artiswar: 13 Films That Fucked Me Up

Papa Universe 06.28.17	Oh sweetie, I fear for you if this is what fucks you up...
Brewtality91 06.28.17	Never heard of a single one of these. must be made up
artiswar 06.28.17	I'm not sure what that means Unique. And you maybe haven't heard of them because they're mostly foreign and cult films.
Papa Universe 06.28.17	I mean that there is much more fucked up shit and these are definitely the safest and most accessible examples of disturbing cinema.
Rik VII 06.28.17	"Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (2002)" Yeesss. @UniqueUniverse: Subtlety is extremely important for a movie to have a disturbing effect on the viewer. Anyone can make some gross brutal bullshit and say "okay now this is one of the most disturbing films I've seen", but he would be wrong. Good disturbing films are made with a dissecting knife and not with a hammer. Like, I don't know which movies you'd call disturbing, but I have a feeling that they're probably more like "more brutal" than anything else.
artiswar 06.28.17	I'm not sure what your list would look like but I'd like to see it. I guess it's also possible we just find different things disturbing/upsetting. All of Park-chan Wook's films I found to be pretty disturbing but I picked Mr. Vengeance because the way it portrayed the meaningless cyclicality of revenge really got under my skin. So much blood and tears were spilled, nothing was gained and the violence just continues after the credits roll without missing a beat.
dbizzles 06.28.17	Funny Games was very interesting. GOAT soundtrack. Haven't seen any of the others, I don't think.
Rik VII 06.28.17	@artiswar: Park Chan-wook has made his fair share of disturbing movies, but a lot of them aren't. Try JSA, Thirst and I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay if you haven't, they're all golden. He's my favorite director of all time. As for Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, it is definitely the movie that's most aimed at being disturbing. Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, Handmaiden etc all have a lot of beauty in them (I'd even call them some of the most beautiful and humane movies ever made). Mr. Vengeance, on the other hand, is just sad. Not because it isn't humane at all, but really because you really feel like the people depicted there actually think and feel. That's what I meant when I spoke of subtlety up there. It's an amazing movie for sure, and it really makes you think: How many people die in the average movie production (western or eastern alike) without any of the viewers caring about it? It's really amazing how little violence there is in Mr. Vengeance (at least when compared to your standard movie) and still it has this effect. That's art, man. Sorry for the rambling, like I said, he's my all-time favorite director.
artiswar 06.28.17	I'm a massive fanboy of Michael Pitt so Funny Games was pretty much tailor-made for me. JSA is one of my favourite films of his, that one really blew me away. Thirst was very good and I haven't gotten to Cyborg yet for some reason... His whole Vengeance trilogy is very dear to my heart. Lady Vengeance is easily one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. Ramble away, he's in my top 5 directors and I don't really know anyone who's seen anything other than Oldboy... the remake. sigh. The most disturbing scene in Mr. Vengeance is probably when all the Korean boys are masturbating against the wall to the moaning of homeboy's disturbed sister. Some super bizarre stuff in that movie but it's quite genius. I loved how throughout the movie the girl was yelling that the mafia was going to get him for this, that she was connected. Such a great payoff at the end. I don't know if you're familiar with Sion Sono at all, but he's like Park Chan's Japanese counterpart. Watch Suicide Club, Noriko's Dinner Table, and especially Love Exposure. That last film is 4 hour journey down the strangest of rabbit-holes.
ArsMoriendi 06.28.17	Mysterious Skin is an excellent movie.
user 06.28.17	"Oh sweetie, I fear for you if this is what fucks you up..." oh fuck off you pretentious twat
brainmelter 06.28.17	'I mean that there is much more fucked up shit and these are definitely the safest and most accessible examples of disturbing cinema.' while i agree most of these are entry level for people looking for extreme films but you can't deny that they could/can have that effect on people. i mean they are fucked up, but there is worse yeah of course, lots worse actually
artiswar 06.28.17	what are some films that are a lot worse than Martyrs and Mysterious Skin? I'm genuinely curious. 2 off the top of my head are Salo and Serbian film, neither which I've seen but I have read blow-by-blow synopsis. I didn't watch them because I wasn't confident they would be very good films.
