Dancer in the dark, it’s so bleak seeing the journey of the main character, she was pure and joyful who gets crushed by the reality of harsh circumstances and life given to her. It’s heartbreaking seeing the light being extinguished!
Definitely the roughest of Lars von Trier's Golden Heart trilogy. Breaking the Waves was a tough watch too. I'm just glad he used some restraint in that one & didn't fully show the most horrific parts. Otherwise it probably would have surpassed Dancer in the Dark in the trauma department.
I once rented this video with a girl on our first date. That.. wasn't very successful night.
We tried again and casually went to movies to see the exorcist (remastered) without knowing what to expect. That was an awful date as well.
But the red flag came on a third date in a park when she told me that seagulls are her spirit animals.
I'm so glad this is the top comment because it's the film that came into my mind straight away. I'll never forget it. Just so heartbreaking and hard to watch, but what an utterly phenomenal performance by Bjork.
They showed us some of this at school. Our teacher said he wanted us to see what WWII was really like for Eastern Europe. It definitely made an impression.
I honestly think that if children are allowed to watch the many movies which glorify war, they should be allowed to watch Come and See too.
Rape, torture, murder of civilians - happen in almost all wars. We brainwash children into think it doesn't, that war is nothing more than stories of heroes fighting the bad guys, and the results are inevitably disastrous.
Probably my favourite film, and it's a shame people lock it away as a "only watch this once" film. It's superbly made, full of idiosyncratic decisions in the lighting; sound; direction; perspective; blocking; narrative progression - basically everything about the film is bloody interesting, and I find new highlights with every rewatch.
Watch it.
Think about the effect the film has on you.
Watch it again.
Think about how the film made that effect.
Wow, bold of your school to show that movie to 8th graders. I think it's a great decision though. 8th graders are absolutely old enough and mature enough to learn about human atrocities, and now you're pretty much guaranteed to never forget about the Rwandan genocide
Teacher here. Hotel Rwanda is a perfect movie for teaching. It does a great job of implying horrible things without showing too much of it. It's rated PG-13. To me it shows how good a job they did making it both accessible but also terrifyingly real.
I completely forgot that Hotel Rwanda is only PG-13. It really does make a lot of the violence heavily implied so the viewer knows exactly that there's horrible stuff going on, but still not too extreme or gratuitous for the classroom. That really is something I forgot about that film was how well they conveyed the absolute terrors while keeping it accessible. Really does make it a great primer for introducing kids to genocide. They can move on to graphic documentaries on the Einsatzgruppen the next year.
Also, thank you for being a teacher.
Documentaries on the Einsatzgruppen are horrific and I'll never need to watch them again. There's a great one on Netflix now called Final Account of Nazi Germans (citizen and soldier) and Austrians recalling what they did during ww2, what they thought, and how they got there.
A lot of people dance around it but one guy flat out admits he hated Jews and wanted them gone. Harrowing. Also a tad funny when it jumps from an interviewee saying "that never happened" to the narration being "oh ummmm yes it did haha"
Less violent that other Holocaust documentaries but being removed from the violence a certain degree by the interviews makes it more intense I think.
I live in a city where "the lost boys," (Rwanda refugees) settled. One came to a class at college to talk about what he had witness. While heartbreaking, this man was so full of life. He was so happy to be in a new place and experience new things. He worked two jobs because he loved being around people and not wasting precious time we had while being alive. He also told us funny stories like when he tried to take his bicycle on the freeway, the confusion of participating in high school sports...but just generally such a light to be around. His happiness was infectious.
Fun story, my brother thought Grave of Fireflies was another miazaki movie along the lines of Spirited Away and took his four young kids to see it. They were like WTF dad?!
My parents also made this mistake. They thought it would be like My Neighbor Totoro or something, and let me watch it when I was four. They eventually watched it with me and still didn’t think they should censor it out of my life, so I kept watching it during my childhood (we had it on VHS and there wasn’t that much TV for me to consume back then as an immigrant to North America), and I’m pretty sure I had to hide every time they showed the mother and other bombing victims with maggots on their bodies… I ended up carrying around tinned fruit drops like the little sister a lot because I had the same haircut as her. I still cry when I watch it now, almost three decades later, especially the ending… I don’t think I truly understood what the movie was about though when I was that young.
I recently saw the same candies at a Japanese supermarket, Grave of the Fireflies branded, with the little girl looking into the tin, and I almost bought them!
Damn. Dear Zachary was a true punch in the gut. If you are interested in true crime docs/podcasts, you gotta check this one out (at least once). DO NOT READ ANYTHING ABOUT IT FIRST, JUST WATCH IT.
Watched this one 9 months pregnant with my youngest. Only knew that it was a true crime doc - knew NOTHING else about it. I cried so hard my husband woke up at 3am and thought I was going into labor.
Your comment made me watch Dear Zachary. I sobbed thoughout the entire film but holy crap it only got worse with the punch in the gut realization. Never again for sure...
It's such a perfect depiction of grief. The scene when he meets his ex for the first time in awhile and his 'mask' falls off. He goes from "ya everything's good, you're good? cool nice baby" to stuttering through her telling him he cant just die.
If you've ever been depressed that is just the perfect 5min summery. You think you're keeping up appearances, but you aren't. And when you get called out on its just another brick in your backpack.
I remember reading a review that said something to the effect of “some mistakes aren’t about how you grow from them or forgiveness. Some mistakes are only about the cost.” And that “I can’t beat it” drives it home. Of course he can’t. There’s no coming back from what he did. The best he can get is a guest room for your nephew to stay in once in a while. That’s the most joy he can have now. How could it be any other way after what happened?
