Disturbing Movies

The Orphanage

Julia wanted me to create a list of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen - "disturbing" in this case applying to anything generally frightening, unsettling, nightmare-inducing, provocative, etc.

Well, here goes my list:
(in no particular order)

- The Mist (2007, Frank Darabont)   The more I think about it, this might just be the best Stephen King adaptation ever - sorry, Shining fans. 

- Wolf Creek  (2005, Greg McLean)   This Australian wonder made me feel so tense and bad, that I still haven't had the gall to see it again. 

- The Chernobyl Diaries  (2012, Bradley Parker)   I'm not going to Pripyat anytime soon. 

- Jaws  (1975, Steven Spielberg)   If 20-25 years after I have first seen the movie I'm still wary of going into the ocean isn't still an indication that this movie scarred me for life, what is? 

- 28 Days Later  (2002, Danny Boyle)   A masterpiece of dread, Danny Boyle's film has some very fast zombies.

- I Am Legend  (2007, Francis Lawrence)   I'll never forget the death of Will's dog.  Never. 

- Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion (1968, 1965, Roman Polanski)   The more famous Polanski horror film of the 60s has us on edge throughout, wondering what exactly Mia's got inside of her; the less famous one has Catherine Deneuve going deliriously crazy in her apartment. 

- The Mothman Prophecies (2002, Mark Pellington)  I don't know: I thought this "based on actual events" tale was really creepy. 

- Eden Lake  (2008, James Watkins)  Flight's Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender make an unwise venture into the woods and become even more unwisely antagonistic with a group of teen hoodlums.  Gross, unsettling. 

- The Orphanage (2007, Juan Antonia Bayona)  This has some of the best scares of the past decade.  Scenes that are really, really scary.  Even if you've had it with Guillermo del Toro...

In the Company of Men

- Mimic (1997, Guillermo del Toro)  Big ol' cockroaches in the New York subways.  Expertly done - funny and fleet and full of goosebump-raising moments, with a great odd cast including Mira Sorvino and F. Murray Abraham. 

- The Descent  (2006, Neil Marshall)  This surprise hit about a group of tough but unlucky female spelunkers had me squirming - oh, the claustrophobia - even before the Gollum-like creatures showed up! 

- Psycho  (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)  An obvious one. 

- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre  (1974, Tobe Hooper)  We've been so inundated and de-sensitized by pop cultural overkill, parodies, and remakes, remakes, remakes, updates, sequels, prologues, re-vamps, that it's easy forget how terrifying some of these original films once were.  Just the jiggery rumblings of a chainsaw warming up is still scary. 

- The Ring (2002, Gore Verbinski)   A chiller.  That head-lowered Japanese girl coming out of the TV didn't leave my head for days. 

- Mulholland Drive (2001)
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
- Zodiac (2007)

The above three are are modern classics.  David Lynch's film is cryptic and unforgettable, a riddle never meant to be solved, with truly terrifying images, a haunting soundtrack, and a great central performance by Naomi Watts.  Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Philip Kaufman's re-make of the great 50s original, is one of the best remakes ever made.  Zodiac is so meticulous and such a bravura feat of direction, well-cast in every role, that it's an achievement - and there's no closure either. 

- Cache  (2006, Michael Haneke)  Julia and I didn't really like this movie, but I'll admit that it was disturbing.  A wealthy French couple (Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil) are being videotaped by an unidentified peeper.

- Salo (1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini)  The less I say about this adaptation - an acclaimed director's take on the word of the Marquis de Sade - the better.  Grossest film I've ever seen - by far. 

- Frailty (2002, Bill Paxton)  The "Demons!"  A nasty, fun film full of devout looniness, with a plum twist ending. 

- Safe (1995, Tood Haynes)  Just a great, great film, about a real-life incident.  A woman (Julianne Moore, astonishing and then some) is allergic to the 20th century.  In the days of rampant allergies, who wouldn't gripped by this? 

- Black Christmas  (1974, Bob Clark)  Okay, don't laugh at this one.  You know what it's about: The prank calls are coming from inside the house.  Stop laughing! 

- The Others  (2001, Alejando Amenabar)   Umm, yeah, Nicole killed her children...

- The Exorcism of Emily Rose  (2005, Scott Derrickson)   This one chilled me pretty good, with a pre-Dexter Jennifer Carpenter Linda Blair-ing all over the place. 


Other possibilities:  Taxi Driver, Seven, In the Company of Men, Monster, Misery, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Black Swan, Little Children, Manhunter/Red Dragon/Silence of the Lambs. 


Hope this list suffices, wifey!