Disturbing movies

[Mr. Analytical]

"Cinema.....CINEMAAAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!!!"

Oh don't remind me.  I went through a phase of being completely obsessed with that film.  I can quote huge chunks of it from memory.  It was a shared obsession with a few friends.  It reached its pinnacle when. walking home through the streets of Bussels after a night out we all started singing that song.  Then one of us fell over some bins and started humping them.

[Melth]

Secretary - mystifyingly marketed as a thoughtful S&M romcom. It has just about the bleakest implications of any film I've seen - that when we're dealing with extremely damaged people, we can no longer talk about the idea of consent.

[Derek Trucks]

The Idiots - Over praised at the time it came out, thinks it's cleverer than it is but still has some wonderfully twisted moments.

Was it praised?  I can recall quite a few people dismissing it, Johnathon Ross (yeah I know) said it was "a film about idiots, made by idiots, for idiots".  I suppose it's an interesting watch which is a good thing because it's a very poorly made film - I don't mean the Dogme 95 technique, I mean that the script, editing and feel is very misjointed.

Suppose I'd better throw one in, Ai No Corrida (In the Realm of the Senses).

[Dark Sky]

"Cinema.....CINEMAAAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!!!"

Oh don't remind me.  I went through a phase of being completely obsessed with that film.  I can quote huge chunks of it from memory.

In urr...what language?

Think all the disturbing films I've seen have been listed already, although I think there's something wrong with me 'cause I didn't find Funny Games as bleak as everyone else seems to.  All I remember really is that it's pretty funny in places. (Urm...with deliberate black humour...I don't get off on explicit murder or anything...)

[Mr. Analytical]

I can quote Man Bites Dog in french but then I am bilingual so it's not as if I rote learned things phonetically.

The Idiots was praised... didn't it win something at Cannes?  I remember Mark Kermode stood up in the cinema and shouted "Il est merde! il est merde!" during the screening at Cannes.

I find it funny because quite despite myself Ifind people pretending to be mentally handicapped amusing.  I wish I didn't but I do.  It's basic horrible comedy but I like it.  Particularly when they push it to such extreme lengths.

[Captain Crunch]

See also Festen perhaps?

Secretary - mystifyingly marketed as a thoughtful S&M romcom. It has just about the bleakest implications of any film I've seen - that when we're dealing with extremely damaged people, we can no longer talk about the idea of consent.

I can't believe that, I thought it was one of the most romantic things I've ever seen.  I'm not saying that you are wrong but it's weird that I had the complete opposite impression of it.  It shows there really is someone for everyone and love is all-powerful, inescapable and above the laws of convention.  Or something.  That final scene is enough to drive a man to tears.  AND it's a film that starts off as the worst film in history but ends as a masterpiece.

[Dirty Boy]

Ken Park - By the director of kids.  Possibly not sold in the UK due to numerous sex scenes.  Worth getting uncut though.

Have you seen Bully?, another Larry Clarke film, If it's anything like that or kids i'm wouldn't really be interested.The guy seems to have a fixation with showing barely legal kids in compromising situations.Their naked bodies are paraded around every chance he gets.Bit creepy really.

Old Boy (if only in order to see a man eat a live octopus).

Blimey! How does that work then?

[Mr. Analytical]

Ken Park is full of that.  Endless sex scenes including one memorable one where a teenager wanks whilst watching women's tennis.   I'm noit a huge fan either but Ken Park is undeniably disturbing.

Old Boy's the story of a guy who gets kidnapped and imprisonned in a flat for 15 years (or something like that).  All that time all he ever eats is fried dumplings.  When he coes out he wal;ks into a sushi place and asks for something fresh.  Sushi's raw but he wants something even more fresh.  So the chef brings out this live octopus and he proceeds to eat it.  It's like watching a fan eat a gigantic bogey.  One of the most disgusting things I've ever seen.

[Mr. Analytical]

I can't believe that, I thought it was one of the most romantic things I've ever seen.  I'm not saying that you are wrong but it's weird that I had the complete opposite impression of it.  It shows there really is someone for everyone and love is all-powerful, inescapable and above the laws of convention.  Or something.  That final scene is enough to drive a man to tears.  AND it's a film that starts off as the worst film in history but ends as a masterpiece.

I agree.  That's exactly my take on it as well.

