'Disturbing' Cinema

Disturbing factor:9/10
As a movie:4/10
*Spoilers*
Heavily symbolic, in fact it can be kind of a drag sometimes. The first scene includes beautiful cinematography, but for the next hour or so the movie inches along at an incredibly slow pace, leading up to some very graphic on-screen genital mutilation. The movie is filled with literary references and symbolism for those who have the time and energy to devote toward analyzing it. The tone is very dark and in the end the movie left me with a pretty icky, blank feeling. There are also some misogynistic elements, as the main female character, "She", believes that all women are innately evil, and proves these beliefs through her psychotic,vicious actions. Not a movie I could recommend to anyone at all, really.

The more I think back to this movie, the more I think it is pure crap. A poorly written, TERRIBLY acted one-trick-pony of a film.

Disturbing factor: 10/10

As a movie: 10/10

A classic. The chronological narrative terrific acting (let's hear it for Monica Belluci everyone!), as well as the heightened sense of realism in each shot are all part of what make this movie so affective, as a cautionary tale and character study.
There are two notoriously disturbing scenes; one of murder and one of rape. The gritty intensity of this movie makes it a must-see for fans of thought-provoking dark drama (but be warned, this movie is incredibly challenging to sit through at times). I consider this movie to be one of the best modern tales of tragedy, with many lessons to be taken from the viewing of the characters' stories and behaviors.

Disturbing factor: 10/10
One of my favorite horror movies of the last couple years. Why? Because for the first time in a very long while, I was actually -scared-. The first time I watched it I was peeking through my fingers and squirming in my seat. Watching the 'making of' featurette is what really sold me though. It is very interesting to see how difficult it was to make such an intense film. This doesn't really attempt to do anything other than be scary and unnerving, and I love its simplicity in that regard. The gore is top-notch, the characters are intriguing, and the plot is very straightforward while still being original. There are some serious problems in logic in the plot, but to be honest, I admired so many other things about it that I don't care. This was a genuinely freaky horror film for adults, which is refreshing from the tween-targeted bullshit we've become used to seeing from the U.S. lately.

Disturbing Factor: 9/10
As a movie: 5/10

Disturbing factor: 7/10
As a movie: 3/10
The notorious Cannibal Holocaust was a must see due to its reputation, but save for the unnecessary real animal slayings, this movie is pretty hokey. The acting and script are god awful. However, certain special effects (which got the director in legal trouble because they looked so real), including the climatic end scenes, make it very much worth viewing.

Gotta give it some kind of credit for how offended it was able to make me. This one actually lives up to its hype, which is much preferred to the contrary.That being said, it is a pretty mean-spirited movie, and one that I couldn't consider "good" because it combines some elements that I don't think should go together; namely campiness and rape. This is what I think makes the movie so uncomfortable, not only that there are excessive rape scenes, but that there are strange attempts at comedy in the midst of all of them. Perhaps it was just that Richard Pace's character was supposed to be mentally slow, but his performance was so terrible and off-key with the content of the movie that I could not understand what the hell they were going for. This brings me to the higher hopes that I hold for the remake, which is why I revisited this territory. From what I hear, the director aims to take out some of this campiness and make the concept dark and terrifying again, which I think would be much more suitable. I also read in a recent interview that scenes of Jennifer luring the men in with sex in order to exact her revenge will be discarded in order to maintain empathy for the character, which sounds like a definite step up to me, since that was something which I did dislike about the script in this version. The concept of the original could have been great, but was executed so strangely. Nonetheless, I do consider it a classic in the exploitation genre. All of this is what makes the upcoming remake one of my most anticipated movies in a long time.

After hearing a lot about this movie, I had myself braced for some terrifying images of self-mutilation. Come to find out that many of the most gruesome images are totally off camera. There is definitely some psychologic morbidness, though. I kept thinking that maybe the character Esther could have potentially had a depersonalization disorder, where a person feels separate from their bodies as well as their emotions and environments. However, from what I've read from the director the main character is simply fascinated with the endurance and disfigurement of the human body. Anyway, it made for an interesting fictional case study. I do not agree with the statement, albeit totally valid, that there was not enough focus shed on Esther's inner thinkings and motives. I believe that this placed the viewer in the confused and baffled position that those around Esther, and probably Esther herself at times, were in. I like that the answer for why she acts so bizarrely is not made obviously known, for I don't even really think that it was clear to Esther either. However, there were some parts that seemed to be pointlessly bizarre, as in they didn't really add anything to the development of the character or the story (skin chips? wtf?). Overall, I appreciate the tackling of the subject matter, but am left feeling like it could have been done much better.

If anyone considers this film worth a viewing then please let me know. So far I have not found anyone that says it is.

Michael Haneke just might be the master of all that is uncomfortable. 'The Piano Teacher' was a wild story and it gave me that same "Wha...it's just gonna end like that??" feeling that I get from most other works I've seen by Haneke. Definitely a dark and desolate story, depicting a sexually defiant and lonely woman. A bonus to viewing this film is that there is a considerable amount of terrific piano playing throughout.

