list. This one did it.
Dylan Baker is really such a great, underrated actor. And the scene where his son is asking why he isn't good enough to abuse was so messed up.
Dear Zachary.
/MacduffFifesNo1Thane:
I only remember the movie when these threads come up. And good thing, because I need to be reminded every so often that the world is cruel.
DomingoLee:
If you haven’t seen it, please... Just don’t.
When I watched this, I had no idea what was coming. I felt like I got kicked in the face. I can watch fiction, because it's just acting. This made me cry myself to sleep.
The Road. I had to just sit and think for a little while after watching it.
Kids.
funkyhomo:
So good and so heartbreaking.
Scrolling through to find this! My dad told me about it and I wanted to watch it until I read the plot-
Martyrs.
Brief-Leader-4015:
I lay awake all night after this film. Nothing has ever bothered me except this.
punky67:
Just watched this a couple of weeks ago. Brutal film. It starts off a really good revenge movie as well, but Jesus, it gets much darker. The relentless torture just becomes downright depressing
There is Something Wrong with Aunt Diane.
It had a very shocking still at the end but it's overall a horribly sad event followed by a family deep in detail.
*Hard Candy*
Good f*****g hell is this an uncomfortable movie.
I've seen this several times. It's one of the most surreal things I've ever seen. Page was 17 at the time, and his portrayal of Hayley was masterful, and raised the movie's bar. We see the situation from Hayley's eyes, but Page's performance gave a LOT of wiggle room. I think that's the thing that makes it so freaky. The situation isn't cut-and-dried. Was Hayley's view the truth? Was Jeff's? Some combination thereof? That movie haunts me, in part because I don't know if the right person won. I don't know how Page feels about the movies he portrayed in his teens, but I think his personal ambiguity certainly enhanced the movie. (For those who don't know, Elliott Page was born female, and had exclusively female roles as a child and teenager).
Give Salò a try.
apb2718:
I only watched this film once but I felt it was just weird until the end where it finally goes over the top.
I was hoping someone would mention this. And then I could just put it all out of my mind again.........
Jaws. Hear me out: I'm a horror fan and find demons and ghosts as scary as the next guy, but at worst I can't sleep for three nights after a particularly disturbing movie. But it's been decades since I watched Jaws and I am still scared to tread water. So it might not have hit the hardest, but for me it's reverberated the longest.
I can't understand exactly why but "saltburn" ignoring all the obviously uncomfortable parts. When that end song starts playing I feel horrible haha.
I found that dreck on (whatever streaming service) and it was listed as a comedy. Somebody needs to be effing FIRED.
Boys don't cry. I was a teenager trying to find some lgbt representation and someone recommended this.
That's how I found and watched Mysterious Skin. It was a tiny trauma and I can still sometimes have nightmares about it.
I dont think its traditionally disturbing , but “The killing of a sacred deer” really left me feeling weird.
The Audition. The look of pre glee on her face as she took the Molly wire to his ankle.
TheHammer987:
I still freak out about this like, 20 years later.
Another top 10 movie for for the same reason as the OP. It's so grotesque but so real at the same time. Far more disturbing to think a crazy person could do that to you than any demonic possession/alien creatures/horrific monsters type gore fest.
Meghan is Missing.
becuzurugly:
It took me three tries to get through the second half of that movie, and then I spent at least a week looking up how to escape being buried alive.
I honestly thought this movie was silly but the scene where he opens the barrel was top notch, lol. From there onward to the last 20 or so minutes of the movie it was really disturbing. Probably the worst possible way to die was being put in a barrel with a dead, decomposing body and then being buried alive. It was memorable.
The movie Splice. One of the last scenes where the “father” has s*x with his “daughter”. It wasn’t a scary movie, just disturbing af!
KatieLily_Simmer:
I’ve had nightmares from this movie for years. I’ve watched much more disturbing content but something about this film just messed me up. I can’t watch anything else with the main actor in it because I only think of this movie.
Phantasm.
There's this French indie film, shot on a shoestring budget, called Man Bites Dog. It's a story of a documentary crew following a serial killer around as he, well, kills people. It has some pretty visceral scenes in it. It's actually a black comedy but I always found it interesting how it sort of predates our modern documentaries and reality tv series that are rather exploitative.