Rik VII 06.28.17	@artiswar: I love every movie of Park Chan-wook, and I'm not one of those who get biased towards some director only because I like one or two movies of his. He is one of the few directors who have managed to create multi-dimensional movies on a constant basis, like, no matter which film you watch and how often you've already watched it, if you put it on you'll see a whole new thing and it will be an amazing piece of art. Symphathy for Lady Vengeance in particular is probably my favorite movie of all time. I don't know if it's his best, all that I know is that Oldboy feels a tad more rounded and hasn't got those issues with the story-telling in the first third that one has, but ... the first time I saw it, the ending had me sobbing like no other movie ever did. Cyborg is one of my favorites of his, but you have to be prepared for a damn weird romance in a nuthouse. It's a wonderfully imaginative movie with a lot of unexpected layers though. To be honest, Stoker is the only movie of his that isn't a complete masterpiece imio, and that's the only one he didn't write himself, so there's that, hahah. Oh, and before I forget it, if you haven't seen it, I also recommend his short film Cut. It was done for an Asian horror film anthology of three 40 minute films by different directors. Park Chan-wook is one of those (Takashi Miike is another one) and that short film is weird and definitely a bit disturbing, too. Which leads me to Sion Sono. I wouldn't go as far as to compare Sono and Park. They both share the brutal imagery and perfected aesthetics, but I think Park is pretty far from that comic/manga-style rampages of Sono. Like, Sono loves the high pressure blood trope and there is blood everywhere in his movies (Cold Fish anyone?), which is a thing that Park explicitly avoids, and that's only one example ... That said, Sion Sono is amazing! He's definitely in the top 10 and probably even in the top 5 of my all-time favorite directors. I have seen 9 movies by him as of now (well, there's more of enough of them), my favorites being Love Exposure and Guilty of Romance. I couldn't really get into Suicide Circle (its trashy style turned me off), but Noriko's Dinner Table was brilliant, especially its last half an hour. Have you seen Why Don't You Play In Hell? Now that is how you make an action movie. Oh, and Strange Circus and Cold Fish definitely are contenders for this list, holy shit, they are rude. Okay, I'm done for now
artiswar 06.28.17	Loving the long replies man. Stoker is just okay, it didn't feel like a Park movie especially since it was in English. Totally agree about Lady Vengeance. When I first saw it I was so blown away by it, I couldn't stop thinking about for a long time. I tried making everyone watch it but they didn't get it haha, they were just like 'why is she shooting a man-horse on a cliff, this is too weird'. The last image of that film is Park-chan in a nutshell; Just a fully grown woman mashing her face into a cake and it shouldn't work but it's so beautiful you just want to cry. Also the whole 'vengeance' portion of the film is some serious next level shit. The prison stuff was amazing too in a black comedy kind of way and I love how she formed all these relationships with people just so she can call on them for a favour when the time is right. Such a masterpiece man! It's literally burned into my eyelids. I have seen Cut, as well as the other 2 short films in the 3 Extremes anthology. Cut was definitely the best one, it was totally apeshit. Really didn't care for the Takashi Mike segment but the 'fountain of youth' one was really good. Suicide Circle is really hard to get into, but I was majorly surprised at how much that film grew on me on second watch. The final act actually really resonates in a super strange way even though it feels like total nonsense at the time. If you haven't seen Love Exposure, for the love of god, correct that please. It sounds like you've seen more Sion Sono than I have, I'm gonna have to check some of those out. If you have any other Korean/japanese recs I'm down (or any in general).
Rik VII 06.28.17	Yeah, agreed with everything you said about Lady Vengeance. Such a (violently) beautiful movie, I can't put it into words how much it means to me. You'll have more comedy in Cyborg, hahah I have seen Love Exposure and it is indeed a masterpiece. It has a lot of these moments that only Sono can do in that intensity - just two (or sometimes more) people talking and you feel like you're roasted by the tension of the scene. That scene when Yoko cites the bible to Beethoven is one of the most intense scenes I have ever seen. Noone would believe how emotionally exhausting it is just from a summary of its content, but it is soo immense. Yeah, I loved that movie. The only other Sono I liked THAT much was Guilty of Romance. That one is terrifying in how dissolute it is. If you know Park, chances are you also know Bong Joon-ho (they are friends). He's kinda famous for Memories of Murder which is a strong movie, but my personal favorite of his films is Mother. It's a calm movie, but has some extremely in-depth characterisation going on. It's a really intelligent and engaging movie. I don't know if you like any animes, but even if you don't, the works of Satoshi Kon are amazing. Perfect Blue would have fit on this list for sure. I adore Tokyo Godfathers, even though it's pretty different from his other more surrealistic stuff. Other than that, I'm a fan of David Lynch, and David Cronenberg is also one of my favorite directors, the latter mostly because of a bunch of super unknown movies that are all worth watching, like Spider, M Butterfly, and - most of all - Dead Ringers, which is one of my all-time favorite movies.
artiswar 06.29.17	Yeah, that scene in which she’s reciting the bible she doesn’t even look human anymore. It almost felt like they had done some subtle cgi post-production on her there, there was something borderline supernatural about that scene. Yoko’s introduction is just such an amazing scene. The exposition about invisible bullets flying everywhere, the monologue about hating men but loving Kurt Cobain… I don’t think I’ve ever fallen harder for a fictional character lmao. She’s just so charming and sweet in one context yet terrifying and intimidating in another, it’s really jarring yet fascinating. Love Exposure is really an epic not just in length but in terms of how many complicated themes it touches on from religion to gender identity and it pushes the boundary in literally every possible direction. There’s not a single aspect of this film that’s not hyper ambitious and transgressive. It’s so surreal, you’re watching it and can barely believe it’s happening. I’ve never successfullly gotten anyone to sit through it or knew anyone who’s seen it so it’s good have confirmed that it wasn’t just some crazy drug trip I had. I really have to watch Guilty of Romance now. Bong Joon-ho is okay… I think The Host is overrated and I can’t remember if I saw Mother back in 2010, it’s been too long. Snowpiercer was interesting I guess, that axe brawl in the train-car was really brutal. I actually own a copy of Memories of Murder but haven’t seen it yet. I do like an anime on occasion. End Of Eva is #1 on this list haha. Although I haven’t seen Tokyo Godfathers I’m a big fan of Satoshi Kon. My two favourite films are Perfect Blue and Paprika. Also really liked Paranoia Agent but didn’t care for Millennium Actress. For David Lynch I’ve only seen Lost Highway which I loved. I need to see Mullholand Drive, I really love Naomi Watts. I haven’t seen too much of Cronenberg for some reason, but I’ve been dying to find his film Crash cause it sounds pretty out there. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Lucky Mckee, he’s kind of trash now but for a hot minute he was a truly singular voice in horror cinema. His films May and The Woman are some must-watch stuff. There’s also this fantastic Australian film I love called The Loved Ones about the senior prom of two best-friends; one gets to go on the date of his dreams, the other is kidnapped and tortured by the girl he rejected to the dance. It’s a pretty gnarly film that reminds me a lot of the French Extremity films, which I personally love but I don’t know your feelings on that style of film.
