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This week’s question isn’t complicated, but it is revealing and will (hopefully) prompt an interesting, fun discussion.
What film did you find so disturbing you could never watch it again?
There are several that come to my mind, but only one that I finished and thought, “Yep, fuck no, that’s never happening to me again. One and done.” I’ll reveal my pick later this week in the comments section after you’ve all had a chance to weigh in.
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I just woke up to find twice as many comments as usual on a new Weekly Question. I seem to have stuck a chord. I'll dive into these as soon as I get a moment. I'm off to go whale watching today with my kids - both of which will probably vomit repeatedly through the experience. Talk about disturbing...
Natural Born Killers. Excellent performances, but too much so for me.
Interesting to see how many commenters land on movies that depict excessive violence. There are many ways to disturb an audience in filmmaking; violence is only one.
IRREVERSIBLE is a film I'm very glad I've seen and will rewatch again in the future, but it's very harrowing. I tend to think films like this deserve witnessing. If 1 out of 5 women can survive rape, I can watch this to at least try to vicariously understand some of the horror of it and its consequences. I feel the same about holocaust films. But I'm probably unique in this regard.
I agree with you on this. I think if a film is well made and important then it outweighs any disturbance it might bring. Those feelings you experience are part of the messaging.
Good question. I think that I may be unusual in my taste in movies, bc so many films listed here are some of my all time favorites: Clockwork orange was intensely brilliantly done. Kubrick’s depiction of this nightmarish story stuck with me sm that I had to go read the book (a good book too, the author’s knack for vernacular language is Shakespeare level imo.) I loved seeing Requiem and Pi (I say I love them, but idk if love is an accurate word. they’re dark as night and spooked the life outta me.) Aronofsky films inspired me to read Hubert Selby Jr too. Lynch and Kubrick are 2 of my favorites; even tho they highlight the dark underworld beneath the fragile veneer of human existence, that’s an inquiry I find compelling and intriguing bc it makes me ask questions. I do have difficulty with Natural Born Killers. although I adore Woodie and Juliette, I fear that Stone’s film can be interpreted as a glorification of gun violence (I would never say don’t watch tho, bc I think examining America’s deadly affair with guns is a worthwhile investigation. But, an examination into the sickness of gun violence must be done with caution to avoid turning the serial killers into f-ing gods or mythical heroes; I fear Stone may be crossing that line? Lars Von Trier can be difficult, but I adore Melancholia, Dogville, Europa. Dancer in the dark was phenomenal, even though it made me sob nonstop after I left the theater. Boys don’t Cry had a similar impact on me; I cried uncontrollably at the ending. I think if a film gets under my skin, makes me think about new ideas, or asks tough questions then imo it’s worth the time and emotional gut punch. Kids was one that’s pretty painful to watch. But I’d still rewatch in order to keep learning and reexamining a hard subject over time. Long story short, Idk if I can say I’d never watch a film again. But I think Gun Violence/Serial Killer movies can sometimes cross a line into bad taste, and I’d say they warrant extreme caution.
Like many others, the first thing that came to mind was Requiem for a Dream. But who knows, I might brave it again. I remember the first time I saw Eraserhead as a college freshman, I thought it was the most horrifying film I'd ever seen. Two years later when I saw it again, I thought it was one of the funniest films I'd ever seen. As we change, so do films.
Got to work with Park Chan-wook. I started thinking, "I want to give this guy a hell of a twist ending." Within a week I decided, "Yeah, I'll never top OLDBOY, so why try?"
I'd see it again, but I wouldn't go out of my way to. It is haunting on so many levels.
I can't imagine what it's like in the editing room for any of these films. We may see it one time, but the editor and director (and other post people) probably see the film 100 times.
Yes, I know it's not scary, I'm the one who's scared of the heartbreak, based on what I've heard from others. Thanks for the nudge. I need to be brave. But there is already so much heartbreak.
I also couldn’t finish The Zone of Interest. It wasn’t that it was gory or difficult to watch but it effectively made you perceive the world through the eyes of Nazis and I found it so upsetting that I was struggling with this for over a day. I decided to stop watching it because of this.
Unfortunately, all of us can be coaxed into committing atrocities or looking the other way when others commit them. There are very few who can hold to values that give them the ability to defy these situations. We have the capacity for evil as well as good within us.
Bad Boy Bubby. I think I’ve watched it twice, the second time to show it to a friend and confirm it is a great movie, but so disturbing and odd. The first 20 minutes are the most claustrophobic I’ve felt watching anything.
