I recently saw “Rampage” from 2009. Its basically a movie where a spree shooter is portrayed as the good guy/anti-hero. Several parts gave me that pit in your stomach, teeth gritting uncomfortable moment. I really hated it. Although I’m not surprised there are sequals I am disappointed and will not be watching them.
Idk if I’d classify it as non-Horror, but Threads is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.
Its a movie from 1984 about a nuclear war scenario in the UK. The movie kept close to the science of the time, and made significant choices in casting and presentation that makes it all feel so much more real.
- Casting unknown actors who look like regular people instead of celebrities
- Giving all the actors relatively average Joe, nobody, roles for their characters
- Presenting the movie in a documentary format as if its real
- Characters exiting the narrative to unknown fates in the aftermath
- The overall sense of hopelessness, dread and loss throughout the
And it’s free to watch on YouTube.
Apparently, they’re making a modern version of it too.
Adam Curtis’s Hypernormalisation. It is a documentary and does a painful job of examining reality. I was vaguely unsettled before seeing it and after seeing it I have a specific vocabulary and lens through which I perceive current events. I feel helpless to this day. Free on YouTube:
I remembered you want non documentaries, so I will add Basketball Diaries. DiCaprio film about a talented young basketball player ruining his life through drug addiction.
Grave of the fireflies.
Black Mirror’s Striking Vipers episode. Initially made me uncomfortable, but then prompts questions about virtual/online interactions and where to draw the line. Building (virtual) things in an online game together with a (adult) friend is OK. (Virtually) harming or killing your (adult) friend in online game is OK. Is having (virtual) sex with your (adult) friend in online game OK?
Also is it gay? I mean if your friend is indistinguishable from a lady but you know its your friend in there.
Threads
Everyone that welcomes the fall of society or post war survivalist fantasies should watch this for a reality check.
All quiet on the western front
It’s a movie about a German soldier during WWI, really trying to convey the horrors of war.
I read the book when I was 11. I still have dreams about being in the gas attack.
Kids, Requiem for a Dream
Pasolini’s Salo/120 Days of Sodom - Nobody ever regrets watching it.
Bad Boy Bubby - One of many grim Aussie films of that era. A classic.
The Warzone - Tim Roth’s directorial feature. Incestuous rape introducing Colin Farrell in his feature debut.
Drowning By Numbers/ A Zed and Two Noughts - Peter Greenaway shoots his films like renaissance paintings. Do you like lots and lots of snails on naked bodies? No? Tough. The Michael Nyman scores are terrific though.
You can pretty much take your pic with any of Lars Von Triers films. Breaking the Waves, Antichrist, Dogville etc.
Festen - which is Danish but NOT a Lars Von Trier film is probably the best Dogme 95 films of all. Including that fucking MAGAT Harmony Korine. Don’t know if this is that haunting but a good film anyway.
Come and See - Yes yes come and see! and in the vein of horrible WW2 films…
Salon Kitty - Tinto Brass before he went full porno.
Baise Moi - FUCK ME! No really that’s what its called.
Christiane F : Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo - Not a documentary but based on fact.
Reckon that should be enough. Happy viewing! LOL.
Spy Kids disturbed me as a kid because of the idea of people being turned into fooglies. The film doesn’t even show them being changed back, I guess we’re supposed to assume it. Why couldn’t they have a scene at the end where the rescued agents videochat with the cortezes and thank them? The movie also has kind of a creepy atmosphere. I revisited it a bunch of times and kept being disturbed. Then I watched it again at age 30, fully prepared to be triggered by certain scenes but weirdly, I wasn’t. It’s just a normal movie to me now, and a pretty good one for what it is
Grave of the Fireflies. You don’t see any fighting and most people the protagonists meet are good, AND YET it’s so depressing. Seeing how bad the horrors of war are, even in the best case scenario, was eye-opening for me.
Even worse when you realize it’s based on an semi-autobiography that was written by the older brother. After the story was published, the author admitted that he was much more selfish than the older brother in the story. Basically, the older brother in the story was who the author wished he had been. He admitted that the older brother in the story was extremely selfless and always tried to make sure his sister ate first. But in reality, he frequently ate while his little sister went hungry. And in retrospect, he believes that was a large contributor to her death by starvation. He originally published the story as an apology to his dead sister.
That movie gave me PTSD
Also the movie Aniara
What happens when you’re trapped in space and everything goes wrong.
I was going to say OpenWater but apparently that is horror film
and I was horrified. lol
but no, a not at all related to marine life movie, Swimming with the Sharks was really impactful. Kevin Spacey yelling at you "What is it you really really want?!“ was good. but yeah fuck him.
anyway, lots of good films to check out - thanks for the thread!
Seeing Robin Williams play a creep in 1 Hour Photo was unsettling. Especially the scene where he is imagining being part of the family whose home he has broken into and is just casually doing stuff in.
Also Grave of the Fireflies for being the greatest movie I never want to see again for reasons that will only be clear ig you also watch it.
AI: Artificial intelligence
Messed me up a little because I watched it so young. I was old enough to understand the themes and moral dilemmas, but some scenes were just so heartbreaking. What matters? What’s real? What does it mean to be alive or to be human?
Badlands
On The Beach
Fail-Safe