The thing is that everything that goes on in Secretary is consensual.  The idea is that no matter how fucked up and weird you are and what your desires from a relationship are, you can find someone that's compatible and that that compatibility can make you happy even if you're still completely fucked up.

I thought it was superb and highly erotic at times.

[wasp_f15ting]

Movies to fuck your mind up:-

Sympathy for Mr Vengance

It's not so much the horrible sick violence, nor the horrid bleakness of this film that is grabbing; it isn't even the twisted morality of it all that makes you weep to this film. It is all those things combined...


Trouble Every Day

Not a good film at all, but there are some very memorable scenes in it :(


Oldboy

The Isle

All I can say right now is what a poignant image a love heart is :)


There are many other crap ones, like Salo that aren't even worth mentioning, esp if you have read the book.

[micanio]

Man Bites Dog is superb - I love that film.

My recommendation - Itchi the Killer

Grim, grim, grim. And totally disturbing. And I still have no idea what its about...

[Ged]

for my first post may I "recommend"

Kichiku Dai Enkai aka Banquet Of The Beasts

how on earth this passed the BBFC uncut is beyond me. For a review (complete with screenshots) checkout:

http://www.mandiapple.com/snowblood/kichikudaienkai.htm

also worth mentioning is Miike Takashi's TV adaptation of MPD-Psycho (a Japanese manga whose scanlation is available at www.omanga.net). Confusing & disturbing, its impact is lessened by the enforced censorship (fuzzing out) of graphic parts (for example in episode one we meet a serial killer who cuts the top off womens head and plants flowers in their brain -- all but the petals are obscured). It's been released in 3 parts with 2 1-hour episodes on each disk, but a complete box set is coming out next week.

[blue_wave]

I suggest (aside from the obvious "Blue Velvet" etc.) the excellent John Carpenter horror/mindfuck "In The Mouth Of Madness". This is truly one of the most bizarre films I have ever seen (and I've seen a few!) I can't recommend it enough to fans of Lynch and Cronenberg.

I'm amazed so many of you have recommended Park Chan-Wook's "Oldboy". Whilst this is a fantastic film, I would'nt classify it as 'wierd'- I prefer the earlier "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" (same director), which has a more surreal and rounded feel.

You may also want to try "Uzumaki", which as far as I can tell follows in the vein of well-known Jap. horrors "Ringu" and "Ju-on". I haven't seen this but it looks good and has had some rave reviews, despite the low-budget exterior. Anyway, just have a gander on IMDb or somewhere and I'm sure some more ideas will present themselves....

[Defikon]

*ignore*

[Rolodex Propaganda]

Here comes my obligatory mention for "La Cabina" a.k.a. "The Telephone Box".  iMDB entry here.  Good luck on tracking it down though.  

Indeed, took me nearly a month to get it. Well worth it though, and now it's nicely stored on a cd-r.

Has anyone mentioned the Lynch short The Granmother yet? All Lynch is good but this is very, very good. It's about a boy with abusive parents who grows himself a grandmother. I found it quite unsettling. I'm currently halfway through watching 'The Short Films of David Lynch' and this has been the standout so far. You can download it from a few places, so i'm told. ;)

[dot]

Yeah, that is fantastic. It looks like crayon drawings doesn't it? love the purple, that man can make piss on the bedd look edible, gorgeous film. The parent barking is a lovely touch. I'd say "the alphabet" is more unsettling, I shat myself the first time I saw that, urgh, talk about creepy.

[Divnee Gan]

Has anyone seen "The legacy", a slightly cheesy Hammer horror film from the seventies with Roger Daltrey choking on a chicken bone. It scared me a lot when I was about 10 yrs old.

The automated sheet of glass in the pool is a genius idea.

[dot]

Looky looky

http://savefile.com/files.php?fid=5469737 David Lynch - The Alphabet (38.7mb)

I tried to squash it but the mpeg has a dodgey frame in it. Thought I may as well put it up and try out savefile at the same time, they're good like.

[Mr. Analytical]

There's also that Takashi film where some bloke has sex with the dead body of his girlfriend, feels something running down his legs and goes "She's wet! oh the hysteries of life!" then puts his hand down there and realises that she's emptying her bowels "Shit! the mysteries of life are shit!"  can't remember what it's called though.


That Takeshi bloke must have had a seriously disturbing childhood.

