Unwatchable: The 20 Most Unsettling and Terrifying Films Ever Produced

 

Mainstream moviegoers found the Saw franchise so upsetting that they referred to it as "torture porn."

 

Horror movies are inherently frightening and upsetting.

The subversive narrative framework that reflects the worst facets of human nature is the foundation of the horror genre. Alternatively, it presents the viewer with a terrifying new vehicle through which to view the world.



Maybe the number of horror films produced in a society may be used to determine its level of freedom. Horror films are banned in totalitarian cultures because they subvert great narratives, showing the horrific reality of violence's constant presence, abuse, depravity, and all-too-human inclinations toward revolt.

The most frightening horror film on the list is Audition, a 2000 Japanese production. Quentin Tarantino, the director, loves this movie.
Some of the most horrifying films ever made were made in the United States, Italy, Japan, and France. These films were so extreme that they were no longer just unsettling and shocking—rather, they were unwatchable.
Although transgressive films have always been produced in the US and France, Italy's horror boom coincides with the demise of Italian fascist. When the shackles of an authoritarian top-down system were lifted in Italy, a barrage of extreme violence and obscene imagery was unleashed, leading to the creation of some of the most horrific films in history. After Hiroshima and the conclusion of World War II, Japanese film followed a similar pattern.

A still from the repulsive and repulsive musical opera River of Fundament by Matthew Barney.
German cinema continues to intentionally and unconsciously censor itself because the horrors of the Holocaust caused such profound psychological damage to the country. Even though the USSR has collapsed, the Communist Party is still the dominant party in Russia, and a large portion of what is categorized as Russian horror film is actually more akin to Gothic fairy tales than classic horror.
The goal of this list is to offer the most thorough overview of the scariest horror movies ever produced globally. Here, "horror" can refer to a variety of things, but it can also refer to simply to films that make viewers shudder and declare, "I can't watch this."

This cataloging endeavor includes anything from films with sexual assault and scenes of torture that are too graphic to view, to films with characters who are too vile to watch. Additionally, there are films whose subjects are simply too depressing, realistic, dull, ridiculous, or visually sickening, or which are simply too suspenseful to see through to the very end without losing your appetite. There are quite a few films that are just awful.

With River of Fundament (2014), filmmaker Matthew Barney created one of the scariest movies ever. It's a narrative opera centered around Norman Mailer and Egyptian mythology.
Pornographic movies are not included unless they become a real popular culture, and actor-free movies are also not included.



The process used for ranking is a little subjective. Only in the light of their historical setting are the first several films unsettling. However, the movies get more explicit about what makes them unwatchable as you proceed down the list. Therefore, for example, popular audiences may tolerate the first twenty-five films, but not the last twenty-five.



However, the rating itself should be regarded with caution; after all, we haven't even seen all of the worst offenders on this list. As a second disclaimer, the rankings are rather subjective.

Mother! has a didactic, strange, and abstract plot that even lead actress Jennifer Lawrence acknowledges she didn't comprehend, in addition to a screeching (yet purposeful) sound design.

In fact, Hong Kong has more horror films than modern-day China. There isn't even a legitimate film business in North Korea. Horror films are an underground phenomena in more authoritarian Middle Eastern nations, where they give rise to intriguing flicks like A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014). All horror films were outlawed by past governments like the Nazis in Germany and the Soviet Union in Russia.
Therefore, the macabre's place in mainstream film serves as a fascinating gauge of how accepting a culture is. To what extent may filmmakers work without fear of censorship?

What is the limit of excess? When does something become too violent? Too vulgar? Too arousing? Too dull to watch? When do they become uncomfortably obscene to a culture that values respectability and stop becoming horror films?

01. Snuff (1976)

The conclusion of this classic movie from the 1970s appears like a real snuff flick.

A true snuff film is the most unwatchable thing there is. Good riddance, if you can think of anything worse. That's what initially caused controversy about this X-rated 1970s film about a cult akin to Charles Manson. At the end of the movie, it appears that there is a true snuff film, in which the camera operators and crew kill a lady while filming the movie. A great deal of controversy resulted from the directors' assistance in spreading the allegation that the movie was actually a snuff film. It goes without saying that this was a fraud and that the movie does not really contain a murder.

02. Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, the first modern horror film, terrified viewers to an unprecedented degree.

Psycho would neither frighten or even stun viewers in the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, given the historical context of the film's release, it is necessary to mention it here. In 1960, audiences were ill-prepared to deal with themes of matricide and possible incest, and they were certainly not ready to witness the death of Janet Leigh, the film's gorgeous lead character, before the film had even begun. Granted, the sequence in which Janet Leigh is fatally stabbed in the bathtub is reportedly the most watched in cinematic history, so the movie isn't quite “unwatchable.” But it ends with no hope for redemption, which is why when it was first released, it was regarded as so disturbing.

03. The Wild Bunch (1969)

Graphic violence: one of the first movies to feature excessive violence was The Wild Bunch, which features a dead body.

