disturbing movies

20 Most Disturbing Movies

If we talk about disturbing movies, they can be horror or graphically violent movies for cinema enthusiasts. The audience’s opinions may vary from time to time. Some think that the disturbing movies’ heyday has long ago passed, while others argue that there is new life in Hollywood. New concepts are becoming more and more difficult to find, yet creative directors and producers still find a way to amaze their audience. 

If you are aiming to watch a top-notch disturbing movie this weakened, go through the list below of the best films in this genre and be ready to get shocked for the whole week!

Most Violent Movies

In visual media, graphic violence represents violent events that are particularly vivid, severe, and genuine. Some people like these brutal scenes that will undoubtedly be saved in your memory for a long time. If you are one of those individuals, then following shocking movies will get the hell out of you with their violence, brutality and impeccable graphics. 

1. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

  • IMDb Rating: 5.8/10
  • Genre: Horror, Adventure
  • Language: English, Spanish
  • Runtime: 1h 35m

You’ll undoubtedly get chills watching this movie. In Cannibal Holocaust, a film team gets lost in the beautiful, green Amazon jungle and is never recovered. The rescue crew is unable to discover the bodies of the crew members. Instead, they find horrifying videos showing shocking acts of brutality.

The movie starts to show its violence when a small American film team tries to shoot a documentary on the area’s native cannibalistic tribes in 1979, determined to travel into the vast and uncharted regions of the virgin Amazon rainforest, but they vanish without a trace.

Frightened tribes that no white person had ever seen before started to get interested in them as renowned anthropologist Harold Monroe and his team of seasoned guides set out on a rescue expedition to find the lost filmmakers in the heart of the Green Inferno. A frantic fight to reclaim the blood-stained raw tape will undoubtedly start when the professor discovers further information about the film crew’s fate. What happened to the overly optimistic explorers in the end, along with the dramatic last two reels?

2. Inside (2007)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FKVN4JxvlE
  • IMDb Rating: 6.7/10
  • Genre: Horror, thriller
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 1h 22m

The disturbing movie iceberg is violent enough to give you goosebumps. Of the many violating film experiences produced during the 2000s cinematic movement known as New French Extremity, none will stick to your bones as horrifically as Inside

The soon-to-be mother, Sarah, is depressed following the horrific vehicle accident in which her husband died in a terrible head-on collision. Sarah’s mental state doesn’t appear to have improved much four months later as Christmas Eve approaches. She is still struggling to bear her loss, is still filled with silent anguish, and her only solace is her profession as a photojournalist. Then, in the middle of the night, a knock at the door from an unidentified woman will open the door to a twisted, razor-sharp nightmare because the unyielding, raven-haired invader has evil intentions. The ruthless woman in black is now after Sarah for something priceless, and she will do everything to obtain it. Is there a way out of this holiday horror?

3. Dogtooth (2009) 

  • IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
  • Genre: Thriller, Drama
  • Language: Greek
  • Runtime: 1h 37m

This movie is challenging to watch. The three siblings are subjected to a variety of inventive forms of torture. You start to wonder: “With all that innovation, couldn’t the filmmaker do something better?”

Three adult siblings, two sisters, and one brother, are trapped in their opulent, remote villa. As a result, the siblings must rely on their cold, cunning parents while living in their stunning, high-walled jail and learning about the surviving outside world through informative cassette tapes.

Freedom is little more than a term, as the ruthless father and his icy wife purposely keep his obedient children in the dark. Then, when a negative factor in the form of security guard Christina enters the picture, years of rigorous mind-programming are suddenly in danger. How can an average dogtooth prevent happiness in light of this?

4. Men Behind the Sun (1988)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKWw-jeTf_Y
  • IMDb Rating: 6.1/10
  • Genre: Drama, Horror, History 
  • Language: Mandarin Chinese
  • Runtime: 1h 45m

Men Behind the Sun, a film by Chinese director T. F. Mou, uses disturbing and horrific visual effects to depict the terrible experiments on Chinese and Siberian prisoners by imperial Japanese military leaders during World War II. 

The movie follows the tale of a Japanese horror camp after the closure of World War II when the Japanese subjected the Chinese to horrifying experiments to create fatal bacterial diseases. Psychological consequences are driven throughout the movie and its evident disruptions. Being one of the most traumatizing movies, it seeks to investigate actual traumas and agony, show the borders of patriotism and the swaying pendulum of nationalism, and convey the essential lesson that war is and always will be horror.

