Top 20 Most Disturbing Films Ever
I have seen many and am always on the lookout for more. Not everyone will agree with my top 20, but these are the ones that had the biggest impact in my case. Suggestions welcome!
List activity
2.5K views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
21 titles
- DirectorNicolas Winding RefnStarsMads MikkelsenMaarten StevensonAlexander MortonForced for some time to be a fighting slave, a pagan warrior escapes his captors with a boy and joins a group of Crusaders on their quest to the Holy Land.A bleak and tormented journey across the Scottish highlands with very little dialog, violent and bloody imagery from the get-go, and a story that gets darker and darker until it culminates in one of the most unrelentingly twisted scenes out there. It hold my number 1 spot for also being visually stunning, having an amazing soundtrack and possessing a sophistication that most films of this sort lack.
- DirectorYang LiStarsLu HuangYouan YangYuling ZhangA young woman is kidnapped and sold to a villager in the mountains.Not gory or even necessarily violent, Blind Mountain is haunting because it feels gritty, realistic and honest. The knowledge that this sort of thing is still happening today is no comfort.
- DirectorGaspar NoéStarsMonica BellucciVincent CasselAlbert DupontelEvents over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in an underpass tunnel.Arguably the most upsetting thing I have ever or will ever watch. Noe uses the reverse chronological order of scenes to stunning effect, making this a far more painful experience than if events were watched in order from start to finish. Instead, we are forced to witness the unbelievable pain and suffering of these characters in the beginning, and are reminded in every following scene that they don't know what's coming, their happiness is going to be shattered and we are as powerless as they are to stop it.
NOTE: Some scenes in this film are extremely graphic and could be very triggering, especially to survivors of rape.
I will add that Irreversible doesn't make the audience feel voyeuristic. It's depictions of violence, though highly realistic, are not fetishized or glamorized, rather allowing for empathy and a window into the suffering of rape victims and their loved ones. - DirectorFabrice du WelzStarsEmmanuelle BéartRufus SewellPetch OsathanugrahA couple are looking for their child who was lost in the tsunami - their search takes them to the dangerous Thai-Burmese waters, and then into the jungle, where they face unknown but horrifying dangers.Some people strongly dislike this film and I can see why. Reality and fantasy, life, death and afterlife are skewed throughout and it can be hard to follow or always make sense of. I still enjoyed it a lot though. It's a creepy and fascinating fever dream. Like Blair Witch Project and Cannibal Holocaust had a holiday together in Myanmar.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsNick SuttonJacob SewellLara ToshLonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.I'm not sure what it was about this movie, but I can't forget it. It twists the knife in so subtly in places you don't realize what you're watching is going to mess with you later, and at other times I felt sickened enough to have to look away. That may be the point.
- DirectorMichael HanekeStarsSusanne LotharUlrich MüheArno FrischTwo violent young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.
- DirectorLynne RamsayStarsTilda SwintonJohn C. ReillyEzra MillerKevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsOksana AkinshinaArtyom BogucharskiyPavel PonomaryovSixteen-year-old Lilja and her only friend, the young boy Volodja, live in Russia, fantasizing about a better life. One day, Lilja falls in love with Andrej, who is going to Sweden, and invites Lilja to come along and start a new life.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyo IshibashiEihi ShiinaTetsu SawakiA widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.
- DirectorPascal LaugierStarsMorjana AlaouiMylène JampanoïCatherine BéginA young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
- DirectorRuggero DeodatoStarsRobert KermanFrancesca CiardiPerry PirkanenDuring a rescue mission into the Amazon rainforest, a professor stumbles across lost film shot by a missing documentary crew.
- DirectorLucky McKeeStarsPollyanna McIntoshBrandon Gerald FullerLauren Ashley CarterWhen a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to "civilize" the last remaining member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy.It's not for everyone. The premise is absurd. But if you can see past that, this movie is genuinely upsetting and thought provoking, and Sean Spillane's soundtrack casts everything in a weird, too real light.
- DirectorÉric TessierStarsMarc-André GrondinNormand D'AmourSonia VachonA young man is held hostage by a psychopath who will only let him go if he beats him in a game of chess.
- DirectorCheol-soo JangStarsSeo Yeong-hieJi Seong-wonMin-ho HwangA woman subject to mental, physical and sexual abuse on a remote island seeks a way out.
- DirectorFred VogelStarsKyle DealmanCasey EganeyDan FriedmanTwo serial killers go on a murdering rampage as one films the outcome from behind a video camera.
- DirectorThomas ClayStarsNikki AlbonZoey CampbellStephanie de WhalleyRobert Carmichael, is a talented cello player in the town of Newhaven. He becomes associated with several other unsavory teenagers and he is soon tempted into the use of hard drugs like cocaine and ecstasy.
- DirectorFabrice du WelzStarsLaurent LucasBrigitte LahaieGigi CoursignyMarc, a traveling entertainer, is on his way home for Christmas when his van breaks down in the middle of a jerkwater town with some strange inhabitants.Any experimental horror/exploitation fan worth their salt is doing themselves a disservice by not watching Calvaire. If you can track it down, do yourself a favor and let it totally ruin your day.
- DirectorTun-Fei MouStarsGang WangDai Yao WuRunshen WangJapanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.
- DirectorMarina de VanStarsMarina de VanLaurent LucasLéa DruckerA woman grows increasingly fascinated with her body after suffering a disfiguring accident.
- DirectorGregory WilsonStarsWilliam AthertonBlythe AuffarthBlanche BakerIn a quiet suburban town in the summer of 1958, two recently orphaned sisters are placed in the care of their mentally unstable Aunt Ruth. But Ruth's depraved sense of discipline will soon lead to unspeakable acts of abuse and torture.
- DirectorE. Elias MerhigeStarsBrian SalzbergDonna DempseyStephen Charles BarryPresented in a surreal, gory and entirely visual manner, Begotten tells of the death of religion, the abuse of nature by Man and a nihilistic outlook on what life ultimately is.An honorable mention must go to this experimental horror, with it's bizarre and uncompromising depictions of human suffering in the way of disembowelment, necrophilia, torture, death by burning, resurrection, rape, murder, dismemberment, myriad bodily fluids being used for various rites, and symbols that will resonate even if they are difficult to discern.