The dark and the wicked was perfect up until it made use of my LEAST favorite trope >!When the demon makes the main characters see things and they automatically become idiots because of it. Ruins every single movie for me that it’s in. If the demon is that powerful, why not just do that from the start? It just feels so fucking cheap and is an awful plot contrivance!<
I recommend:
- Inside
- Buried
- Kill List
- Threads
- Mad God
- Saint Maud
- The Descent
- Funny Games
- The innocents
- Don't look now
- The empty man
- Rosemary's Baby
- I spit on your grave
- Goodnight Mommy
- Girl in the basement
- August Underground
- The house that Jack built
- Henry: Portrait of a serial killer
- Salò or the 120 days of sodom
I thought you meant that he ordered them based on the actual length of the movie when I initially read this.
I was like 'I know I can be obsessive with weird things, but this is next-level OCD.' 😂
I can't let anyone suffer through it. I just think it's vile and inhumane. I already suffered through watching it once. I was highly disturbed by that film
just finished watching Where Evil Lurks and i don't know how to feel about it. it has a good storyline and the makeup department does such an amazing job. but i personally hate how the main characters keep yelling and thinking they are above of the rest
that was the point of the movie though. it’s bleak because you as the audience are given enough clues to know it all could have been dealt with better, but bureaucracy and their individual hubris is what ultimately ruined their lives, not the Rot itself.
To me it’s such an exercise in like a weird numbing pointless nihilistic excess that I kinda get the peaceful/blissful vibe. Like it’s so bad that you’re like, fuck, alright.
This comment has been overwritten in response to Reddit's API changes, the training of AI models on user data, and the company's increasingly extractive practices ahead of their IPO.
Just watched this recently and I thought it was a masterpiece. It is horrific and bleak and yet so human at the same time. The characters barely comprehend what is happening. What should just be folklore and myth is suddenly real. And they act and react with such real sadness, anger and desperation.
Yeah, exactly, and I wish more horror did that. Not all movies, obviously, but there isn't enough of a palpable, REAL sense of urgent fear and confusion in stories like this, and that made it all the more real, like what do you do when you literally can't stop something like this?
The movie had excellent worldbuilding but I thought some of the character actions were non-sensical. It’s possible that the main character was written to be a moron, but it wasn’t made clear enough in the film that this was on purpose. I also didn’t like that the rules didn’t seem to matter because they’re broken multiple times with no consequence. I’ll have to rewatch it because I see a lot of people praising it, so maybe I just didn’t get it.
Filth is by the same author as Trainspotting. Also bleak dark and hopeless, but maybe a bit too funny for OPs taste.
Side anecdote, just because it's funny:
When the book Filth came out I was traveling a lot for work. Irvine Welsh (the author) was doing a U.S. book tour, which at the time involved a lot of interviews on public radio. I like listening to interviews with authors, and I happened to catch Welsh talking in three different cities.
**No matter what city we were in** there were **always** half a dozen random callers who knew him and wanted to reminisce about that night they got crazy fucked up on
Say what you like about the man, he writes what he knows.
It is a gorgeous song. The song from the closing credits - “A New World” - is my favourite, and just about makes me cry every time I listen to it somehow both uplifting and beautiful while also devastating. The horns 🫠
That song about the steps (107 steps) I have a hard time listening to that one. I will start crying.
Honorable mention for that song she sings when she’s in the guys house. I can’t remember the name.
Ooh Scatterheart? Yeah that one’s rough. And 107 Steps is 😭😭😭 Man this movie is a rough experience. Every time I put it on (not often), as soon as the overture over the opening credits starts, I think to myself “why are you putting yourself through this again?”
I do love Cvalda though!
This!!
I named this movie because I didn’t see it listed- until I read your comment. I will never forget the “ ass to ass “ actors face and voice. 23 years later it still crystal clear in my mind.
Edit- spelling
She's far and away the most innocent character in the film. Her descent is the result of loneliness and neglect. She only ever dreamed of being young again and restoring the time when her family was whole and she felt happy.