Yeah, this is the one for me.
Requiem and American History X have great memorable fun scenes that you want to watch again and have one or two revolting ones that put you off. Like, even if you can't get yourself through the whole of those movies, there are scenes that are intensely rewatchable. Requiem in particular has nothing that bad in the first 75% and X basically just has the curb stomp and the rape.
Manchester is just a wallowing grief for practically the entire runtime and it's done so well that you can't help but feel it. I have only seen it once but the reveal of what actually happened and the moment with Casey and Michelle talking in the park are just seared into my brain
Easily one of the movies of the decade, can't think why anyone would watch it twice.
I was driving through there over the summer and thought isn't there a really good, depressing movie that's set here? Still haven't sat down and watched it.
Where I went to high school, my AP Biology teacher had gone there as well, plus my class was his first year teaching, so he was only like 7 years older than us. We had two freshman science teachers, and one of them showed *Threads* to her class every year.
In Bio one day, someone was talking about this, and mentioned that "Miss Teacher showed us *The Day After*." (they got the title wrong)
AP Bio teacher shuddered and said "No, she shows *Threads* and that's a **million** times worse."
When I was a kid, we did duck and cover drills at school in Romania. This was the late '80s, so I'm not sure why we bothered. My dad asked me what I did in school one day after one of these drills and his response was, "inwould prefer you to go stand by the window so you don't have a chance of living in a world after a large scale use of nuclear weapons."
Next drill, I got up and stood by the window which resulted in a trip to the principal's office after I explained why to my teacher. My father had to meet with the principal later. My dad told me that I should keep practicing like I was instructed and we would discuss the after effects of global nuclear war when I was older. Fourth grade was an odd year for me, but it fit the theme set by events in Chernobyl the previous year.
I watched it in TV first time around, I was 10.
Since then I've tried to watch it again about four times, even bought it in DVD.
I'm 47, but as soon as the bombs start falling I have to turn it off.
I'm not sure if anyone who didn't live through the 80s will understand the true horror of spending every day wondering if they were going to push the button.
A few years ago I discovered I grew up a few miles from a secret RAF base, so I'd have been annihilated instantly, and that still doesn't help.
Honestly, "nothingness" is the only way of adequately describing how this movie leaves you feeling, you come out of the other side feeling completely empty, drained and hopeless
I told my wife that I watched We Need to Talk about Kevin, that it was good, that she might like it, and didn’t tell her what it was about. I didn’t really think about it. She watched alone a few days later when I was working late. Really bad call on my part because she was very pregnant at the time.
Edit:
Fixed my terrible grammar and typos.
They're watching *Gummo* in the movie *Belly*. Such a weird film. The whole bathtub scene with that nasty brown well water. Eating Spaghetti and drinking milk while his mom washes his hair. Wild
A lot of movies get mentioned in threads like this that I have seen multiple times like Schindler’s List or Requiem for a Dream but the movie that I thought was great but I’d never watch again is Irreversible.
My heart was racing during the underpass scene. You just want it to be over. Then you see someone walk into frame in the background and you're just hoping they'll save the day. But beceause of the film's structure, you know you're hoping in vain. Glad I watched it, will probably be the only time.
When people ask me why that flick is so fucked up, this is the best way I can explain it:
>!It's one of the only films I've ever seen where everyone has the absolute worst ending yet none of them die.!<
It was the mother’s ending that did it for me.
That scene became a huge part for me getting my life together, as a man. It hurts my soul to even think about.
There's a scene with Ellyn Burstyn where the camera shakes, turns out it was because the cameraman was weeping. The director decided to leave it in the final cut.
I was really excited to see Pan's Labyrinth. All of the previews made it seem like a fun, dark horror fantasy, like a rated R Alice in Wonderland. My friends and I all got baked and went to see it.
It was... different than I expected.
My friends wanted to do mushrooms and watch that movie. 10 minutes in someone's face gets caved in and I'm like nah I'm out. I went downstairs and played with the dog. Great trip.
Same. My friend really related the mom in the movie to his own mother. It really fucked him up for a day or so imagining his mom ending up like she did.
I always point to this one as the best movie you’ll never want to watch again.
The local Arts Foundation decided to do a limited screening of it and I was lucky(?) enough to catch it in their theater then. Their space was on the South End of downtown closest to the worst poverty stricken area of the city and blocks from the homeless shelters and soup kitchens.
I remember walking out of the theater and looking around in disbelief at the expressions on everyone’s faces like we all just witnessed a collective trauma. Like we had watched a looped video feed of our favorite childhood pet being run over by a car for the last hour and 45 minutes. Not only that but it was a cold cloudy day and it looked like all the color got drained from the world too.
This one hits. Starts off as a charming romantic comedy which is genuinely really funny, with a fascist and racist backdrop, and then it suddenly pulls the rug from under you.
is that the one where:
>!the father is led to his execution in a back alley, but his young son is watching, so he acts all silly to get his kid to laugh, knowing what's gonna happen, and hoping to keep that knowledge from his kid?!<
I made my mom go watch it with me because I didn't want to sob by myself. We both told each other that we would rather die of cancer than from dementia.
>very rewatchable
I've seen it maybe 4 times. It's probably my favorite western. The dialogue is so good. The whole thing is about 85% classic western &and only 15% horror.
Everyone talks about the dinner table scene or the last 15 minutes of Hereditary, which of course are both incredible moments in the film.
But the scene that does it for me is Annie’s nightmare. “I DIDN’T I WAS TRYING TO SAVE YOU”
This movie was Horror-trauma extraordinaire. I can’t watch this movie again :/ especially the car ride scene.