Aniara. It’s about a spaceship that’s ferrying humans from Earth to Mars because Earth has become uninhabitable due to climate change, and right after they start towards Mars they have to swerve to avoid space junk and it ends up disabling the ship. They’re now stuck hurdling away from Mars with no way to maneuver back. I can’t really explain it but it’s so incredibly unnerving and disturbing seeing what these humans devolve into while being lost in space, and it gives a sense of isolation and desperation unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It also gives me a sense of claustrophobia despite the ship being absolutely massive.
I'm cultivating quite a list of "to watch" movies from this list. Thanks!
Cube 2 that films makes me vomit every time I see a single frame from it.
I don’t watch a lot of unsettling movies but The Devil All The Time got me bad. I had to watch it in two sittings.
Very Bad Things - it isn't necessarily a scary movie or one trying to send some weird/dark message. It's just a movie that starts bad and keeps getting worse. As though it wants your hopes to get dashed no matter who you're trying to root for throughout it.
I've seen horror flucks and heard of other disturbing movies In not willing to watch. But for me, this is the one movie I will never return to given the way it keeps getting so... just hopeless.
Bad Boy Bubby, an Australian movie, can't really explain it, But flo...
u/Cattle-dog:
Absolutely unique movie with a horrific beginning and a surprising ending.
House of a thousand corpses.
Not disturbing just very, very stupid. I had to watch it as part of an audience participation thing for my niece's dissertation and I'm furious that I wasted part of my life to this self-indulgent wank. Terrible.
The Strange Thing About the Johnsons.
SirPotatoToes:
I watched it with my dad not knowing what it was about bc we both liked ari aristers’s films… yeah it was awkward
The strange thing about the Johnsons is that they're at the pinnacle of British society despite being universally terrible at everything
The House That Jack Built.
This is an incredible movie. Twisted AF, but the actions of the protagonist are portrayed brutal and real, while still having a fair amount of absolutely pitch black comedy. The pay off at the end was absolutely brilliant. Whenever someone asks me to recommend a movie, this is my go to, and i never tell them anything about it, just that they need to watch it.
Terrified (Aterrados) Argentinian scary movie. I love scary movies but this one had me sleeping with my lights on, and I’m 40 😭.
Snowtown.
This is about some very terrible things done by truly frightening people in Australia. I've not seen the film but I know the real life story and it is a particularly disturbing tale of greed and murderous madness.
Maybe not the worst, but one that comes to mind is Mean Creek. Kids going through an emotionally grueling experience figuring out what to do with another kids body. Those kid actors did an amazing job on that film.
Soft and Quiet. I’m pretty desensitized to a lot, but this movie really had me anxious and cringing for most of it. Not disturbing in a traditional grotesque way but it’s crazy bc it felt rather believable.
Dogtooth. Saw it on a list of WTF films back in the early 2010s, so I gave it a watch. It was really uncomfortable and unsettling to sit through. Without going into too much detail, it's about a controlling father who isolates his wife and three kids from the rest of society on a private estate. It's a Greek foreign film. I recommend it solely based on how bizarre it was; but be warned, you'll feel icky after watching it.
I saw it on a disturbing movie iceberg video on yt. Probably from wendigoon. Just the summary of it is disturbing
An American Crime (2007)
This one hurt my soul truly, its based on a true crime of a single mom who was being paid to watch & care for two sisters (15&16) in 1965. It has Catherine Keener & Elliott Page (formally Ellen Page).
Not gonna go into detail but I only finished it because I felt the victim deserved to have her story told/heard.
The Girl Next Door (2008) is about the same horrific crime. Cannot watch either of these ever again
I found Maniac with Elijah Wood very disturbing.
I watched MEN the other night and that was pretty F*****G DISTURBING, holy f**k.
Saw the last hour of this the other day. Good Lord, what was the writer/director thinking? Must have had a bunch of spare latex birthing scene vagina appliances laying around.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes. It was quite unpleasant. Nothing happy or positive what so ever.
edwpad:
I had a fascination with horror movies out of curiosity when I was younger and this one creeped me out a lot.
Civil War (2024).
I don't know if it was because of the amplified effect in the theater or I'm just a wuss, but I genuinely left the place traumatized and about to throw up. Was 100% worse than all quiet on the western front. I have never seen a modern film pull something off like it. Other than that it was a good movie though, I suggest you watch it.
