*trigger warning - upsetting content* The most upsetting film you've ever seen...

[YellowRedBlueGreen]

Harry Brown - I absolutely hated it and felt depressed for days, probably because those kinds of gangs are real and only 100 miles down the road. I was especially hurt watching the two beginning scenes, where they shoot a Mum walking her baby in a park just for a laugh and when they beat to death an innocent man trying to stop his car being vandalised. It reminded me of a particularly well known case 15 odd years ago (GN) 💔

Midnight Express - when they hung the cat purely out of spite because they knew the prisoner loved it. I can't watch it

Dumbo - when the Mean Elephants reject him and he's crying by his bucket of water. Fucking kills me

Lion.

I'm hard as nails usually but I bawled. Any film based on a true story hits me more though.

Grave of the Fireflies. I saw it about 20 years ago and I still randomly think of scenes from it and get upset. If I get a big bag of rice it reminds me of the scene where the aunt is reluctant to share the rice with the kids, even though it was their bag.

I watched Requiem for a Dream at around the same time and while it upset me at the time, I can barely remember it now.

Oh god Harry Brown 😭 I watched the opening scene and switched it off immediately and just cried it was so horrible. I'm not usually sensitive like that but it felt so realistic

I cant think of any... I will say why was everything dying mothers and orphans in the old days?

Like off the top of my head 2 of my favorite kids films where 'Land before time' (mother die at the begining) and 'Free Willy' (kid is an orphan) but I remember virtually everything being about orphans as if it was super common (oliver, bambi etc...).

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas... 😢 😢 😢 😢 😢
The Bucket List....

Stepmom

The ending when the kids realise their mother is dying😓

Not a film but It's a Sin - cried pretty much constantly from about 30 mins in to first episode

Me too- @Decorativefire

'The Elephant Man'. I saw it when I was still quite a young child and was disturbed for many days afterwards. I couldn't get over how cruel people could be. But was also moved by how kind others were.

Around a similar time I watched a series called 'Roots'. Again, the cruelty people were capable of disturbed me deeply.

'Dumbo' and 'Watership Down' were very sad too.

Tarka the Otter

I remember sobbing at the end of that as a child

Cannibal Holocaust - I didn't realise before I saw it the first time that the animal deaths were real. Truly great film with those scenes removed though.
The Girl Next Door - Very realistic portrayal of the torture and murder of 16 year old Sylvia Likens.
A Serbian Film - The whole thing was very OTT (deliberately,) but one of the final scenes really got to me.
Come And See - The most distressing war film I've ever seen.
Katyn - Harrowing film about the 1940 Katyn massacre.

The Pursuit of Happyness. I know it has a happy ending but the scene with the station bathroom…heartbreaking!

Under The Skin - there's a horrible scene in it on a beach, but otherwise still fairly harrowing, although obviously not a documentary...

Spoorloos - the original 'The Vanishing' - you have to watch it if you like psychological terror.

@redbigbananafeet It was the movie of The Mist, I haven't seen the mini series

When the wind blows for me too - I found the vhs tape (without the box) when I was 13ish in my dads tv cabinet I thought It was going to be a daft cartoon about old people. Think it's haunted me ever since.

Plague dogs is another for me. Horrific!

First one that popped in my head was:
Seven pounds

then (prompted by others):
Schindler’s List
My Sister’s Keeper
Lovely Bones *
PS I Love You *

*the books over the films though.

The proposition (IMDB link), really hard watch and horrific.

The weird sex scene in this - I could not stop kissing myself, so awkward, ruined the whole film!

The boy in the striped pyjamas. Ashamed to say, I didn't see it coming...was in an absolute world of my own...totally harrowing (probably not so much if you use your brain as it's pretty obvious) but still sad

*pissing, not kissing 🙄

The film I cried the most at was a film I saw recently 'An Cailín Ciúin' or 'The Quiet Girl'.
I watched it at a crowded screening, and I hate crying in public so I was trying really hard to suppress it, but the tears were streaming down my eyes and I let out one sob.

I was just checking if Sophie's Choice would be mentioned, such a harrowing film and like you I saw it when I was very young.

I can’t handle anything with rape or sexual abuse - even if it’s a ‘choice’ ie the orgy for crack scene in This is England 90s or at the end of Requiem for a dream (obviously it’s not a choice but you get my meaning). I have to look away, I can’t take it. It’s one thing when rape is included and has meaning, but when it’s pointless and gratuitous I hate it. Like the rape scene in The Sinner (I wouldn’t watch the rest of the series it was dead to en then) or the Hills Have Eyes (I turned it off immediately). I hate when sexual abuse is used gratuitously, it’s pathetic.

The Perfection was more disturbing than upsetting. Made me quite uncomfortable though.

Melancholia resonated with me quite deeply, which I think made it quite disturbing in an introspective sort of way - would I feel the same in this scenario, how would I face the encroaching and unstoppable pace of certain death whilst also struggling with mental illness etc.

Climax was very intense, had to glance away at a few scenes. Incredibly choreographed dance scenes though.

Threads is probably one of the few films I couldn't watch again, a disaster movie without the adrenaline rush or chance of a happy ending.

There was a beautifully-made stop motion Japanese short film online that I watched during the pandemic. Nothing incredibly disturbing in itself, but for some reason it caused a very strong reaction (think hyperventilating) after viewing it. I'm not sure why.

Grave of the Fireflies by Studio Ghibli, beautifully drawn animation but the story of the brother and sister is so despairing even with the ending of their spirits joining together.

Martyrs is the most disturbing film I've watched. Not for the faint hearted.