Given the number of people who excitedly wait for a new chillingmovieto come out every time, we have to admit that they are often mediocre at best. Perhaps it’s the result of a low budget, inexperienced writers, predictable twists, or repetitive plots that dampen the whole experience.But all is not lost, as people in thisonline threadwere recently sharing films that still give hope to the terror connoisseurs at heart. Below, you’ll find a list of the mostdisturbingmovies guaranteed to send some creepy crawlers down your spine.While you’re busy adding these films to your own must-watch list, don’t forget to check out a conversation with screenwriter, actor, novelist, and story coachNeil Chase, who kindly agreed to tell us more about this genre and even shared his favorite chilling movie!This post may includeaffiliate links.
Given the number of people who excitedly wait for a new chillingmovieto come out every time, we have to admit that they are often mediocre at best. Perhaps it’s the result of a low budget, inexperienced writers, predictable twists, or repetitive plots that dampen the whole experience.
But all is not lost, as people in thisonline threadwere recently sharing films that still give hope to the terror connoisseurs at heart. Below, you’ll find a list of the mostdisturbingmovies guaranteed to send some creepy crawlers down your spine.
While you’re busy adding these films to your own must-watch list, don’t forget to check out a conversation with screenwriter, actor, novelist, and story coachNeil Chase, who kindly agreed to tell us more about this genre and even shared his favorite chilling movie!
This post may includeaffiliate links.
Human centipide.YossiTheWizard:For me, it’s just such an absolutely disturbing concept that I can’t believe the person who came up with it doesn’t have issues that need to be addressed.
Requiem for a Dream it’s not a horror movie but definitely one of the most disturbing movies I’ve watched.conn_r2112:I remember watching it when I was younger, and at a certain point I legit had to pause the movie and go outside just to hear some birds chirp and see some sunshine.
Schindler’s List. I will never watch it again.u/ToBeReadOutLoud:It’s an extremely good movie and I’m glad I watched it, but once was definitely enough.
Naturally, the first thingBored Pandawas interested in learning about was the film expert’s all-time favorite disturbing movie. Chase shares with us that it’s Ghost Stories, a 2017 film starring an ensemble cast that includes Martin Freeman, Samuel Bottomley, Deborah Wastell, and Amy Doyle.For those who aren’t familiar with themovie, he kindly summarized it. “The film centers around a paranormal debunker who tries to disprove three separate supernatural encounters. But he discovers they are connected in a chilling way. What stands out to me in this film are a number of moments that play upon the psyche of both the main character and the viewer.”
Naturally, the first thingBored Pandawas interested in learning about was the film expert’s all-time favorite disturbing movie. Chase shares with us that it’s Ghost Stories, a 2017 film starring an ensemble cast that includes Martin Freeman, Samuel Bottomley, Deborah Wastell, and Amy Doyle.
For those who aren’t familiar with themovie, he kindly summarized it. “The film centers around a paranormal debunker who tries to disprove three separate supernatural encounters. But he discovers they are connected in a chilling way. What stands out to me in this film are a number of moments that play upon the psyche of both the main character and the viewer.”
A Clockwork Orange was up there on the list.VidelSatan13:I can watch a lot of horror but I watched it once and never again
Grave of the Fireflies (1988).Foolish_Flame:That was just such a devastating movie. Must’ve seen it about 20 years ago and I still think about it often. It still gives me goosebumps.
“A great example of this is found in the second story that he is trying to debunk - where he enters the home of a disturbed young man and sees the boy’s parents standing in the kitchen,” Chase continues telling us.“They have their backs to him (and the camera) and appear to be standing at the sink, washing dishes. However, when the protagonist takes a second look, he sees that they are completely motionless. The camera lingers on this image, and the longer it does so, the more disturbing the effect gets.Why aren’t these people moving? Why aren’t they speaking? Why do they have their backs to us? And, just as the investigator is about to take a step towards them, the boy gets his attention, and it pulls us away from those faceless characters. It’s never revealed why they were behaving this way, which only adds to the mystery of that moment.”