[another Mr. Lizard]

If I say so myself, I know my stuff when it comes to 'disturbing' films and have seen (and can second the recommendations of) most of the titles mentioned so far. I taught a film course last year entitled 'Cinema Extreme' on which I showed everything from Tom & Jerry cartoons to Richard Kern shorts, along with clips from titles as varied as 'Would You Kill A Child?', 'House Of Whipcord', 'The Holy Mountain' and 'Goodfellas'.

One I've not seen referred to here yet, though, and possibly the most gruelling movie I've ever seen, is 'Scrapbook' - a shot on video U.S. movie from about 2 or 3 years ago, available on region 1 DVD. It's your basic backwoods psycho movie, about a young bloke who lives in a remote farmhouse and kidnaps and tortures women - but the film concentrates on one particular victim, and we follow her ordeal in agonising detail. Very, very tough to watch, and I was truly grateful to see the 'making of' documentary on the DVD and confirm to myself that the poor girl concerned wasn't psychologically scarred by some of the film's events. It's a cheap-looking film, which I know can be enough to put some people off, but if you're a fan of this type of thing it gets the another Mr. Lizard seal of approval.

[Mr. Analytical]

Short films :-)))))

You get some wondefully twisted things in short films.  But they're an absolute bugger to ever get hold of.  There are a number of shorts I'd like to see again but unless their directors go on to make films that merit the shorts being included as extras on the DVDs you never get to see any of them outside of film festivals.

[Chers penis]

Watch either GOZU, VISITOR Q, THE ISLE, or OLD BOY.

[trotsky assortment]

Short films :-)))))

You get some wondefully twisted things in short films.  But they're an absolute bugger to ever get hold of.  There are a number of shorts I'd like to see again but unless their directors go on to make films that merit the shorts being included as extras on the DVDs you never get to see any of them outside of film festivals.

I'm rather fond of 'Food' by Jan Svankmajer.

[Dirty Boy]

Something i've just realised, sorry if it's been mentioned already...

When The Wind Blows DVD out in a couple of weeks

Be interesting to see that again after all this time.Definitely more harrowing than you'd expect a 'PG' rated animation to be anyhow.

[Mr. Analytical]

I found that film terrifying when I saw it as a child.  That and the TV adaptation of the Triffids.

[Phil_A]

I saw the BBC adaption of "A Warning To The Curious" last Christmas - country walks in Norfolk have never been the same since. The bleakness of the landscape combined with the sheer hopelessness of Peter Vaughn's situation and the eerie soundtrack make for extremely unsettling viewing.  "He was here, you see..."

[surreal]

I recall a movie called (I think) "PaperHouse".  A young girl who is ill and bedridden spends her time drawing, and then slips into the world of her drawings (or something, I'm a bit sketchy on the details, its been a while).  I remember her drawing  a man with an axe, who subsequently appears in her dreamworld, but she had scribbled over his face in the picture so he was deformed and quite rightly pissed off....  Anyway it gave me the wiggins.

Anyone else know what the hell I'm wittering on about?

[Ged]

short films:

recently saw "Cutting Moments" (which is available region 2 for about £4-50 packaged with 4 pretty pants shorts) - bleak as fuck, but thoroughly recommended.

I've not seen, but have heard only good things about, Nacho Cerda's films. A trilogy consisting of Aftermath, Genesis and Awakening has just come out on Region 1.

---

tonight I'm watching "In My Skin" - wriiten, directed by and starring Marina de Van who has written & featured in several of Francis "Sitcom" Ozons films. It's about a woman who has a disfiguring accident & as a result becomes increasingly obsessed with harming herself. Compared favorably with Cronenberg when it came out, I've been waiting to see this for ages & finally caved & paid the £15 tag.

[dot]

Anyone else know what the hell I'm wittering on about?

Yeah, it was one of my favourite films when I was little. I had a big crush on the lass in it.

[Ambient Sheep]

Anyone else know what the hell I'm wittering on about?

Yeah, it was one of my favourite films when I was little. I had a big crush on the lass in it.

And the early 70s ITV children's serial "Escape into Night", based on the same book ("Marianne Dreams" by Catherine Storr), was the only thing on TV to ever give me nightmares.*

* - bonus for 10 points, this isn't quite true.  A test for those paying attention - what was the OTHER thing that gave the youthful Sheepy nightmares?  Using Search is cheating.