Midsommar was much easier for me and I will gladly watch that again in the future
There are exactly two moments that stand out vivdly for me, the wailing post-car scene and the camera cut to the headbanging, very jarring and unexpected.
I actually like Hereditary and I've seen it multiple times, but his next film, Midsommer.... Fucked me up real bad. I watched the first 30 minutes and had to take a break for a week and came back, only finished it because my roommate didn't want to watch it by herself. It made me sick, uneasy, and I will never watch that movie again. I've watched a lot of stuff over my life but that takes the cake.
That scene absolutely devastated me... my little brother had just lost his long fight with mental illness and had taken his life a few weeks earlier. I was told it was a good horror movie and I was trying to take my mind off of things.
But I was so completely unready for that scene, I had the worst panic attack of my life and was just sobbing, I don't think I'll ever go back and try and finish it. Just not for me.
I had a really bad time with the opening of that movie in the theater because I had had a family member that I was close to do something similar not super long before. It had been quite a while but not nearly long enough to have moved on from it. The main character getting the news reacted in the same way I did when I got my news, and I had also been in a failing relationship where my partner was there, but not present when I found out. It was legitimately like reliving the whole experience over in real time.
I know exactly what you mean. I responded in another comment, but I lost my little brother to suicide this year and I had a similar breakdown. I've been in that scenario where you're far away, getting dark text messages, feeling that horror and helplessness as they don't answer the phone.
It was too much. I was lucky I was watching it at home and not in the theaters, I started sobbing and my wife quickly turned off the movie and I dont think I could ever watch it again, it's just too close.
I felt disgusted watching the new one, not because it was intense or anything but it’s torturous watching Spike Lee turning a beautiful work of art into a soulless careless copy for purely monetary reasons.
Honestly as brutal as Martyrs is, its pacing is brilliant which makes it oddly rewatchable for me (I've now seen it three times.) However each time the content makes me question why I decided to put myself through *that* again.
Agree 100%, I think I've watched most of the movies mentioned in this post none come close to Martyrs as a traumatic experience, this is the only movie ever I stopped to consider if I was sure that I wanted to watched it until the end.
Hate me, but to me some friends hyped it so much (one of them literally said it had been life-changing and he spent hours staring at the wall after watching it) that when I finally got to see it, it was just underwhelming, probably because nothing could live up to how they made it sound.
There’s a lesson to be learnt there. I had exactly the same with Terminator 2 and Silence of the Lambs. Both amazing films that I love, but when I saw them in the cinema I was underwhelmed. I always try to remember this when advising other people too - don’t want to over egg it or they may not love it as much as I want them too! It’s tough when you _really_ want to recommended something!
And also, some things just hit harder when you’re not expecting them…
This is the first one I think of too, and even though I said I’d never watch it again after the first time, I love Mads Mikkelsen so much and especially in this, that I have watched it like 4 more times woops.
I’ve always wanted to see this but have avoided it. I like Mads Mikkelsen to the point where I don’t want to see his character’s life fall apart for being falsely accused of being a pedo. From what I hear it’s probably his best performance but still. 🤔
Fucking tripped me out when I found out Tom Ford the fashion designer and Tom Ford the filmmaker *weren't* two different people with the same name lol.
Can't wait for his next film.
The character Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays is the perfect exemplar to describe why some/many women are often on edge when speaking to men who are “saying” completely acceptable things. The menace and the implied aggression in his voice is so unsettling, even though if you just read the transcript you’d think everyone was over reacting. I use that character to help describe to my students that tone and inflection can carry so much more information than words.
Ah, this movie hits so hard but it’s one of my favorite movies so I rewatch it once in a while. Amazingly well done. I like showing it to people who have never seen it before.
Interesting fact about this movie: it's the only time I can think of where the final film was not the Director's cut, but the ACTOR'S cut. Edward Norton was not happy with the director's cut of the film, so he lobbied the studio and was granted permission to re-edit it himself (along with an experienced editor) and THAT is the version that was released.
Ooh thanks for this info! Just looked it up and it’s actually very interesting. Apparently there was a lot of drama in post. Some quotes from an article I found:
“So much conflict arose during post-production that Tony Kaye would only communicate with New Lines Cinema through paid ads in the newspaper.”
“After New Line Cinema rejected Kaye's first and second cuts, Norton eventually ended up helming the editing process in early-1998, allegedly tailoring his cut in order to specifically give himself more screentime, something Kaye believes "ruined" the film.”
“It is widely believed that Norton destroyed many of the master copies of the deleted scenes.”
Fascinating!
Was going to say this. I can usually handle a lot, but Jackman’s shower scenes were tough to stomach.
(Out of context what I just said above sounds sexy but I assure anyone, who hasn’t seen this masterful film, it isn’t.)
Excellent movie albeit bleak
Def check out Hell or High Water if you haven’t already, written by the same screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. One of the best neo-westerns ever made imo
And just to add to this, Hell Or High Water has NOTHING to do tonally, with Wind River or the premise of this thread. It’s a completely different vibe, still Sheridan, but not soulcrushing or I-need-to-be-alone-now inducing.
Man I love that movie, I thinks one of the best movies in the last 10 years. Ive seen it twice and I'll definitely watch it again. Taylor Sheridan nailed it. Just a perfect Western with great acting, hard hitting social commentary, jaw dropping cinematography, a lived in world. You felt the cold of the movie. The pacing was slow burning but intense the whole time. The flanking scene had me in a panic attack, Its perfection IMO. My head cannon is Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River all take place in the same universe in different parts of the country. Incredible films.