Runner up: The Brown Bunny, disturbing and mostly pointless.
I’m a horror fan and I found the movie Cannibal really disturbing. And the Human Centipede movies shouldn’t be movies, such hatred of women I’ve never seen in a film before.
There are films I wouldn't watch again because I thought they were bad. It never occurred to me not to watch one because I found it disturbing. In fact, those are some of the best.
I rewatch this every five years. I turn all the lights off, make sure nobody can bother me, and sink into the horror. I wish it were required viewing in American high schools, but apparently the Holocaust is no longer required knowledge.
Good point. My daughter watched in HS but we haven't watched it together. She said mom, all I have to do is see what and who Trump & MAGA surround themselves with to get it. 🫶🏻
It was so painful to watch and I wish it was required viewing as well. A tremendous film but my heart can't take another viewing. It's etched in there.
The interesting thing is, with repeated viewings, the humanity of the victims begins to usurp the attention given to Amon Goeth and the other Nazis. Not that you should return to it. I just point this out because the film does change as the shock (slightly) diminishes.
I didn't think I could finish TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, but eventually went back and finished it. Now, I think the first half is brilliant, suggestive filmmaking, while the part I originally turned off feels like a cartoon.
THE TIN DRUM is the one that keeps coming to mind. I saw it college, and I don't remember much about it, but it was enough to not want to see it again. That said, I still enjoyed it.
The two that I've been warned of and will never watch are Pasolini's SALO and CANNIBAL HALOCAUST.
Easy: Zodiac. The park murder is one of the worst things, maybe the worst that I’ve ever watched. Hated it then, hate it now, hate that it’s a real thing. Wish I’d never watched.
Grave of the Fireflies was the first film that came to mind. I have a strong stomach but seeing children, even if they're only animated, struggling to survive in Japan at the end of WWII made it an extremely difficult to watch. I visited Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum when I was a child and it deeply impacted me so that undoubtedly colors my view. But Grave of the Fireflies is a genuinely heartbreaking film.
Requiem for a Dream, Irreversible, The Elephant Man, Cronenberg's The Fly... I avoid films that have bleak or atrocious subject matter. I don't see the point. I know people are FUCKED UP behind closed doors, so don't open that door and expose me to humanity at its worst. Irreversible was the film of ths type I ever plan on seeing.
Probably either Martyrs (2008) or Snowtown (2011). I own both and will probably watch them again sometime to appreciate the technique, but man, they're brutal. I can also appreciate Funny Games (1997), but I don't need to sit through that 10-minute shot again.
Lars von Trier's 'The House that Jack Built.' I found it gratuitously disturbing with no real story arc that engaged me enough to watch that trainwreck. I could not finish it. Dillon's preformance was wonderfully creely. But, not enough to keep me watching.
'Dancer in the Dark' and 'Triangle of Sadness' (for different reasons). I couldn't watch the middle section of the latter - except secondhand through the expressions on my husband's face.
I struggled to think of an answer for this. There aren’t many films I would be unprepared to revisit because I found them too disturbing. I think perhaps I tend to avoid films I genuinely think would be too much - I’ve yet to watch Audition, for example. I know very little about it but I just get the sense I might not like it. I’ve never watched Sophie’s Choice because I find the premise horrific.
The most violent reaction I have ever had to a film was in response to the anime sequence detailing Lucy Liu’s back story in Kill Bill. I was pregnant at the time which may have had something to do with it but I’ve never had the urge to revisit it.
I actually went and watched Requiem For A Dream after seeing it come up so often in these comments. I can see why people find it disturbing but I actually thought it was an excellent film with a lot to say. I won’t immediately be jumping in for a second viewing though - it’s a lot! I also watched Kinds Of Kindness last weekend and I would imagine that is also a film people might shy away from. I think its messaging is less clear and it was hard to watch in places but honestly, I can’t stop thinking about it.
I also found Cabin Fever utterly repugnant. I think it is a film with no redeeming features. It was just nasty for nasty’s sake, and not even original. Not sure if I would choose not to watch it again because it was disturbing, or just plain bad!
The original? There's almost no gore in it. I ask because it's my favorite horror of all time, and I tend to think of it as one of the most important films released in the '60s. I would never think to describe it as having no story. In fact, I'd say it's all story, a deep allegory for the state of America, from Vietnam to race to class.
I'm from Pittsburgh, PA... that film is a classic. Black man makes it though the night of Zombies only to get killed by the local cops in the light of day....things haven't changed much since 1968!
