I recently saw “Rampage” from 2009. Its basically a movie where a spree shooter is portrayed as the good guy/anti-hero. Several parts gave me that pit in your stomach, teeth gritting uncomfortable moment. I really hated it. Although I’m not surprised there are sequals I am disappointed and will not be watching them.
Idk if I’d classify it as non-Horror, but Threads is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.
Its a movie from 1984 about a nuclear war scenario in the UK. The movie kept close to the science of the time, and made significant choices in casting and presentation that makes it all feel so much more real.
- Casting unknown actors who look like regular people instead of celebrities
- Giving all the actors relatively average Joe, nobody, roles for their characters
- Presenting the movie in a documentary format as if its real
- Characters exiting the narrative to unknown fates in the aftermath
- The overall sense of hopelessness, dread and loss throughout the
And it’s free to watch on YouTube.
Apparently, they’re making a modern version of it too.
Pasolini’s Salo/120 Days of Sodom - Nobody ever regrets watching it.
Bad Boy Bubby - One of many grim Aussie films of that era. A classic.
The Warzone - Tim Roth’s directorial feature. Incestuous rape introducing Colin Farrell in his feature debut.
Drowning By Numbers/ A Zed and Two Noughts - Peter Greenaway shoots his films like renaissance paintings. Do you like lots and lots of snails on naked bodies? No? Tough. The Michael Nyman scores are terrific though.
You can pretty much take your pic with any of Lars Von Triers films. Breaking the Waves, Antichrist, Dogville etc.
Festen - which is Danish but NOT a Lars Von Trier film is probably the best Dogme 95 films of all. Including that fucking MAGAT Harmony Korine. Don’t know if this is that haunting but a good film anyway.
Come and See - Yes yes come and see! and in the vein of horrible WW2 films…
Salon Kitty - Tinto Brass before he went full porno.
Baise Moi - FUCK ME! No really that’s what its called.
Christiane F : Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo - Not a documentary but based on fact.
Reckon that should be enough. Happy viewing! LOL.
The War Zone is a great pick here. Tim Roth’s contributions in this sphere are notable, that was his directorial debut, and before that his acting debut was playing a teenage skinhead in Made in Britain which fits the criteria too.
someone mentioned Michael Haneke elsewhere, Roth is in the english language remake of Funny Games, another film that meets the requirements and one of the the few remakes worth watching, due to it being a) an exact replica of the original but in english and b) having tim roth in it
Do you know I have had Funny Games on DVD for years and I haven’t watched it. I got so burned out by dark films that I have to ‘fall’ into watching them organically somehow. Like either they are on and I get pulled in or I have to creep up on them without quite realising/admitting they’re going to be a fucking brutal trip, or go see them at the cinema.
You sound like your a bit of a film buff as well. What have you watched recently that you rate or hate?
Seeing Robin Williams play a creep in 1 Hour Photo was unsettling. Especially the scene where he is imagining being part of the family whose home he has broken into and is just casually doing stuff in.
Also Grave of the Fireflies for being the greatest movie I never want to see again for reasons that will only be clear ig you also watch it.
The Wolf of Wall Street. That movie gave me nightmares.
At the risk of sounding prude, seeing so much excess and chaos crossed the line from being morbid to becoming genuinely unpleasant, like seeing drunks and drug addicts in real life. I hated DiCaprio’s character with a passion from start to finish, and that night after watching the movie, I had a nightmare where I was at one of those parties and they were abusing me and my friends.
Knowing that it’s based on real events, that the guy DiCaprio plays is free, and that there are people who admire him even after seeing the movie makes me feel dejected.
And it’s relatively tame compared to some billionaire’s realities.
Yeah I fucking hate that movie. It feels like it made their horrendous behavior into a joke. None of it is funny in the context of reality. So glad to hear someone feels the same way about the movie.
Grave of the fireflies.
Kids, Requiem for a Dream
All quiet on the western front
It’s a movie about a German soldier during WWI, really trying to convey the horrors of war.
I read the book when I was 11. I still have dreams about being in the gas attack.
Falling Down (1993). The main character attacking minorities, saying American conservative shit, and enablement of urban paranoia was pretty unsettling. The black comedy undertones did get me to chuckle once or twice, but overall just an upsetting thinking of some people sympathizing with the MC in a way that led conservatism to what it is today. The fact that he killed a neonazi does not balance it out.
Been a long time since I’ve seen this movie, but I always thought the point of the neonazi was specifically to point out how alike the two were. At the end of the scene where he kills him, the scene is shot in a reflection in a mirror. He kills the nazi, nazi drops out frame in the reflection, leaving just the MC, who then shoots and shatters the mirror itself.
Wasn’t he also watching the neonazi through reflections in a store’s security mirrors earlier? It’s really been a long time.
I always assumed the point of the movie was to show how stupid the idea of the “White Man’s Burden” and white persecution complex was, with some critique of American exceptionslism thrown in.
I shouldn’t be surprised that some people took the exact opposite from the film and empathize with the MC. Kind of reminds me of Fight Club in that sense.
I always wished I had an eye for that kind of thing; no I haven’t noticed that!
I always assumed the point of the movie was to show how stupid the idea of the “White Man’s Burden” and white persecution complex was, with some critique of American exceptionslism thrown
Throughout the movie, I wanted it to be satirical, and wanted to believe that it was exactly this because of how ridiculous and exploitative aspects of this movie are. But there so many moments where the film was intentionally trying to get me to sympathize for the character and made it feel very sincere.
I shouldn’t be surprised that some people took the exact opposite from the film and empathize with the MC. Kind of reminds me of Fight Club in that sense.