“A great example of this is found in the second story that he is trying to debunk - where he enters the home of a disturbed young man and sees the boy’s parents standing in the kitchen,” Chase continues telling us.
“They have their backs to him (and the camera) and appear to be standing at the sink, washing dishes. However, when the protagonist takes a second look, he sees that they are completely motionless. The camera lingers on this image, and the longer it does so, the more disturbing the effect gets.
Why aren’t these people moving? Why aren’t they speaking? Why do they have their backs to us? And, just as the investigator is about to take a step towards them, the boy gets his attention, and it pulls us away from those faceless characters. It’s never revealed why they were behaving this way, which only adds to the mystery of that moment.”
Hotel Rwanda.u/becuzurugly:I own it but have only watched it twice. I cry about it for days on end.
Threads… By far.SV650rider:I saw it years ago and still think about it regularly. Sometimes my friend and I need to talk about it to continue the processing.Saintdavus:This changed my idea of surviving nuclear war. I’m now glad I live in a high target city and I only hope I get vaporized instantly if or when the time comes.
One Hour Photo. Robin Williams as a psycho. Brilliant but disturbing.
To learn more about the film genre itself, we were curious to find out what elements make a movie truly chilling.Chase explains, “Disturbing films typically come in two varieties - those that are meant to disturb on a visceral level (such as shock-horror films like Hostel or A Serbian Film) and a smaller class of disturbing films that are meant to affect the viewer on a psychological level (such as the aforementioned Ghost Stories, and even non-horror such as Thirteen). I find psychologically disturbing movies to be most effective, much more so than movies with just gore and shock value.”
To learn more about the film genre itself, we were curious to find out what elements make a movie truly chilling.
Chase explains, “Disturbing films typically come in two varieties - those that are meant to disturb on a visceral level (such as shock-horror films like Hostel or A Serbian Film) and a smaller class of disturbing films that are meant to affect the viewer on a psychological level (such as the aforementioned Ghost Stories, and even non-horror such as Thirteen). I find psychologically disturbing movies to be most effective, much more so than movies with just gore and shock value.”
Johnny Got his Gun. It took me years to watch it all the way through. Being stuck in your body not being able to move or communicate all the while being conscious to everything around you. It’s like being buried alive for years.
According to Chase, the quality of unsettling cinema might bedecliningbecause studios aren’t willing to take risks with storylines and are often playing it safe.
“To me, it all comes down to the quality of storytelling,” he explains. “In recent years, the quality of storytelling in films has gotten worse. It’s not that there aren’t great storytellers or even great stories available - it’s that, increasingly, studios are unwilling to take storytelling risks and are simply playing it safe. It’s difficult to create disturbing content of any kind when the filmmakers are mandated to make content to please audiences rather than disturb them. "
The Machinist. Surprised I haven’t seen it mentioned!!
Irreversible.Only movie I tapped out on the first time then revisited just to get through it. Not only is it gruesome, the atmosphere and camera angles make it really unsettling.rupa_rockstar:This film stuck with me for so long, so awful, tragic and beautiful as well. Quite a feat.
Jacob’s ladder traumatized me.
Midsommar.u/woahwoahwoah28:That was one of the first movies I saw where nausea set in while I was watching it.
I Spit On Your Grave. The Hills Have Eyes. Both originals and remakes.
Apocalypse Now.It had an impact on me like no other. The movie feels so intensely real, and unfortunately it is a very accurate depiction of what happened in the Vietnam War. The way that the movie dehumanises Vietnamese people (which is what the Americans did) just kills me. It’s absolutely horrifying.
Deliverance.
Lars von Trier’s Antichrist. Specifically the scene involving scissors….