It has a lot of over the top senseless violence, but I can't take this movie seriously. Like reporters, jumping in the middle shoot-outs like idiots, running next to tanks, and almost never get harmed. It was just ridiculous.
Girl, interrupted. Still haunts me to this day.
What? That’s not even a horror movie! I love that movie. It’s based off of a book. It is really a true story
Fire in The Sky. Based on a TRUE story. Terrifying!
Yeah, sure, a "true story" of an UFO abduction. It's loosely based on the book written by a UFO maniac and known prankster, who had the incentive of creating the hoax to collect tabloid money. Is that a "true story"? Also, the movie is quite terrible and badly written.
How that ever was deemed a Childs movie i dont know!
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Two for me: The Fly (the 80's version) REALLY freaked me out as a teenager. The other is Pan's Labyrinth. Was Ofelia really Princess Moanna? Was she merely escaping the horror in fantasy? The character of Captain Vidal was both very well done and horrible. That one will stick with me forever.
Oh gods, Pan's Labyrinth was so beautifully done, absolutely gut-wrenching. To your question, though, my guess: doesn't matter. No matter how terrifying the monsters in the "fantasy" world were, nothing is as evil as what people do to each other.
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The Wizard of Oz. Had me in tears and running through to the kitchen. Way too scary for an 6 year-old to watch on their own.
Are you sure you aren't thinking of Return to Oz?
Load More Replies... That is the most misleading title I have seen on a bored panda article for quite some time. Good lord.
I watched the movie "Kids" recently. That movie stuck with me and I find myself wondering about it quite often especially the burning question "Did Telly know he was HIV positive?"
I don’t think he did, but knowing wouldn’t have changed any of that little fúckers actions.
Load More Replies... Lovely Bones. Never saw the movie but if it's anything like the book, I'm out
This list has made me remember scenes l really didn't want to 😂 gonna go for a walk in the sun
I have hardly watched any movies on this list but if I were to mention a couple that really upset me (so maybe not "disturbing" in the sense this list intends? But I was upset/angry) was One flew over the cuckoo's nest, and Taming of the Shrew (with Elizabeth Taylor). But just made me so upset at the unfairness that I cried with anger.
Have you read the book of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? It's even more disturbing than the movie, because it's told entirely from Chief Bromden's point of view, and he's very obviously not sane. Or is he?
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I'm surprised Special Bulletin [1983] is not on the list or mentioned. Very similar in vein to The Day After, but in a much more visceral first-person manner. This broadcast badly messed with people, to the point that schools had to have assemblies, and letters were sent home to parents the following week.
An honorable mention should also go to The Mist. Great film, nice Stephen King adaption with some cool scenes, good cast and then right at the very end one of the bleakest sucker punch endings ever. I think there are also a ton of "gore" movies that are disturbing just because they're gross, Nekromantik, the Guinea Pig series, Hostel, the later Saw films (the first was excellent). Xtro, mostly because I saw a trailer for the alien monster attacking someone when I was a kid and it grossed me out. Seeing it later it wasn't as bad but I guess an early horror sticks with you.
I'm surprised We Need To Talk About Kevin isn't on this list. Brilliant movie which I will never watch again. A year or two later I saw the poster for The Perks of Being a Wallflower and couldn't figure out why looking at it upset me. It was just three kids standing in front of a green wall, so why did it disturb me so much? Then it hit me. One of those kids was KEVIN (well, the same actor, obviously).
This list reminded me of two movies: The Good Son, starring Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood, which I found disturbing. I saw it when I was very young and it really scared me. The other movie, which I think was amazing but I won't watch again, is Taxidermia. That movie is just weird
I loved The Good Son. Both boys performed well, but Culkin took it to the next level. I did hold my breath at the climax. I don't know what I would have done.
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Shocked "The Peanut butter Solution" isn't on this list. There is a community of people that were convinced it was a horrible dream from their childhood.
No one I know seems to remember this movie and they look at me like I'm crazy when I try to describe it.
Load More Replies... WHY is the wave (the 3rd wave) not on the list???? A teacher that starts en experiment after students ask how Hitler got to do what he did. It did not scared the hell out of me for days but weeks probably months and acually still does...... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_(1981_film)
I saw that in school. Very frightening.
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Life is Beautiful. I watched it once decades ago and still tear up now remembering.
