Disturbing Movie Moments: Can't Unsee *That*!

[Mindymoo]

The bottle scene in Pan's Labyrinth gets me. Captain Vidal smashes a young anti-fascist rebel's face in with a bottle. In front of his father, no less. I love that movie, it is one of my all time favorites, but I have to look away during that scene.

[briochetwist]

I feel kind of silly putting this one down, after all the rape/torture/death scenes described, but I still shudder at the scene in Pinocchio where his friend turns into a donkey. His hands clawing at Pinocchio turn into hooves, and he's calling "Mama...." and it turns into a donkey's bray. The transformation is shown as a shadow on the wall and it's still utterly horrifying to me. And this was a kids' movie! 

 

It been decades and I've still not recovered from Bambi's mother dying.  Thanks Walt.

[xls]

I was watching King Kong (Jack Black version) and I like it alright, but at the end when the bi-planes star swooping in, I just had to change the channel.

[Schweedie]

I may be a grown woman, but if I were to watch Watership Down today I would STILL fast-forward through that scene where they show the rabbits panicking and trying to claw their way out while suffocating underground. It gave me nightmares when I was a kid, and I still think it's one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen in an animated film.

Edited September 7, 2014 by Schweedie

[BatmanBeatles]

I was watching King Kong (Jack Black version) and I like it alright, but at the end when the bi-planes star swooping in, I just had to change the channel.

I can't watch the giant slugs eating Andy Serkis.

[xls]

 Given the subject matter, there were many disturbing moments in 12 Years A Slave, but some of the most disturbing involved 

the Epps' abuse of Patsey, whether it was Epps' raping/beating her because he couldn't even admit to himself that he was in love with her, his wife's own abuse of Patsey because of her jealousy or Epps' forcing Solomon to beat Patsey because he accused Solomon of being her lover.

 

  That being said, I love the film because it's a powerful story that treats slavery with the brutality it deserves. I watch films like 12 Years A Slave and Schindler's List because it's my way of honoring those who were victimized by tragedies like slavery and the Holocaust. To quote the old saying, "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

ITA with that and it really pissed me off that

Patsey didn't get rescued.

[Rick Kitchen]

Well, it was based on a true-ish story ...

 

http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/patsey-12-years-a-slave

[CaughtOnTape]

The rape scene in The Last House On The Left.

 

W.T.F

[Catherinewriter]

To those who cited "Wicker Man," WORD. That last scene has stayed with me for decades. And the scenes leading up to it weren't so great, either, because the menace was so apparent. I didn't know there was a remake, and though I love Nick Cage, I will definitely pass.

[xls]

Well, it was based on a true-ish story ...

 

http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/patsey-12-years-a-slave

Thanks for the read, Rick. I don't think anyone who reads the book or sees the movie will ever forget her. maybe someday someone will come forward and claim they are Patsey's great-grand daughter or son.

To those who cited "Wicker Man," WORD. That last scene has stayed with me for decades. And the scenes leading up to it weren't so great, either, because the menace was so apparent. I didn't know there was a remake, and though I love Nick Cage, I will definitely pass.

I agree, too, it's just very grim. Like On the Beach (original) it just has such a feeling of impending doom.

[BatmanBeatles]

The girl getting stabbed in the heart in Suspiria.

[Skyline]

The beach scene in Under the Skin You could've heard a pin drop in the theater. Very uncomfortable.

[Rick Kitchen]

The frog scene in The Reflecting Skin.  The movie itself is disturbing, just in and of itself, but this scene is ... anyway, a warning that this scene may give you nightmares:

 

(I hate that the only version of the clip I could find has Russian voice over, but anyway...)

 

[Spartan Girl]

So many things in Gone Girl. 

Amy hitting herself in the face with a hammer to disguise herself and later violating herself with a wine bottle to pose as a rape victim. The depths that woman went to...but it was the part where she kills Desi that made me cover my eyes. So bloody. Poor, poor NPH.