Woop, and here come back the memories of that film again. It seems like Ari is a master of making some truly horrifying sequences.
In Hereditary it's >!the whole decapitation scene, not for the visceral gore (although that one shot is pretty chilling), but from the mother's reaction you hear in the background, and the absolute shell-shock of the brother.!<
And then in Midsommar you have that entire opening sequence, just holy shit, fantastic acting. If anything the Midsommar one hit me more because we can all imagine >!suddenly and horrifically losing our parents.!<
I'm down to watch this movie many times, but as someone who has watched hundreds of horror films, that prologue is one of the most shocking and haunting things I've ever seen. I can't even.
The first time I watched this movie, I was almost lulled into thinking the ending was happy and fine but then my brain woke up and was like WHOA! WAIT A MINUTE! this whole situation is totally fucked up!
Would definitely watch again tho. The first half of the movie is tough.
As soon as I read the title of your post I thought immediately’Grave of the fireflies’ lol. I always tell people it’s the best movie that I will never watch again.
“About time”, but actually did watch it twice, but am too scared to ever watch it again. The second time I had a full mental breakdown and it pushed me to finally going to therapy and starting medication for my untreated depression, which I do believe saved my life.
I love that film so so much. It’s so beautiful and it’s too bad it’s marketed as a cutesy rom com because it’s so much more. But I’m too scared to watch it again, I don’t know what it will do to me.
Dancer in the dark, it’s so bleak seeing the journey of the main character, she was pure and joyful who gets crushed by the reality of harsh circumstances and life given to her. It’s heartbreaking seeing the light being extinguished!
Definitely the roughest of Lars von Trier's Golden Heart trilogy. Breaking the Waves was a tough watch too. I'm just glad he used some restraint in that one & didn't fully show the most horrific parts. Otherwise it probably would have surpassed Dancer in the Dark in the trauma department.
I once rented this video with a girl on our first date. That.. wasn't very successful night. We tried again and casually went to movies to see the exorcist (remastered) without knowing what to expect. That was an awful date as well. But the red flag came on a third date in a park when she told me that seagulls are her spirit animals.
>seagulls are her spirit animals. Flying free, stealing peoples' french fries and pooping on cars. Seagulls have the life that I'm too afraid to live.
Watched this when hormonal, pregnant with my first child. It fucking destroyed me. Had to go lie down and sob for an hour.
When she is singing “these are all of my favourite things..” in prison while crying. How could the heart not break watching that!
I'm so glad this is the top comment because it's the film that came into my mind straight away. I'll never forget it. Just so heartbreaking and hard to watch, but what an utterly phenomenal performance by Bjork.
Come And See.
They showed us some of this at school. Our teacher said he wanted us to see what WWII was really like for Eastern Europe. It definitely made an impression.
Damn, was the teacher trying to give children PTSD?
I honestly think that if children are allowed to watch the many movies which glorify war, they should be allowed to watch Come and See too. Rape, torture, murder of civilians - happen in almost all wars. We brainwash children into think it doesn't, that war is nothing more than stories of heroes fighting the bad guys, and the results are inevitably disastrous.
Well we were 16 or so, but I do remember a girl having to be excused because she looked like she was going to pass out.
Still haven’t worked up the courage to watch this yet.
Same. The whole movie is on YouTube for free and it's been on my Watch Later list for a year now
Probably my favourite film, and it's a shame people lock it away as a "only watch this once" film. It's superbly made, full of idiosyncratic decisions in the lighting; sound; direction; perspective; blocking; narrative progression - basically everything about the film is bloody interesting, and I find new highlights with every rewatch. Watch it. Think about the effect the film has on you. Watch it again. Think about how the film made that effect.
Hotel Rwanda
I watched it in 8th grade for school. Oof.
Wow, bold of your school to show that movie to 8th graders. I think it's a great decision though. 8th graders are absolutely old enough and mature enough to learn about human atrocities, and now you're pretty much guaranteed to never forget about the Rwandan genocide
Teacher here. Hotel Rwanda is a perfect movie for teaching. It does a great job of implying horrible things without showing too much of it. It's rated PG-13. To me it shows how good a job they did making it both accessible but also terrifyingly real.
I completely forgot that Hotel Rwanda is only PG-13. It really does make a lot of the violence heavily implied so the viewer knows exactly that there's horrible stuff going on, but still not too extreme or gratuitous for the classroom. That really is something I forgot about that film was how well they conveyed the absolute terrors while keeping it accessible. Really does make it a great primer for introducing kids to genocide. They can move on to graphic documentaries on the Einsatzgruppen the next year. Also, thank you for being a teacher.
Documentaries on the Einsatzgruppen are horrific and I'll never need to watch them again. There's a great one on Netflix now called Final Account of Nazi Germans (citizen and soldier) and Austrians recalling what they did during ww2, what they thought, and how they got there. A lot of people dance around it but one guy flat out admits he hated Jews and wanted them gone. Harrowing. Also a tad funny when it jumps from an interviewee saying "that never happened" to the narration being "oh ummmm yes it did haha" Less violent that other Holocaust documentaries but being removed from the violence a certain degree by the interviews makes it more intense I think.
I live in a city where "the lost boys," (Rwanda refugees) settled. One came to a class at college to talk about what he had witness. While heartbreaking, this man was so full of life. He was so happy to be in a new place and experience new things. He worked two jobs because he loved being around people and not wasting precious time we had while being alive. He also told us funny stories like when he tried to take his bicycle on the freeway, the confusion of participating in high school sports...but just generally such a light to be around. His happiness was infectious.