"Man Behind the Sun"......tells the true story of the horrific medical experiments and tortures that the Imperial Japanese Army did to Chinese & Russian POWs at Unit 731 during WWII. It's estimated that up to 300,000 people were tortured and killed there. One of the most graphic and disturbing films I've ever seen.
Had to scroll down to find this. To me, this is the most horrific film I have ever seen.
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painted bird and the boy with the striped pajama I may watch monsters and demons but I never get over human cruelty
City of god, that movie shook me bad. Had just become a mom and the scene when they shoot the orphan kid i just lost it and started crying.
I don’t think The Talented Mr Ripley belongs on this list, but I watched it when I was 8 and it SCARRED me
Oh, same here. The surprisingly realistic murd3r scenes were a little too scary for me back then... recently rewatched it and got a similar effect, especially when Mr. Ripley hit the guy with the statue head/bu5t - such a messy scene. (Thanks, BP censors).
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*Nekromantik II* & *We Need to Talk About Kevin* come to mind. One I saw decades ago about a girl who goes to stay with her eccentric grandmother, the grandmother dies & the girl doesn't know what to do--can't remember the title. No sex, no gore, just an all-too-believable nightmare.
Water by Deepa Mehta. I have seen it more than 10 years ago and it still resonates in me.
Surprised this isn't there. Ill be honest, it left such a mark on me as a kid when i first saw it I honestly think it has contributed to a reoccuring nightmare. ...... But that would be the TV movie "The Day After" released back in the 80s. I had buried it so much in my brain that I nearly forgot about it until I saw a doc about making the movie. It wouldn't get passed the studio brass today (hell it barely did back in the 80s) ... I just remember this one scene with a mom holding her baby and just thinking of it brings tears to my eyes
Can't believe The Mist is not on this list. I won't spoil it, but anyone who has seen the movie knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Because this movie is a must watch every time you’re considering travelling to the Australian outback. :p
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For me it’s The Impossible, about the 2004 Tsunami. I’ve seen it once and that’s it. I never want to see it again.
For some reason I found Melancholia very disturbing and the final scenes have stayed with me.
I found it oddly comforting, I felt very much at peace at the end of the movie.
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"Safe", with Julianne Moore. No blood, no gore, no violence, but a disturbing downward spiral of person's mental health. [ ................ ] "The Long Good Friday", Bob Hoskins. Cripes, the violence in this movie is brutal. It's like "Deadpool" without any comedy. No heroes, no good guys, no winners.
No one mentioned Pan's Labyrinth. I was so angry at the end of that movie I wanted to hit someone. And I am very non violent.
No mention of "Speak no Evil" so far? You'll find yourself shouting at the protagonists "get the f out you idiots" through the entire movie.
Forgot about that one " Now, imagine she was white " is a fantastic line, such a perfect way to sum up the film....
Load More Replies... "The Fourth Kind" - Horrible and the pseudo-documentary style just made it worse.
Not many people have heard of this film, let alone seen it, I think it works very well...,
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Dogville - unknown masterpiece! A barren soundstage is stylishly utilized to create a minimalist small-town setting in which a mysterious woman named Grace (Nicole Kidman) hides from the criminals who pursue her. The town is two-faced and offers to harbor Grace as long as she can make it worth their effort, so Grace works hard under the employ of various townspeople to win their favor. Tensions flare, however, and Grace's status as a helpless outsider provokes vicious contempt and abuse from the citizens of Dogville.
Love the film and the plottwist at the end.. it was intense and disturbing.
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I'm surprised the Saw series isn't on here. I know a lot of people love the series but for me it's a hard hell nope.
two movies, by the same guy. raising the red lantern and to live. saw them both when i was 14 and it scarred me
It was on the original list, however, it's now shorter, but it was on there....
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I'm surprised The Last King of Scotland isn't on here. That was f***ing brutal to watch! Also Children of Men really did a number on me.
A Serbian Film is by far the best/worst disturbing film on the list. I'm a real fan of disturbing movies and I haven't seen anything else come close. But a close second was a movie called No Child of Mine. You can watch it on YouTube but I'm not sure if they cut scenes (I can't imagine they didn't). I just downloaded it. It's a 90s movie about a 10-year-old child who is r@ped and abused by her father and he ends up pimping her out to his friends. Her mother does nothing to help. She gets taken away only to be abused in the foster system by both a social worker and a foster parent. She becomes a prostitute just so she can save money. It's pretty graphic for a cable movie. A good story about how horrible the system is and how easy kids slip through the cracks. A movie like that would never be made today. The closest you'd find to it is probably Bastard Out of Carolina, with Jena Malone, who should've gotten an Oscar for that role.
