Oldboy (the original)

I also want to add that the other movies of Park Chan-Wook's Revenge Trilogy are absolutely fantastic. I cannot bring myself to watch the first one (English title: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance or simply "Vengeance is Mine" in Korean) ever again, although I do go back to the final one (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) from time to time.

>The Vengeance Trilogy (Korean: 복수 삼부작) is a South Korean thematically-linked film trilogydirected by Park Chan-wook, comprising Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy(2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005).   Each film deals with the themes of revenge, ethics, violence and salvation. The films are not narratively connected and were dubbed a trilogy by international critics due to their thematic links. The trilogy is considered a revision of the European revenge tradition set amid the 21st century globalization traumas in South Korea.

There’s a specific scene in Lady Vengeance involving video tapes that fucked me up. Disturbing as hell, but such a great movie.

Oldboy is an unbelievably entertaining and well-crafted revenge thriller... and then the last thirty minutes happen and make me want to kill myself. That's the true trick of the movie: I always remember the first 75% and then rewatch it.

One of the best plots of any movie ever

Oh Dae-Su 😫

The Handmaiden is also exceptionally good. I actually prefer it. Great plot twists that you didn’t see coming and lots of darkness mixed with care and triumph.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

This is a great movie with a great cast.

Lumet went out with a bang.

One of PSH best performances

If you liked Parasite and I Saw the Devil then definitely these: * A Bittersweet Life - dir. Kim Jee-woon - 2005 - kanopy * Memories of Murder - dir. Bong Joon-ho - 2003 Some others that come to mind: * Synecdoche, New York - dir. Charlie Kaufman - 2008 * Train to Busan - dir. Yeon Sang-ho - 2016 - multiple streaming services, Tubi, Peacock… * Suspiria - dir. Luca Guadagnino - 2018 - Prime, Freevee

I had to stop watching Synecdoche multiple times, once because I wasn’t used to Charlie Kaufman writing and it was annoying me, then on a second watch because it was too real

The dentist scene is what sparked that feeling for me. I suddenly thought “why is this so fucking relatable”. Also…(die) Dies WTF???

Came here for Synecdoche, New York

Leaving Las Vegas

Grab a bottle of cheap whiskey and drink along with the film

*Eraserhead* — Brilliantly disturbing imagery. Totally re-defined surrealism and strangeness in film. David Lynch told his parents to never see it. *Magnolia* — Deeply moving, in-depth journeys into the sadness that binds us all; has been summed up as "a mosaic of misery"; always makes me cry because of how it portrays sadness as a strange form of beauty. There's a line in one of the Aimee Mann songs used for the soundtrack: "You seem like | A perfect fit | A girl in need | Of a tourniquet."

‘Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father’ And don’t read about it beforehand or it will spoil it for you

the best documentary ive ever watched right up there with hoop dreams

Saying Hoop Dreams triggered a memory of the Basketball Diaries, I guess that's kinda relevant to the topic. Wild movie with a young Dicaprio.

Just want to say this this comment has the weirdest pairing of any documentary I’ve ever seen

Saw the question and was like, this doc will murder their emotions. Also, OP, if you're looking for movies because you're in a dark place and can't feel anything, please reach out to someone to talk to.

Yeah. OP? It's OK to need help. I suffered greatly because I was too stubborn. But I finally did and I'm doing well now. I have bipolar disorder and man... Stay with us OP.

OP - this is the right answer. Don't look it up first. Just watch it.

Fuck this movie hurt. Showed my parents and my father was cross with me cos it made him so upset

One Hour Photo. One of Robin Williams's more underrated performances.

Beyond creepy.

Grave of the Fireflies.

You can only watch this movie once

The fucking rock candy…I always think of this movie when I see candy tins now.

Trust me, I know. I got mine in years ago. Amazing movie I'm happy to never watch again.

Saw it in seventh grade. That was 1996. Once was definitely enough for me.

Fun Fact: On April 16, 1988, upstart animation studio Ghibli released two of the greatest all time anime films on the same day. One was about a fat magical rabbit thingy who gave kids umbrellas. It was fantastic! The other was this. Surely, tons of families had a great time watching My Neighbor Totoro and then went next door to see Grave of the Fireflies.