5. Climax (2018)

  • IMDb Rating: 6.9/10
  • Genre: Horror, Drama, Music
  • Language: French, English
  • Runtime: 1h 37m

The movie begins with 20 French dancers who gather for a three-day practice at a forested boarding school in the middle of the 1990s to perform one last performance. The atmosphere quickly gets electric, and for the duration of the night, they are gripped by a weird craziness. As the music’s mesmerizing and increasingly electrifying rhythm numbs them, they find it even more challenging to fight off their neuroses and psychoses. While some people seem to be in paradise, most fall into hell. Their night of fun turns into a bloody nightmare. The horror is presented in various short stories full of dread, betrayal, and uncontrollable human nature.

6. Martyrs (2008)

  • IMDb Rating: 7.0/10
  • Genre: Horror
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 1h 39m

Based on who you believe, “Martyrs” basically terminated the New French Extremity, or what may develop into its first cycle, due to its utterly frightening and soul-crushing nature.

Young Lucie, who has been brutally mistreated, imprisoned, and tortured from birth, manages to flee her captors and makes friends with Anna, another hurt girl at the orphanage. Nearly 15 years later, Lucie devastates a whole family because she is sure she has finally located her devilish tormentors while being plagued by terrifying images of a disfigured monster. Is this horrifying female creature genuine, or is she some kind of phantom? What is the mystery of the deceased family in those circumstances? More trauma is yet to be experienced!

Although different countries banned the most disturbing movies in the world, including the Cannibal Holocaust and inside, fanatics still find a way to watch them.

7. Sinister (2012)

  • IMDb Rating: 6.8/10
  • Genre: Thriller, Horror, Mystery
  • Runtime: 1h 50m

The authentic crime content in “Sinister”, including horrifying videos, and murder panels, is sufficient to keep true crime enthusiasts interested. Moreover, Mr. Boogie’s devilish nature and the strange curse he placed on the children of the various murdered families serve as the ideal supernatural scare that is enough to disturb you for a while.

Author of mysteries Ellison Oswalt, has struggled to finish his newest work. He relocates his family into the assassinated owners’ former home. When Oswalt stumbles upon a package of home videos with brutal scenes, he becomes fascinated with them. However, something inside can cause him to experience unfavourable outcomes.

8. Wrong Turn (2003)

  • IMDb Rating: 6.1/10
  • Genre: Thriller, Horror
  • Runtime: 1h 24m

Being one of the traumatizing movies, you can expect to see a lot of blood and gore along with graphic violence. Characters are brutally slain by falling into traps, being shot with arrows, chopped up with knives, or abused.

The movie begins with Chris Finn, who travels through the West Virginia mountains while en route to a job interview. Short on time, he chooses to take an alternative way through a deserted road after seeing a chemical spill on the road. He then unintentionally collides with a car standing in the centre of the road, later running into a group of five pals. After being lost while searching for help, they desperately attempt to escape alive from a group of blood-thirsty mountain men who have been deformed by years of inbreeding, running for their lives through the forest.

9. IT (2017)

  • IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
  • Genre: Horror
  • Runtime: 2h 15m

IT, a horror movie iceberg based on Stephen King’s horrifying 1986 novel, honestly brings your anxieties to life. It follows a group of outcast children as they work together to fend off a creature that resembles a clown named Pennywise and preys on the youngsters in their community. Can you picture a big, creepy clown stalking about your town? Scary, right?

A seemingly never-ending streak of brutality, murder, and mysterious kid disappearances scare the tiny community of Derry, Maine, a once-peaceful hamlet from the late 1980s. The Losers’ Club, a close-knit group of school outcasts, including Bill, Ben Hanscom, mistreated Beverly Marsh, playful Richie Tozier, and others, muster the courage to face their long-repressed childhood fears in the wake of Georgie’s recent death. But is the nightmare monster that terrorizes Derry the vile bright-eyed demon? Can a young defence squad handle IT? This is the mystery which is yet to resolve by the kids.

10. High Tension (2003)

  • IMDb Rating: 6.7/10
  • Genre: Horror
  • Runtime: 1h 31m

“High Tension” is a member of the New French Extremity genre of violent French movies. In addition to other troubling features, the films contain disturbing brutality and display a shocking degree of violence on screen.

Alexia and Marie, best friends and college students from France, travel to Alexia’s parents’ distant home, hoping to have a quiet weekend. Unknown to them, a psychotic, cruel murderer is stalking the region and brutally slicing helpless victims for his sick amusement. Soon after, the mysterious killer enters the pitch-black farmhouse in the dead of night. A horrible slaughter breaks out in which no one is protected. Now that the insane guy is holding defenceless Alexia, Marie is caught in a terrifying game of cat and mouse and must use every resource at her disposal to free her friend. But is this the outcome of the horror?

11. The Exorcist (1973)

  • IMDb Rating: 8.1/10
  • Genre: Horror
  • Runtime: 2h 2m

Even the idea of possession is frightening, but what about a possessed kid? This gives the narrative an extra element of horror. The Exorcist narrates the story of a 12-year-old possessed girl and the two priests who attempt to exorcise her. The movie is a terrifying experience you won’t soon forget, backed by a creepy atmosphere and significant special effects.