Hmmm. My reaction at the time I saw the original in 1960s (in my teens) was horror, shock and, if I recall correctly, it was in black and white, so the ‘gore’ was more imagined. Also, I was high on mescaline, so that must have affected my view!
I just woke up to find twice as many comments as usual on a new Weekly Question. I seem to have stuck a chord. I'll dive into these as soon as I get a moment. I'm off to go whale watching today with my kids - both of which will probably vomit repeatedly through the experience. Talk about disturbing...
Requiem for a Dream was deeply disturbing.
Same with me....definitely one and done.
Seven. I don't even like the number 7 any more ....
but..."what's in the box???"
Yeah, that one was just bad. No redeeming features.
Natural Born Killers. Excellent performances, but too much so for me.
Interesting to see how many commenters land on movies that depict excessive violence. There are many ways to disturb an audience in filmmaking; violence is only one.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Requiem For a Dream both come to mind.
Oh, yes, Requiem For a Dream. Wish I'd not seen it, or that I'd stopped after the first 30 minutes.
Same here
Irreversible. Meaning it's irreversibly imprinted in my brain. IYKYK
IRREVERSIBLE is a film I'm very glad I've seen and will rewatch again in the future, but it's very harrowing. I tend to think films like this deserve witnessing. If 1 out of 5 women can survive rape, I can watch this to at least try to vicariously understand some of the horror of it and its consequences. I feel the same about holocaust films. But I'm probably unique in this regard.
I agree with you on this. I think if a film is well made and important then it outweighs any disturbance it might bring. Those feelings you experience are part of the messaging.
I refuse to recommend it. Another difficult movie with the same actress is Malena.
Oh, yeah, this was not a recommendation. I do remember Malena. I'd rather watch it.
Requiem for a Dream.
Nope.
Good question. I think that I may be unusual in my taste in movies, bc so many films listed here are some of my all time favorites: Clockwork orange was intensely brilliantly done. Kubrick’s depiction of this nightmarish story stuck with me sm that I had to go read the book (a good book too, the author’s knack for vernacular language is Shakespeare level imo.) I loved seeing Requiem and Pi (I say I love them, but idk if love is an accurate word. they’re dark as night and spooked the life outta me.) Aronofsky films inspired me to read Hubert Selby Jr too. Lynch and Kubrick are 2 of my favorites; even tho they highlight the dark underworld beneath the fragile veneer of human existence, that’s an inquiry I find compelling and intriguing bc it makes me ask questions. I do have difficulty with Natural Born Killers. although I adore Woodie and Juliette, I fear that Stone’s film can be interpreted as a glorification of gun violence (I would never say don’t watch tho, bc I think examining America’s deadly affair with guns is a worthwhile investigation. But, an examination into the sickness of gun violence must be done with caution to avoid turning the serial killers into f-ing gods or mythical heroes; I fear Stone may be crossing that line? Lars Von Trier can be difficult, but I adore Melancholia, Dogville, Europa. Dancer in the dark was phenomenal, even though it made me sob nonstop after I left the theater. Boys don’t Cry had a similar impact on me; I cried uncontrollably at the ending. I think if a film gets under my skin, makes me think about new ideas, or asks tough questions then imo it’s worth the time and emotional gut punch. Kids was one that’s pretty painful to watch. But I’d still rewatch in order to keep learning and reexamining a hard subject over time. Long story short, Idk if I can say I’d never watch a film again. But I think Gun Violence/Serial Killer movies can sometimes cross a line into bad taste, and I’d say they warrant extreme caution.
A Clockwork Orange. The ultra-violence haunted me
Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Keitel
Julie Taymor's Titus. After viewing, I couldn't sleep for 2 weeks.
Like many others, the first thing that came to mind was Requiem for a Dream. But who knows, I might brave it again. I remember the first time I saw Eraserhead as a college freshman, I thought it was the most horrifying film I'd ever seen. Two years later when I saw it again, I thought it was one of the funniest films I'd ever seen. As we change, so do films.
I had that exact same reactions to Eraserhead at nearly the same ages!
Yes, I'm quite surprised by how REQUIEM has scarred people. It's dark, but I didn't know it was so widely traumatizing.
Old Boy
Got to work with Park Chan-wook. I started thinking, "I want to give this guy a hell of a twist ending." Within a week I decided, "Yeah, I'll never top OLDBOY, so why try?"
This, ☝️without question. Brilliant but…
Jonathan Glazer's Zone of Interest. As brilliant as it was, I honestly do not think I can put myself through that again.