NewBallistics 06.29.17	Not a single David Lynch on here. Come on war, you can do better than that. 3/10
furpa 06.29.17	@UniqueUniverse, dude get outta here, people like you are the worst lol. What makes "disturbing cinema" is relative to each person and you can't talk down to someone because of your inflated ego. Don't be a dickhead. @artiswar, I've seen most of these here, solid picks man! I still need to see the other two "Vengeance Trilogy" films outside of Oldboy lol. And Salo and Serbian Film are worth seeing imo. I've gotten so much hate for defending A Serbian Film but I honestly didn't think it was a terrible movie. Also, check Irreversible! Legit a near-perfect film.
artiswar 06.29.17	@ballistics I do need to watch more Lynch but from what I've seen he doesn't really disturb me so much as make me feel discomfort and disorientation so he likely wouldn't make the list anyway. @furpa I think I've had a good exchange with UniqueUniverse over something or other (don't remember now) so I'm sure he means well. Frankly I was just shocked that none of the films on my list seemed to phase him at all which I consider a feat of constitution really. I do need to revisit Irreversible. I watched it in like 10th grade and it was a bit too much for me at the time. I remember really liking it but it's kind of like a half-faded bad dream now. I've literally read everything there is about Salo and Serbian Film because I was curious but I'm prone to bouts of severe depression and I just didn't feel the need to put myself through that. Martyrs for example kind of destroyed me for a while however that film has a rare kind of beauty and artistry to its horror that I doubt Salo or Serbian film possess; I've actually heard people say 'Martyrs is a beautiful film', but I've certainly never heard that said about either of those, so yeah. Really cool that you've seen a lot of these, but definitely finish the Vengeance Trilogy. The other 2 films are equally amazing if not better.
Minushuman24 06.29.17	I still need to see Lady Vengeance, It's been on my list since Oldboy blew my mind. And I think Cheap Thrills is underrated, it shook me a little
artiswar 06.29.17	Cheap Thrills is actually the only film on my list that I wouldn't watch again. It was damn good but I really do wish I could just scrub it from my brain.
Minushuman24 06.29.17	The only others I have seen on here are Funny Games which was a pretty fucking brutal movie and Antichrist which was crazy. Im gonna add the rest of these to my list though, very cool list
Faraudo 06.29.17	There's a movie called "The Tribe" wich fucked me up real good. It has 0 dialogue because it follows a bunch of deaf kids, and shit.
Rik VII 06.29.17	@artiswar, Love Exposure really IS that great – it felt like something larger than life happening, won’t ever forget watching it. It was kind of like an out of body experience at times. Regarding Bong Joon-ho, I like The Host but it’s not one of his best for sure, and I agree about Snowpiercer which has its moments but as a whole just feels all over the place, plus I couldn’t stand most of the characters. Memories of Murder and Mother are on a whole other level than both imo, so yeah, don’t let these two films make you lose interest in his work. Nice to hear that you like Kon, too. He only made 4 movies and a series which is why it isn’t as surprising as with other directors who did it, but I think he only made really good films. So I definitely liked Millennium Actress quite a bit, but Tokyo Godfathers is his best one imo. Paranoia Agent is a very under-appreciated anime series in general. I feel like hardly anyone knows about it, but it’s one of the best of them … I like how every episode tells its own story, but in a way that this little story is always part of the bigger one. I’d like to see more series go that way. Anyway, yeah, Kon was an amazing director, one of my favorites. If you loved Lost Highway don’t be hesitant about other movies Lynch movies, especially Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead. I gotta say though, my personal favorite of his filmography is Inland Empire which is pretty hated by all sorts of people and I definitely understand why, hahah. But it left such a strong impression on me both times I watched it… You can’t go wrong with Mulholland Drive though (and Naomi Watts is one of the reasons for that). And, lastly, Cronenberg has done a lot of amazing movies, so there’s much to pick from. Considering that, I didn’t like Crash all that much personally, but it definitely is a provoking and unique film, so even though I didn’t like it, I’d recommend it if you like to watch something that’s really fucked up. The Fly is one of his masterpieces imo (it definitely also has its disturbing moments), but, like I said, Dead Ringers is my favorite Cronenberg and hardly anyone seems to know of its existence which is kind of a shame given how Jeremy Irons‘ acting performance(s) in there is among, like, the very best ever.
DrGonzo1937 06.29.17	Visitor Q
artiswar 06.29.17	Satoshi Kon was amazing, died way too fucking soon. My fave episode of Paranoia Agent was when the young man, old man and little girl are trying to commit suicide together. That episode was so fucking surreal I didn't what I was watching but I had to watch it again when it was done. I don't know if you've heard of Panty & Stocking, it's a very low-brow Gainax series inspired by American cartoons of all things, but they did a whole episode in the style of Satoshi Kon and it was so fucking cool. The episode is call The Vomiting Point, about this salary man who everyone thinks is a huge bummer, and one night his coworkers take him out drinking to loosen him up, but he's never really been drunk before and things go very overboard. Have not seen Visitor Q or The Tribe but they look very interesting, thanks guys.
artiswar 06.29.17	Thanks RikRoach7, now I have to go watch Love Exposure again, fuck me... There goes my day off. :/ If I'm still alive after that I'll check out Dead Ringers or Guilty Of Romance.