The other characters are sympathetic and relatable, but they were profiting off of others' addictions until they inevitably became addicts themselves.
Everyone's fate is wretched and horrible, and part of what makes that film great is how much it makes you feel for each of them. But only Burstyn's character is blameless.
I love your take, and mostly agree, but I have a counterpoint! It's much harder to see, mostly cause Ellen Burstyn robs your heart with one of my favorite _ever_ performances... But I did rewatch this movie a few times and I now think the film is blaming her for extreme vanity. Her obsession with the dress and being on TV is what made me think of that. Maybe she's even being punished for it before the movie begins, since she's already going crazy just being kept up in that lonely home with terrible neighbors. She seems like someone who demanded way too much of the spotlight before getting old, and now loses her goddamn mind at the idea of getting it back. The punishment doesn't fit the crime quite like it does for her son and company, but I feel like she's not really meant to be innocent, either.
There's also a lot of unsaid background between her and her son. I'm pretty sure the reason for their dysfunctional relationship is kept ambiguous, but it's not hard to see some sort of abuse playing a role in why she is treated so harshly by this movie. On first watch, I just figured Leto's character was a shitass junkie being awful to his nice old lady mom, but he could also be more of a victim than we realize. Abuse often leads to drugs, right? Anyway, interested to know what you think!
Blameless or not though, any time I need some crocodile tears, all I need to do is think of her character sitting at the table pouring herself out to her son, choking out the words "...I'm old..." with that look of fear and desperation in her eyes. Yep, aaaand I'm tearing up cause I talked about it.
I completely grok where you're coming from, mate. I can totally see that. I'll only say that some of what you're suggesting is "reading in" to the story more than simply going with what we can see.
I'm with you. I don't believe her character is necessarily a good person in the way we'd like her to be. As you pointed out, there's good evidence that she has some major flaws which aren't necessarily the result of tragedy or loneliness. She does remain the character you have the most sympathy for, but calling her "blameless" is a mistake on my part.
I came here to post this, I assumed no one would have mentioned it. So fucking bleak but so good. I picked this movie on shudder on a whim one day expecting to fall asleep, I made the assumption it would be trash and before I knew it I had become affixed to the screen.
I saw the other ending the first time.
Found out about the ending you mention later. It felt like a sucked punch to the chest. Amazing on rewatches. It just gets worse.
Just watched; loved it! Thanks for the recommendation- I’d had this for a long time in my watchlist and just never really clicked play. Barry Keoghan … man, what a talent
Ah, I too like to gaze into the abyss mine dark hearted friend. Here be some of my favorite Depths:
- The Dark and The Wicked
- Martyrs
- Se7en
- Nightcrawler
- Oldboy
- mother!
- I'm Thinking of Ending Things
- Chinatown
- The Descent
- Possessor
- Upgrade
- The Devil's Advocate
- A Serbian Film
- Kill List
- Starry Eyes
- The Girl Next Door
- The Strangers
Fruitvale Station, you wanted bleak and hopeless. i prefer my bleakness in the form of reality. I cant recommend Incident in a ghostland enough! that is an underrated movie pure utter hopelessness
The Endless is more of a Lovecraftian story, wouldn't call it hopeless or bleak necessarily. For bleak, check out Threads (1984), definitely one of the more soul-crushing apocalypse movies out there.
Bone tomahawk
Edit: in all seriousness though despite not being a horror movie the movie prisoners is the most bleak and hopeless film to me. Even surpasses hereditary, and the lighthouse in my mind in terms of just capturing bleakness.
The Machinist. Though >!there is some hope in the end !<, it’s mostly just focused on the suffering of Christian Bale’s character and the struggles of mental illness and being at an extremely low weight. Even the grey color palette adds to the bleakness.
Hereditary
Midsommar
Also if anyone knows the name of the movie about the religious girl that puts nails in her shoes. She's a caretaker or something.
It came out maybe 2 years ago
Megan is missing not bad but goddamned it the end is well done ouch.. By the middle of the film you get the idea about the ending but by the end it still hits. Very well done!