Absolutely this, and in more extreme cases with movies like American History X too. But American History X’s message is obvious to me and I really believe you’d have to be pretty moronic, as neonazis usually are, to believe it’s a pro-white supremacy movie and feel empowered by it. Fight Club is more subtle, but I believe it gives more opportunity for people not to identify with the opposite of the message, even for those that don’t know or get it. I just didn’t feel that way about Falling Down.
But I don’t know man, you’ve actually inspired me to want to rewatch it; see if I feel any differently.
Curiously, when I saw it, I picked up that the guy was crazy and violent, and saw it as a horror film following the monster.
Years later, I’d learn that it was popularly seen as a white-guy underdog movie set (and produced) during the Rodney King crisis and the police war on gangs.
I’ve heard of it but never seen it
It wasn’t horrible at the time but in hindsight it really is some kind of conservative underdog fantasy.
Trainspotting
Requiem for a Dream
Both movies were good. Both movies were absolutely a one time watch and never again.
The first time I ever watched Trainspotting (like a decade or so ago) I had taken 2 tabs of acid and looked up online “movies that will change your life” or something along those lines.
One of the first ones listed was this one called Trainspotting and I had no idea what it was about I was expecting some drama about a special needs little boy who likes to look at trains or something.
Ohhh boy. That one scene was horrifying I got up and almost turned the TV off but I’m glad I didn’t. I love that movie so much.
That one scene on acid must be something.
Requiem for a Dream. You’re absolutely correct, a one-time-only must-watch. I always enjoyed re-watching films with friends, but this one is a no go. One thousand years ago, I added the DVD release to my collection on release. Where I grew up, our movie theater only carried ultra-mainstream titles, so when films like Requiem released to theaters, it was either a 2+ hour trek to the nearest metropolitan area or just wait for it to release on DVD. I could be misremembering, but I believe the DVD case was one of those awful cardboard cases with the plastic clip. Anyway, it was mixed in with the rest of the DVD collection I proudly displayed in my living room (we all did this). At least until I had to refuse requested viewing by different guests not once, but twice. Fortunately, somewhere around that same time, I pumped the brakes on tangible media, and started gathering digital rips. Packed all that valueless stuff up, and shoved it up in the attic.
I bought Requiem in a DVD 2-pack, with the second movie being American History X.
That was not a fun weekend.
Changling is another, the A. Jolie kidnapping flick
Old Boy. The 2003 Korean one, at least.
Modern one is not much better. Same story.
Yeah but the Korean one is actually a good movie. They’re both modern.
2003 was nearly a quarter century ago
There’s more time between the remake and now than between the original and the remake, if the first one’s pre-modern, so is the second one.
Threads
Everyone that welcomes the fall of society or post war survivalist fantasies should watch this for a reality check.
Adam Curtis’s Hypernormalisation. It is a documentary and does a painful job of examining reality. I was vaguely unsettled before seeing it and after seeing it I have a specific vocabulary and lens through which I perceive current events. I feel helpless to this day. Free on YouTube:
I remembered you want non documentaries, so I will add Basketball Diaries. DiCaprio film about a talented young basketball player ruining his life through drug addiction.
The Hunt (2012). Sweet guy gets accused by the child of his best friends to have abused her, thanks to suggestive questioning. Whole town turns against him, even though he’s innocent. I couldn’t finish watching it, because I was trembling and couldn’t watch the hopelessness and unfair treatment. Even worse, it’s based on a true story.
Jeez that sounds like a tough watch
This and “The Handmaids Tale” I cannot watch, same reason.
The Testament is the continuation of Handmaid’s Tale and is rough as well.
I found it a captivating film to watch. It was powerful and left its impression. I’m glad I saw it, no regrets at all, and I recommend it but I think one viewing suffices.
Great movie. Mads Mikkelsen is fantastic as always. Horrible to watch someone go through that. I didn’t know it was based on a true story.
Sorry, i misremembered: Vinterberg (director) got handed a bunch of anonymized cases by his psychiatrist:
They were real cases from around the world. Most were about false memory syndrome and invented memories. The Hunt isn’t based on any individual case but it’s inspired by the ideas in them. The psychiatrist’s idea was that thought, ideas, can be a virus. Once a certain idea about a person takes hold, it can spread like wildfire. If The Celebration was about kids being victimized, this film is too but about victimization of another kind. When someone is accused of child abuse, the kids get interrogated by policemen and psychiatrists who repeatedly ask them the same questions. Sometimes, the kids give the grown-ups the answers they want. They say, ‘yes, he abused me.’ Then everyone goes crazy and for the child, his whole world falls apart.
Grave of the Fireflies. You don’t see any fighting and most people the protagonists meet are good, AND YET it’s so depressing. Seeing how bad the horrors of war are, even in the best case scenario, was eye-opening for me.
Even worse when you realize it’s based on an semi-autobiography that was written by the older brother. After the story was published, the author admitted that he was much more selfish than the older brother in the story. Basically, the older brother in the story was who the author wished he had been. He admitted that the older brother in the story was extremely selfless and always tried to make sure his sister ate first. But in reality, he frequently ate while his little sister went hungry. And in retrospect, he believes that was a large contributor to her death by starvation. He originally published the story as an apology to his dead sister.
That movie gave me PTSD
They’ve both been mentioned below but mine are ‘Grave of the Fireflies,’ and ‘When the Wind Blows.’ They hit harder than ‘horror’ movies because they are, in a way, the real human horror for which a ‘genre:horror’ movie would be an abstraction.
Have you seen Threads?
I started it once but got distracted. Been meaning to watch it.