Yep321 06.30.17	In A Glass Cage also Visitor Q
artiswar 06.30.17	Just got my hands on Visitor Q, thanks.
Rik VII 06.30.17	sorry it took so long for me to reply, but you know, the servers The films and series you recommended are on my list now. It may take some time for me to check them out though, there's still so much else to watch ... well, it will depend on my mood. I plan on doing some kind of Park Chan-wook double week in the near future where I'll re-watch his movies from Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance till The Handmaiden (Stoker excluded, Cut counts though) over the course of two weeks or so, but probably not in chronological order. Should be fun! Kim Ki-duk is another unique Korean film-maker by the way. He's really hit and miss imo, but Samaria is a really great film ... He has a special way of combining ugly/violent things with something beautiful and somewhat even magical at times. Hard to describe ... Like I said, I didn't like all of the movies by him that I've seen, but every one of them was something special. Apart from movies with violent/disturbing content, Lee Chang-dong is an interesting director who makes calm, pretty intelligent, character-based movies. I thought Peppermint Candy was very thought-provoking and an extremely well-done movie overall. But I'll leave it at that for now.. :D Have a lot of fun with Love Exposure :)
Papa Universe 06.30.17	Imagine my surprise when I one time decided to go back to one of them threads I commented under with a joke I didn't even think that long about and find out there are about 3 people writing shit about me..
Papa Universe 06.30.17	btw, aritswar, that exchange you were talking about, I think it was over Fargo
artiswar 06.30.17	I'm adding those to the list, I haven't even heard of those film-makers. When it comes to foreign films I tend to stick to weird horror which I guess says something about me. Have you heard of Yoo Ha? He made A Dirty Carnival, a phenomenal Scorsese-esque mob thriller. Can't say enough good things about this one, it's a Korean Goodfellas basically. Once Upon A Time In High School is another masterpiece. It's about how incredibly corrupt schools in 1970's South Korea were. Both of these films are not horror but they are incredibly gruelling emotionally. Wasn't able to finish Love Exposure but oh my god the first half is so good.... I forgot how fast-paced it is compared to the second half. I also forgot that this has the single most horrifying school-massacre scene I've ever scene on film. You don't even see the shooting, only the after-math and it's so fucking grisly and the way that shooter is just screaming like that... that really rattled me this time around! @UniqueU I think you're right about that. Btw what films were you talking about originally or were you just joking?
Egarran 06.30.17	I saw Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer when I was like 12. Pretty traumatizing stuff. I swore then I would never go to America.
Rik VII 06.30.17	Kim Ki-duk is known for tackling complicated themes in a provoking way. I don't think there's a taboo that he hasn't somehow discussed in his films. In Korea, most people seem to think he's nuts. He's being acclaimed at European film festivals mostly, his movie Pieta (it's like the brother movie to Samaria) won the Golden Lion price in Venice (one of the three most important film prices in Europe). I think it's got something to do with values dissonance and how European film-viewers seem to blame it on that how weird his movies are. Koreans don't have that reaction, they know what's normal in their culture, so they just seem to think he's kind of a psycho. Lee Chang-dong, on the other hand, is known in Korean as an intellectual. He's been a teacher, author, director and the minister for culture in Korea (!) throughout his career. He's like the godfather of Korean culture. Anyway - haven't heard of Yoo Ha, yet another one to join my list ... I was stunned at the fast pacing when I watched Love Exposure. I expected it to be super slow (well, it's four hours long obviously) and then it began and all I thought was "Is this going to go on for four hours straight?" It's not what I expected, but in a good way.
Papa Universe 06.30.17	@artiswar (with occasional remarks towards RikRoach7, user and furpa): Alright, let's begin with the fact that I find pretty much every film you mentioned in the list to be a decently made Thriller/Horror at best and do not see much of anything disturbing in them. I understand that to each their own, but certain choices there seem to me to be so far from a disturbing factor either psychological or physical that I fail to see what your attachment to them is. (It might have been helpful had you explained your opinions on them right away) By that I mean that you seem to have reached for films that both engross subtly (like Mysterious Skin) or ones that focus rather on a somewhat direct torture porn kind of shock value (like Martyrs, Frontiers, Inside...and pretty much everything filmed in this period of New French Horror Renaissance). My issue was as follows (and I will dissect it from both physical and psychological perspectives separately): 1) If talking about the gross-out, shock, gore fucking up films, even by a standard of mere disgust there is a magnitude of films that delve into these insane territories much deeper than the ones mentioned by you. That might have an explanation that either you have not seen all that many or you are one rare speciment that finds it much more disturbing, when a disturbing factor of a film is high, but not too high. I will not delve into cliches and recommend you watching obscurities such as Begotten, Serbian Film, Men Behind the Sun or 120 Days of Sodom (although now that I've mentioned them, I guess I can't take it back, can I?). That is one reason for my confusion. The bloody typical Horror films you mentioned are not exactly what I'd call disturbing, if judged by the amount of unsettling gore in them, although granted, I did find the sick twisted motivation of the cult in Martyrs to be quite juicy. 2) Now, focusing on the individual instances of possible psychological damage. These cases, whether it be the aforementioned Mysterious Skin or an utmost brilliant Sleep Tight, they seem to me to be simply well put together Thrillers with some truly intense moments. But again, not a whole lot to truly stick to mind. And I understand that the wretched saying "To each their own." applies much better in the instance of subtle and Thrillers than in the first cathegory, that is shocking bloodfests. Thus my confusion regarding the effects these films had on you stands not so much in the fact that they are 'not the brightest examples of their brand', but rather in my own personal opinion, for I did not find them to be almost always anywhere close to able to have such an effect. Funny Games too, I find it to be a great film and a fantastic Thriller, but is it really that mind tickling?