The movie follows an artist Chris McNeil who moves to Washington, D.C., where she is shooting a film with her 12-year-old daughter Regan. The mother and daughter get along well, but eventually, Regan starts acting weird. Despite extensive neurological testing, physicians cannot identify anything that might explain her behaviours. Regan’s condition worsens when Chris turns to Father Karras and Father Lankester Merrin to see whether an exorcism may help them. At this point, Regan must be chained to her bed and cursing like a sailor. Karras is sceptical, but the church ultimately agrees and sends Father Merrin, who has performed an exorcism and had a close encounter with the demon.

12. Candyman (1992)

  • IMDb Rating: 6.7/10
  • Genre: Thriller, Horror
  • Runtime: 1h 39m

If you say his name five times while staring in the mirror, he will murder you from the shadows. This is the Candyman urban legend! It’s a pleasure for enthusiasts of disturbing horror movies very well-made with an incredible premise and script.

The University of Illinois, where Helen Lyle’s husband Trevor Lyle teaches, is where she and her friend Bernadette Walsh conduct research for their urban legend thesis. Helen is obsessed with the story of the Candyman, a slave boy whose father amassed wealth in 1890 by creating a machine for mass-producing shoes. The well-educated Candyman was an artist but was attacked, mutilated, and burned to death by a rich man.

The sceptic Helen tries to call on the Candyman, who supposedly “lives” in the myth that if his name is said five times in front of the mirror, he would appear. Helen seeks to prove his presence while she visits the scene of two unsolved killings in Cabrini Green that Candyman was accused of.

13. Hostel (2005)

  • IMDb Rating: 5.9/10
  • Genre: Horror
  • Runtime: 1h 34m

Being vicious and gory, the “Hostel” is not suitable for those who are easily disturbed. With undoubtedly extreme violent graphics and sound effects, it is clearly an upsetting film.  

Josh, Paxton, and Oli travel around Europe with their backpacks when they hear of a Slovakian hostel. When they learn that this hostel is overrun with gorgeous European women, they hastily board a train in search of the great promised land. They immediately begin having a great time as they arrive but quickly conclude that this hostel keeps a dreadful and sinister secret resulting in harsh traumatizing outcomes.

14. The Ring (2002)

  •  IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
  • Writers: Koji Suzuki, Ehren Kruger, Hiroshi Takahashi
  • Runtime: 1h 55m

Not just the excellent skills but also the genuinely spooky atmosphere makes “The Ring” the most disturbing movie of all time. It masterfully combines excellent storytelling with horrifying moments that quickly make you uncomfortable. 

The movie begins with young journalist Rachel Keller who has just learned of a strangely cursed video that appeared to have caused her niece’s death within seven days of her viewing it. She visits the “Shelter Mountain Inn,” the notorious location where her niece Katie and her friends first watched this footage, as part of her ongoing research of the horrifying video. As she watches the video by herself, the phone starts to ring. – “7 days”. Now that time is running out and the days are passing, Rachel only has seven days to solve the riddle. Will she arrive in time, or will her seven days be up before she can resolve this mystery? That’s the only question left behind.

15. The Shining (1980)

  • IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
  • Genre: Horror, Drama
  • Runtime: 2h 26m

Another disturbing movie, iceberg, based on Stephen King’s book, is considered the best horror book ever written. When Jack Torrance relocates his family to a distant hotel, evil powers within the hotel of horrors start to influence him. The mere presence of these horrifying sights and suspicions in the hotel makes “The Shining” a frightful film. But witnessing Jack slide into madness adds another level of dread.

After getting a position as an off-season caretaker, Jack Torrance, an aspiring playwright, and former alcoholic, takes his wife Wendy and his talented son Danny up to the snow-capped, remote Overlook Hotel in Colorado. The manager gives Jack a tour of the massive hotel as it closes for the season. 

The aged Mr. Hallorann, the facility’s chef, has an interesting conversation with Danny about a rare psychic ability called “The Shining,” making sure to inform him about the hotel’s abandoned rooms, especially the off-limits Room 237. But instead of escaping the depressing creative rut, Jack gradually loses his mind as he is imprisoned in a harsh environment of apparently never-ending snowstorms and a massive, silent jail filled with bizarre happenings and unsettling images. What will happen next is yet to unfold!

16. The Evil Dead (1981)

  • IMDb Rating: 7.4/10
  • Genre: Horror
  • Runtime: 1h 25m

The horrific incidents during a seemingly harmless visit to the woods are the subject of this horror movie “The Evil Dead”. Putting yourself in a character’s situation makes The Evil Dead the most terrifying. Otherworldly demons have taken over your closest friends; therefore, you must battle to survive. What would you do?