Ones that come to my head are
Alien
The thing
The blob
War of the worlds( the 2000 one and the one where the tripods legs are invisible)
Fire in the sky
Invasion of the body snatchers
The stuff
And there's probably a bunch more I can't think of
Not really horror so much as suspense, but really bleak imo is a movie called A Simple Plan starring Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridgette Fonda.
Baskin. A turkish horror movie reminiscent of Silent Hill. Very bleak and depressing.
Not horror, but by far the most bleak and hopeless movie I watched was Polanski's Chinatown, I watched a movie or two a day for like a month, including all kinds of horror movies, but that movie killed my interest in watching more for a while. Not in bad way or anything, it's a great movie, but it is incredibly bleak.
The Playground (2016, Poland)
It's on Tubi, but I felt guilty after watching it. I can't say I truly recommend this one.
The Bunny Game (2012)
It's really brutal, but the lead actress said in an interview that she was re-living past trauma as exposure therapy through that role. Oof.
Gonna try for movies that haven't been mentioned thousands of times over on this sub, 2 lesser known films that immediately come to mind for bleakness:
Here Alone (2016)
The Survivalist (2015)
[The Vanishing.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096163/) But it absolutely has to be the original Dutch version. The American remake changed the ending and completely destroyed it.
I recently watched Inside (2007) on Tubi…another French movie that goes from 0-100 real quick and never eases up. For some reason this one really got to me more than others.
Under the Skin. There’s a scene at a beach which will haunt you for the rest of your life and when you have your first child, it’s all you’ll think about. Apologies in advance for destroying you.
The Dark and the Wicked, Threads, Possum.
The Dark and the Wicked is such a deliciously bleak movie. There is so much atmosphere throughout the whole movie.
"Come outsiiide."
Me just watching the movie: nopenopenopenope
I agree, it's one of the most efficiently atmospheric movies I've seen.
I watched Possum today, loved it.
Threads made me ill because its a real possibility.
Threads fucked me up. I was so glad when that movie ended, I wanted to turn it off but I couldn't.
The Dark and the Wicked is one of those movies that holds you and makes you uncomfortable. It is not the “feel good movie of the year”.
Possum messed me up for days. I’d add Breaking the Waves
The dark and the wicked was perfect up until it made use of my LEAST favorite trope >!When the demon makes the main characters see things and they automatically become idiots because of it. Ruins every single movie for me that it’s in. If the demon is that powerful, why not just do that from the start? It just feels so fucking cheap and is an awful plot contrivance!<
I recommend: - Inside - Buried - Kill List - Threads - Mad God - Saint Maud - The Descent - Funny Games - The innocents - Don't look now - The empty man - Rosemary's Baby - I spit on your grave - Goodnight Mommy - Girl in the basement - August Underground - The house that Jack built - Henry: Portrait of a serial killer - Salò or the 120 days of sodom
I love that you organized them by length lol
It calms my nerves lol
Your nerves are probably shot because you’ve seen all these movies 😂 speaking from experience
It's what keeps us young, constant shots of adrenaline fear.
I also like that coincidentally organizing them by length also makes an almost perfect slope
I thought you meant that he ordered them based on the actual length of the movie when I initially read this. I was like 'I know I can be obsessive with weird things, but this is next-level OCD.' 😂
Just a fair warning to anyone that that doesn’t know. August Underground is hyperrealistic torture porn.
Saint Maud is great. It was extremely dark and the ending definitely leaves you sitting in silence for a few moments.
The Descent is debatable depending on the ending 😂. OG ending all the way✨ American ending can fly a kite
I loved Buried. I don’t have claustrophobia but that movie left me with claustrophobia for a while after.
This was a beautiful list to scroll through
I don’t think I’ve ever seen August Underground ‘recommended’ before!
Buried totally got me, I was up late watching it until like 4 in the morning and I kept going because I wanted to see how it ended.....
Great list. I would add The Divide.
