Most Disturbing Movies/TV Shows/Books

[sealfeathers]

^i just tried to watch it, but i had to quit at minute 17 (when that dog gets killed) i just can't go on. i can't understand how people can treat animals like that
are there any more scenes like that or is it save for me to watch the rest? it sounded really interesting, i just can't deal with graphic scenes like that.

Ah, if you can't deal with graphic scenes then best to stay away. Earthlings gets progressively worse, I found. There's a scene where you see an animal skinned while it's still alive. It's a good documentary to have watched, but no fun at all to watch.

 

[Squizree]

What about plays and theatre? Anyone here into drama?

I went to a performance of Edward Bond's "Saved" last week and it's the most depressing and disturbing thing I've watched. It really says something about social ignorance and turning the blind eye to society's most serious problem. It's not a long play so I recommend everyone reads it. But it's NOT a play for entertainment, it's a play for thought. And it's done in the most ruthless way possible.

 

[lostgirl]

Oh I LOVE Poe's work. He's such a genuis. He never fails to create meaningful suspense and engaging material. I highly recommend his short stories collection. Especially The Pit and the Pendulum and The Black Cat. Both disturbing in their own Gothic ways.

Also The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is quite creepy, in a lunacy sort of way

I love Edgar Allen Poe's work too but in my above post I was actually referring to singer/songwriter Poe (aka Anne Decatur Danielewski) who wrote an album called Haunted which is sort of a (disturbing) musical companion to her brother Daniel's (disturbing) novel The House of Leaves, which owes some inspiration to Edgar Allen Poe as well!

I love Turn of the Screw also. It's one of those books where you can't quite put your finger on what's scary but it is unsettling nonetheless.

 

[ruslana rules]

On HBO they showed a documentary "Something's Wrong with Aunt Diane". True story of a "responsible" mom who gets tanked up, kills a mess of her kids & other kids & killed many people who just got in her way. She was having a bad day, maybe....? To top it all off, at the end they show you actual carnage - very graphic footage. no one speculates as to the reason why - just the facts. It was disturbing. (This happened on a Long Island NY freeway if this rings a bell with anyone.)

 

[sobriquet87]

^That sounds terrible. I've never heard of that case.

A book I would add is "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. The book is actually really good, but there's a r*pe scene that occurs near the end of the story and the author goes into too much detail. It's extremely disturbing! I think she definitely went a little overboard.

 

[lostgirl]

^That sounds terrible. I've never heard of that case.

A book I would add is "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. The book is actually really good, but there's a r*pe scene that occurs near the end of the story and the author goes into too much detail. It's extremely disturbing! I think she definitely went a little overboard.

I disagree. Yes, the scene is disturbing but r*pe is very disturbing and Gabaldon depicted it as such. In that sense I don't think it was overboard. I think many people find it more shocking because it's a man being raped rather than a woman. We're used to reading about men r*ping women but we're less used to seeing male r*pe victims- especially in romance/fantasy/historical fiction.

*Minor spoilers* Also, later in the series that character's experience as a r*pe survivor gives him a sensitivity to the crime that's necessary for the development of several character relationships.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Irreverible - Gasper Noe
American Psycho - the book, Brett Easton Ellis
Birdman, book, Mo Hayder
Mystic River, book and film - can't stand when children face violence.
Tourniquet - video, Marilyn Manson
Kids - Larry Clark
The Piano Teacher - Haneke
Dancer in the Dark - LVT, mosting as it was so utterly depressing!
Requiem for a Dream - Aronofsky - as above
Wolf Creek, Hostel, Eden Lake, The Devil's Rejects - any of the so-called, and perhaps aptly named, torture p*rn I've inadvertently watched due to word of mouth or late night TV.
Passion of the Christ - bizarro!

Basically, I find nihilism & violence with no recourse more disturbing than anything supernatural; in other words, things that could "really" happen, where a sense of meaninglessness and human depravity pervade the work of art. Generally speaking, though, visuals (films/tv) are much more disturbing to me than reading plays, books, poems or listening to songs.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

i forgot Calvaire! also I Spit on your Grave, though the revenge is very satisfying in that film.

Also i think The Treatment is perhaps the worst Mo Hayder book.

And also a very good but freaky Japanese horror book I'd actually recommend highly!!! It's called, simply, OUT.

I found the "forbidden room" scenes in the Japanses horror film Kairo quite freaky, in an existential way. (The film was horribly remade by American studios, named "Pulse" - but see the original).