Blood Sucking Freaks. I think I saw maybe 20 minutes of it before I walked out. Only movie I've ever walked out of.
The super-cheesy effects kept me grounded enough to finish that one.
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Vanilla Sky disturbed me, but after reading a few of the plot lines foe the films in this list, I appear to be a bit of a lightweight.
I am a total wuss, I've only seen one of the films on this list, and I will be sure to avoid all the others. I approve of historical films because we need to know, and films are the way to reach the most people. But I don't see it as entertainment
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How did 'Lolly Madonna' aka ''The Lolly Madonna Wars' escape this list? That actress had problems after the filming and I may have had a few myself..
I have one to top them all: Men Behind the Sun (1988). On the subject of human experiments on Chinese civilians by the Japanese Unit 731. Historical, accurate and very real. The director used corpses to get a realistic effect on body horror.
Peeping Tom, vilified at release now viewed as a classic Once Were Warriors, brutal shocking, tragic but important to watch once
Terrified (NOT Terrifier, with the annoying clown). Although I don't usually watch foreign films (my eyes have trouble focusing on screen and Close Caption at the same time) and this one was filmed in Argentina, I watched the trailer and decided to give it a try. Whoa...some really weird things going on there! I'm a HUGE horror fan, but there were things in this film I've never seen before! Just...see it and you'll see what I mean...
The Thing, the original one, where the dog turns into the alien is the only movie moment that gave me a jumpscare but i love it, the practical effects are amazing wish they didnt go over them with cgi in the remake
" Switchblade Romance " ( " High Tension " ), " Incident In A Ghostland " , " Landmine Goes Click " - very enjoyable films, however, can't watch more than once....
Brazilia (1985), but I had read "1984" some time before that so it kinda saved me ftom being more "traumatized".
Is that the Terry Gilliam film starring Jonathan Pryce? It's known as "Brazil" in my country. Michael Palin is creepy as hell in that.
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The Girl Next Door. I had no idea what it was based on and the true story that inspired it is even WORSE. Made me cry watching it and I'll never see it or any film that's remotely like it again. (TW: child torture/r@pe/k*lling)
I can't remember the name of it, but I remember watching a movie that used a ton of weird audio and visuals that made me physically ill. This was back around 2005 but it might have been made in the 90's. It was a jumbled mess of nonlinear scenes with nonsensical visuals/static/audio. I just tried to find it but I couldn't 🫤
A disturbing film that I highly recommend everyone watch is "The Endless." It's not disturbing like the gory ones on this list, but it lingers in your mind forever afterwards. Or maybe it's just me, but the entire premise is mind-bending in a way that makes it hard to sleep if you dwell on it too long.
Not as bad as A Serbian film but Saviour with Dennis Quaid. Can't unwatch that
...the terrible comedy film with Emma Thompson and Jeff Goldblum?
Load More Replies... The Children under the stairs, and Voices with Ryan Renyolds, for sure.
Not a horror, but Bridge to Teribithia is very shocking and depressing. Did not expect that when I first saw it. May rewatch it eventually, but not anytime soon...
Kinda surprised no one mentioned Men Behind the Sun. Fake documentary style film about the events of the *real* Japanese Unit 731 who performed truly horrific biological experiments on Chinese prisoners in WW2. Some really nasty gore effects made worse because they apparently performed similar experiments for real.
Suic*de Club. Japanese film. messed me up bad. cannot rewatch. the women tied in bags by the gangs alone just made me sick....
I forgot about that movie! It’s all a metaphor about isolation and technology
Load More Replies... Quo Vadis, Aida? It was film about the events of the Srebrenica massacre. Nothing explicit, just incredibly sad.
I would add 'Perfect blue' here. It is actually a good anime horror movie. Great storyline and actually watchable amount of horror. Not like some movies here which are plain disgusting. Also I will recommend analog horror on yt for y'all. Especially Mandela Catalogue
What part of "this s**t is disturbing" equals cancelling? As a former (ancient) art student, l've watched A LOT of cinema, even got my credentials as investigator to get in the filmoteque, and l still wish l could unsee Saló, so what? Get off your very high horse before you fall off and hurt that righteous neck.