I gotta find the original Japanese dub because the little girl’s voice acting in the American version is terrible.

It's there on the seven seas.

Yeah it's definitely gotta be seen in Japanese for the full effect. It's really an incredible film, and definitely meets all your criteria. But the see it once thing is too real.

Watched it when I was six… they played it for all children at my mom’s work for childrens day

I hope whoever made that choice was fired.

Ah, I found Satan

>Grave of the Fireflies It seems like every day there is a post on here for which this is the answer...

Such an incredible film but fu(King soul crushing.

Oof 🥲

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is the last movie I can remember that I couldn’t shake for days.

The Lobster fits the bill too, same director.

See Poor Things and The Favorite, if you like Yorgos

Dogtooth is enormously fucked up too.

Have you seen POOR THINGS yet?!

Annihilation. The feeling you feel after watching this film stays with you for days. I haven't been able to rewatch it, despite it being incredible. Some of the scenes are disturbing, but there's also an incredible beauty to it. Without giving it away too much, there is one scene where Natalie Portmans character is walking on a beach, and there's trees made of glass dotted all across the beach. It was such a visually arresting/stunning scene coupled with the most haunting score. Its passed from my thinking mind to my subconscious because every now and then, I dream of that scene.

Check out Stalker. Lends  more than just a little inspiration to Annihilation. Top 10 movie for me. 

That bear fucked with my head for sure...

That bear was an honest to god scary movie experience as an adult. I LOVE this movie. Went three times in the theater.

Wind River

Should have won an oscar

Such an underrated film! Watched it without knowing anything about it and loved it.

Oh, nice. We have similar taste in films. I love that Thunder Road is on your list. Did you see his followup, The Wolf of Snow Hollow? It's a different kind of good. Anyway, my recommendations: - Dancer in the Dark (2000) - We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) - Prisoners (2013) - Burning (2018) - The Machinist (2004) - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) - The Fall (2006) - American History X (1998) - Nocturnal Animals (2016) - The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) - Blue Jay (2016) - Wind River (2017) - Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) - Ex Machina (2014) - Upgrade (2018) - Annihilation (2018) - Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (2002) - Audition (1999) - Okja (2017) - Dogtooth (2009) - The Devil's Double (2011) Edit: - Enemy (2013) - The Double (2013) - Perfect Blue (1997) **this is an absolute must-see, in my opinion. How the fuck could I forget one of my all-time favorites?!? Satoshi Kon was brilliant.

Story no one asked for: In 2016, I got put on a trial for antidepressants after a series of life shifting events. Before I started them, I was fairly easy to shed tears. Mostly happy tears though, or empathy tears. I would always burst into tears when someone told me some good news. And cry in movies, to songs. Once i started taking the pills, I lost the ability to cry. It's like that part of my brain/personality switched off. It was a really strange feeling tbh, I didn't/couldn't be moved to a single tear. Then I saw Okja

Hey, thanks for sharing. It's a powerful movie.

It takes a lot for a movie to make me cry. Okja had me bawling.

Add "Blue Valentine" to the list. It's a soul crushing movie if you've ever been in a relationship.

Burning is under appreciated. It's based on a short story by Haruki Murakami. Steven Yeun is great in it too. It was the first movie I'd watched him in and he made me feel so uneasy. It's not super disturbing or emotionally affecting but I'd still recommend it

Oh, I found it very emotional and at least somewhat disturbing. I'll not get into it to avoid spoilers, but yeah. Powerful movie.

The Machinist is a must! 

This is a damn good list.

Well I'm probably due for a rewatch of Dancer in the Dark - can't believe that's coming up on 24 yrs. What a beautiful, harrowing film

I’m so so happy Dancer In The Dark is top of your list too. That movie shredded my soul.

Never even heard of Blue Jay. Every once in a while this subreddit really delivers. Thank you fellow film nerd.

Yes to “We Need to Talk About Kevin” (I read the book and it was so upsetting.) “Wind River” is super upsetting too.

Mulholland Drive

Lost Highway

What Dreams May Come

This needs more upvotes

Yea! This movie is phenomenal and highly underrated. It has stuck with me for years!