Five college students take a study break to relax at a distant cabin. When the incantations from a book and audio recording are recited aloud, the evil therein is revealed to be potent. The pals are powerless to halt the evil as it devours them one by one, with just one friend remaining among the horrible deaths and fighting frantically to survive till daylight. Is he going to survive?

17. Hereditary (2018)

  • IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
  • Genre: Horror, Drama
  • Runtime: 2h 7m

Over the previous few years, director Ari Aster has established himself as a powerful and original new voice in horror, as evidenced by his debut, Hereditary. Following the unfortunate passing of their matriarch, a bereaved family discovers deadly ancestral secrets through otherworldly occurrences.

Aster’s picture is dark and completely sad, riddled with unnatural and graphic imagery among its unsettling ambiance. It is the scariest film in A24’s catalog. Toni Collette’s portrayal is terrifying, and one scene concerning a nut allergy takes an ugly turn that audiences will not soon forget. It’s all gloomy.

18. Goodnight Mommy (2014)

  • IMDb Rating: 6.7/10
  • Genre: Horror, Thriller
  • Runtime: 1h 39m

The slow-burning psychological horror thriller Goodnight Mommy is soaked in dread from the very beginning to the very end of the movie. It chronicles twin brothers Elias, played by Elias Schwarz, and Lukas, played by Lukas Schwarz, who start to mistrust the identity of their mother, played by Susanne Wuest, after she comes home dressed in bandages after a facial remodeling operation. The brothers are played by Elias Schwarz and Lukas Schwarz, respectively.

The film, frequently mentioned among the most terrifying horror movies, creeps its way under the skin with its eerie atmosphere and slow pace. Still, it will make viewers flinch during its nasty and overdone torture sequences, especially in which the children are carrying out the torture. It delves into some very disturbing and macabre subject matter.

19. Mother! (2017)

  • Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
  • IMDb Rating: 6.6/10
  • Runtime: 2h 1m

In the film Mother, Jennifer Lawrence’s character, Mother, has a horrified expression on her face as a group of happy individuals rush around her.

Mother!, directed by Darren Aronofsky and stars Jennifer Lawrence as the film’s titular character, who resides in a Victorian home in the countryside with Her Partner (played by Javier Bardem), is widely considered to be one of the most divisive films of all time. As a series of unanticipated visitors show up one after the next, mayhem breaks out in the house, and Mother finds herself caught in a perplexing and terrible chain of events.

Unsettling from beginning to end, the movie tells a symbolic story through the heavy use of allegory, intense sound design, and unsteady camera work. It builds up in an unanticipated and genuinely terrifying manner, and it reaches an explosive finish that is bound to leave viewers unsettled and make them never want to watch this movie again.

20. Noroi: The Curse (2005)

  • Genre: Horror 
  • IMDb Rating: 6.9/10
  • Runtime: 1h 55m

A picture of a man, a woman, and a girl; all three of their eyes have been covered with black bars. A depiction Presented to you by Cathay-Keris Films

Noroi: The Curse is an unappreciated Japanese horror film directed and co-written by Kji Shiraishi. The story follows the adventures of a paranormal researcher named Masafumi Kobayashi (Jin Muraki), played in the movie by Jin Muraki. While Masafumi is working on a documentary on the most intriguing case he has ever worked on, he begins to get into more dangerous run-ins with both human as well as otherworldly beings. These run-ins threaten his life.

Noroi is a horror film that was produced in a pseudo-documentary format, and while it is similar to films such as The Blair Witch Project, it is significantly more unsettling. It is frightening without having to show the (very awful) otherworldly entities that are responsible for the weird happenings that its protagonist experiences. Instead, it relies on a gloomy atmosphere, unsettling characters, and occasional surprising moments to create a picture that audiences would not want to watch more than once.

People Also Asked

  1. What’s the name of disturbing movies?

The phrase “extreme cinema” is used to describe genre movies that feature extreme brutality and torture.

  1. How do you handle violent movies?

Reading a book, taking a warm bath, relaxing music, and doing some mild yoga are excellent methods to unwind after watching traumatizing scenes from a violent movie.

Conclusion

This was our well-researched list of the most disturbing movies with unbearable violent graphics and sound effects. If you are a fanatic about such films, read the list above and choose your favourite one. Now, grab your popcorn bucket, sit back and watch your favourite horror and thriller movies. Enjoy! 

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Abdul Wahab is a Software Engineer by profession and a Tech geek by nature. Having been associated with the tech industry for the last five years, he has covered a wide range of Tech topics and produced well-researched and engaging content. You will mostly find him reviewing tech products and writing blog posts. Binge-watching tech reviews and endlessly reading tech blogs are his favorite hobbies.