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How that ever was deemed a Childs movie i dont know!
Load More Replies... Two for me: The Fly (the 80's version) REALLY freaked me out as a teenager. The other is Pan's Labyrinth. Was Ofelia really Princess Moanna? Was she merely escaping the horror in fantasy? The character of Captain Vidal was both very well done and horrible. That one will stick with me forever.
Oh gods, Pan's Labyrinth was so beautifully done, absolutely gut-wrenching. To your question, though, my guess: doesn't matter. No matter how terrifying the monsters in the "fantasy" world were, nothing is as evil as what people do to each other.
Load More Replies... The Wizard of Oz. Had me in tears and running through to the kitchen. Way too scary for an 6 year-old to watch on their own.
Are you sure you aren't thinking of Return to Oz?
Load More Replies... That is the most misleading title I have seen on a bored panda article for quite some time. Good lord.
I watched the movie "Kids" recently. That movie stuck with me and I find myself wondering about it quite often especially the burning question "Did Telly know he was HIV positive?"
I don’t think he did, but knowing wouldn’t have changed any of that little fúckers actions.
Load More Replies... Lovely Bones. Never saw the movie but if it's anything like the book, I'm out
This list has made me remember scenes l really didn't want to 😂 gonna go for a walk in the sun
I have hardly watched any movies on this list but if I were to mention a couple that really upset me (so maybe not "disturbing" in the sense this list intends? But I was upset/angry) was One flew over the cuckoo's nest, and Taming of the Shrew (with Elizabeth Taylor). But just made me so upset at the unfairness that I cried with anger.
Have you read the book of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? It's even more disturbing than the movie, because it's told entirely from Chief Bromden's point of view, and he's very obviously not sane. Or is he?
Load More Replies... I'm surprised Special Bulletin [1983] is not on the list or mentioned. Very similar in vein to The Day After, but in a much more visceral first-person manner. This broadcast badly messed with people, to the point that schools had to have assemblies, and letters were sent home to parents the following week.
An honorable mention should also go to The Mist. Great film, nice Stephen King adaption with some cool scenes, good cast and then right at the very end one of the bleakest sucker punch endings ever. I think there are also a ton of "gore" movies that are disturbing just because they're gross, Nekromantik, the Guinea Pig series, Hostel, the later Saw films (the first was excellent). Xtro, mostly because I saw a trailer for the alien monster attacking someone when I was a kid and it grossed me out. Seeing it later it wasn't as bad but I guess an early horror sticks with you.
I'm surprised We Need To Talk About Kevin isn't on this list. Brilliant movie which I will never watch again. A year or two later I saw the poster for The Perks of Being a Wallflower and couldn't figure out why looking at it upset me. It was just three kids standing in front of a green wall, so why did it disturb me so much? Then it hit me. One of those kids was KEVIN (well, the same actor, obviously).
This list reminded me of two movies: The Good Son, starring Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood, which I found disturbing. I saw it when I was very young and it really scared me. The other movie, which I think was amazing but I won't watch again, is Taxidermia. That movie is just weird
I loved The Good Son. Both boys performed well, but Culkin took it to the next level. I did hold my breath at the climax. I don't know what I would have done.
Load More Replies... Shocked "The Peanut butter Solution" isn't on this list. There is a community of people that were convinced it was a horrible dream from their childhood.
No one I know seems to remember this movie and they look at me like I'm crazy when I try to describe it.
Load More Replies... WHY is the wave (the 3rd wave) not on the list???? A teacher that starts en experiment after students ask how Hitler got to do what he did. It did not scared the hell out of me for days but weeks probably months and acually still does...... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wave_(1981_film)
I saw that in school. Very frightening.
Load More Replies... Life is Beautiful. I watched it once decades ago and still tear up now remembering.
"Man Behind the Sun"......tells the true story of the horrific medical experiments and tortures that the Imperial Japanese Army did to Chinese & Russian POWs at Unit 731 during WWII. It's estimated that up to 300,000 people were tortured and killed there. One of the most graphic and disturbing films I've ever seen.
Had to scroll down to find this. To me, this is the most horrific film I have ever seen.