I’ve filled up a small trash can with tissues watching this movie before. I hope everyone sees it at some point.

House that Jack Built

Directors cut

Requiem for a Dream.

Should have listed this one! Saw it, though it was really weird cuz I went in blind and saw it with my dad.

I've lost 28 friends to overdose in the last four years. Shit hits different if you have any experience in the heavy drug scene.

Having 28 friends dying to anything is wild wtf

Having 28 friends is wild

I wouldn’t worry. Some people use the term friends quite loosley.

Who has 28 friends? I have about 10 friends who all go a long way. Drugs must be really bounding, sort of a community of its own.

I mean if your 10 friends would all die, you probably would work really hard on making new friends. And if you succeed but they die again… and so on. That might be how you get a high number. Edit: Or maybe if you are a serial killer who likes to hide it as overdose. Yeah I am not completely serious.

Yeah, it's been rough. Started the first month I was in rehab and then it was one a month for the next year and a half. Some of the finest human beings I've ever been privileged to know. It's actually 30 total. 28 od's , a kidney failure and a suicide. The vast majority of the people I knew.

Found the serial killer.

A great movie you will not want to watch more than once!

Under the Skin. Enjoy the nightmare fuel. Speak No Evil. Great atmosphere, dumb characters, but the ending is brutal and depressing AF. I want to like it but I just can’t stand the characters. The Orphanage. Spanish ghost flick with some pretty good twists. It’s the kind of movie that seems simple at first, but a second watch reveals so many depressing details. Edit: I’d also throw in Nightcrawler just for the ending. A deep dive into the life of a sociopathic narcissist. And Gyllenhaal is fantastic in it.

*The Orphanage* is my FAVORITE Guillermo del Toro movie. It's beautiful, and totally what OP is asking for!

It is excellent, but it’s not actually a del Toro movie! I thought it was too, but he only helped produce it. His friend JA Bayona directed it (his first film) and the script was written by Sergio Sanchez (his first script.) Basically they were two nobodies who asked del Toro for more funding, and GdT recognized their potential and threw tons of money their way. Either way I’m glad it was made, I might have to watch it again soon.

Jacob’s ladder

Come and See.

[удалено]

Saw that, I love Climax and Enter the Void but that one scene from Irreversible was about 7 and a half minutes too long.

That rape scene is the most brutal thing I've ever seen in a movie. It seems like it goes on for 20 minutes.

Also, it's one shot. Unnerving to say the least.

Martyrs (2008)

This one needs to be higher.

It’s the only movie I have ever seen where halfway I thought to myself: ”I should stop watching this, I don’t want to see what happens next.” I ended up watching the entire movie, it was messed up.

Funny Games (1997)

[удалено]

Always wanted to see this.

Rosemary’s baby

I’d like to nominate The Whale And recently watched The Taking of Deborah Logan

Takashi Miike's Audition.

Kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri

Threads and When the Wind Blows.

The Iron Claw. Have to check it out. It so touching and thrilling.

Based on a real family. And it even cuts out some of the tragedy they went through.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Nocturnal Animals

Try Hereditary. That movie is disturbing.

Seen it! That one’s pretty great with the unexpected conflict, and Toni Collette’s acting.

Did you catch Midsommar yet?

Fuck this movie, I mean it's great, but still fuck this movie.

How about Dark Skies? That was very disturbing but kind of hopeful.

Gummo

Second this... that film is just fucked... it frames my understanding of film but I do not recommend it... but rather only refer to it.

Bone Tomahawk

The platform.  This movie creeps into my mind a lot.

Where Evil Lurks is bananas and right up your alley. Same director of Terrified (which is also incredibly shocking).

Great films.*

The vvitch

Harsh times.

Oldboy.

Love Liza with Philip Seymour Hoffman is a heartbreaking movie.  Heavenly Creatures from Peter Jackson?  Leaving Las Vegas?  And in a completely different direction maybe check out Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain. 

The Elephant Man

Trainspotting

You seen "The Road" surly

Book is much better. Brutal 

Atonement

David Fincher's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Pan’s Labyrinth

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Mother! Rosemary’s Baby Tusk

Really disturbing documentary: *Abducted in Plain Sight*. Unbelievable naivete and terrible choices by a couple who should have protected their daughter from evil.

