Given my DVD collection now exceeds 1000 and counting, I watch a LOT of movies, but some of them have actually affected me to the point where I can hardly stand to watch them for a second time because an otherwise awesome piece of cinema is nearly brought down by one scene that is just like nails on a chalkboard for me. So with that in mind, here's 7 otherwise great movies with one REALLY messed up scene.
Let's define our terms, first of all. I'm not talking gore here. Anyone can sling blood and guts at the screen like the torture porn crap that's currently stinking up teenagers' DVD collections everywhere. I'm talking well-crafted, usually bloodless, scenes that allow the imagination to fill in the details and thus provide a far more effective image than any CGI could. The scene should stick with you and make the movie hard to watch in the future to make this list.
7. Fittingly, my #7 choice is Se7en, David Fincher's masterpiece about a serial killer plying his trade based on the seven deadly sins. This is one where the disturbing images are almost on overload, but the acting from Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, as the burned out and beleaguered detectives unlucky enough to draw the case, is so strong that I can't help but watch the movie over and over again. That being said, the initial murder, based on "gluttony", is pretty yucky and stomach-turning, even though it's not particularly gory or vile. It's just such a pathetic scene, as some poor guy was forced to literally eat himself to death, and his bloated corpse serves as the signpost that says you're in for a bumpy ride with this movie.
6. Trainspotting. The heroin stuff I can take with no problem, Spud's little overnight accident I can handle without flinching, and even the creepy baby on the ceiling I can deal with…but Renton diving headfirst into "the dirtiest toilet in all of Scotland"? Maybe I just have a thing about toilets, but that one nearly makes me retch every time I watch the movie. Which is often, because it's an amazing piece of ugly, in-your-face moviemaking that almost feels as drug-fueled as the characters are.
5. Scarface. This of course is the gangster classic that inspired a generation of wannabe rappers of the glamorous Miami drug dealer, but is any scene as non-glamorous as the early one in which Tony and his brother get hired to do a drug deal with Columbians, and learn first-hand how bad it is to mess with them? There's actually very little seen on the screen as far as gore, but just the mental image of the chainsaw and the shower curtain is enough to mentally fill in the blanks and freak you right the hell out.
4. Reservoir Dogs. Quentin Tarantino provides a valuable lesson in letting the viewer imagine things far worse than he could provide, as most people remember seeing the ear getting cut off the police officer, and yet in reality nothing is ever shown but the aftermath. Still, it's pretty gruesome stuff. But what really makes it horrifying is the juxtaposing of "Stuck In The Middle" on the radio and Michael Madsen's gleeful little dance before doing the deed, which pretty much ruined that song for me for years afterwards and cemented his rep as a great psychotic character actor.
3. Jackass. OK, this sounds silly because normally you don't equate that crew with "great movies", but I'm of the camp that thought it was such brilliant guerrilla film-making to essentially make a movie for nothing and take in millions in revenue, thus creating the YouTube generation in the process. And it's all just so funny, albeit mostly in the "ashamed of yourself for laughing at it" type of way. That being said, do I even need to say more than "papercuts between the toes" to make everyone reading cringe involuntarily? I think not. And really, it's not a VIOLENT act as such, but YIKES. Just try picturing it without wincing.
2. Casino. I watch this movie a lot. Like, almost as much as Goodfellas, but some of the stuff depicted, while not graphically violent (although there's a lot of that, too) is just such a disturbing IDEA that it can be a tough movie to watch at times. Which is why it's great, too. Specifically, trying to pop someone's eyeballs out with a vice is pretty messed up. Pesci getting clubbed to death with baseball bats and then buried alive (with a shot of the dirt landing right in his mouth) is also tough to stomach. But probably the champion of the nasty scenes is Robert DeNiro, as casino kingpin Ace Rothstein, teaching would-be cheaters a lesson by smashing one of their hands with a hammer in a scene that almost produces phantom pain just by watching it. The kids in 21 would have been well advised to watch this movie before going along with the scheme to count cards, I think.
1. American History X. The very reason I came up with this list idea. Lemme tell ya, any of the above items on this list I can take with no real problems or lasting after-effects. I watched the Saw movies and laughed through much of the silly gore effects without a second thought. But here, I only need to say two words to give myself nightmares for days, and probably a lot of you reading as well: Curb stomp. Without a doubt the most visceral and awful scene ever committed to film (that I've seen), and it's mostly just done by some really effective sound effects and quick camera cuts. But is there a more awful sound to hear than teeth scraping on the curb of the sidewalk? For me, although I loved the rest of the movie a lot, I just cannot bear to watch this scene any more and I probably won't ever watch the movie again as a result.
See, when I read “messed-up scene”, I was thinking of a bad scene that totally ruined the movie from a plot or acting standpoint. Like the frogs in Magnolia (in my opinion). That’s what I get for watching too many bad movies.
that’s what I thought it was about as well…
I was as well. The first thing I thought of was NOOOOOOOO from Episode III.