Edited October 8, 2014 by Spartan Girl

[DollEyes]

Bumping it up with appropriately enough, the opening scene from the first Halloween, which featured

an almost naked young girl getting killed on Halloween night from the killer's POV. Even more chilling was that the killer turned out to be a 10-year-old Michael Myers-the victim's kid brother

. The first time I saw it, it shocked the Hell out of me. At the time, I hadn't been that shocked that much by an opening scene since Jaws.

Edited October 26, 2014 by DollEyes

[StarBrand]

Videodrome-the scene where James Woods' pulls a gun out of his stomach (?), and shoots the guy on the podium three times,  guy sprouting growing tumers out of his body. Saw that accidently when I was a kid. Kept me up at night for days.

 

That, and the ending....."long live the new flesh" BANG!

[DollEyes]

The scene from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One

when a brainwashed Peeta strangled Katniss after he was rescued from the Capital. When I saw how awful Peeta looked in the hospital room, since I haven't read the books, I thought that he would either be missing an eye, that he was an imposter or that President Snow had physically and mentally tortured Peeta so badly that he snapped and tried to kill Katniss and unfortunately I was right, re the latter

.

[Spartan Girl]

I think all of District 13's "fight fire with fire" tactics where they basically exploit the victims of the war and the Capitol's destruction all for propaganda was very disturbing.  The scene where they attempt to fake a battle scene for Katniss just stand in was just wrong on so many levels.  And I'm 100 sure that Coin

knew exactly that Snow was going to blow up that hospital right after Katniss visited them.

[BatmanBeatles]

The scene from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One

when a brainwashed Peeta strangled Katniss after he was rescued from the Capital. When I saw how awful Peeta looked in the hospital room, since I haven't read the books, I thought that he would either be missing an eye, that he was an imposter or that President Snow had physically and mentally tortured Peeta so badly that he snapped and tried to kill Katniss and unfortunately I was right, re the latter

.

What freaked me out is

how Katniss' eyes bulged out when Peeta tried to choke her.

[DollEyes]

  From Silkwood, which was directed by the late, great Mike Nichols, two words: "The shower." I haven't been that creeped out by a shower scene since Psycho.

[joelene]

Love all the mentions of "the scene" from Exorcist III. Truly terrifying. Much underrated movie.

I'm just gonna throw out some key words. Antichrist. Charlotte Gainsbourgh. Willem Dafoe. Penis.

[Spartan Girl]

I don't know if anyone ever saw Omen III: The Final Conflict but there's a whole montage of Damien's cult killing babies.  NEWBORNS.  Scarred me for life.

[xls]

I don't know if anyone ever saw Omen III: The Final Conflict but there's a whole montage of Damien's cult killing babies.  NEWBORNS.  Scarred me for life.

Thanks for the heads up-I'll skip that one.

[DollEyes]

In light of the verdict in the Eric Garner case, the scene in Do the Right Thing,  when

Radio Raheem was murdered by cops in the same way wasn't just disturbing, it's downright horrifying

.

[DollEyes]

No list of disturbing movie moments would be complete without the hobbling scene from Misery. Just thinking about it makes me cringe all over again.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

The hotel scene in True Romance, with Virgil and Alabama. 

 

R.I.P James Gandolfini...

[Rick Kitchen]

Bug.  The whole movie.  And yet, I loved it.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Bug.  The whole movie.  And yet, I loved it.

Criminally underrated film, made me a fan of Michael Shannon.

Ashley Judd was also great as well.

[Spartan Girl]

I think that the opening scene of The Color Purple, which starts out as a heartwarming scene of little Nettie and Celie playing in the field...only to zoom right on Celie's pregnant belly is a subtly disturbing scene.  I mean she was 12, maybe 13 tops, for God's sake, that is just horrible!

