The segment where the two girls get killed is fairly effective IMHO, but indeed the rest of the movie is pretty lame. Same goes for I Spit on Your Grave too, which I just thought that was kind of dull. Anyway, one film I found a tad "disturbing" with no gore at all was Todd Solondz's Happiness. Not a bad film at all, but it went to some emotionally raw and ugly places I wouldn't be keen to revisit.
It's technically better made, true, but the added slickness and character prettiness robs the film of the more documentary "you are there" feel that worked to the original's advantage. And there's nothing in the remake as intense as the last five minutes of the original, either...IMHO, natch. It's a film that will be disappointing (at least at first) to anyone born after 1970, though...it's got such a reputation for being a brutal intense bloodbath that a newbie will be surprised that there's almost no gore in it at all.
Thanks for the resource, Colin. While I was at the website, I also took in your review of River's Edge.
I'm pretty jaded when it comes to the graphic violence and torture porn stuff. I barely even remember The Human Centipede; I found it quite boring actually. For me, there is nothing like the evening news for a slap in the face/wish I could unsee/unhear what I just saw experience. Hence, I seldom watch the news. The only movie that I can remember seeing relatively recently that made me ask myself, "who wants to watch this?" is The Bunny Game. There is no plot really, it's mainly just 75 minutes of a prostitute being sexually abused and humiliated by a truck driver. The funny thing is that it was put together by a husband and wife team; I wonder what their sex lives are like!
I haven't seen Happiness in at least 10 years but I'll always remember the final scene with the dog licking the...well, you probably remember! I just about fell out of my chair.
Irreversible is the last movie I saw that truly disturbed me. Even beyond the couple of famously disturbing scenes, that movie just evokes such an uncomfortable atmosphere that left me nervous and anxious the entire time it was on. I don't think I have the same threshold or curiosity for disturbing cinema that I used to have. When I read about A Serbian Film, I just thought, "I have nothing to gain by watching that." I probably would have seen it back in my college days, but I don't feel like bothering with it now. I've had Antichrist on my Netflix queue for two years, and I still haven't mustered the desire to sit down and watch it.
I don't think a film has to be gory to be "disturbing", subject matter can accomplish discomfort all by itself. I recently watched a film called "Martha Marcy May Marlene" (2011) about a girl who escaped from an abusive cult, I couldn't watch the film in one sitting, I had to take a break and finish it the next day. Very good movie but punishing to watch.
Yes, exactly. The 2 movies I noted in the 1st post were just like this. Cruelty to children is especially distubing, and, anything like this based on a true story makes it even more real and bothersome. I can get into a good thriller/horror film, but keep the blood and guts out.
My curiosity has gone down, but I'll still try to check out films that come under particularly harsh criticism for supposedly crossing some lines, especially when the moral character of anyone who would watch them is impugned. I actually went to A Serbian Film to see what all the fuss was about, but it turned out to be the censored version. Oh well. It was OK for what it was I suppose but I ain't buying the idea that it's supposed to be some sort of political allegory...
I know I am sensitive to extreme violence and cruelty, so I have successfully avoided all of the films mentioned. But a few days ago I did a Google image search for "Train Wreck" to post in the thread about Barry leaving the forums, and there was a picture someone who had been run over by a train. Not pretty.
I'm more into thrillers than gorefests and haven't seen one in quite awhile. That's why when I saw "Hostel" it creeped me out. The eyeball scene. More disturbing though was an HBO documentary film regarding violence in prison, in specifically the story of black man getting killed by 2 white men and the lack of help from the guards. There was a security camera that graphically caught the whole thing on video.
A lot of people rag on Hostel as being the most depraved sort of torture porn, but I actually liked it and thought the concept was more disturbing than anything on the screen. IMHO it still would've worked pretty well with almost all of the grusomeness edited out.
Very true. Films like "Cries and Whispers" and "Ikiru" disturbed me to no end, but in a very different way than what most people are talking about here.
Man Bites Dog is another disturbing little picture. It was amusing to watch when I was a teenager, but now, it just doesn't sit well with me. It's even a Criterion release, which I have, but I haven't revisited it in a long time. The one child killing scene in it is not cool AT ALL.
The problem is that the original "Chainsaw" was so amateurish that I never felt "I was there". The acting was too terrible for me to believe any of it...
That is a brilliant film. It's shot and edited in a way that no matter how many times you see it, it's going to work you over good.