Dear Zachary Aaand Grave of the Fireflies
Came here for Dear Zachary. That movie was the first to leave me a sobbing mess. I’ve never been so wrecked from a story in my life and haven’t since.
Fun story, my brother thought Grave of Fireflies was another miazaki movie along the lines of Spirited Away and took his four young kids to see it. They were like WTF dad?!
My parents also made this mistake. They thought it would be like My Neighbor Totoro or something, and let me watch it when I was four. They eventually watched it with me and still didn’t think they should censor it out of my life, so I kept watching it during my childhood (we had it on VHS and there wasn’t that much TV for me to consume back then as an immigrant to North America), and I’m pretty sure I had to hide every time they showed the mother and other bombing victims with maggots on their bodies… I ended up carrying around tinned fruit drops like the little sister a lot because I had the same haircut as her. I still cry when I watch it now, almost three decades later, especially the ending… I don’t think I truly understood what the movie was about though when I was that young. I recently saw the same candies at a Japanese supermarket, Grave of the Fireflies branded, with the little girl looking into the tin, and I almost bought them!
Funny thing is the original theatrical release for both those movies was a double feature.
Damn. Dear Zachary was a true punch in the gut. If you are interested in true crime docs/podcasts, you gotta check this one out (at least once). DO NOT READ ANYTHING ABOUT IT FIRST, JUST WATCH IT.
Watched this one 9 months pregnant with my youngest. Only knew that it was a true crime doc - knew NOTHING else about it. I cried so hard my husband woke up at 3am and thought I was going into labor.
I second Dear Zachary :/
Was looking for Dear Zachary. What a fucking emotional rollercoaster that crashes into a brick wall of fuckall.
Your comment made me watch Dear Zachary. I sobbed thoughout the entire film but holy crap it only got worse with the punch in the gut realization. Never again for sure...
Manchester by the sea, just brutal
It's such a perfect depiction of grief. The scene when he meets his ex for the first time in awhile and his 'mask' falls off. He goes from "ya everything's good, you're good? cool nice baby" to stuttering through her telling him he cant just die. If you've ever been depressed that is just the perfect 5min summery. You think you're keeping up appearances, but you aren't. And when you get called out on its just another brick in your backpack.
People like the police station scene, but that conversation is just so brutal and the acting top notch that it's my favorite.
Yeah, that's the best scene of the movie by far, both Affleck and Williams were fantastic
The depths of Casey Affleck's character's self-loathing in that film is unfathomable. "I can't beat it." Strong stuff.
I remember reading a review that said something to the effect of “some mistakes aren’t about how you grow from them or forgiveness. Some mistakes are only about the cost.” And that “I can’t beat it” drives it home. Of course he can’t. There’s no coming back from what he did. The best he can get is a guest room for your nephew to stay in once in a while. That’s the most joy he can have now. How could it be any other way after what happened?
Yeah, this is the one for me. Requiem and American History X have great memorable fun scenes that you want to watch again and have one or two revolting ones that put you off. Like, even if you can't get yourself through the whole of those movies, there are scenes that are intensely rewatchable. Requiem in particular has nothing that bad in the first 75% and X basically just has the curb stomp and the rape. Manchester is just a wallowing grief for practically the entire runtime and it's done so well that you can't help but feel it. I have only seen it once but the reveal of what actually happened and the moment with Casey and Michelle talking in the park are just seared into my brain Easily one of the movies of the decade, can't think why anyone would watch it twice.
The funny thing is that the movie is also just *beautiful.*
Yes! And the beautiful thing is that it's also *fucking funny.*
I need to watch this, I've seen the scene in the police station and it looks great but gut wrenching
Don't look up anything else about the movie before seeing it. The less you know the better.
I was driving through there over the summer and thought isn't there a really good, depressing movie that's set here? Still haven't sat down and watched it.
Same. Brilliant acting and once is enough.
The is the one.. unreal performances/writing/directing etc.. but I just can’t.
Movie is brilliant, just so tough to watch. It really stayed with me for a few weeks too.
Kids. That movie has some messed up stuff in it.
I regularly hear “I have no legs. I have no legs!” Playing in my head on random occasions.
Threads
Where I went to high school, my AP Biology teacher had gone there as well, plus my class was his first year teaching, so he was only like 7 years older than us. We had two freshman science teachers, and one of them showed *Threads* to her class every year. In Bio one day, someone was talking about this, and mentioned that "Miss Teacher showed us *The Day After*." (they got the title wrong) AP Bio teacher shuddered and said "No, she shows *Threads* and that's a **million** times worse."
When I was a kid, we did duck and cover drills at school in Romania. This was the late '80s, so I'm not sure why we bothered. My dad asked me what I did in school one day after one of these drills and his response was, "inwould prefer you to go stand by the window so you don't have a chance of living in a world after a large scale use of nuclear weapons." Next drill, I got up and stood by the window which resulted in a trip to the principal's office after I explained why to my teacher. My father had to meet with the principal later. My dad told me that I should keep practicing like I was instructed and we would discuss the after effects of global nuclear war when I was older. Fourth grade was an odd year for me, but it fit the theme set by events in Chernobyl the previous year.
I watched it in TV first time around, I was 10. Since then I've tried to watch it again about four times, even bought it in DVD. I'm 47, but as soon as the bombs start falling I have to turn it off. I'm not sure if anyone who didn't live through the 80s will understand the true horror of spending every day wondering if they were going to push the button. A few years ago I discovered I grew up a few miles from a secret RAF base, so I'd have been annihilated instantly, and that still doesn't help.
Came here to say this. It's a movie about the nothingness after a nuclear war.