 

[Psylocke]

I read Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso a while ago. It's about a 7-year old girl starting a relationship with a 50-year old guy. The whole story is autobiographical and it's very disturbing to read, especially the parts where they have sex. It's also one of the best books I've ever read, though. It's completely fascinating and freaky at the same time.

 

[sobriquet87]

I disagree. Yes, the scene is disturbing but r*pe is very disturbing and Gabaldon depicted it as such. In that sense I don't think it was overboard. I think many people find it more shocking because it's a man being raped rather than a woman. We're used to reading about men r*ping women but we're less used to seeing male r*pe victims- especially in romance/fantasy/historical fiction.

*Minor spoilers* Also, later in the series that character's experience as a r*pe survivor gives him a sensitivity to the crime that's necessary for the development of several character relationships.

I've read the whole series, so I understand what you mean about the experience enhancing his character development. I thought the author did a great job of depicting just how horrific r*pe can be, but the amount of detail just shocked me. Like you said, it's usually women, so for that to happen to that particularly character took me off guard and the violence and brutality of it was just sickening. It's highly disturbing and I under why the author did it, but that doesn't make it easy for me to read.

 

[lostgirl]

I've read the whole series, so I understand what you mean about the experience enhancing his character development. I thought the author did a great job of depicting just how horrific r*pe can be, but the amount of detail just shocked me. Like you said, it's usually women, so for that to happen to that particularly character took me off guard and the violence and brutality of it was just sickening. It's highly disturbing and I under why the author did it, but that doesn't make it easy for me to read.

I get what you're saying and for the most part I agree with it. I suppose I'm comparing it to the r*pe convention that's often used in older romance novels in which the hero rapes the heroine who ends up sort of enjoying it (it's discussed here). I've always found that far more disturbing! I didn't enjoy reading about the r*pe in Outlander. We weren't supposed to enjoy reading about it and the author made sure we wouldn't! I felt like the character was horribly violated, which he was.

 

[sobriquet87]

^Thanks for the link that was an interesting read. And I agree it is far more disturbing for the victim to end up "enjoying it." One thing Gabaldon does well is depicts sexual assault very realistically. The characters that experience it don't just get over it immediately, it's something they deal with for years.

 

[Toccata]

TAXIDERMIA
Gyorgy Palfi's grotesque tale of three generations of men,
including an obese speed eater, an embalmer of gigantic
cats, and a man who shoots fire out of his penis.

[imdb]

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

just watched Sleeping Beauty (not the Disney Movie)
Haunted by Chuck Palahnuick- I had to skip multiple pages
Room by Emma Donoghue- he story was just so captivating and sad
Clockwork Orange- scarring movie lol
Funny Games- Realistic films creep me out the most
Hills Have Eyes 1- the r*pe scene, and I just happened to be in New Mexico while watching it


I agree with I Spit on Your Grave... dunno why I watched it alone
Requiem For A Dream's final scenes got me

 

[TREVOFASHIONISTO]

Also does Dogtooth not look extremely disturbing... I want to watch it, but I don't think I can put myself through that

 

[valeryblack]

Requiem for a dream ... I found it VERY disturbing... to the point that I cannot hear the theme song of hte movie without immediately freaking out.

 

[Aqua Tofana]

I thought I've seen some disturbing films.. and then I saw Mysterious Skin. Dude... I don't even.
Other disturbing films:
The piano teacher (French)
Quills
Control
The Housemaid (Korean)
Welcome to the dollhouse

 

[MorganJade]

I recently stumbled upon a movie called 'Megan is Missing' , oh wow the ending just caught me completely off guard, the last 20 minutes shook me up.

horrornews.net

 

[newprincesita]

Not quite disturbing but entertaining...I liked MARCHLANDS a british serie about a dead girl and a house haunted by her ghost.

It tells the story of the people who live in a house where a dead girl lived, from the perspective of the family of the girl in the late sixties, then some people who lived in the house in the eighties, and then a young couple (wife preggers) in actual time.

Not gory, but strange and entertaining.


Good recomendations allover, I´m going to get some of those movies....but I need my guy around when I watch creepy movies. Then I have nightmares and he tells me...why do you watch those things? It´s like rollercoasters, good scary.

 

[coco vaughn]

Gummo(1997., by Harmony Korine) is rich in disturbing and disgusting scenes still quite interesting.

Lonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.

lauradifrancesco.blogspot.com

some others, maybe mentioned before: Antichrist (by Lars von Trier), The War Zone (by Tim Roth), Poughkeepsie Tapes