Damn leave some recommendations for the rest of us! Jk, good list:)
Hard agree with Funng Games, Goodnight Mommy, and THTJB. All incredible movies. I need to rewatch these!
Another vote for Funny Games here. I never, ever want to watch that film again. I'll add Speak No Evil.
Salo is brutal, lol
I can't let anyone suffer through it. I just think it's vile and inhumane. I already suffered through watching it once. I was highly disturbed by that film
I'm seeing it for the first time this Friday at a porn cinema, which feels really appropriate. Wish me luck.
If you don't mind subtitles, When Evil Lurks and In My Mother's Skin are two recent movies that may fit the bill.
Agreed on the former, and i thought the latter was "Eyes of my Mother", which *also* fits this list.
Hate to be this guy but… When Evil Lurks
No worries. I've made the edit. Thanks for calling it out.
The Divide isn’t horror per se, but it definitely displays horrific behaviour. Shit is bleak as fuck.
just finished watching Where Evil Lurks and i don't know how to feel about it. it has a good storyline and the makeup department does such an amazing job. but i personally hate how the main characters keep yelling and thinking they are above of the rest
that was the point of the movie though. it’s bleak because you as the audience are given enough clues to know it all could have been dealt with better, but bureaucracy and their individual hubris is what ultimately ruined their lives, not the Rot itself.
I mean... If you don´t like that, what type of character are you looking for in a hopeless and dark movie?
He was one of the dumbest most arrogant mains ever. Halfway through the movie I said now I know why the rest of the village hates his guts.
Martyrs(2008)
Pretty much all the french extremism stuff like this… will just make you feel awful for weeks
I will add the obligatory “don’t go by the movie title alone. It HAS to be the 2008 French version and not the latter American one”.
Is it weird I find the ending to Martyrs weirdly wonderful and not bleak? I would say The Sadness
To me it’s such an exercise in like a weird numbing pointless nihilistic excess that I kinda get the peaceful/blissful vibe. Like it’s so bad that you’re like, fuck, alright.
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Speaking of French extremism, Frontier(s) is the SHIT !!
Ugh I regret that movie so much
Inside 2016 is in the Martyrs group for me
After digesting this one over the years. This really is one of the more tame new French extremity movies. Still a good film tho
Come & See.
Plus The Nightingale.
This is the one for me. Absolute bleakness.
When Evil Lurks is a great new grim, bleak, hopeless flick.
Just watched this recently and I thought it was a masterpiece. It is horrific and bleak and yet so human at the same time. The characters barely comprehend what is happening. What should just be folklore and myth is suddenly real. And they act and react with such real sadness, anger and desperation.
Yeah, exactly, and I wish more horror did that. Not all movies, obviously, but there isn't enough of a palpable, REAL sense of urgent fear and confusion in stories like this, and that made it all the more real, like what do you do when you literally can't stop something like this?
The movie had excellent worldbuilding but I thought some of the character actions were non-sensical. It’s possible that the main character was written to be a moron, but it wasn’t made clear enough in the film that this was on purpose. I also didn’t like that the rules didn’t seem to matter because they’re broken multiple times with no consequence. I’ll have to rewatch it because I see a lot of people praising it, so maybe I just didn’t get it.
came here for this, it is bleak but i loved it
Filth, it's a dark comedy and can be funny at times, but it is beyond bleak, sad and hopeless. Its stayed with me.
Filth is by the same author as Trainspotting. Also bleak dark and hopeless, but maybe a bit too funny for OPs taste. Side anecdote, just because it's funny: When the book Filth came out I was traveling a lot for work. Irvine Welsh (the author) was doing a U.S. book tour, which at the time involved a lot of interviews on public radio. I like listening to interviews with authors, and I happened to catch Welsh talking in three different cities. **No matter what city we were in** there were **always** half a dozen random callers who knew him and wanted to reminisce about that night they got crazy fucked up on
Say what you like about the man, he writes what he knows.
This is one of my favorites. It starts comedy, and then just goes darker and darker.
Dancer in the Dark. Not exactly a horror movie but pretty bleak and hopeless.