Load More Replies... painted bird and the boy with the striped pajama I may watch monsters and demons but I never get over human cruelty
City of god, that movie shook me bad. Had just become a mom and the scene when they shoot the orphan kid i just lost it and started crying.
I don’t think The Talented Mr Ripley belongs on this list, but I watched it when I was 8 and it SCARRED me
Oh, same here. The surprisingly realistic murd3r scenes were a little too scary for me back then... recently rewatched it and got a similar effect, especially when Mr. Ripley hit the guy with the statue head/bu5t - such a messy scene. (Thanks, BP censors).
Load More Replies... *Nekromantik II* & *We Need to Talk About Kevin* come to mind. One I saw decades ago about a girl who goes to stay with her eccentric grandmother, the grandmother dies & the girl doesn't know what to do--can't remember the title. No sex, no gore, just an all-too-believable nightmare.
Water by Deepa Mehta. I have seen it more than 10 years ago and it still resonates in me.
Surprised this isn't there. Ill be honest, it left such a mark on me as a kid when i first saw it I honestly think it has contributed to a reoccuring nightmare. ...... But that would be the TV movie "The Day After" released back in the 80s. I had buried it so much in my brain that I nearly forgot about it until I saw a doc about making the movie. It wouldn't get passed the studio brass today (hell it barely did back in the 80s) ... I just remember this one scene with a mom holding her baby and just thinking of it brings tears to my eyes
Can't believe The Mist is not on this list. I won't spoil it, but anyone who has seen the movie knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Because this movie is a must watch every time you’re considering travelling to the Australian outback. :p
Load More Replies... For me it’s The Impossible, about the 2004 Tsunami. I’ve seen it once and that’s it. I never want to see it again.
For some reason I found Melancholia very disturbing and the final scenes have stayed with me.
I found it oddly comforting, I felt very much at peace at the end of the movie.
Load More Replies... "Safe", with Julianne Moore. No blood, no gore, no violence, but a disturbing downward spiral of person's mental health. [ ................ ] "The Long Good Friday", Bob Hoskins. Cripes, the violence in this movie is brutal. It's like "Deadpool" without any comedy. No heroes, no good guys, no winners.
No one mentioned Pan's Labyrinth. I was so angry at the end of that movie I wanted to hit someone. And I am very non violent.
No mention of "Speak no Evil" so far? You'll find yourself shouting at the protagonists "get the f out you idiots" through the entire movie.
Forgot about that one " Now, imagine she was white " is a fantastic line, such a perfect way to sum up the film....
Load More Replies... "The Fourth Kind" - Horrible and the pseudo-documentary style just made it worse.
Not many people have heard of this film, let alone seen it, I think it works very well...,
Load More Replies... Dogville - unknown masterpiece! A barren soundstage is stylishly utilized to create a minimalist small-town setting in which a mysterious woman named Grace (Nicole Kidman) hides from the criminals who pursue her. The town is two-faced and offers to harbor Grace as long as she can make it worth their effort, so Grace works hard under the employ of various townspeople to win their favor. Tensions flare, however, and Grace's status as a helpless outsider provokes vicious contempt and abuse from the citizens of Dogville.
Love the film and the plottwist at the end.. it was intense and disturbing.
Load More Replies... I'm surprised the Saw series isn't on here. I know a lot of people love the series but for me it's a hard hell nope.
two movies, by the same guy. raising the red lantern and to live. saw them both when i was 14 and it scarred me
It was on the original list, however, it's now shorter, but it was on there....
Load More Replies... I'm surprised The Last King of Scotland isn't on here. That was f***ing brutal to watch! Also Children of Men really did a number on me.
A Serbian Film is by far the best/worst disturbing film on the list. I'm a real fan of disturbing movies and I haven't seen anything else come close. But a close second was a movie called No Child of Mine. You can watch it on YouTube but I'm not sure if they cut scenes (I can't imagine they didn't). I just downloaded it. It's a 90s movie about a 10-year-old child who is r@ped and abused by her father and he ends up pimping her out to his friends. Her mother does nothing to help. She gets taken away only to be abused in the foster system by both a social worker and a foster parent. She becomes a prostitute just so she can save money. It's pretty graphic for a cable movie. A good story about how horrible the system is and how easy kids slip through the cracks. A movie like that would never be made today. The closest you'd find to it is probably Bastard Out of Carolina, with Jena Malone, who should've gotten an Oscar for that role.