A lot of people I know loved the frog scene in Magnolia. I saw an interview with Ingmar Bergman where he gushed all over it.
I could handle ‘Gluttony’ from Se7en. But ‘Sloth’, however… that one gave me nightmares…
I actually thought the imagery and acting regarding the “Lust” sin was the most disturbing.
But I have a couple other nominees:
1. Sam Jackson falling down the stairs in “Unbreakable”– saw it in the theater, and the sounds of the bones breaking made me turn away from the scene and cringe
2. Fishing for the guy’s femoral artery in “Black Hawk Down”. Very realistic, very awful. /shudder
they showed unbreakable on sci-fi a few weks ago. it was the first time my wife saw it and the falling down the stairs part made her cringe, did me the first time to. she is a horror movie buff and loves all those “real surgery” shows on discovery so stuff usually doesn’t phase her, but that seen in unbreakable, yeah, that was something.
Yeah, Lust was the one that got me as well, just imagining the situation of the scene, or hell, just the screaming just makes me cringe uncontrollably.
What about the rape scenes from Pulp Fiction and Deliverance? Those were very cringe-worthy for any guy.
“Curb Stomp” is a great example of how attaching a visual image to an otherwise mediocre wrestling move can make it seem more badass than it really is.
QT ruined that “Dylan-esque, Pop, Bubble-gum favorite” for me too!
How can you not have Borat on here for the wrestling scene?
Scott,
I’d go with any scene of a person having a bullet taken
out of their body. Robert DeNiro in “Ronin” or Peter
Fonda in the “3:10 to Yuma” remake. I’m sure there are
many more non-mainstream examples too.
The open wounds on all the different actors during the
third act of “Natural Born Killers” is a huge turnoff
for me.
What about Eric Stoltz sticking that needle into Uma
Thurman’s heart in “Pulp Fiction” ewww!
Speaking of “American History X,” what about the
rape scene in the prison shower? That’s a tough one!
Now, as far as scenes that ruin good movies. I’d go
with all the Diane Venora-Natalie Portman crap in
“Heat.” Truly awful acting, writing, and haircuts!!!
By the way, I think a “Casino” like movie about the
pro wrestling industry during the 1980’s would be
fantastic!!!
I think Casino and Boogie Nights would be two good blueprints to follow for a movie about dirty south rasslin in the early ’80s.
I would follow the careers of three men in particular… Ric Flair: Asshole with a silver tongue, Harley Race: Tough old relic of the past, Austin Idol: The next big thing that never quite was. Of course, you would probobly have to change the names and all of that for legality, but I think the right director and players could pull it off… Will Ferrell should totally play Austin Idol!xd
personally, the scene in Casino involving the cosh to the nose & the plastic bag over the head, with the blood spreading and the suffocating and stuff is the one that makes me cringe. Scott, I don’t know how long it’s been since you saw The Fly II, but that had Two moments near the end that made me a little uneasy. The guy getting cut in half by the lift mechanism for one, but far more the end of the film, where the bad guy, now half man-half fly monstrosity, crawls into the sand arena & tries to eat with the scientists coldly watching with their clipboards. Shook me right up.
I haven’t seen Requiem For A Dream, but i hear that the ending of that stays with you in a bad way for a Long Time as well.
I couldn’t shake the mother character played by Ellen Burstyn in Requiem. Jennifer Connoly’s final scenes are tragic as well, and there’s some pretty sick festering wound stuff thrown in for kicks, but for me nothing compared to the poor mother’s downward spiral.
That reminds me — honorable mention to part one of the Fly (the remake with Goldblum) for the scene where his fingernails start to peel off. FUCK ME that is gross.
also, reading the other comments with the references to rape scenes makes me wonder if anyone on here has seen ‘Scum’ a British film from the mid-70’s set in a young offenders institute (featuring a young Ray Winstone & Phil Daniels) Now THAT’S a disturbing rape scene, and the subsequent suicide scene is pretty harrowing too.
fuck yeah that scene is HARSH. I loved that movie, it was like an angsty british version of Cuckoo’s Nest
When I read the first paragraph before clicking the jump, I was certain that the rape scene from Pulp Fiction would make your list. I’m actually glad it didn’t, as you cited seven much more appropriate examples. Excellent.
Because I have nothing better to do today:
“Pesci getting clubbed to death with baseball bats and then buried alive”
Is it disturbing that reading this phrase, given the subject matter, made me laugh?
You know one that bothers me… has anyone ever seen the Martin Sheen movie, The Believers? It’s a weird voodoo movie from the late ’80’s early 90’s. I don’t think it truly fits in this category because the movies not that great, but there’s a scene at the beginning of the movie that has fucked me up for nearly 20 years.