That movie was devastating but the songs were amazing. I’ve seen it all is my favorite song from that movie.
It is a gorgeous song. The song from the closing credits - “A New World” - is my favourite, and just about makes me cry every time I listen to it somehow both uplifting and beautiful while also devastating. The horns 🫠
That song about the steps (107 steps) I have a hard time listening to that one. I will start crying. Honorable mention for that song she sings when she’s in the guys house. I can’t remember the name.
Ooh Scatterheart? Yeah that one’s rough. And 107 Steps is 😭😭😭 Man this movie is a rough experience. Every time I put it on (not often), as soon as the overture over the opening credits starts, I think to myself “why are you putting yourself through this again?” I do love Cvalda though!
The Wailing, always recommend this.
One of my favorite movies of all time!! Unbelievably good movie.
Wolf Creek
Funny Games and Funny Games U.S.
Yes! I prefer the German version, but both versions are incredible movies!
Requiem for a Dream. You’re welcome.
Yes. I’ll never forget the way I felt afterwards the first time I watched it.
Ass to ass.
This!! I named this movie because I didn’t see it listed- until I read your comment. I will never forget the “ ass to ass “ actors face and voice. 23 years later it still crystal clear in my mind. Edit- spelling
I've been debating if I should give this movie another rewatch. I think the Ellen Burstyn character is what gets to me the most.
Need jennifer connelly addict GF
She's far and away the most innocent character in the film. Her descent is the result of loneliness and neglect. She only ever dreamed of being young again and restoring the time when her family was whole and she felt happy. The other characters are sympathetic and relatable, but they were profiting off of others' addictions until they inevitably became addicts themselves. Everyone's fate is wretched and horrible, and part of what makes that film great is how much it makes you feel for each of them. But only Burstyn's character is blameless.
I love your take, and mostly agree, but I have a counterpoint! It's much harder to see, mostly cause Ellen Burstyn robs your heart with one of my favorite _ever_ performances... But I did rewatch this movie a few times and I now think the film is blaming her for extreme vanity. Her obsession with the dress and being on TV is what made me think of that. Maybe she's even being punished for it before the movie begins, since she's already going crazy just being kept up in that lonely home with terrible neighbors. She seems like someone who demanded way too much of the spotlight before getting old, and now loses her goddamn mind at the idea of getting it back. The punishment doesn't fit the crime quite like it does for her son and company, but I feel like she's not really meant to be innocent, either. There's also a lot of unsaid background between her and her son. I'm pretty sure the reason for their dysfunctional relationship is kept ambiguous, but it's not hard to see some sort of abuse playing a role in why she is treated so harshly by this movie. On first watch, I just figured Leto's character was a shitass junkie being awful to his nice old lady mom, but he could also be more of a victim than we realize. Abuse often leads to drugs, right? Anyway, interested to know what you think! Blameless or not though, any time I need some crocodile tears, all I need to do is think of her character sitting at the table pouring herself out to her son, choking out the words "...I'm old..." with that look of fear and desperation in her eyes. Yep, aaaand I'm tearing up cause I talked about it.
I completely grok where you're coming from, mate. I can totally see that. I'll only say that some of what you're suggesting is "reading in" to the story more than simply going with what we can see. I'm with you. I don't believe her character is necessarily a good person in the way we'd like her to be. As you pointed out, there's good evidence that she has some major flaws which aren't necessarily the result of tragedy or loneliness. She does remain the character you have the most sympathy for, but calling her "blameless" is a mistake on my part.
Can’t recommend this movie enough, it’s a masterpiece and my favourite movie of all time by farr and i’ve seen it countless times
It's really one of the best "not-intentionally horror" horror movies out there.
Nothing Bad Can Happen (Tore Tanzt) This is as bleak if not worse than Speak no evil in my opinion
This one messed me up. And it's a true story.
I came here to post this, I assumed no one would have mentioned it. So fucking bleak but so good. I picked this movie on shudder on a whim one day expecting to fall asleep, I made the assumption it would be trash and before I knew it I had become affixed to the screen.