This movie elevated graphic brutality to a new level in American filmmaking. Sam Peckinpah was making extremely violent movies without nice Hollywood endings long before Quentin Tarantino became well-known. But to his dismay, audiences loved it, and he would subsequently declare that his goal as a director had failed:

"The purpose of the movie is to take this façade of violent movies and open it up, involving viewers so they begin to experience the typical reaction syndrome associated with Hollywood television, and then twist it so it becomes unfunny and more like a wave of stomach ache. It's not fun and games with cowboys and Indians; instead, it's ugly, brutalizing, and bloody horrible. Even though it's a horrible, disgusting thing, there's a certain reaction—an excitement—because we're all violent individuals."

04. Knock Knock (2015)

 

A cinematic terror of uncomfortable circumstances and vile characters is Knock Knock.

In Eli Roth's Knock Knock, the subject of retaliation is taken to a ridiculous degree. A rainy night in a Californian suburb puts an affluent and likeable family guy (played by Keanu Reeves) in an unusual scenario when two little girls who are total strangers come to his door. Cringe-worthy sex, evil characters, and the inappropriate fallout from choices made—particularly by Reeves's character's family—make this film psychologically unsettling.

05. Funny Game (2007)

Funny Games: A family is terrorized and brutalized by two psychopaths.

A family is subjected to physical and psychological abuse by two preppie psychopaths who conduct a house invasion in this Michael Haneke remake of his own 1997 original film. They endure ongoing mental abuse and bodily shaming. In one scenario, the matriarch of the household is compelled to locate her dog, which has just been fatally clubbed by one of her tormentors. With a golf club, the patriarch of the family breaks his leg. They are told that murdering them would make the games no longer enjoyable during all of their suffering. Finally, they are killed off. According to Criterion.com, Haneke wants to create a picture that is "unwatchable"—that is, one that horrifies us with its brutality—but the only way to accomplish that is to create a film that is incredibly watchable, one that we cannot just put down.

06. The Exorcist (1973)

 

The film by William Friedkin is terrifying and poses inconceivable queries of life and death.

The Exorcist is such a staple of popular culture that it's easy to forget it's also one of the worst horror movies ever made, if not the most terrifying movie ever made. Not to mention that the first time this film was released, it made people so frightened that movie theaters gave out puke bags with every ticket. Not only are there incessant satanic atrocities and green vomit, but many viewers also claimed to have had real nausea at the scene in which Linda Blair's character receives a spinal tap.

07.Anemic Cinema (1926)

A 1920s film, brief yet unwatchable nonetheless.

Marcel Duchamp's Dadaist film Anemic Cinema, also known as Anémic Cinéma (1926), is regarded as one of the first anti-films ever produced. It's among the first instances of artists discovering the new medium of film and purposefully utilizing it to agitate and upset viewers with disorienting and nonsensical imagery. The movie has minimal shock value by today's standards, but consider how disgusting (or alluring) it was when it was released and the medium was still relatively new. Thank you very much; we'll stick to books.

08. And God Created Woman (1956)

A startlingly fresh portrayal of womanhood was provided by Brigitte Bardot.

In today's feminist scene, this international film, directed by a husband and couple, is by no means new or unsettling. But And God Made Woman is the first movie to show a sexually liberated woman who is more difficult to control than a man. The movie, which is a significant piece of cinematic history, broke ground for a new sexual and political reality by showing women in a novel way.

09.Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Fascinating fact: When Reservoir Dogs debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, horror filmmaker Wes Craven left the theater.

This film made Quentin Tarantino a star because of its relentless violence, which the New York Daily News said made "Scorsese's Mean Streets seem nearly as tame and gun-shy as a Sunday school outing... this is a movie for the strong of stomach," regardless of whether you view Tarantino's nod to Hong Kong gangster movies as an homage or an outright plagiarism. Also, Tarantino was negatively compared to Sam Peckinpah in the review, which claimed that Tarantino's "movies have true grit and real substance."In contrast, Reservoir Dogs ultimately makes one feel deceived.

10. Sleep (1964)

In Sleep, John Giorno doeszes out the entire time.

Note this avant-garde One of the longest and most boring movies ever made is the Andy Warhol picture. It is, to use Andy Warhol's term, a "anti-film," as it defies every logical narrative and aesthetic device that contributes to the enjoyment of cinema. A man sleeps for a mere five hours, looped.

11. Dogtooth (2009)

Director Yorgos Lanthimos' Greek drama film Dogtooth explores pedophilia and animal torture. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a slow-burning horror film that Lathimos also directed (2017).

In a fenced-in complex, a couple and their three adult children reside. The parents have completely shielded their kids from the outside world. Scenes include cruel "endurance games" that the kids perform on each other to pass the time when they're bored, as well as pedophilic sex and animal abuse.

12. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

In A Clockwork Orange, a member of a futuristic gang becomes "ultraviolent" after consuming some tainted milk.