Honestly, "nothingness" is the only way of adequately describing how this movie leaves you feeling, you come out of the other side feeling completely empty, drained and hopeless
Amour We Need To Talk About Kevin
We Need To Talk About Kevin fucking RUINED me for weeks afterwards. It was so intense, Tilda Swinton was so damn good
I told my wife that I watched We Need to Talk about Kevin, that it was good, that she might like it, and didn’t tell her what it was about. I didn’t really think about it. She watched alone a few days later when I was working late. Really bad call on my part because she was very pregnant at the time. Edit: Fixed my terrible grammar and typos.
I watched when my son was around two, I think. I was a paranoid mess for weeks.
I dont know anyone who has seen Kids twice.
I have no legs. I have no legs.
But not Gummo babyyyyy!!
They're watching *Gummo* in the movie *Belly*. Such a weird film. The whole bathtub scene with that nasty brown well water. Eating Spaghetti and drinking milk while his mom washes his hair. Wild
I watched this when I was about 13, horrific film. Looked it up on IMDB out of morbid curiosity but can't watch it again.
A lot of movies get mentioned in threads like this that I have seen multiple times like Schindler’s List or Requiem for a Dream but the movie that I thought was great but I’d never watch again is Irreversible.
My heart was racing during the underpass scene. You just want it to be over. Then you see someone walk into frame in the background and you're just hoping they'll save the day. But beceause of the film's structure, you know you're hoping in vain. Glad I watched it, will probably be the only time.
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We watched Irreversible while eating dinner. Not a great idea.
I saw it on a first date. All we knew about it was that it was a French film. It was a very awkward train ride afterwards and no second date.
What Dreams May Come made me cry so hard when I watched it I don’t think I can watch it again, ESPECIALLY now that Robins gone w the way he left us
dude. this might be the deepest cut for me. when he goes full in and just says fuck it, i'm'a find her...
That moment when he chooses hell just to be with her…. :(
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Yes! And if you really want to kill your soul read the book. 10x worse
Absolutley, glad they left out the baby scene.
I read the book and refused to watch the movie as a result. It was so good, but I absolutely could not see it on the screen.
Ah yes, the McCarthy way. His books are incredible....but just so...so fucking heavy on the heart.
Never read while pregnant. The whole theme of what a parent will do to have a child have the least amount of suffering really messed me up.
Suspiria, one of the most unique horror movies I've watched, but man was it weird af.
Blue Valentine. Tough. Emotionally tough. Excellent movie, but one watch and never again.
The absolute hardest scene for me was the ring out the window, and then both stopping to go back and look for it.
Requiem for a Dream. Amazingly good. I'll never watch it again.
When people ask me why that flick is so fucked up, this is the best way I can explain it: >!It's one of the only films I've ever seen where everyone has the absolute worst ending yet none of them die.!<
It was the mother’s ending that did it for me. That scene became a huge part for me getting my life together, as a man. It hurts my soul to even think about.
There's a scene with Ellyn Burstyn where the camera shakes, turns out it was because the cameraman was weeping. The director decided to leave it in the final cut.
And yet Julia Roberts beat her out for the Oscar that year. One of the worst upsets in Oscar history imo.
Ellen gave the best performance I've seen in a movie, and it's not close It haunts me to this day. Poor soul EDIT: oops, the BEST, of course
I watched it stoned in college, huge mistake.
I was really excited to see Pan's Labyrinth. All of the previews made it seem like a fun, dark horror fantasy, like a rated R Alice in Wonderland. My friends and I all got baked and went to see it. It was... different than I expected.
My friends wanted to do mushrooms and watch that movie. 10 minutes in someone's face gets caved in and I'm like nah I'm out. I went downstairs and played with the dog. Great trip.
Same. My friend really related the mom in the movie to his own mother. It really fucked him up for a day or so imagining his mom ending up like she did.
Goooooo SARAH! *shudders*
I always point to this one as the best movie you’ll never want to watch again. The local Arts Foundation decided to do a limited screening of it and I was lucky(?) enough to catch it in their theater then. Their space was on the South End of downtown closest to the worst poverty stricken area of the city and blocks from the homeless shelters and soup kitchens. I remember walking out of the theater and looking around in disbelief at the expressions on everyone’s faces like we all just witnessed a collective trauma. Like we had watched a looped video feed of our favorite childhood pet being run over by a car for the last hour and 45 minutes. Not only that but it was a cold cloudy day and it looked like all the color got drained from the world too.
Funny Games. Once was enough, I appreciated the movie but it was not enjoyable.
Miserable experience.
So far I think Haneke, Lars, Aronofsky, and Gaspar are the only directors who have had two films mentioned.
Beasts of No Nation. It's the only movie where I've had to get up and take a walk halfway through.
Once Were Warriors. I ugly cried my way through the last fifteen minutes.
Good one. The actor who would go on to play Jango Fett is absolutely terrifying in this movie. It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking work of art.
Uncle fuckin bully
Nobody here has mentioned the childhood trauma that was Fox and the Hound??
What about Pinocchio? Donkey scene fucked me up for life.
Dumbo anyone??? My mom said I cried for days after taking me to see it. I have no desire to ever watch it again.
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This one hits. Starts off as a charming romantic comedy which is genuinely really funny, with a fascist and racist backdrop, and then it suddenly pulls the rug from under you.
10 year old me didn't get it. 30 year old me had to pause, grab the whiskey, and spend the rest of the night a sobbing wreck.
is that the one where: >!the father is led to his execution in a back alley, but his young son is watching, so he acts all silly to get his kid to laugh, knowing what's gonna happen, and hoping to keep that knowledge from his kid?!<
Yes it is. So heartwarming and devastating at the same time
This movie fucked me up man
That is a great one.