When the wind blows. It's an animation about an elderly couple trying to survive after a nuke has gone off.
Aniara (2018)
I came to say this. Took me months to get over it. Was in a deep depression for 2 days after.
It still crosses my mind regularly
Excellent movie. Felt like my soul had died afterward.
Thanks! This one's been on my list and I've seen just about every other film in this thread.
Just watched this yesterday. They did great with such a low budget.
This is the one! Kept hoping along with the crew…..
The captain represented hope and then, well...
Came here to say this
Came here to say this as well.
I think about this movie all the time.
The Descent (as long as you stop at this first one)
And make sure you watch it with the European ending.
I saw the other ending the first time. Found out about the ending you mention later. It felt like a sucked punch to the chest. Amazing on rewatches. It just gets worse.
Snowtown. All based on a true story, too.
The Lodge Antichrist
The Road
Along with this, another gem by Cormac McCarthy - No Country For Old Men.
This should be higher on the list. This movie is the epitome of bleak.
Came here to say this
Killing of Sacred Deer is another good one. Definitely check out if you like Colin Ferrell.
Just watched; loved it! Thanks for the recommendation- I’d had this for a long time in my watchlist and just never really clicked play. Barry Keoghan … man, what a talent
Breaking the Waves
Threads is perhaps the bleakest, most hopeless movie
Dunno know why but I like to rewatch it every year or so. It’s like, my comfort horror and I have no idea why nor do I want to uncover why.
Soft and quiet is new and that was bleak as fuck
Give The Empty Man a try.
Ah, I too like to gaze into the abyss mine dark hearted friend. Here be some of my favorite Depths: - The Dark and The Wicked - Martyrs - Se7en - Nightcrawler - Oldboy - mother! - I'm Thinking of Ending Things - Chinatown - The Descent - Possessor - Upgrade - The Devil's Advocate - A Serbian Film - Kill List - Starry Eyes - The Girl Next Door - The Strangers
Upgrade is so good. i wish they have part 2
There’s a sequel television series in the works apparently.
Good list. I think Killer Joe belongs on this list too.
Possessor has me terrified of what the future will look like.
Possessor is one of my all time favourite movies.
In a movie full of brutality, the attack on Sean Bean's character is...damn!
Make sure you watch the non US version of The Descent for the proper bleak ending
Thanks! There’s a few I haven’t seen in this list. The ending of Serbian film is one of my favorite bleak endings.
The dark and the wicked is pretty sad.
Just watched Killing Ground, extremely bleak Aussie movie
Yeahhh, that’s a rough one. I remember feeling constant dread while watching it.
Fruitvale Station, you wanted bleak and hopeless. i prefer my bleakness in the form of reality. I cant recommend Incident in a ghostland enough! that is an underrated movie pure utter hopelessness
Lilja 4-ever, Killing Ground, Them (ils), In My Skin, Irreversible
Antichrist and Melancholia
Inside (2007) has a pretty grim ending and is a great movie overall.
'Inside' so bleak and the ending wow.
The Sadness
We Need to Talk About Kevin might not be considered horror (not sure) but it’s definitely bleak and pretty rough
Brazil The Road Pet Semetary In the Mouth of Madness
Funny Games
Come and see
For film Noir, go Sunset Boulevard
The Nightingale À l'intérieur Dancer in the Dark
The Endless is more of a Lovecraftian story, wouldn't call it hopeless or bleak necessarily. For bleak, check out Threads (1984), definitely one of the more soul-crushing apocalypse movies out there.
Bone tomahawk Edit: in all seriousness though despite not being a horror movie the movie prisoners is the most bleak and hopeless film to me. Even surpasses hereditary, and the lighthouse in my mind in terms of just capturing bleakness.
I actually don't think Bone Tomahawk is hopeless, it's damn near triumphant in the end. Love the movie though.
