A terrific new thriller called Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen’s follow-up to 2005′s A History of Violence) enters wide release this weekend, and Read the full post.
Sep 21
2007
06:51 PM ET
Violent reactions: What bloody movies have really disturbed you?
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I was in a class in high school in Texas where we watched a huge range of films, and talked about them all. One of the most well-made, yet disgustingly graphic and violent movies we watched was “The Wild Bunch.” I can still remember the scene where they drag a body behind a car (and I saw this around the time when the Jasper, TX dragging incident occurred). I remember that all I could do after the movie ended was place my head on the desk and cry. It was way too intense for me. But even with that reaction from me, it was still one of the best-made movies I have seen, though I never want to see it again.
It looks like I haven’t watched too many violent movies with scenes that bothered me (as opposed to network TV, which I’m more apt to watch). Ultraviolent films like A History of Violence and Kill Bill weren’t all that bad to me. The only ones I can vouche for are the first and third Saw films – particularly with the foot cutting part for the former and the faux crucifixion where the victim got his limbs twisted around for the latter installment – and American History X – the scene where Ed Norton’s character curb stomped the black guy he shot, which lisa m mentioned.
Paul Schrader made a great point years ago when he remade “Cat People.” He says you show your absolute worst violence early in the movie and you never have to be that graphic again. The audience knows what you’re CAPABLE of and they’ll be squirming for the rest of the movie. Which he proved with “Cat People.” So for me, the opening ten minutes of Carl Franklin’s “One False Move” are terrifying in their brutality and intensity, but I’m telling you, you can’t see those killers approach an innocent bystander or a cop for the rest of the movie without fearing for the absolute worst. It’s a great movie, and I miss Billy Bob Thornton’s writing.
why is everyone so suprised with how violent and gory eastern promises is… its cronenberg!!!! anyways, i found the violence in goodfellas very disturbing at the time it was released…
American History X and Pan’s Labyrinth had some disturbing scenes in them. In these films, there are demonstration of physical violence but I found that the psychological violence was almostmore disturbing.
Ichi the Killer. It’s a Japanese movie that has some incredibly distubing scenes. A man is hung naked on hooks then has burning oil poured on him, a man cuts off his own tongue, and there is much more. I think it’s a good film, but it’s pretty intense.
Hands down, the most violent scene in a movie is the curb scene in American History X. I have never seen anything that shook me to my core like that scene did and I’m not sure if I ever will. My wife and I still cannot watch the movie.
I have to say that “American Psycho” with Christian Bale really freaked me out. I think that’s probably one of the bloodest movies I’ve ever seen. I can barely think of a scene without blood.
The ear scene in reservoir doors always makes me cringe (regardless of the fact that the camera pans away). The accompanying song has never sounded the same since.
Pan’s Labyrinth was about as violent as it gets…the wine bottle scene especially. The other movie that disturbed me to no end is the original Funny Games, but that was more about the actors than the violence.
The most disturbing piece of violence recorded on film EVER (the only time i have ever had to pause during a movie in fact) is IRREVERSIBLE by Gaspar Noe starring Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel. There are in fact two violent in the movie: the beat up of the guy in the club at the beginning (the guy is disfigured by having is face beat up by a fire extinguisher) and the (very graphic) rape scene.
I do not remember A History of Violence as being that violent. The nose-brain scene ok, but overall I didn’t think it was that bad. Same with The Departed…violent, but not that much.
Jer – I wholeheartedly agree, the fact that there’s a decidedly large enough audience of people actually wanting to see and paying to watch torture porn movies, that studio executives barely even hesitate to green light more and more of them, scares me a lot more than the films themselves.
I was genuinely thrilled when I read that Hostel 2 performed poorer than expected at the Box Office, because hopefully that means the disturbingly disgusting genre will one day soon, be gone for good and hopefully never experience a resurgence…(fingers crossed!)
The American History X curb scene haunts me to this day. Another one that I found super creepy was from Strange Days – the woman was forced to wear a virtual reality headpiece – so that she experiences her own death through her attackers eyes. Disturbing.
Rebecca- A Strange Days reference, very nice. I remember loving that movie when it came out, whatever happened to it, and why is it not more popular these days as a cult film.