I can't stop thinking about THE ZONE OF INTEREST. It was...hard. But I think I have to rewatch. I need to understand how it was so perfectly made.
I'd see it again, but I wouldn't go out of my way to. It is haunting on so many levels.
I can't imagine what it's like in the editing room for any of these films. We may see it one time, but the editor and director (and other post people) probably see the film 100 times.
This is an easy one:
Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓, Hotaru no Haka) by Isao Takahata.
NEVER.
Again.
Never.
It's been in my to-watch list for more than a year now and... I'm scared (don't tell me more. But also I may never watch it, haha)
It's not even scary. It's just bleakly sad. And you have to watch it once in your life.
Yes, I know it's not scary, I'm the one who's scared of the heartbreak, based on what I've heard from others. Thanks for the nudge. I need to be brave. But there is already so much heartbreak.
You're right, ma'am. That's the definition of life. So much heartbreak.
I also couldn’t finish The Zone of Interest. It wasn’t that it was gory or difficult to watch but it effectively made you perceive the world through the eyes of Nazis and I found it so upsetting that I was struggling with this for over a day. I decided to stop watching it because of this.
I found it a necessary watch because we are surrounded by people who could easily be coaxed into committing such atrocities.
Unfortunately, all of us can be coaxed into committing atrocities or looking the other way when others commit them. There are very few who can hold to values that give them the ability to defy these situations. We have the capacity for evil as well as good within us.
I think this is true to a point, for whatever it's worth. But that's a conversation for another day...
1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre. No thanks. Don’t need to see it again.
Probably the one I was in 😅 it was very hard to watch.
Tideland.
I was rattled for days. I am normally a huge Terry Gilliam fan, but someone close to him needed to take him aside and tell him it was a very bad idea.
Yes, awful.
Bad Boy Bubby. I think I’ve watched it twice, the second time to show it to a friend and confirm it is a great movie, but so disturbing and odd. The first 20 minutes are the most claustrophobic I’ve felt watching anything.
Runner up: The Brown Bunny, disturbing and mostly pointless.
I'm pretty tolerant of disturbing, but I felt like I needed a long shower after watching 'Requiem for a Dream'. That one spelunks the sewer.
I did watch 'Kids' a bunch of times, but I understand that's beyond most people's tolerances as well.
I turned "Ichi the Killer" off.
I’m a horror fan and I found the movie Cannibal really disturbing. And the Human Centipede movies shouldn’t be movies, such hatred of women I’ve never seen in a film before.
Sophie’s Choice and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I know not only one.
There are films I wouldn't watch again because I thought they were bad. It never occurred to me not to watch one because I found it disturbing. In fact, those are some of the best.
Tusk.
I have a few, but that was the first one that's not in the comments.
Itchi the killer so violent I could barely get through it. Never again!
"Angel Heart", with Robert De Niro and Mickey Rourke, for some reason.
Schindler's List
I rewatch this every five years. I turn all the lights off, make sure nobody can bother me, and sink into the horror. I wish it were required viewing in American high schools, but apparently the Holocaust is no longer required knowledge.
Good point. My daughter watched in HS but we haven't watched it together. She said mom, all I have to do is see what and who Trump & MAGA surround themselves with to get it. 🫶🏻
It was so painful to watch and I wish it was required viewing as well. A tremendous film but my heart can't take another viewing. It's etched in there.
The interesting thing is, with repeated viewings, the humanity of the victims begins to usurp the attention given to Amon Goeth and the other Nazis. Not that you should return to it. I just point this out because the film does change as the shock (slightly) diminishes.
💯
I didn't think I could finish TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, but eventually went back and finished it. Now, I think the first half is brilliant, suggestive filmmaking, while the part I originally turned off feels like a cartoon.
THE TIN DRUM is the one that keeps coming to mind. I saw it college, and I don't remember much about it, but it was enough to not want to see it again. That said, I still enjoyed it.
The two that I've been warned of and will never watch are Pasolini's SALO and CANNIBAL HALOCAUST.
Easy: Zodiac. The park murder is one of the worst things, maybe the worst that I’ve ever watched. Hated it then, hate it now, hate that it’s a real thing. Wish I’d never watched.
Grave of the Fireflies was the first film that came to mind. I have a strong stomach but seeing children, even if they're only animated, struggling to survive in Japan at the end of WWII made it an extremely difficult to watch. I visited Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum when I was a child and it deeply impacted me so that undoubtedly colors my view. But Grave of the Fireflies is a genuinely heartbreaking film.