Papa Universe 06.30.17	Now, keeping all of that in mind, please do provide me with the ever so necessary benefit of the doubt in his instance. It simply seemed to me as if the films you mentioned were either your first ever encounters with these styles, thus leaving a certain mark, or your psychological component is somewhat, dare I say, weaker than what I expect of people. Naturally, I do not want to jump into conclusions and maybe there is a certain detail in these films or a context I do not know about that you found to be so enthralling. If so, again, it would have been better had you explained your opinions. (Naturally I could have mentioned a section 3), in which I'd describe a sort of hybrid of 1) and 2), into which I believe Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance or Eden Lake fall, but I couldn't pen my thoughts down on that, so I'll just leave this quick shout out here.) I also did not cover all of the types of films on the list, as for I have not seen The End of Envangelion or Cheap Thrills or Straw Dogs, and therefore have no opinion on the matter. But I do commend you for adding Dogville on the list. Not that I hold the same opinion on it. I find works of Lars Von Trier and the whole Dogme 95 movement in general to be redundant and a pinnacle of near-stupid art vomit, which makes films such as Antichrist the way they do not to deliver a message or a statement, but to then be able to say "Oy, that's art, bitches." Or at least that's how it always came off to me. But Dogville seemed somewhat intriguing at the very least, though again nowhere near disturbing. And while the other films at least can be labelled as disturbing, Dogville I find to have no place on the list, which is what makes its placement so curious to me. It seems that there is a whole other interesting story behind you choice of Dogville that I would be thrilled to hear. So that is that. I don't find any of the films (of those I've seen, of course) to be anything beyond great Thrillers, but I would like to hear your thoughts on what made them so skinning in your view. At first, I did not want to initiate any sort of verbal battle with a commentary as long as this one detailly dissecting why I find your opinions confusing, as I was the first one to comment, I didn't think it'd be appropriate to start out with a direct critique. For that reason I thought it'd be best if I leave a simple one-line dig and that's that. But it seems that the discussion started already and many people misinterpreted my commentary. Hope this served as an explanation enough. Universe out!
Rik VII 06.30.17	I haven't read through all of the comments yet (only the first of the two), but thank you for mentioning Begotten, I should have thought of that one. Edit: Okay, now that I've read the rest of it, I'm just gonna say that it doesn't disturb me at all if I feel like there are straw dolls slaughtered or stuff like that. I mean, horror has a lot to do with identifying with someone or something, finding yourself in that situation, emphasizing, and then going through the pain happening vicariously. In a lot of cases of movies that want to be disturbing, there isn't much more going on than "figures" suffering, not "humans", if you get what I mean. I think the thing that makes movies like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance as disturbing as they are is how much they are rooted in real life. When I watch it, it feels pretty close to my reality, with all the multi-layered human beings that all have their purpose in life, but it takes that reality and invades it with the violence and tragedy. It would never have that same effect if it didn't proceed that way. Like, in a Marvel film, there a hundreds and thousands of people dying but noone cares because it is a movie in a movie-world with movie-humans that are just puppets of the action. And I think it's a fine art to make the viewer feel with a character. A good disturbing movie is a good character drama most of the times - not always (like Begotten), but in a lot of the cases, it is, in my opinion.
Papa Universe 06.30.17	I can only remember one psychological film out of the top of my head that I felt was quite distressing and uncomfortable to watch because of its theme, and that is Spanish film In a Glass Cage (1986). It's about a young man, who approaches a paralysed murderous ex-Nazi as an assistant and a nurse and due to his fascination with the subject of Nazis and torture and experiments and such he basically starts to learn from the old man and turn the tables on who the real monster is.
Papa Universe 06.30.17	RikRoach7, all I'm finding out right now is that I can't properly empathise with other people or a lack of their humanity.
Papa Universe 06.30.17	And yes, I also prefer when a film touches me on a personal and real level. That is also why I could never get into Romcoms, because they all seem fake and implausible.
Risodo 06.30.17	funny games is dope
Rik VII 06.30.17	"RikRoach7, all I'm finding out right now is that I can't properly empathise with other people or a lack of their humanity." What are you talking about? Regarding the other stuff, I think one important thing I noticed about my viewing habits is that I always distinguish between "figures" and "humans". Most films only have figures, really good movies however have humans. And I need to feel like there's a human suffering and not only some plot device. That's what most torture/whatever movies got wrong imo. That's my own feeling towards this and maybe it's affected by how I myself am a writer (in German though, so this is not the way I write) and maybe that results in me having a different view at characters and how they are made and it might be harder for me to identify with a character since I am all to aware of how characters are made up and outlined and stuff. Maybe it's comparable with how someone who works a lot with photoshop sees an advertisement. However, I might be wrong about that and that's not the reason, since I don't know if you write stories yourself or something along those lines, so don't be offended if I'm wrong. I'm only sharing observations I made about my own behaviour. And my own behaviour has proven that I -myself- need some personal involvement into a film to experience something that stucks with me strong enough to call it disturbing. In all other cases, it's mostly just "out there" "weird" "brutal" or something like that. I think human emotions can be the most disturbing thing ever, far more than blood, far more than monsters. But I feel like I said that before and I don't want to be repetitive (well, too late I think).
