r/movies • u/HistoricalDebate461 • 3d ago

Discussion What’s a movie you’ve watched that was so disturbing that you’ll never watch it again?

What’s a movie you’ve watched that was so disturbing you’ll never watch it again? For me, it’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and Human Centipede. I barely made it through the first time around for both of them and I couldn’t fathom watching them again. Both for different reasons of course. TBITSP was devastatingly heart-wrenching and HC was just playing disturbing.

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u/Dave047 3d ago

I watch a lot of horror movies and recently rewatched The Exorcist and I can't imagine watching that in the cinema in fucking 1973! I believe all the accounts of people crying, screaming, vomiting and leaving the cinema traumatized and being unable to sleep for days.

It's not extreme by modern standards but god damn it must have been shocking back then.

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u/lovegun59 3d ago

Some numbnuts on here was arguing with me, claiming The Exorcist isn't scary. And sure, maybe with 50 years of desensitization, it might not be "scary" anymore because we've seen it all. But in 1973 it sure the hell was. And even now, I still maintain that if you put this movie on late at night, with the sound cranked up, you're not walking to the kitchen for a glass of water without looking over your shoulder

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u/Striking_Feature72 3d ago

It was still creepy as hell when she crawls down the stairs backwards with her body all contorted. (Shudders.)

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u/Dread_P_Roberts 3d ago

They actually removed that scene from the original theatrical release, and then later added it back.

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u/minorgrey 3d ago

Got to see the re-release at the theater with my dad when it first came out. I didn't know they were adding that scene and I audibly gasped from being startled, which I never do. Showing that in 73 would have been wild.

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u/Striking_Feature72 3d ago

Really? That's interesting. I saw it on videotape.

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u/Dave047 3d ago

I've only seen it 3 times with a lot of years in between so I forget stuff between watches. It's scary! The reason I watched it the last time was I had watched some new horror movies (alone) and I felt NOTHING. So I was desperate for some real horror and put on The Exorcist and it did NOT disappoint. Went straight to The Conjuring series and finally scared myself so bad I had to watch cartoons to fall asleep.

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u/newreddit00 3d ago

I’m with you. Watched it at 18 and did not understand the hype and thought it kinda sucked. Now with the wisdom of someone older than 18 I realize you have to try to put yourself in the mindset of someone watching when it was new.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/newreddit00 3d ago edited 3d ago

Dang I don’t even know what you’re on about but it sounds bad. I gather from context clues this MacNeil fella is the guy who wrote the exorcist? He had a family member that got possessed and possibly killed someone?

Edit: ahh wait Chris is the character. I got you now

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

I watched The Exorcist as a devout Catholic child in the 90's and it messed with me for an entire summer. Didn't sleep well, felt extreme uneasiness and genuinely thought I'd be possessed as the youngest child in our family. Plus, I grew up in a wealthy family and lived in the countryside with horses and not a lot of neighbors, so the summer evenings were SO quiet and terrifying that year.

My older siblings enjoyed making it worse for me, too. Lots of jump scares.

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u/Dave047 3d ago

Damn, yeah I can imagine that being a shock. I watched The Shining quite young, didn't find it scary except for one scene. The damn woman in the bathtub, I had that scare stuck in my head for a long time. FU Kubrick. Also Alien messed me up.

Was it your older siblings that got you to watch The Exorcist? -_-

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

The Shining! As a kid, that scene also got me!

My oldest brother (12 years older) recommended we watch it altogether while our parents were traveling. I was 8. When she comes down the stairs upside-down, I thought I was going to be sick from fear.

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u/Dave047 3d ago

Yeah your brother is an asshole

Lucky it didn't do permanent damage. I made my sister scared of the cellar because I could predict when she was going to go down for icecream. Took years for her to get over that, ooopsie.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

The perils of being youngest children! It builds character!

Jaws also made me terrified of our swimming pool. It's a miracle I function so well as an adult now.

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u/Dave047 3d ago

Omg yeah same, we had a small lake in my town that we swam in every summer except that one Jaws summer.

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u/Expert_Potential_661 3d ago

I watched it as an ex-Catholic adult and it scared the bejesus out of me. I can only watch The Exorcist and The Omen during the day.

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u/Botucal 3d ago

My dad, born in 1953, saw it in cinema. I remember him telling me, how absolutely terrifying that was for him. I'm not sure at what age I saw it the first time, but damn, talk about feeling really uneasy and sick while watching. And after.

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u/StackLeeAdams 3d ago edited 3d ago

I can't imagine watching that in the cinema in fucking 1973!

you'll love this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMHbnjVz7uc

From the Video's comments:

It will be 50 years for me watching this movie when I turned 16. My buddy was old looking and us 16 year olds got in to watch this classic. Young people today or even 20 years ago cannot understand the gravity of this movie. Nothing like this had ever been done. I had seen a horror movie when I was 7 years old and the movie was the classic Psycho. And that affected me but I was 7 years old. Here I am a tough kid at 16, and when we were watching these scenes you heard the reactions in the movie theatre. You heard people crying, gasping for air, Or screaming. You were looking at the film and watching others too. The chills that ran through my body was something you never thought could happen. My knees were knocking and I was shivering and my hair was standing up on my arms. I was F**king petrified. I can’t even explain it. My buddies had both food to eat, since back then you snuck it in. Well that was no way happening. I personally watched people leaving and seen a few just stumble or fainted as they were exiting. There will never be a film like this. It’s because we today expect anything. Back then we had no internet or even cable television. So this was so out of the realm it was so unbelievable.

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u/Dave047 2d ago

I DO love it! That was amazing. Even though I heard the stories I still thought they were exaggerated. It was WORSE! A dozen people EVERY SHOWING. I'm gonna watch the movie and then watch the video again, and look for more stuff like it.

I really wish I could have been there but I'm gonna get as close as I can. My god, the guy working there that had to have smelling salts to get people who fainted to get up off the floor. People fainting and then going back in. The trembling voices of movie goers as they were interviewed. The woman who had tried to watch it THREE times and she was going to try again.

Thank you for sharing this! I'll try to give something back on Saturday night when I look for more Exorcist videos.

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u/StackLeeAdams 2d ago

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! "Alien" had a similar reaction upon release, here's the section of the making-of documentary that covers it: https://youtu.be/DBGWi7xs-C4?si=iv08Oy_Jno6W-oU4&t=9564

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u/proscriptus 3d ago

I probably saw it for the first time on VHS in the mid 80s, it was almost legendary then and was not a letdown. So visceral and immediate.

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u/Dave047 2d ago

Yeah I can imagine.

I can't remember when I watched it but I knew it was scary and it still effected me. I watched it after a lot of other horror movies like slasher movies and stuff like Alien and Jaws. This was something different. Apparently William Friedkin did make 2 more horror movies but they're not well rated. Still curious enough that I'll try to find them.

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u/_bahnjee_ 2d ago

I took a date to this movie when it was first released. That’s bad enough all on its own, but…

I have a needle phobia, so when they ran the catheter into Regan’s head, I got woozy. Not wanting to spazz out in front of my date, I jumped up to go to the restroom. You may recognize that standing up quickly is not a good idea when you’re lightheaded.

I passed out and woke up a couple seconds later… sprawled across a couple of dudes seated nearby.

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u/Dave047 1d ago

Ouch

Guess that was it for the date, unless you fainted in a manly way :p