Blood Sucking Freaks. I think I saw maybe 20 minutes of it before I walked out. Only movie I've ever walked out of.
The super-cheesy effects kept me grounded enough to finish that one.
Load More Replies... Vanilla Sky disturbed me, but after reading a few of the plot lines foe the films in this list, I appear to be a bit of a lightweight.
I am a total wuss, I've only seen one of the films on this list, and I will be sure to avoid all the others. I approve of historical films because we need to know, and films are the way to reach the most people. But I don't see it as entertainment
Load More Replies... How did 'Lolly Madonna' aka ''The Lolly Madonna Wars' escape this list? That actress had problems after the filming and I may have had a few myself..
I have one to top them all: Men Behind the Sun (1988). On the subject of human experiments on Chinese civilians by the Japanese Unit 731. Historical, accurate and very real. The director used corpses to get a realistic effect on body horror.
Peeping Tom, vilified at release now viewed as a classic Once Were Warriors, brutal shocking, tragic but important to watch once
Terrified (NOT Terrifier, with the annoying clown). Although I don't usually watch foreign films (my eyes have trouble focusing on screen and Close Caption at the same time) and this one was filmed in Argentina, I watched the trailer and decided to give it a try. Whoa...some really weird things going on there! I'm a HUGE horror fan, but there were things in this film I've never seen before! Just...see it and you'll see what I mean...
The Thing, the original one, where the dog turns into the alien is the only movie moment that gave me a jumpscare but i love it, the practical effects are amazing wish they didnt go over them with cgi in the remake
" Switchblade Romance " ( " High Tension " ), " Incident In A Ghostland " , " Landmine Goes Click " - very enjoyable films, however, can't watch more than once....
Brazilia (1985), but I had read "1984" some time before that so it kinda saved me ftom being more "traumatized".
Is that the Terry Gilliam film starring Jonathan Pryce? It's known as "Brazil" in my country. Michael Palin is creepy as hell in that.
Load More Replies... The Girl Next Door. I had no idea what it was based on and the true story that inspired it is even WORSE. Made me cry watching it and I'll never see it or any film that's remotely like it again. (TW: child torture/r@pe/k*lling)
I can't remember the name of it, but I remember watching a movie that used a ton of weird audio and visuals that made me physically ill. This was back around 2005 but it might have been made in the 90's. It was a jumbled mess of nonlinear scenes with nonsensical visuals/static/audio. I just tried to find it but I couldn't 🫤
A disturbing film that I highly recommend everyone watch is "The Endless." It's not disturbing like the gory ones on this list, but it lingers in your mind forever afterwards. Or maybe it's just me, but the entire premise is mind-bending in a way that makes it hard to sleep if you dwell on it too long.
Not as bad as A Serbian film but Saviour with Dennis Quaid. Can't unwatch that
...the terrible comedy film with Emma Thompson and Jeff Goldblum?
Load More Replies... The Children under the stairs, and Voices with Ryan Renyolds, for sure.
Not a horror, but Bridge to Teribithia is very shocking and depressing. Did not expect that when I first saw it. May rewatch it eventually, but not anytime soon...
Kinda surprised no one mentioned Men Behind the Sun. Fake documentary style film about the events of the *real* Japanese Unit 731 who performed truly horrific biological experiments on Chinese prisoners in WW2. Some really nasty gore effects made worse because they apparently performed similar experiments for real.
Suic*de Club. Japanese film. messed me up bad. cannot rewatch. the women tied in bags by the gangs alone just made me sick....
I forgot about that movie! It’s all a metaphor about isolation and technology
Load More Replies... Quo Vadis, Aida? It was film about the events of the Srebrenica massacre. Nothing explicit, just incredibly sad.
I would add 'Perfect blue' here. It is actually a good anime horror movie. Great storyline and actually watchable amount of horror. Not like some movies here which are plain disgusting. Also I will recommend analog horror on yt for y'all. Especially Mandela Catalogue
What part of "this s**t is disturbing" equals cancelling? As a former (ancient) art student, l've watched A LOT of cinema, even got my credentials as investigator to get in the filmoteque, and l still wish l could unsee Saló, so what? Get off your very high horse before you fall off and hurt that righteous neck.
Load More Replies...