artiswar 06.30.17	In A Glass Cage sounds an awful lot like the Stephen King short-story Apt Pupil, which I did read as a kid and it disturbed the living fuck out of me. @Unique ‘your psychological component is somewhat, dare I say, weaker than what I expect of people’ Wow, that’s the strangest most roundabout way I’ve ever been called unintelligent, thanks for that. I should clarify, all the films on this list I think are well crafted works of art. There’s other films I’ve seen that probably deserve to be on this list like the August Underground series which did bother me watching them but at the end of the day I see them as trash and not worth promoting. So my list is a bit biased in that sense, if that helps clear anything up. I thought about delving into each film a bit individually but I didn’t think anyone would read it and I didn’t expect more than 3 or 4 comments on this. Since I was wrong about that, I’ll consider going back and editing the film descriptions a bit to help you see my perspective. Also keep in mind that I’m not really a film buff and never claimed to be and I haven’t seen all the obscure shit that’s out there so I am a bit of a pleb in that regard. With that said, I still maintain that most of the films on the list are great films. As for the Dogville thing, dude, if you didn’t find that film disturbing then nothing I can say on here to explain will ever make you get it. I will talk about it a bit at some point if I decide to talk about each film. A film I did struggle with putting on the list (I ended up leaving it off) is the first Hostel film, which totally got under my skin and I found to be extremely effective. It gets shit on for kick-starting the whole torture porn movement of horror (I really hate that term btw and I find it incredibly wrong-headed and a mislabel really) and Eli Roth is kind of a douche and a hack, but that film was really ahead of its time and well done and paved the way for a film like Martyrs, which I think is a direct answer to Hostel, and not only improves on every aspect of the concept but takes it further than I ever thought possible.
Papa Universe 07.01.17	@artiswar: Excuse my poor phrasing, but I did not in any way meant to suggest even the slightest regarding the state of your intellectual well being. 'Your psychological component is weaker than I expect of people' merely notes the fact that you tend to be disturbed by films that I precieve to be handlable by people most of the time. It has nothing to do with anyone's intelligence, but purely with what one can take and what their individual psyche is able handle. I may need to revisit Dogville though. Hostel I honestly found funny. It was simply a ridiculous film in my opinion, but in a good way. It was intense, where it needed to be and it was unnerving, when it needed to be. The paranoia of what might happen next is there. However, I simply felt like (also given Eli Roth's usual output) it was meant to look like a comedy...with some truly twisted graphic imagery. P.S.: Although I usually attempt at expressing my opinions in a somewhat verbose manner, I will have to dim down my opinion on August Underground and that is: "Fuck August Underground."
DrMaximus 07.01.17	"Martyrs for example kind of destroyed me for a while however that film has a rare kind of beauty and artistry to its horror that I doubt Salo... possess" Totally
Papa Universe 07.01.17	Admittedly, I too prefer when the messed up stuff is presented with a certain gravitas and not just with a pure vomit-enducing effect for the sake of making you as uncomfortable as it can.
artiswar 07.01.17	these films disturbed me and lingered in my mind afterwards, but in no way can i not handle them.
hikingmetalpunk 07.01.17	"Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" great flick "fuck the bears"
Papa Universe 07.01.17	@artiswar: But it's...what I meant to say is...you..fuck it. Just fuck it. Here's the fucking point I was trying to make. They affected you somehow, didn't they? Aight, most people I know, who watched any of these probably didn't think of them even half as much as you did. Therefore, logical assumption, either I hang out with soulless maniac or most people are not as easily affected by these films as someone like you might be. For fuck sake, mate, if you're gonna misinterpret what I'm saing this time too, I swear to god... (sorry if I come off aggressive right now, it's just 4:30 AM in where I am and I'm online trying to argue whether apples are green or greenish)
artiswar 07.01.17	Wait... so first I'm unintelligent, and now I'm a soulless maniac? That's what you were saying right? Kidding aside, I didn't misunderstand you, I was just clarifying cause you're making me sound like this delicate flower. But tbh you very well might share company with soulless maniacs because whenever I've tried showing anyone any of these films I pretty much never heard back from any of them again. Do your friends often go to return videotapes at 3am?
Egarran 07.01.17	Get a room, fags.
Zig 07.01.17	Funny Games US remake sucks. The 1997 original is way better. It's pretty much the only film of this list I've seen. I heard Straw Dogs and Dogville are very good, and Antichrist is kinda a psychological porno.