Not the most disturbing, but the car scene in Hereditary shocked the absolute s**t out of me more than any other horror scene. I’ve watched a lot of horror movies.bokin8:It was so unexpected in that moment of the movie for some reason that’s why it was so shocking too. That one is really burned into my brain.SassafrassPudding:Hereditary stayed with me. It’s a long, slow burn until it hits you again, and again. I’ve watched a whole bunch of “deep dive” video essays to try and work through it, but the effects remain, like a spot on my soul
Eraserhead. You are welcome.AreYouMeIAmYou:I saw it for the first time last year and it left a very foul taste in my mouth. Oh, and I’m going to be a dad for the first time this year and the movie is even more unsettling now.
Eden Lake.SamRaimisOldsDelta88:I had to scroll far too long for this one. Other movies might be more viscerally upsetting but this one just hurts deep down inside. I’ve seen pretty much all of them. Terrifier, TCM, Martyrs, Cannibal Holocaust…It’s mean, realistic, and doesn’t give you a payoff or relief in the end.
Funny games. I watch A LOT of horror movies/ thrillers etc. I consider it my favorite genre. That movie got me to my core for some reason. Something felt so real about it.unoeyedwillie:I watch a lot of horror and read a lot of true crime, I could not finish this movie. It did feel very real.
Probably Event Horizon.doomonyou1999:I still have nightmares related to this film.
Mother….u/TalkativeTree:This is the only movie I actively wish I could un-watch.u/Clom_Clompson:The only movie I’ve ever seen that truly and I mean truly felt like an unfolding nightmare. I will never watch it again.
Ok, Bone Tomahawk.Ricemandem:Only film I’ve ever watched where I have to actively avoid thinking about it for my own peace of mind
I found Tusk very disturbing. I love horrors and don’t mind body horror usually, but that one left me with a really uncomfortable feeling.Brief-Leader-4015:I’m glad I’m not the only one, everyone laughed at it but I found it very unsettling.
Pink Flamingos for sure.
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The boy in the striped pajamas, it is truly a movie you watch once and never return back to it.
HAPPINESS (1998) with Dylan Baker, and Philip Seymour Hoffman (one of the greatest actors ever, imo). It’s…….well, uncomfortable to say the least.HypoxiaJones:I vomited after this one. I’ve seen some of the more upvoted films on this list. This one did it.
Dear Zachary./MacduffFifesNo1Thane:I only remember the movie when these threads come up. And good thing, because I need to be reminded every so often that the world is cruel.DomingoLee:If you haven’t seen it, please… Just don’t.
The Road. I had to just sit and think for a little while after watching it.
Kids.funkyhomo:So good and so heartbreaking.
Martyrs.Brief-Leader-4015:I lay awake all night after this film. Nothing has ever bothered me except this.punky67:Just watched this a couple of weeks ago. Brutal film. It starts off a really good revenge movie as well, but Jesus, it gets much darker. The relentless torture just becomes downright depressing
Cannibal Holocaust.
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Hard CandyGood f*****g hell is this an uncomfortable movie.
Give Salò a try.apb2718:I only watched this film once but I felt it was just weird until the end where it finally goes over the top.
Jaws. Hear me out: I’m a horror fan and find demons and ghosts as scary as the next guy, but at worst I can’t sleep for three nights after a particularly disturbing movie. But it’s been decades since I watched Jaws and I am still scared to tread water. So it might not have hit the hardest, but for me it’s reverberated the longest.
I can’t understand exactly why but “saltburn” ignoring all the obviously uncomfortable parts. When that end song starts playing I feel horrible haha.
Boys don’t cry. I was a teenager trying to find some lgbt representation and someone recommended this.
I dont think its traditionally disturbing , but “The killing of a sacred deer” really left me feeling weird.
The Audition. The look of pre glee on her face as she took the Molly wire to his ankle.TheHammer987:I still freak out about this like, 20 years later.
Meghan is Missing.becuzurugly:It took me three tries to get through the second half of that movie, and then I spent at least a week looking up how to escape being buried alive.
Girl In The Box.What’s terrifying is that everything in that movie happened for real.