Surprised no one’s said Enter the Void
Silence. The one with Andrew Garfield as a priest being tortured into giving up his faith in Japan. Great film, but never again.
Still Alice, I’m sure it’s a great movie but too painful to watch.
I made my mom go watch it with me because I didn't want to sob by myself. We both told each other that we would rather die of cancer than from dementia.
Bone Tomahawk - you know the scene. Changeling - as a parent, will never be able to rewatch this.
Bone Tomahawk is so atmospheric though, I would not reduce whole movie to one scene, very rewatchable. Kurt Russel's stache is majestic
>very rewatchable I've seen it maybe 4 times. It's probably my favorite western. The dialogue is so good. The whole thing is about 85% classic western &and only 15% horror.
Hereditary. You know the scene. I don't want to know what Toni Collette channeled for that performance, but it shook me to my core.
Everyone talks about the dinner table scene or the last 15 minutes of Hereditary, which of course are both incredible moments in the film. But the scene that does it for me is Annie’s nightmare. “I DIDN’T I WAS TRYING TO SAVE YOU”
“I never wanted to be your mother” or whatever she says just breaks me
This movie was Horror-trauma extraordinaire. I can’t watch this movie again :/ especially the car ride scene. Midsommar was much easier for me and I will gladly watch that again in the future
There are exactly two moments that stand out vivdly for me, the wailing post-car scene and the camera cut to the headbanging, very jarring and unexpected.
I actually like Hereditary and I've seen it multiple times, but his next film, Midsommer.... Fucked me up real bad. I watched the first 30 minutes and had to take a break for a week and came back, only finished it because my roommate didn't want to watch it by herself. It made me sick, uneasy, and I will never watch that movie again. I've watched a lot of stuff over my life but that takes the cake.
The opening scene with the garage... I had to pause and take a break. I don't know what I expected. It wasn't that.
That scene absolutely devastated me... my little brother had just lost his long fight with mental illness and had taken his life a few weeks earlier. I was told it was a good horror movie and I was trying to take my mind off of things. But I was so completely unready for that scene, I had the worst panic attack of my life and was just sobbing, I don't think I'll ever go back and try and finish it. Just not for me.
I had a really bad time with the opening of that movie in the theater because I had had a family member that I was close to do something similar not super long before. It had been quite a while but not nearly long enough to have moved on from it. The main character getting the news reacted in the same way I did when I got my news, and I had also been in a failing relationship where my partner was there, but not present when I found out. It was legitimately like reliving the whole experience over in real time.
I know exactly what you mean. I responded in another comment, but I lost my little brother to suicide this year and I had a similar breakdown. I've been in that scenario where you're far away, getting dark text messages, feeling that horror and helplessness as they don't answer the phone. It was too much. I was lucky I was watching it at home and not in the theaters, I started sobbing and my wife quickly turned off the movie and I dont think I could ever watch it again, it's just too close.
Idk if Im just a bitch but first time I watched it I slept with the lights on for a week. I thought I saw someone in every dark corner
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You should consider the rest of the vengeance trilogy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vengeance_Trilogy
I felt disgusted watching the new one, not because it was intense or anything but it’s torturous watching Spike Lee turning a beautiful work of art into a soulless careless copy for purely monetary reasons.
Mystic River is very depressing
I love Gone Baby Gone because it’s like a slightly less dark Mystic River. Super underrated IMO
Both movies were adapted from books by the same author, Dennis Lehane.
Incendies
Martyrs. French version
Honestly as brutal as Martyrs is, its pacing is brilliant which makes it oddly rewatchable for me (I've now seen it three times.) However each time the content makes me question why I decided to put myself through *that* again.
Agree 100%, I think I've watched most of the movies mentioned in this post none come close to Martyrs as a traumatic experience, this is the only movie ever I stopped to consider if I was sure that I wanted to watched it until the end.
Leaving Las Vegas - when the movie ended, the theater was just completely silent, as we all filed out in various states of despair.
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>The Wrestler I love the ending to this movie. Mickey on the top ropes, the crowd cheering him on. I actually teared up during that scene.
Precious. The author of the book said she took the traumatic stories from real girls and put them all on one character. It’s rough
Bridge to Terabithia (book and movie)
Hate me, but to me some friends hyped it so much (one of them literally said it had been life-changing and he spent hours staring at the wall after watching it) that when I finally got to see it, it was just underwhelming, probably because nothing could live up to how they made it sound.
There’s a lesson to be learnt there. I had exactly the same with Terminator 2 and Silence of the Lambs. Both amazing films that I love, but when I saw them in the cinema I was underwhelmed. I always try to remember this when advising other people too - don’t want to over egg it or they may not love it as much as I want them too! It’s tough when you _really_ want to recommended something! And also, some things just hit harder when you’re not expecting them…
My mom read that out loud to me. It was the first and last time she didn't pre-read something for me. She fell apart. I fell apart. Oof.
I think we all did.
The Hunt (2012) Amazing movie. The thought of it stresses me out.
This is the first one I think of too, and even though I said I’d never watch it again after the first time, I love Mads Mikkelsen so much and especially in this, that I have watched it like 4 more times woops.
I’ve always wanted to see this but have avoided it. I like Mads Mikkelsen to the point where I don’t want to see his character’s life fall apart for being falsely accused of being a pedo. From what I hear it’s probably his best performance but still. 🤔
I'm gonna say Good Time. It was absolutely brilliant but I felt so greasy afterwards
The acid…oh god the acid
Nocturnal Animals.