Egarran 07.01.17	Cͦ́ͦͨ̎ͬ̑̾̇ͥͭ͐͛̒̚҉̡̬̰̟͕̙̱̯ͅh̢̥̦͉͈͎̼͓̤̪ͤͥ̍̔ͨͨ̓ͬ͜͞͞͝ͅͅą̷̸͔͚̱̣̭̹͕̯ͨ̅̓͑̾̽ͬ̏ͣ͐̇̑̑̿͂̑̓̒͆̀ó͇̻̭͎̮̖̯̟̟͈̠͇͚̱̟̘̃ͯ͋ͨͯ͗͋̑͐ͤ̃ͨ̈̐̋͐͘͢ş̨̛̠͇̣̙̬̠̬̻̬̩̠̝͉̅̏ͬ͋͒̒̾̅͒̆̑̈́̚͡ͅͅ ̶̷̡̨̮̥̹̰͖͚̙̙̥͔̖͗ͪ̐̓ͬ̌͒͆̊͡R̦̺̺͔̹̹̈́̏ͬ͗͌̀́̚e̴̶̛ͩ̄ͬ̅ͯ̑͗̚͏̷̖͈̝̳̲͇̙̖̰͍͙̣̟͈̹͉̤ͅͅi̛̤̺̜͙͔̯͕̺͎̜̮ͧ̏̒ͨ̅͑́ͧ͛̂̔̍ͨ͌͂̉͜͞gͭ̆̄ͬ̓͐͆̑͑̒̋̃ͬ̍̈́͏͈͓͖̩̬̹̳̩͖̥͓̘͍̫̬̙͟ͅͅn̨̦̗̙̖ͧ́̃̀̒̊͌̒̄͂̿̉́ͅͅs̨̫̘̗͇̬̰̻̠̩̖̤̍̿̈́ͦ̐̂ͫ̽̿̍
artiswar 07.01.17	How does the remake suck? It's a shot for shot by the same director. It's the most faithful remake of all time probably. I like it better because I'm huge fan of all the actors he got for it. Straw Dogs is really effective but it's skin-crawlingly uncomfortable and has the most mind-fucking rape scene I've ever seen. Really good but hard to recommend. Dogville is in my top 10 films of all time and I've only seen it recently. Antichrist I really enjoyed but again, really hard to recommend. It's not what one might call an enjoyable experience.
Papa Universe 07.01.17	Egarran, First off, how the fuck did you do that? Second, I suspect you just cursed this thread.
Egarran 07.01.17	But if I told you, sputnik would be infested with it. It's better only I know and can use it sparingly and effectively.
artiswar 07.01.17	Just let Egarran feel cool, he's having a bad day.
Egarran 07.01.17	𝔑𝔞𝔥, 𝔥𝔢 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔩𝔢 𝔦𝔱.
Papa Universe 07.02.17	aaaah
artiswar 07.02.17	Ha I remember watching Poltergeist 1 and 2 with my sister as kids and poking fun at how silly it was but then I couldn't sleep for a week after. And yeah Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is one that I still need to check out.
Flugmorph 07.04.17	end of eva is the best movie ever made blud. Good choice.
artiswar 07.04.17	That movie broke me for a while man. I also made the mistake of watching it with a couple of friends at the time. Boy that was an uncomfortable experience.
Minushuman24 07.06.17	I'm glad someone said Henry, I don't even enjoy watching that movie in the slightest, it's just so fucked man
artiswar 11.18.17	Bump. Finally discovered Harmony Korine. Holy shit.
Papa Universe 11.18.17	yeah, the guy knows how to make a weird-ass film
artiswar 11.18.17	I'm completely obsessed with him atm. List is incoming, I just can't get my hands on a couple of his films. This dude has seriously blown me away and done something I never really thought would happen ever again: show me something fresh using cinema.
Papa Universe 11.18.17	which ones you can't get your hands on? maybe i can help
Yep321 11.18.17	trash humpers though
artiswar 11.18.17	I think just Ken Park and the Val Kilmer one. Maybe a couple of the shorts. It's just a matter of time though. What did you think of his films? Serenade me Unique.
Yep321 11.18.17	you thinking larry clark
Yep321 11.18.17	harmony wrote kids
Papa Universe 11.18.17	have you seen the music video he did for Rihanna?
artiswar 11.18.17	Harmony wrote it but you have a point.
artiswar 11.18.17	I don't watch music videos or listen to Rhianna but I did hear about that.
Yep321 11.18.17	im a black albino straight from alabama
Papa Universe 11.18.17	Mac and Plak https://vimeo.com/125522712 Act da Fool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUsB3S0CfKE The Fourth Dimension (the Val Kilmer one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31WEBwFpULg&wide=1 Umshini Wam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtUvq82WkDY Curb Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu5Lpe8z40Y Lettres de Suicide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-MVFeV7ukM Snowballs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8F8K27Cr6U Ken Park https://www.movierender.com/ken-park-2002-%E2%80%93-filme-online-video/35417/ The Diary of Anne Frank Part II is reportedly never seen the light of Internet, most likely thanks to Harmony's own attempts at keeping it unknown, but there are clips of it on Youtube, I think
Papa Universe 11.18.17	dunno which shorts you haven't watched, so i just dumped all of em up there
artiswar 11.18.17	Thanks a lot dude, damn. I didn't even know about the suicide one, gonna check that out. You missed Cambo though. I love his shorts, Curb Dance is wonderful and Act Da Fool and Umshini Wam are pretty much my fav things in the world right now. Watching on repeat ad nauseam. ...I did watch the clips of the Diary of Anne Frank thing. It was... yeah.
artiswar 11.19.17	We are to witness the evolution of mans contribution to the highest reward of his species with his lion heart thumpin' and his pathetic hips humping on garbage and animal feces you say its moronic, bubonic, demonic i say its princely and just just look around at this world at the grizzly facts of what so called civilization has done to us there’s wrappers, and bottles and cans with words that lie and squeeze us to poop… we're no better off than... ravioli that's tossed… we ARE the slime and the goop we wear our suits we wear our dresses our perfumes and colognes and our hair is coiffed and oiled we live in immaculate huts with our kitties and pups and pretend that the world isn’t spoiled hahaha but we laugh and we stroke and we talk witty and we joke with the air of entitled elites but in the shadows there lurk these mountains of dirt and the god awful stench of our feet!! we've torn it asunder - by plunder and blunder god’s wonderful masterpiece… depraved it, paved it trashed it and bashed it SOMEONE CALL THE TRASH POLICE!!! so why... why i ask why… why castigate these creatures whose angelic features are bumping and grinding our trash? are they not spawned by our greed? are they not our true seed? are they not what we've bought for our cash? we created this lot… of the used and the rot… deliberately and unabashed whose orgasmic elation and one mission in creation is to savagely… fornicate… TRASHHH!!!!!!!!!