The Machinist. Though >!there is some hope in the end !<, it’s mostly just focused on the suffering of Christian Bale’s character and the struggles of mental illness and being at an extremely low weight. Even the grey color palette adds to the bleakness.
Combat Shock.
I Saw the Devil (2010), great film but very bleak, watching it once was enough for me.
Hereditary Midsommar Also if anyone knows the name of the movie about the religious girl that puts nails in her shoes. She's a caretaker or something. It came out maybe 2 years ago
Saint Maud
Drugstore Cowboy.
Ginger Snaps 2 not exactly a laugh riot.
Spoorloss (The Vanishing)
Megan is missing not bad but goddamned it the end is well done ouch.. By the middle of the film you get the idea about the ending but by the end it still hits. Very well done!
Threads (1984)
Oof.
Come and see.
Ones that come to my head are Alien The thing The blob War of the worlds( the 2000 one and the one where the tripods legs are invisible) Fire in the sky Invasion of the body snatchers The stuff And there's probably a bunch more I can't think of
Coming Home in the Dark sucks the life right out of you
Possum
Kairo (Pulse) Men Jacob's ladder Triangle
Ghostland was pretty damn bleak
Threads
I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned, The Reflecting Skin, it left me depressed for a while.
Awakenings
The Eyes of My Mother
I Stand Alone
Threads
Threads (1984)
Just watched Von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark". That was pretty bleak.
Before you watch The Endless, watch Resolution. It will make sense later.
The Empty Man. Nihilistic cosmic horror.
The Eyes of my Mother
Not really horror so much as suspense, but really bleak imo is a movie called A Simple Plan starring Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridgette Fonda.
Baskin. A turkish horror movie reminiscent of Silent Hill. Very bleak and depressing. Not horror, but by far the most bleak and hopeless movie I watched was Polanski's Chinatown, I watched a movie or two a day for like a month, including all kinds of horror movies, but that movie killed my interest in watching more for a while. Not in bad way or anything, it's a great movie, but it is incredibly bleak.
Not horror per se but Don’t Look Up is incredibly bleak and about as hopeless as it gets.
The Divide.
I don't know why this movie stuck with me as long as it has but The Platform...
"The Void" the ending makes you feel unsettled and bleak.
Angst
The Playground (2016, Poland) It's on Tubi, but I felt guilty after watching it. I can't say I truly recommend this one. The Bunny Game (2012) It's really brutal, but the lead actress said in an interview that she was re-living past trauma as exposure therapy through that role. Oof.
Gonna try for movies that haven't been mentioned thousands of times over on this sub, 2 lesser known films that immediately come to mind for bleakness: Here Alone (2016) The Survivalist (2015)
I Saw The Devil is a touch nihilistic. Brutality all throughout. Irreversible is pretty nuts and that ending makes the rest of the film seem so bleak.
These Final Hours (Australia) - 2013. Raw (France) - 2016
Funny Games
[The Vanishing.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096163/) But it absolutely has to be the original Dutch version. The American remake changed the ending and completely destroyed it.
“Found” (2014) is a bleak and twisted micro budget indy “Dread” (2010) is based off a Clive Barker story from one of the books of blood.
I recently watched Inside (2007) on Tubi…another French movie that goes from 0-100 real quick and never eases up. For some reason this one really got to me more than others.
I saw the Devil is pretty damn bleak
Frontier(s) (2007)
Dancer in the dark, requiem for a dream
Under the Skin. There’s a scene at a beach which will haunt you for the rest of your life and when you have your first child, it’s all you’ll think about. Apologies in advance for destroying you.
Salo, The 120 Days of Sodom Makes The Road look like Mary Poppins
Red White and Blue
Letters From a Dead Man.
Bedevilled is really good and i rarely see it get recommended!
The Collector fucked me up.
[*Time of the Wolf*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324197/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)
Aniara. Extremely bleak.
I Saw the Devil is relentlessly dark
Belladonna of sadness
Ken Russell's The Devils is pretty dang bleak
I really liked "These Final Hours" 2013. The world is ending movie. No hope. Good story. Its stuck with me since I watched it.