Martin Sheen comes home from a jog, he accidentally breaks a glass bottle of milk on the floor. His wife starts to clean it up. About that time the coffee maker starts leaking, she reaches up to turn it off while standing in the milk puddle and gets electrocuted. The image of her standing there shaking while everything sparks and the lights flicker STILL makes me cringe.
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I agree with Trainspotting too… but not just the toilet scene… the dead baby, the withdrawal scene, plus all the needles (GOD I hate needles)… only saw the movie once and I’ll be perfectly happy never watching again!
There’s a castration scene in Hard Candy with Ellen Page. It’s quite uncomfortable.
One of the most disturbing scenes I’ve seen is actually in a comedy. I still get grossed out by that fat guy vomiting and exploding in “Monty Python’s Meaning of Life.”
This is all child’s play…youtube “decompression scene” from Men Behind the Sun. it’s one of the “disturbo 13″ films…all of which are fairly uncomfortable, to say the least. i’m in no means a fan or expert of these films, but what little i know is all i NEED to know.
wikipedia the list, and youtube them all if you wish. they all pretty much trump the scenes you’re talking of, which are STILL pretty messed up. the particular scene i’m speaking of is just SO MUCH more revolting.
I knew Trainspotting was going to be on this list, but I was thinking of a different scene. What about the dead baby in the crib? I’m really tough to offend and that shocked the hell out of me. I won’t watch the movie ever again, just for that one shot. Then the baby crawls on the ceiling, which is too funny to be upsetting, but that shot in the crib…I don’t even want to think about it.
I’d have to say the biggest one for me is the scene in Pet Semetary with the wife’s sister who has spinal meningitis. I was rather enjoying the movie until that, which I still have nightmares of.
That gave me nightmares for years as a kid. I couldn’t watch that movie for years, literally.
The one that springs to mind for me:
The rail road spike or whatever it was driven through the scrotum in Serpent and the Rainbow. Although the callback later in the movie produced laughs.
To this day I can’t watch the scene in Jaws where Quint slides down the boat into the shark’s mouth. When I was younger and that scene would come on I would leave the room. I remember one time I even went into the bathroom, turned on the water and covered my ears, saying “la-la-la” just so I couldn’t hear his screams. I really was one of those people back in the day who were afraid to go into the water after seeing that movie.
Requiem For a Dream, FTW! Seriously, I remember seeing that when I was 16 and needing a break to get a glass of water reasoning that as bad as the first ninety-something minutes were, how bad could the last five be? Boy was I wrong. Just a disturbing, upsetting, hard movie to watch.
I’ve never seen a single scene from any TV episode of Jackass.
The first movie… brilliant.
The second movie… I was let down by it. Except for one scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOi7msozxEk
I challenge anyone to find a better instance of slapstick comedy in the history of motion pictures. Just totally out of the blue comedy gold.
Oldboy: Fun things to do with the claw of a hammer.
I Stand Alone: French answer to Taxi Driver, the scene where the lead punches his pregnant girlfriend in her stomach over and over to cause an abortion, also the ending that actually has a warning to
stop watching if you can’t handle extreme violence.
Man Bites Dog: The violent rape at the end of the film and resulting scene the next day.
I Spit On Your Grave: To even it up and have a woman PERFORMING the violent act I’ll throw in the scene where she cuts off the rapist’s manhood and the bathtub slowly turns red before he notices what happened.
The Gluttony, scene in “Se7en” is pretty bad though as well as the Sloth scene but I still think the Lust one tops them all. Just the idea sends chills down your spine.
That shot in “Requiem” of the missing arm is pretty brutal. That whole end of the movie is really hard to handle. My girlfriend has never seen it and I want her too because it is a really great movie. I just don’t know if I want to sit threw it again.
I do agree with Scott that the Curb Stomp is probably the worst, but I actually didn’t think the movie was all that great. I saw it once, it was OK, thought the ending was way too predictable and cliched.
Another one to add is the rape scene from the movie “Irréversible”. It’s seems so realistic and goes on for so long I, no lie, had a stripper yell at me for suggesting the movie to her. It’s pretty tough to watch. Plus in the beginning of the movie a guy gets his faced smashed in by a fire hydrant and the style of editing makes it pretty gruesome. I still think its a good movie and it has alot of naked Monica Bellucci which can add a star to any movie.
But for me what still takes the cake is “The Passion of the Christ”. I have seen alot of gore fests. I have even laughed at some. But I actually turned away at scenes in “The Passion”. There is one scene where you see flesh flying off his body as he is being whipped with razors. It’s awful. The movie is basically a two and a half hour torture flick. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have it’s good points. The direction is amazing and the fact that it is all in Aramaic, which was the language of the time is quite impressive. I have always wanted to watch the movie a second time and have not done it cause of how hard it is to watch. If Mel Gibson wasn’t such a freak, they could have really said something with that movie.