Papa Universe 11.19.17	Trash Humpers much?
artiswar 11.19.17	get that thrash pusseeeeeehhhhhh
CalculatingInfinity 11.19.17	Frontier(s) is fun trash what are you on about?
parksungjoon 11.19.17	"Paranoia Agent is a very under-appreciated anime series in general. I feel like hardly anyone knows about it, but it’s one of the best of them …" it's like a lot of music on sputnik where almost nobody irl knows about it, but everyone who is a super self-important "conoisseur" on the internet worships it (or pretends to, for the nerd cred). ditto w/ serial experiments lain which isnt even ABe's best work mind you i like all of kon's work (and all of ABe's for that matter) but that's just the stone cold truth that's all i had to contribute
Rik VII 11.19.17	Never perceived it that way. Even if it was true, Paranoia Agent is one of the best anime series and Kon is one of the best film-makers ever. Don't care who else says things like that.
parksungjoon 11.19.17	i mean i dont disagree, im just saying if you made that statement on mal or whatever you'd get shit on by a lot of obnoxious cunts
artiswar 11.19.17	three little devils jumped over the wall... wah wah... la di da da...
parksungjoon 11.19.17	but its like saying y'know yndi halda or kayo dot or my mathcore favourites botch, are very under-appreciated. it's factually true in the grand scheme of things because you're never gonna walk up to someone on the street and have them know who the fuck those are, but on the internet and in the scene everyone already worships them or is sick of everyone else worshipping them i don't know if i'm getting this across well i hate it though
alienobserver 11.19.17	funny games was crazy. loved the naked city usage
parksungjoon 11.19.17	the anime community is somehow (shockingly) even worse than the music one, so there's that anyway i didn't mean to derail, carry on
americanohno 11.19.17	eden lake has a great cruel ending I guess it (sort of) rips off the original ending to the descent tho. heroine has made it thru her ordeal and emerged safe and sound. nope we kidding bitch still fucked. still real good movie.
artiswar 11.19.17	Both are great endings (and films) but the twist in Eden Lake is so much more grotesque. It's the fact the family excuses it and in the end the patriarchy kills the final girl. It was a shocking ending to a shocking movie. The Descent ending was just very desolate and solipsistic.
hikingmetalpunk 11.19.17	old boy (orig obvs)
artiswar 11.30.17	Finally finished Harmony's filmography. Holy crap what an experience! Just when I thought things couldn't possibly get more bizarre, I get black albino from Alabama.
Anthracks 01.27.18	haven't watched any of these. if you were to recommend 3 to a picky person which would you?
artiswar 01.27.18	Sweet bump. I should really update this list as everything I've seen by Harmony Korine belongs on here... I'm not sure Anthracks, describe your taste a little maybe. I think I would recommend Dogville because it's just universally amazing. But other films like Martyrs or Gummo I can't recommend unless you want to see something beyond the pale.
Anthracks 01.27.18	dark, tasteful, weird with purpose, visually removing, some degree of sophistry (preferred) or edification, theologian concepts
artiswar 01.27.18	K I'd definitely say Dogville and Gummo. Martyrs is one of my favourite films ever honestly but it's an incredibly bleak and unpleasant French film about psychological/physical torture. It's kind of a horrible experience in a way, but I find it to have a kind of striking visual poetry to it amongst other things. Definitely a film for a very specific mood though and not for everyone. Those would be my 3 knee-jerk picks.
Egarran 01.27.18	Antichrist checks all Antrack's points though.
artiswar 01.27.18	I considered Antichrist but picked Dogville for him instead to not overload him on Lars von Trier right away.
brainmelter 01.27.18	where is Serbian film tho
Lord(e)Po)))ts 01.27.18	papa you are trying way too fuckin hard
artiswar 01.27.18	A Serbian film is not on here cause I didn't watch it. A lot of films are not on here come to think of it.
artiswar 01.27.18	DZS that's the scariest part in that movie lol
Valkoor952 01.28.18	Is Evangelion worth it ? Cause I know I gotta watch the whole anime and then the movie and people say it can be rather slow at times, bu the ending is mindbkowing so i don't know.
artiswar 01.28.18	You do have to watch the show (about 10 hours of content) to even begin to understand the movie, but yeah, it's worth it. It's unlike anything I've ever seen, plus it has the nuttiest end-of-the-world sequence ever put to film.
Spluger 01.28.18	Any of you see the U.S. remake of Inside? I thought it was dogshit. Not that the first one had an incredible plot or anything but it tries to do a few things differently and it just doesn't work. I remember the OG because of the over the top violence and gore, not because of its simple plot and really lame plot twist which the remake tries to focus more on.
artiswar 01.28.18	I didn't even realize they did a remake in the U.S. I did watch the remake of Martyrs while really drunk though! I haven't seen Inside since high-school and I remember that film making me really squeamish.