You're the second or third person in the comments to bring this film up. I've never seen. Now I need to fix that...
Dear Zachary is one I’ll never watch again. Disturbing and so incredibly sad.
Yeah, this is up there for me. I'll never rewatch it.
Requiem for a Dream, Irreversible, The Elephant Man, Cronenberg's The Fly... I avoid films that have bleak or atrocious subject matter. I don't see the point. I know people are FUCKED UP behind closed doors, so don't open that door and expose me to humanity at its worst. Irreversible was the film of ths type I ever plan on seeing.
YOU WON'T REWATCH THE FLY?! I watch that every two years like clockwork...Halloween classic.
Angel Heart freaked me out. I’ve not seen many of the movies mentioned in this thread, but I know what to avoid now. Haha!
I have never seen this film but I’ve heard Come and See is profoundly disturbing.
It is.
Requiem For A Dream caused me to have my first panic attack. Horrible film.
The Edge. Can't do that bear scene ever again. On a lighter note: Message in a Bottle. I'm still pissed.
Snowtown. Fantastically made film. But never again.
Probably either Martyrs (2008) or Snowtown (2011). I own both and will probably watch them again sometime to appreciate the technique, but man, they're brutal. I can also appreciate Funny Games (1997), but I don't need to sit through that 10-minute shot again.
Lars von Trier's 'The House that Jack Built.' I found it gratuitously disturbing with no real story arc that engaged me enough to watch that trainwreck. I could not finish it. Dillon's preformance was wonderfully creely. But, not enough to keep me watching.
'Dancer in the Dark' and 'Triangle of Sadness' (for different reasons). I couldn't watch the middle section of the latter - except secondhand through the expressions on my husband's face.
"Leaving Las Vegas", "Last Exit to Brooklyn", and possibly "Rashoman", though I suspect my adoration of Kurosawa will break me at some point.
I struggled to think of an answer for this. There aren’t many films I would be unprepared to revisit because I found them too disturbing. I think perhaps I tend to avoid films I genuinely think would be too much - I’ve yet to watch Audition, for example. I know very little about it but I just get the sense I might not like it. I’ve never watched Sophie’s Choice because I find the premise horrific.
The most violent reaction I have ever had to a film was in response to the anime sequence detailing Lucy Liu’s back story in Kill Bill. I was pregnant at the time which may have had something to do with it but I’ve never had the urge to revisit it.
I actually went and watched Requiem For A Dream after seeing it come up so often in these comments. I can see why people find it disturbing but I actually thought it was an excellent film with a lot to say. I won’t immediately be jumping in for a second viewing though - it’s a lot! I also watched Kinds Of Kindness last weekend and I would imagine that is also a film people might shy away from. I think its messaging is less clear and it was hard to watch in places but honestly, I can’t stop thinking about it.
It does not leave you...for a long...long...time.
I also found Cabin Fever utterly repugnant. I think it is a film with no redeeming features. It was just nasty for nasty’s sake, and not even original. Not sure if I would choose not to watch it again because it was disturbing, or just plain bad!
Two for the road and who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf
Cats.
Well played.
Hahaaaa
The Ascent (1977) and Quiz Show.
QUIZ SHOW...but why?
Well, it's not disturbing, but it's so anxiety-inducing that while I think it's excellent, I can never watch it again.
Dawn of the Dead
Which version?
2004. Totally creeped me out
I am not writing down my title, because I do not want to make anyone curious enough to check it out. I watched 20 seconds of it and that was enough
Psycho and Frenzy. Two Hitchcock films I can admire, yet never want to see again (as opposed to all of his other films).;
-'Night of the Living Dead'- too gory, no story
The original? There's almost no gore in it. I ask because it's my favorite horror of all time, and I tend to think of it as one of the most important films released in the '60s. I would never think to describe it as having no story. In fact, I'd say it's all story, a deep allegory for the state of America, from Vietnam to race to class.
I'm from Pittsburgh, PA... that film is a classic. Black man makes it though the night of Zombies only to get killed by the local cops in the light of day....things haven't changed much since 1968!
Hmmm. My reaction at the time I saw the original in 1960s (in my teens) was horror, shock and, if I recall correctly, it was in black and white, so the ‘gore’ was more imagined. Also, I was high on mescaline, so that must have affected my view!
I love how you just threw "Also, I was high on mescaline" out there like it *might* have impacted how you experienced the film. Hahahahahahahaha.
The commentary on racism at the very end is profound