The movie Splice. One of the last scenes where the “father” has s*x with his “daughter”. It wasn’t a scary movie, just disturbing af!KatieLily_Simmer:I’ve had nightmares from this movie for years. I’ve watched much more disturbing content but something about this film just messed me up. I can’t watch anything else with the main actor in it because I only think of this movie.
Phantasm.
There’s this French indie film, shot on a shoestring budget, called Man Bites Dog. It’s a story of a documentary crew following a serial killer around as he, well, kills people. It has some pretty visceral scenes in it. It’s actually a black comedy but I always found it interesting how it sort of predates our modern documentaries and reality tv series that are rather exploitative.
Aniara. It’s about a spaceship that’s ferrying humans from Earth to Mars because Earth has become uninhabitable due to climate change, and right after they start towards Mars they have to swerve to avoid space junk and it ends up disabling the ship. They’re now stuck hurdling away from Mars with no way to maneuver back. I can’t really explain it but it’s so incredibly unnerving and disturbing seeing what these humans devolve into while being lost in space, and it gives a sense of isolation and desperation unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It also gives me a sense of claustrophobia despite the ship being absolutely massive.
Faces of Death.
Cube 2 that films makes me vomit every time I see a single frame from it.
I don’t watch a lot of unsettling movies but The Devil All The Time got me bad. I had to watch it in two sittings.
Very Bad Things - it isn’t necessarily a scary movie or one trying to send some weird/dark message. It’s just a movie that starts bad and keeps getting worse. As though it wants your hopes to get dashed no matter who you’re trying to root for throughout it.I’ve seen horror flucks and heard of other disturbing movies In not willing to watch. But for me, this is the one movie I will never return to given the way it keeps getting so… just hopeless.
House of a thousand corpses.
The Strange Thing About the Johnsons.SirPotatoToes:I watched it with my dad not knowing what it was about bc we both liked ari aristers’s films… yeah it was awkward
The House That Jack Built.
Terrified (Aterrados) Argentinian scary movie. I love scary movies but this one had me sleeping with my lights on, and I’m 40 😭.
Snowtown.
Maybe not the worst, but one that comes to mind is Mean Creek. Kids going through an emotionally grueling experience figuring out what to do with another kids body. Those kid actors did an amazing job on that film.
Soft and Quiet. I’m pretty desensitized to a lot, but this movie really had me anxious and cringing for most of it. Not disturbing in a traditional grotesque way but it’s crazy bc it felt rather believable.
Dogtooth. Saw it on a list of WTF films back in the early 2010s, so I gave it a watch. It was really uncomfortable and unsettling to sit through. Without going into too much detail, it’s about a controlling father who isolates his wife and three kids from the rest of society on a private estate. It’s a Greek foreign film. I recommend it solely based on how bizarre it was; but be warned, you’ll feel icky after watching it.
An American Crime (2007)This one hurt my soul truly, its based on a true crime of a single mom who was being paid to watch & care for two sisters (15&16) in 1965. It has Catherine Keener & Elliott Page (formally Ellen Page).Not gonna go into detail but I only finished it because I felt the victim deserved to have her story told/heard.
I found Maniac with Elijah Wood very disturbing.
I watched MEN the other night and that was pretty F***G DISTURBING, holy fk.
Menu - i still don’t understand the purpose.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes. It was quite unpleasant. Nothing happy or positive what so ever.edwpad:I had a fascination with horror movies out of curiosity when I was younger and this one creeped me out a lot.
Civil War (2024).I don’t know if it was because of the amplified effect in the theater or I’m just a wuss, but I genuinely left the place traumatized and about to throw up. Was 100% worse than all quiet on the western front. I have never seen a modern film pull something off like it. Other than that it was a good movie though, I suggest you watch it.
Girl, interrupted. Still haunts me to this day.
Speak No Evil.
Fire in The Sky. Based on a TRUE story. Terrifying!
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Linas Simonaitis
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