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Ever regret watching a film because it just made you feel so shit?

422 replies

sliceofsoup · 09/10/2015 20:34

Just finished watching Philomena. Bawling. DH looking at me funny.

I wish I hadn't watched it at all, because now I am sad, and angry at the injustice of it all.

Felt similar after watching The Help.

Any one else get like this?

OP posts:
notheroldie · 12/10/2015 19:51

Just looked up a review on a film mentioned on here on the imbd website, and its got a parents guide half way down and goes into details of what to expect regarding sex/language/violence etc.
I had no idea this existed and will be reading reviews very thoroughly from now on. !!
Advisable before thinking of watching anything these days.

MarkRuffaloCrumble · 12/10/2015 19:55

Incendiary with Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor. She plays a young mum whose son dies in a bomb attack at a football match. I sobbed my heart out, scared DP a bit I think - we'd not been together that long and he thought he was the soppy one!

I've also never forgiven Seven for imprinting itself on my brain and agree with Clockwork Orange.
I also watched 50 Shades against my better judgment because I thought it was unfair to decide it was shit without seeing/reading it. The whole film ending was awful and I cried my eyes out at the thought that she would forgive him in the sequels and that he would somehow turn into a living partner. Caused a massive row between DP and me about whether leopards can change their spots.

MarkRuffaloCrumble · 12/10/2015 20:03

Loving not living!

SlightlyJadedJack · 12/10/2015 21:50

The first thing that came to my head on seeing the Op was Precious. It was actually advertised as a feel good film which is why I went to see it. Dear god alive, I wanted to top myself after watching it, it was horrendously depressing. Such a sad, sad film.

Southwestwhippet · 13/10/2015 09:59

Paranormal activity - saw it at the cinema when I was 7 months pregnant. Have been unable to either read or watch horror films ever since. Messed me up completely for a long time, I was convinced a demon was stalking my baby until she was about 8mths. Horror + pregnancy hormones is not a good mix.

Also Brokeback Mountain. I had to leave the room when he got that postcard, I was crying so much. This was despite having read the book so I knew what was going to happen.

I tend to stay away from sad or distressing films now.

Labtest7 · 13/10/2015 10:51

About 25 years ago I watched a two part mini series about an abducted 7 year old called I Know My First Name Is Steven. It still haunts me to this day.

Orange1969 · 13/10/2015 10:55

A Letter For Zachary.

Documentary film about a man who ends a relationship with his girlfriend and she shoots him dead in revenge.

During the resulting trial, she declares she is pregnant with the man's child. The man's grandparents (he is their only child) organise a DNA test on the baby after it is born. The DNA test proves that the child is their grandson.

The judge lets the woman out of prison early and the couple are forced to spend time with her in order to see her grandson.

Eventually, she drowns both herself and the baby. The pain and anger in the faces of the grandparents is unforgettably disturbing. Very sad and awful story.

Wish I had never watched it.

Doublebubblebubble · 13/10/2015 15:06

orange that film is on youtube. I happened to look it up and watch it. Do not do it. It is infuriatingly painful. So sad.

MoriartyIsMyAngel · 13/10/2015 15:51

I hate watching films that show sexual violence as titillating- for the members of the audience who like that kind of thing. The close shot of the mans hand grabbing the womans thigh, the camera panning down her body and focusing on newly exposed areas, etc. Any rape/abuse scenes where you are offered the option of finding it arousing instead of repulsive. There have been so many I can't even be bothered to start to list them. Even in female-centric films like 'Thelma & Louise' - we are offered a long look at Geena Davis's bum before her attacker is killed.

I was nervous to watch Fury Road, because it's about a woman helping other women escape sexual slavery and I thought some of the content might be upsetting. But there was no sexual violence at all, no 'male gaze' type shots. Actually, there was a shot of Charlize Theron as Furiosa walking towards her rig, and the camera panned down past the brand mark on her neck, but cut away before it reached her bum. It was actually respectful. In fact, I felt like the film makers had respect for their audience. We knew what these women had been through, we didn't need to see it. In future I'll be judging all films by that standard.

Notasinglefuckwasgiven · 13/10/2015 16:07

Well said moriarty nothing so tasteless. You can tell it's meant to arouse when it should horrify.

angemorange · 14/10/2015 11:10

Labtest, I watched that two part series as well, it was horrific, but in later years I read somewhere it is now a seminal piece of drama which first highlighted the true nature of child abuse in USA, and which raised awareness about grooming, abductors being known to children etc, issues which up until then were not widely known.