[DollEyes]

  Even more disturbing was the scene a few minutes later, when Celie was in labor and seconds after she gave birth to her son, her stepfather -who raped Celie for years and impregnated her twice-took him away, which was devastating and only Nettie could comfort her.

Edited January 13, 2015 by DollEyes

[Spartan Girl]

And the fact that she thought that her stepfather was her real father.  Ewwww.  Not to mention the fact that Celie's mother blamed her for the whole thing.  Poor Nettie and Celie really crapped out on the parental department -- although their real dad might have been nice.

[Jipijapa]

My most disturbing movie moment is in The Great Waldo Pepper when a stunt pilot crashes his biplane and gets stuck in the wreckage... and the wreckage catches on fire.  And Robert Redford tries to get him out, but can't, all while the guy is pleading that he doesn't want to burn.  Well, Robert fails to get him out and must retreat.  And the guy burns alive.

 

Horrible!  I don't even want to think about that scene again, much less watch it.

 

Runner-up is the scene in Strange Days where the guy murders the girl and then uses the virtual reality thing to force her to experience his thrill while he gets to experience her terror (which he sadistically gets a thrill out of).  That scene was so fucked up on so many levels.  I wanted to walk out right then, but we wound up walking out later when the movie just went on and on and on.

Edited January 15, 2015 by Jipijapa

[spaceytraci1208]

The most disturbing scene for me in The Color Purple is when Mister/Albert (Danny Glover) follows Nettie when she's trying to walk to school and tries to rape her. His demeanor in that scene (sociopathically calm) freaks me out. I had a strong aversion to Danny Glover for awhile after this movie

[Helena Dax]

When I was a kid, maybe nine or  ten, I watched an episode from that Hitchcock's show where one guy was going to be buried alive because people thought he was dead.  I was seriously terrified after that. 

 

The faces of Samara's victims in The Ring gave me nightmares. Tbh, I don't think I'd  be able to watch that movie again.

[DollEyes]

Selma has several powerful but disturbing scenes, three of which are

the church bombing that killed the four little girls, the White cops attacking the peaceful protesters on the bridge and two White men beating one of the White protesters to death

. 

[Spartan Girl]

Tons of things in Malcolm X disturbed me, but none more so than the whole assassination scene.  They shot him in front of his children.  HIS CHILDREN.  And to add insult to injury, one of the shooters (Gus on Breaking Bad) had the nerve to act all nice to the girls before doing the dead.

 

Even more disturbing was how unbelievably slow the cops were in getting to the scene, not to mention how a lynch mob went after the shooters and tearing them apart.  God, where does it end?

[Rick Kitchen]

Selma has several powerful but disturbing scenes, three of which are

the church bombing that killed the four little girls, the White cops attacking the peaceful protesters on the bridge and two White men beating one of the White protesters to death

. 

 

The white protester didn't die on the scene.  In real life, what makes it even worse is that the local hospital in Selma actually refused to treat him.  He had to be driven two hours away to Birmingham.

[margol29]

The scene in Fury where the new guy has to go into the tank and clean up the blood and gore of the man he is replacing. Then he sees his peeled off face laying there. All I could think of was what kind of injury could cause that.

[BatmanBeatles]

The bug pit in Peter Jackson's King Kong. Especially when Andy Serkis gets eaten by a giant slug.

[Spartan Girl]

I finally saw Zero Dark Thirty last night, and even though I didn't understand everything that was going on, so much of it was disturbing.  Where to begin?  The beginning where they showed the actual 911 calls from the World Trade Center on 9/11 with the operator trying to calm the lady down, assuring her that she wasn't going to die and help was on the way, and then to be met by total silence, with the operator realizing "Oh my God" that the lady died.  Chills.

 

Also when the team stormed bin Laden's compound and killed a bunch of people, right in front of their children...dear God.  I get that it's war and everything , but still, it's horrifying.

[Vixenstud]

 

American History X.  Curbing. 