This 1970s horror thriller features two scenes of rape and one scene of an older couple being tortured in a graphically horrific way. The brutality that drives all of the characters, but especially Alex, should be enough to turn off viewers from the start. The title of A Clockwork Orange, which is based on Anthony Burgess' dystopian novel, alludes to an overreaching government experimental program that turned young gang leader Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) into a helpless victim who was unable to defend himself because the medical therapy he was receiving caused him to become physically ill every time he encountered violence. Because of its graphic material, the movie, which was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, was given a "X" rating. Finally, when Alex is "cured" by returning to his sociopathic and ultraviolent ways—offers no redemption.

13. Anti-Christ (2009)

The scene in which the child dies in Lars von Trier's Anti-Christ.

This daring work of Danish auteur Lars von Trier, which was banned upon its debut due to extraordinarily explicit sequences of a child's death and unsimulated sex, was written while the director was bedridden and suffering from a severe bout of melancholy. TIME magazine critic picked up on this and wrote that Antichrist "presented the spectacle of a director going mad." Moviegoers covered their eyes in fear at its Cannes debut, and at least four people were said to have passed out from shock.

14. Inside (2007)

The horror film Inside is excellent, but it is really brutal.

This is the feel-good movie for you if your idea of a good time is to grab some popcorn, candy, and soda, see a police officer get killed by a knitting needle stabbing, and witness a Caesarean section performed on a woman whose face has been burned off with an aerosol can and a cigarette. "This is quite possibly the most violent, realistic, and bloody slasher film ever assembled, ending on such a gut-wrenching note that there's not a single person who could walk out of that theater feeling normal," wrote Bloody Disgusting, praising Inside as "one of the scariest movies I have ever seen in my life."

15. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Henry was criticized for being "brutally disturbing."

In Henry by John McNaughton, a juvenile psychopath goes on violent killing sprees and gets away with it. It was somewhat influenced by serial killer Henry Lee Lucas's stories. He confessed to over 300 deaths, but many of his murder stories turned out to be lies and fabrications, but he was found guilty of at least three crimes that were actually confirmed. The picture was heavily banned and given an X classification, which at the time was typically reserved for pornographic films, because of the violence and subject matter.

"The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) gave it an unrestricted X rating, in contrast to other horror movies. When the MPAA awards an X, it usually specifies what needs to be changed in order to qualify for the more commercially viable R rating. However, Henry did not receive any such demands. The whole "disturbing moral tone" of the movie was the issue.

16. Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS (1975)

Sexual depravity: A number of unsettling topics are covered in this movie.

In this exploitation picture, Ilsa—a cruel concentration camp officer who treats male prisoners like so many disposable Kleenexes—combines two of the most horrible aspects of the human condition: German fascism and sexual assault. Movie critic Gene Siskel referred to Ilsa as "the most degenerate picture I have seen to play downtown" because it depicts explicit images of rape, medical torture, and castration. Ilsa is based partially on the biography of real-life Nazi Ilse Koch.

17. Snowtown (2011)

Based on a true incident, Snowtown is an Australian horror film about a serial murderer.

The Snowtown Murders, an Australian crime thriller directed by Justin Kurzel, is based on the true story of a ring of serial killers who preyed on victims in Adelaide, South Australia, between August 1992 and May 1999. The plot is made even more horrifying and revolting by the fact that the film is based on actual acts of violence and killings. Film writer Peter Bradshaw described Snowtown as "a gruesome and often unwatchably violent film," adding another dimension of obscenity with his choice of graphic violence scenes.

18. Excision (2012)

There is a heartbreakingly unwatchable live lung transplant scenario in Excision.

Pauline is a young high school student who aspires to be a doctor. She also learns that seeing blood might make her want to climax. The film contains graphic visuals, such as a scene when Pauline performs an impromptu lung transplant in her backyard and a nighttime sex dream in which a bed fills with blood. The latter sequence alone renders the movie unwatchable.

19. Deep Throat (1972)

A hardcore p*rnographic film called Deep Throat made its way into popular culture. Because Linda Lovelace said she was assaulted while filming, it is unwatchable.

Even though this hardcore p*rnographic film from the 1970s may seem mild by today's standards, it deserves a spot on a list of unsettling movies since it broke into popular culture and made Linda Boreman's character, "Linda Lovelace," a household name. The film is quite humorous while being quite explicit and filthy until one learns that Linda Boreman claimed years after it was shot that she had been drugged and forced throughout the entire process: "Almostly every time someone watches that movie, they're watching me being raped."That movie is still on; there was a pistol to my head the whole time. It is a crime.

20. Maidstone (1970)

In the experimental film Maidstone, Rip Torn (left) and Norman Mailer (right) get into a violent altercation in real life after Torn hit Mailer in the head with a hammer.

The end of the hippie era's musical optimism was signaled by the Hells Angels' fatal stabbing of a black man brandishing a gun during the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway in 1969. Similarly, the wide-eyed experimentation in film during that era came to an end with famed novelist Norman Mailer's experimental film Maidstone. Actor Rip Torn viciously swings a hammer at Norman Mailer's head, drawing blood and starting a ten-minute real-life battle that will leave a lasting impression on anyone unfortunate enough to witness it. Watch little Michael Mailer frightened for life as it happens live on tape.