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Most harrowing TV/film you have ever seen?

354 replies

Greensleeves · 30/05/2022 10:28

Mine are:

Song for a Raggy Boy - beautifully made film, but I never, ever want to see it again
Sophie's Choice
Escape from Sobibor
Scum
Touching the Void

OP posts:
belwiz · 30/05/2022 14:21

Once We're Warriors
Tyrannosaur
I, Daniel Blake
So many others

belwiz · 30/05/2022 14:21

Once Were Warriors...auto correct

Ringmaster27 · 30/05/2022 14:21

Just seen someone mention The Human Centipede up thread 😬 I’m a big horror fan, and I didn’t think the first one was all that bad. The second one is a whole other kettle of fish 🤯😳 Sickening violence. Unfortunately I watched the uncut version. There are images from that film that are forever bleached into my brain.

dworky · 30/05/2022 14:22

larkstar · 30/05/2022 10:38

Wolf Creek - set in the Australian outback - I couldn't watch it all and had to switch over part way through.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Creek_(film)

Most violently misogynist film ever made.

ArmWrestlingWithChasNDave · 30/05/2022 14:25

The Seasoning House. So many women around the world are/were in that situation, so I couldn't see it as just a horror story. Way too real.

On a lighter note I find the villian in Wolf Creek really unsettling, but I don't forget that he's a character.

ahwobabob · 30/05/2022 14:28

Thought of one more:

Wild with Reese Witherspoon.

ahwobabob · 30/05/2022 14:28

Rosiesmydog · 30/05/2022 14:17

Braveheart. The end scene when he was being hung drawn and quartered was horrible. I had to go outside and breathe very deeply to stop myself from fainting. I absolutely hate seeing any violence on tv…can’t look…too upsetting how humanity can be so ugly

Oh yes! This made me nearly faint too!

Comvit · 30/05/2022 14:29

Climbingthelaundrymountain · 30/05/2022 10:38

Water ship Down actually traumatised me for life.

Uh huh. Hands down winner.

WeeOrcadian · 30/05/2022 14:34

Green mile
Schindler's list
Lovely bones (though the book affected me more)
Sweeney Todd (watched it last night, it got me in the feels. I didn't know it was basically a musical and I didn't see the end coming)
Watership down - it should be illegal to show it to kids, I'm 40 and I couldn't watch it now
Clockwork Orange

NannyGythaOgg · 30/05/2022 14:35

Philadelphia
and
Schindler's List

BellaBoo20 · 30/05/2022 14:35

Manchester by the Sea. Haunted me for weeks.

Irishfarmer · 30/05/2022 14:41

A lot of them on here I found hard to watch and would never watch again.

But my 1st experience of being truly upset by movies was the land before time. They always got me as a kid!

TaysideTeuchter · 30/05/2022 14:44

The Magdalene Sisters - a film about Magdalene laundries in Ireland.

Womanofcustard · 30/05/2022 14:44

The Pawnbroker, 1960s film with Rod Steiger. Never watched a Holocaust film since.
Freaks, 1930s film
I now avoid any film likely to upset me. Couldn’t watch 12 Years a Slave but read the book instead - I would recommend the book.

Elderflower14 · 30/05/2022 14:45

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas..
This Little Life.. About a premature baby...
The Bucket List... 😢 😢 😢 😢

Womanofcustard · 30/05/2022 14:46

Although with Clockwork Orange I couldn’t even finish the first chapter.

collieresponder88 · 30/05/2022 14:50

On netflix. The trial of Gabriel fernandez

MothralovesGojira · 30/05/2022 14:52

@BracedlnEndIessJanuary - do visit Hack Green if you get the chance. It's the best nuclear bunker that I've ever visited and and the DC loved it. It's absolutely massive and has a lot of the original equipment in it. We visited about ten years ago when we were on holiday in the area (it's in the middle of nowhere) - so fascinating.

HeadOnShoulders · 30/05/2022 14:54

Never let me go. Hands down the most harrowing and haunting film ever. Not just because of the actual secret, but about how the reveal is done.

MatildaJayne · 30/05/2022 14:54

Agree with many above. I watched that Sally Field one with the multiple personalities, dark.

For me, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest was really upsetting.

HalibutJacksson · 30/05/2022 14:56

A lot of dreadful things, but Three Girls (BBC, now on Netflix) left me upset for weeks. So real and so bleak.

Riverrushing21 · 30/05/2022 14:57

I can’t believe Changeling (with Angelina Jolie) has only had 1 mention on here! I had nightmares about the children’s screams for months afterwards.

Also agree with Life is Beautiful and The Boy in The Striped Pjamas, although I found the book even more harrowing as it’s written in the first person from both of the boys perspectives.

A more recent one that I can never watch again now that I have children is The Cry. Jenna Coleman’s acting when her character finds that her baby has died is just utterly heartbreaking.

Derrymum123 · 30/05/2022 14:58

Angela's Ashes when her babies die one by one. The misery of having to prostitute herself to keep a roof over the head of what was left of her family. The total waster of a husband who left her in the sh*te time after time.

TartoCitronella · 30/05/2022 15:05

Threads. Very powerful piece of filmmaking.

PlantingTrees · 30/05/2022 15:07

Dead Man’s Shoes was so awful. And Dancer in the Dark was too. And I remember one with Kathy Burke about domestic abuse that was terrible too. Can’t remember its name now.