 

Saw this movie in the theater and burst into tears at that scene.  The part where they put this black girl on the conveyor belt in a supermarket and poured food/milk on her was disturbing as well.

 

Carrie, the blood scene at the prom

 

How anyone could ever think pouring pig blood on a human being was funny I'll never know, especially since the girls had already humiliated her when she first got her period in the showers.

 

Lady Sings The Blues, the beating death of Piano Man

 

It took years for me to finally see the scene in its entirety, hearing him scream for his life messed me up.

[jenh526]

The scene in Kill Bill where Uma's character is buried alive always makes me feel like I'm suffocating.

[Spartan Girl]

I think that the mere fact the movie Wired existed is disturbing.  I wonder what the writers were thinking: "Hey let's make a movie about John Belushi where he comes back on a ghosts and gets It's A Wonderful Life/A Christmas Carol, only instead of getting a second chance or at least going to heaven, he winds up going to hell!"

 

Bastards.

Edited February 20, 2015 by Spartan Girl

[Miss Dee]

The Life of David Gale. The videotape Kate Winslet watches at the end. I saw that movie over 10 years ago; I can't remember my birthday parties and parts of my wedding day are a blur and sometimes I have trouble envisioning my loved ones' faces... but I actively have to push the memories of That Scene out of my mind to this day. I sometimes hate the way my brain works.

[Spartan Girl]

How about A.I.: Artificial Intelligence?  Everything about that movie was so messed up, but the scene that finally hit the nail on the head as to how utterly fucked up it was that humans are manufacturing robot children just so that they can love them was when David sees all those boxes of his robot clones waiting to be distributed to the masses.

 

And the whole idea that the parents in that movie would even consider using David as a stand-in for their comatose child is just unspeakable.  Maybe that's why Martin was so antagonistic to David when he came home.  And why the hell would Monica even flip on David's "unconditional love" switch when it was obvious she didn't really love him.  Perhaps that's debatable, but IMHO she at best thought he was cute like a pet.  Yeeesh.

[BatmanBeatles]

I was so mad at Monica when she left him alone in the woods. Couldn't she at least leave him at the center? They could have just told him it was for maintenance, shut him off and David wouldn't have went on that journey to find the Blue Fairy.

[Rick Kitchen]

How about A.I.: Artificial Intelligence?  Everything about that movie was so messed up, but the scene that finally hit the nail on the head as to how utterly fucked up it was that humans are manufacturing robot children just so that they can love them was when David sees all those boxes of his robot clones waiting to be distributed to the masses.

 

And the whole idea that the parents in that movie would even consider using David as a stand-in for their comatose child is just unspeakable.  Maybe that's why Martin was so antagonistic to David when he came home.  And why the hell would Monica even flip on David's "unconditional love" switch when it was obvious she didn't really love him.  Perhaps that's debatable, but IMHO she at best thought he was cute like a pet.  Yeeesh.

 

God, AI makes me cry.  Every freakin' time.

[Spartan Girl]

Just seeing the David boxes with the tagline "Finally, a love of your own" was enough to make my stomach churn.  My head was screaming "ALLEGORY FOR PEDOPHILES!" 

 

The ending is also disturbing in a sad way David's one "perfect day" with Monica isn't real because that clone isn't really Monica. She's just a clone with modified memories.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Spartan Girl

[Rick Kitchen]

What's worse than the Monica clone with the fake feelings is poor teddy staying by David's side for eternity.  I just cry.

[GreekGeek]

How about A.I.: Artificial Intelligence?  Everything about that movie was so messed up, but the scene that finally hit the nail on the head as to how utterly fucked up it was that humans are manufacturing robot children just so that they can love them was when David sees all those boxes of his robot clones waiting to be distributed to the masses.

 

I thought it was weird that their creator assumed people everywhere would want the same blond blue-eyed "kid." Wouldn't people want a child who looks like them and isn't quite like any other?