Disturbing factor: 10/10
As a movie: 9/10

What is deeply disturbing is subjective, and different films affect individuals differently. That being said, "Funny Games" may have to take thte cake for me personally. It was the first movie that I recall watching that made me realize that sometimes a director's goal is not to entertain, but sometimes even the extreme opposite. The whole time I was watching this movie I was in awe of how every (long, extended) made me as uncomfortable as possible. Even the soundtrack was so loud and in your face out of nowhere that I had to laugh at how tense and jumpy I was getting. I had never before witnessed a movie that played with my nerves like that, and I got the feeling that the director himself was discouraging me from watching all the way to the finish. I did, however, and gathered that Haneke was trying to show that there is nothing glamorous, fun, or entertaining about torture. However, on the contray, this film may have been what got me into admiring movies whose target emotion was discomfort, so in a way what I took from the film may have been the opposite of the director's intentions. I love movies that oppose Hollywood norms, and this one does so on purpose in almost every facet (except maybe some stupid behavior from the characters that is so cliche in horror movies). I will probably never watch it again, but am oh so grateful that I watched it once.

Disturbing factor: 7/10
As a movie: 7/10
A definite downer from the director of Irreversible (which actually begins with a dialougue including The Butcher, a common character in many of Noe's films). A good film, though the constant angry and spiteful narration from the main character can really take its toll after a while. I could see it escalating an already present bad mood, for it is very misanthropic. The redeeming quality for this movie for me was the ending, which in a twisted way, reveals a glimmer of hope among an otherwise bleak story.

Disturbing factor: 6/10.
Of course the child abuse is disturbing, but the on-screen violence and torture are actually kept at a minimum. It is more psychologically disturbing and sad than anything else.

Disturbing factor: 10/10
As a movie: 7/10
One of the darkest comedies I have ever seen.

Disturbing factor: 5/10
As a movie: 10/10

One of the first movies to get me interested in the genre. Very surreal at times, and the storytelling is done very intricately and confusing-like so as to reward multiple viewings. The story between the two main characters is one of my favorites in any movie.

Disturbing factor: 7/10

As a movie: 3/10



I love Gregg Araki, but this movie is just kind of annoying. On list of disturbing movies mainly because of the ending, which is more irritating and sad than anything. The only half-decent character gets the brunt of torture and punishment while the other two characters that go through the whole movie up to this point to show just what shitty people they are go free and unscathed.

My favorite of the Three Extremes, Dumplings may be one of the only movies to date to make me physically sick to my stomach. But oh in such a delightful way! The story is good, the imagery and camera angles are wonderful. Fruit Chan really knew what he was doing. Also, I love this movie because there's no way that anyone will try to do a crappy American remake of this one. The subject matter just would not fly here. This is the kind of gross out shockfest that I look for in movies. I don't want to ruin any of the plot for extreme cinema fans that may have missed this one, because I went into it knowing nothing about the director and the story and was so grateful because it really enhanced the experience.

Wow, definitely a one-of-a-kind movie, with some briliiant feminist-driven dialogue and use of foreshadowing to create a sometimes unbearable tension. I watched this yesterday and still have a weird feeling in my soul from the ending, as well as a few realistic scenes which made me squirm as they were reminiscent of personal experiences I had as a young teen. You pretty much have to be in the right kind of mood for this one, because it is pretty startling and at times dismal. Recommended to fans of directors like Michael Haneke and Todd Solondz.

Disturbing factor: 8/10
As a Movie: 10/10

Larry Clark did A-OK with this one. What I mean is that, despite it still being a sexually-fueled youth movie, he's portraying real events, so this is tame by his standards.
The characters are pretty shallow, as was probably the case in reality, judging by the impulsive murder of Bobby Kent by seven of his peers, including his best friend of several years.
There is a lot of build-up in the movie, and then it seems like the last 20 minutes or so snowball to a rushed conclusion. Then again, it also makes sense that the movie would end abruptly considering the poor execution of the murder and likelihood that the perpetrators were caught almost immediately.
This shouldn't spoil the movie. It's the interactions leading up to the murder that are most interesting to watch, and the change in perception of who is the bully and who is the victim.
A Larry Clark true crime story. You get pretty much what you would expect, minus the incest and usual shenanigans of the director. Nonetheless, if you're a Larry Clark fan, you won't be disappointed.

Disturbing factor: 7/10.
Slow pace and emotionally fueled story. Mostly disturbing due to its innovative use of fish hooks.

Brilliantly subtle. This is the reason I love foreign movies so much more than most American movies, it is subtle and leaves it up to the viewer to understand and interpret (with the exception of one very out-of-place voiceover at the very end). There is not a lot of dialougue in this movie, which I love considering that the main character is deaf and mute. Incredibly atmospheric and some BEAUTIFUL cinematography.

An incredibly sad and effective short. My heart breaks when watching this. Not just gore for gore's sake, which makes it especially painful to sit through.

Nothing else quite like it.

Disturbing Factor: 4/10.

As a Film: 7.5/10



A pretty cool little flick combining martial arts and zombies! While somewhat hard to follow for the duration of most of the film, the ending ties things together in a neat yin-and-yang-type way, and it ends up making much more sense than the jumbled chaos I was anticipating. Great fight scenes and some very fun characters (it seems like there are new characters introduced every couple of minutes).

I've seen clips, but have not yet watched the movie in its entirety. Disturbing because it is a kid's animation about cute bunnies that is actually quite realistic, showing true to life bunny deaths. I'm sure many children were surprised or scarred after thinking this was just going to be a typical Disney-like story. Animation and music are wonderful.

I can't wait to get my hands on this one. All I need is to save up 50 bucks because it is out of print and region 1 versions do not come cheap.