This week I had a chance to see both "District 9" and "Inglourious Basterds." Quick review: I loved them both. And while both were great in their own way, it's very hard to compare the two. But there was one element both films had in common: a scene that was very hard to watch.
And as I sat there wincing, I began to think of some other films that elicited the same response. So with "Halloween II" coming out today, I thought this week we might look at 15 films that made us shudder at the screen.
"Inglourious Basterds": Eli Roth, director of torture film classics
"Hostel" and "Hostel II" makes an appearance in this film as Donny
Donowitz, known in Germany as the "Bear Jew." Watching Roth wield a
baseball bat was as gut-wrenching as it comes.
"American History X": While these films are not listed in any
particular order, if they were, Edward Norton taking on a crew of
would-be burglars would easily take number one. If you haven't scene
the curb scene, you're lucky. If you have, your nightmares remember it.
"A Clockwork Orange": There are two scenes in this film that are cringe-worthy. Yes, watching Malcolm McDowell's eyes held open by a metal contraption is a toughie. But it's part of the film's opening sequence featuring an old man and his young wife that puts it on this list.
"Reservoir Dogs": "Well I don't know why I came here tonight / I got the feeling that something ain't right." Slice!
"District 9": Not to give away too much, but I find that sometimes the toughest scenes to watch include teeth and fingernails. This film features both.
"Un Chien Andalou": The 1929 short film by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali was the embodiment of the two artists themselves. Strange and surreal, the film's worst scene involved a very wide open eyeball.
"Deliverance": Is there a more threatening sentence in the film lexicon than "Squeal like a pig, boy?" Not to Ned Beatty there isn't. And yeah, that banjo kid is pretty freaky, too.
"Cool Hand Luke": Alright no, this film isn't a horror. Hell, it's not even scary. But watching Paul Newman scarf down all those hardboiled eggs is enough to turn even the strongest of stomachs.
"Saw II": Yeah, watching Cary Elwes take his foot off in "Saw" was
awesome, but nothing could prepare you for a pit of syringes in part
two.
"Misery": "Annie, whatever you're thinking about doing, please don't do it." I'll never forget the woman sitting in front of me cursing at the screen as she watched James Caan get hobbled. "Now that's an oogie mess."
"Pan's Labyrinth": Guillermo del Toro is one of the best visual directors of our time. In this subtitled masterpiece, an innocent man gets unjustly punished with a soda bottle.
"Death Proof": Quentin Tarantino's second film on this list features some of the coolest car action scenes ever caught on film. The nod on this list goes to a very "bouncy" leg that gets the worst of a car crash.
"Pet Sematary": Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne) getting the worst of a game of hide and seek sends shivers up your spine.
"Freaks": Todd Browning's 1932 classic about love and betrayal in a
traveling circus was considered so controversial that it was banned in
Britain for nearly 30 years. If you like being creeped out, see this
film. You'll soon be "one of us, one of us." Gooble Gobble!
"Psycho": No it doesn't have the gore of a modern horror film. It doesn't have the over-the-top special effects or the torturous scenes of something like "Hostel." But watching Janet Leigh get it in the shower made personal hygiene something to think about for a whole generation.
"American History X": While these films are not listed in any
particular order, if they were, Edward Norton taking on a crew of
would-be burglars would easily take number one. If you haven't scene
the curb scene, you're lucky. If you have, your nightmares remember it."A Clockwork Orange": There are two scenes in this film that are cringe-worthy. Yes, watching Malcolm McDowell's eyes held open by a metal contraption is a toughie. But it's part of the film's opening sequence featuring an old man and his young wife that puts it on this list.
"Reservoir Dogs": "Well I don't know why I came here tonight / I got the feeling that something ain't right." Slice!
"District 9": Not to give away too much, but I find that sometimes the toughest scenes to watch include teeth and fingernails. This film features both.
"Un Chien Andalou": The 1929 short film by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali was the embodiment of the two artists themselves. Strange and surreal, the film's worst scene involved a very wide open eyeball.
"Deliverance": Is there a more threatening sentence in the film lexicon than "Squeal like a pig, boy?" Not to Ned Beatty there isn't. And yeah, that banjo kid is pretty freaky, too.
"Cool Hand Luke": Alright no, this film isn't a horror. Hell, it's not even scary. But watching Paul Newman scarf down all those hardboiled eggs is enough to turn even the strongest of stomachs.
"Saw II": Yeah, watching Cary Elwes take his foot off in "Saw" was
awesome, but nothing could prepare you for a pit of syringes in part
two."Misery": "Annie, whatever you're thinking about doing, please don't do it." I'll never forget the woman sitting in front of me cursing at the screen as she watched James Caan get hobbled. "Now that's an oogie mess."
"Pan's Labyrinth": Guillermo del Toro is one of the best visual directors of our time. In this subtitled masterpiece, an innocent man gets unjustly punished with a soda bottle.
"Death Proof": Quentin Tarantino's second film on this list features some of the coolest car action scenes ever caught on film. The nod on this list goes to a very "bouncy" leg that gets the worst of a car crash.
"Pet Sematary": Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne) getting the worst of a game of hide and seek sends shivers up your spine.
"Freaks": Todd Browning's 1932 classic about love and betrayal in a
traveling circus was considered so controversial that it was banned in
Britain for nearly 30 years. If you like being creeped out, see this
film. You'll soon be "one of us, one of us." Gooble Gobble!"Psycho": No it doesn't have the gore of a modern horror film. It doesn't have the over-the-top special effects or the torturous scenes of something like "Hostel." But watching Janet Leigh get it in the shower made personal hygiene something to think about for a whole generation.
The top-2 cringeworthy scenes for me both came from the same film: Irreversible.
It opens with a scene involving a fire extinguisher and a person's head. That alone would be bad enough, but the director used a slightly spinning, slightly shaky camera to add motion sickness, and also added a special sound-frequency to the scene. That frequency naturally occurs during earthquakes, and causes people to be nauseous, and induces vomiting.
Later in the movie, there's a 10 minute (not exaggerating), brutal rape scene.
Nothing else I've ever seen comes close, though I've heard Salo and Caligula are right up there in terms of the worst things ever put to film.