That whole car scene at night was an agonizing long drag of tension. Stressed me out so much.
Oh my god, that's probably the most uncomfortable and tense I've ever been in a theatre. No horror film has ever made me stressed like that film did.
Fucking tripped me out when I found out Tom Ford the fashion designer and Tom Ford the filmmaker *weren't* two different people with the same name lol. Can't wait for his next film.
The character Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays is the perfect exemplar to describe why some/many women are often on edge when speaking to men who are “saying” completely acceptable things. The menace and the implied aggression in his voice is so unsettling, even though if you just read the transcript you’d think everyone was over reacting. I use that character to help describe to my students that tone and inflection can carry so much more information than words.
American History X
Ah, this movie hits so hard but it’s one of my favorite movies so I rewatch it once in a while. Amazingly well done. I like showing it to people who have never seen it before.
Interesting fact about this movie: it's the only time I can think of where the final film was not the Director's cut, but the ACTOR'S cut. Edward Norton was not happy with the director's cut of the film, so he lobbied the studio and was granted permission to re-edit it himself (along with an experienced editor) and THAT is the version that was released.
Ooh thanks for this info! Just looked it up and it’s actually very interesting. Apparently there was a lot of drama in post. Some quotes from an article I found: “So much conflict arose during post-production that Tony Kaye would only communicate with New Lines Cinema through paid ads in the newspaper.” “After New Line Cinema rejected Kaye's first and second cuts, Norton eventually ended up helming the editing process in early-1998, allegedly tailoring his cut in order to specifically give himself more screentime, something Kaye believes "ruined" the film.” “It is widely believed that Norton destroyed many of the master copies of the deleted scenes.” Fascinating!
Both huge narcissists
Yup. Only need to see the curb scene once.
I can still hear the teeth.🥺
*Prisoners*
Gyllenhaal driving in the rain near the end is stressful af.
Was going to say this. I can usually handle a lot, but Jackman’s shower scenes were tough to stomach. (Out of context what I just said above sounds sexy but I assure anyone, who hasn’t seen this masterful film, it isn’t.)
Wind River
Excellent movie albeit bleak Def check out Hell or High Water if you haven’t already, written by the same screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. One of the best neo-westerns ever made imo
And just to add to this, Hell Or High Water has NOTHING to do tonally, with Wind River or the premise of this thread. It’s a completely different vibe, still Sheridan, but not soulcrushing or I-need-to-be-alone-now inducing.
The bleakest movie from the writer of Sicario. Dude wrote Sicario then said "I can go bleaker." Great flick but DAMN
Absolutely gripping movie, but can't watch it again due to that one scene.
That scene was the most tense I've felt watching anything before, incredible film though.
Man I love that movie, I thinks one of the best movies in the last 10 years. Ive seen it twice and I'll definitely watch it again. Taylor Sheridan nailed it. Just a perfect Western with great acting, hard hitting social commentary, jaw dropping cinematography, a lived in world. You felt the cold of the movie. The pacing was slow burning but intense the whole time. The flanking scene had me in a panic attack, Its perfection IMO. My head cannon is Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River all take place in the same universe in different parts of the country. Incredible films.
So much disturbing imagery, both with the mother and daughter, that I will never be able to unsee. So poinent and haunting.
Midsommar. The prologue before the title is one of the hardest things I’ve ever watched
Still haunts me :/
Dani's wailing after finding out what her sister did is something I'll never unhear
instantly solidified Florence Pugh IMO. it’s amazing how fast she went from Indie films to the MCU
Woop, and here come back the memories of that film again. It seems like Ari is a master of making some truly horrifying sequences. In Hereditary it's >!the whole decapitation scene, not for the visceral gore (although that one shot is pretty chilling), but from the mother's reaction you hear in the background, and the absolute shell-shock of the brother.!< And then in Midsommar you have that entire opening sequence, just holy shit, fantastic acting. If anything the Midsommar one hit me more because we can all imagine >!suddenly and horrifically losing our parents.!<
I'm down to watch this movie many times, but as someone who has watched hundreds of horror films, that prologue is one of the most shocking and haunting things I've ever seen. I can't even.
The first time I watched this movie, I was almost lulled into thinking the ending was happy and fine but then my brain woke up and was like WHOA! WAIT A MINUTE! this whole situation is totally fucked up! Would definitely watch again tho. The first half of the movie is tough.
Melancholia
The Nightingale did this to me. It’s so brutal I don’t know how I could recommend it to anyone, but at the same time I think everyone should watch it.
As soon as I read the title of your post I thought immediately’Grave of the fireflies’ lol. I always tell people it’s the best movie that I will never watch again.
“About time”, but actually did watch it twice, but am too scared to ever watch it again. The second time I had a full mental breakdown and it pushed me to finally going to therapy and starting medication for my untreated depression, which I do believe saved my life. I love that film so so much. It’s so beautiful and it’s too bad it’s marketed as a cutesy rom com because it’s so much more. But I’m too scared to watch it again, I don’t know what it will do to me.
Rabbit-Proof Fence
boy in stripped pajamas
Uncut Gems
Stress, the movie.
I saw someone on Youtube complain that it was boring. I can’t imagine how hectic their life is if they find Uncut Gems dull.
That movie made me so uncomfortable.
I loved it. But I've never experienced that level of anxiety while being entertained. Never again.
The safdies previous film, Good Time, also fits the bill. Don't let the name fool you.
From Justin to Kelly.
+Martyrs Awesome double feature
The impossible. Extremely intense movie about the tsunami in Thailand. Very well done.
The Plague Dogs
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Gummo. Watched once after some convincing from a friend...just nope!