Evidence of ground breaking drama affecting life I suppose :)

expatinscotland · 14/10/2015 18:45

'About 25 years ago I watched a two part mini series about an abducted 7 year old called I Know My First Name Is Steven. It still haunts me to this day.'

It's a true story. Stephen died young in a road traffic accident. His brother, Cary, became an horrific serial killer of women and is in a California prison after being convicted of four murders, two of them rape/murders of teen girls.

sparechange · 14/10/2015 19:09

Re Two-part dramas from the 90s, does anyone remember one called something like 'ladybird, ladybird' about the horrific sexual abuse of a girl by her mother and then step father? Would have been about 1997.

That absolutely haunted me.

Nataleejah · 17/10/2015 17:19

Hostel, Men Behind the Sun, Cannibal Holocaust -- made me think what a sick person i was to choose this sort of 'entertainment'

Even though i don't really mind or get disturbed by violence in films.

Only1scoop · 17/10/2015 17:20

Hostel

The dear hunter

Born on the 4th July

Saw

Any film about concentration camps

All affect me for years

ZenNudist · 17/10/2015 17:26

The ring
The grudge
Nasty Japanese horror films shit me up for years, even now I can't look at TVs or the stAirs at night in the same way.

I also hated the end to shutter island, as a good film that turned really nasty right at the end. A bit like the end to we need to talk about Kevin which I would never watch but enjoyed the book (til the end).

winchester1 · 17/10/2015 17:52

The first time I watched the ring I was in bed with my OH and fell to sleep a bit before the end. I woke up with the tv pull right up close to the bed,black and white fuzz and OH gone.
I sprang up and away from the tv so damn fast I banged my head on the wall pretty hard. Still remember that 5sec of real fear the fucker Grin
Obv he'd watched to the end and gone for a slash, hadn't even thought about it.

Sgtmajormummy · 17/10/2015 18:53

Only I first watched The Deer Hunter on Irish TV in the 80s when there were only 2 channels. It was the fillum of the week, and there was a nationwide power cut during the swamp imprisonment scene. Imagine the tension...

When the power came on they started the film from the beginning again! Shock

VulcanWoman · 17/10/2015 19:14

Notheroldie, the imbd are useful aren't they. There's another website that gives very detailed film reviews as well called "Kids in mind film reviews".

Davros · 18/10/2015 16:41

AI - went to the cinema to see it, all excited. Spielberg, scifi, Jude law, what's not to like? As the mother of an autistic child it traumatised me and I had no idea it was a sort of Pinocchio story about a boy who wants to be loved but doesn't know how to fit in or relate to other people
As Good As It Gets - laughing at someone with a serious impairment
Blue Jasmine as mentioned up thread, just horrible
Hatchi also mentioned up thread, upset me badly but it's a good film
Slum Dog Millionaire - a good film but hard going. Have not watched it since, life's too short
And When Did You Last See Your Father? Ditto above

GissASquizz · 18/10/2015 16:47

The War zone with Ray Winstone. I still can't look at him without feeling revulsion.

Wishfulmakeupping · 18/10/2015 17:16

God Giss just read the plot on wiki :( feel completely sick now

squicketysquack · 18/10/2015 17:40

Flatliners. Seen at the cinema aged about 17 and couldn't sleep for weeks, just found it so unsettling. 25 years later still not worked up the courage to try and watch it again.

And like a lot of PPs, Wolf Creek. Just horrid.

MsAmerica · 18/10/2015 21:38

NO! Never.

Most of the truly great films (and Philomena isn't one of them) tend to have downbeat endings, or are downright tragedies.

I'm not a believer in having everything cheery and sunny, in order to ignore all the sad/bad things of life. There are certain films that I don't know if I will ever be able to watch a second time (like The Grey Zone, Wit, Fires On the Plain), but I'm still glad to have seen them. On the other hand, I've watched The Passion of Joan of Arc several times, even though I know I'll be in tears.

Davros · 18/10/2015 22:46

I agree that life would be boring without a challenge or two, especially safely on film. I have to admit that I laughed at the endoif The Boy In Striped Pyjamas. I mean really?!