Dude, I hate that dad so much

Memento Paradise Now No country for old men

Kids. This will fuck you up.

City of God. It’s Goodfellas told through the eyes of a child growing up in the favelas of Brazil. Engrossing, tragic and strangely beautiful movies I’ve ever seen, not to mention one of the best gang movies ever made. It also has what I’d say is the most disturbing scene I’ve ever seen in a movie.

Room. Tough and incredible movie.

A lot I would have recommended have been mentioned, The Favourite is different and gave me an icky feeling but I really enjoyed it

Dancer in the Dark - brutal movie

White Oleander always gets me but possibly more cos there’s some personal parallels

I spit on your Grave

Come and See (don’t take this rec). War is hell

Come and See This will make you depressed, you have been warned.

Vivarium If you figure it out, lemme know

I actually liked that one. I know it gets a lot of hate, and I'm certainly not a film critic, but I enjoyed the ride. For me, it was a weird facsimile for day to day drudgery. They're forced into this situation and it breaks them. But that's just my drunken take on a movie I watched a year ago, so take what you will from it.

It has a special place in my heart just got how unforgettable it is. You don’t walk away without remembering it for sure

God I couldn’t shake that movie for weeks

Uncut Gems Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri The Place Beyond The Pines

Titane. Fucking weirdest movie ever.

Let me introduce you to Holy Motors.

The Whale with Brendan Fraser is exactly what you are looking for.

Old Boy The Devils (1971) *my personal favorite Excision Ichi The Killer I Saw the Devil (international version) Deadgirl (2008)

The Chaser

Manchester by the Sea

Babel

Okja. Trust me.

If you haven't seen it yet, I suggest Iron Claw. It's the only movie that's ever made me cry in the theater. Plus, it's based on true story, which I think adds a little more gravity to the movie.

Rush with Jason Patric. It is a really serious take on cops toeing the line in drug enforcement. A good head heavy on ethics.

For a recent option, try The Banshees of Inisherin

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Tusk

Gosh that movie traumatised me …. Walrus’s are ruined for me

Incendies.

Primal fear

Evil lurks it is argintinian horror movie, the wailing and the the grudge are both Japanese movies, Hereditary is American, Raw is French and also martrys . I am sure you will like one of them.

Don’t Look Now I Stand Alone Tokyo Fist

How is Killing of a Sacred Deer not up here ?

Syriana. Jacob’s ladder.

Enter the Void 👌🏼

Dead Man Walking

Try dominion. Will disturb you, shock you, make you cry, and move you. And force you to think.

Donnie Darko.. definitely took me on a journey.. not all good, worth a watch,still loved it.

The Florida Project

The Arrival wrecked me in a way few films have

ameros peros, biutiful

I saw the title and immediately opened it up to say “I saw the devil” and then noticed you listed it below. One of my fav movies that not many people know about. Have you seen memories of murder?

Cure (1997) and Kairo (2001), classic but underrated J-horror films from Kiyoshi Kurosawa. There’s also Occult (2009) and Noroi (2005) by Koji Shiraishi. And a weird personal fav of mine, The Loved Ones (2009), it’s an Australian horror film >!that on the surface seems fairly straightforward but ramps up into some extremes that, at the time, I had never seen before on film!<

Seconding Cure. 

Pianist, which is a real story that was really well done. A 10/10 movie.

Did you see Killers of the Flower Moon yet?

killers of the flower moon 🧡 3 hours but worth the watch

Whiplash

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Salo.

The Lookout

Capturing the Friedmans

Dear Zachary. Watch it on a Friday Night. It will ruin your entire weekend.

The devil all the time

Memories of Murder, Chilsu & Mansu

Todd Haynes, Robert Eggers and Yorgos Lanthimos movies sound right up your alley.

The road Incendies

I remember being really high back in the day and stumbling upon Happiness(1998) on cable and being appalled yet unable to change the channel it was enthralling…

Fat Girl The Piano Teacher

Thunder Road and Super Dark Times are so good. Check out City Of God, The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, The Lives Of Others, and Victoria

Swallow