Most Disturbing Movies
by GinnyWinchester | created - 08 Jul 2013 | updated - 21 May 2021 | PublicThese movies either scared the hell outta me, or made me wonder how someone comes up with such ideas.
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1. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 454,363 | Gross: $232.91M
2. Se7en (1995)
R | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Andrew Kevin Walker
Votes: 1,796,354 | Gross: $100.13M
3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Votes: 1,546,375 | Gross: $130.74M
4. Antichrist (2009)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage, but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Storm Acheche Sahlstrøm
Votes: 136,398 | Gross: $0.40M
5. The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
R | 92 min | Horror
A mad scientist kidnaps and mutilates a trio of tourists in order to reassemble them into a human centipede, created by stitching their mouths to each others' rectums.
Director: Tom Six | Stars: Dieter Laser, Winter Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, Akihiro Kitamura
Votes: 87,153 | Gross: $0.18M
6. The Strangers (2008)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A young couple staying in an isolated vacation home are terrorized by three unknown assailants.
Director: Bryan Bertino | Stars: Scott Speedman, Liv Tyler, Gemma Ward, Alex Fisher
Votes: 143,387 | Gross: $52.60M
7. The Amityville Horror (2005)
R | 90 min | Horror
Newlyweds are terrorized by demonic forces after moving into a large house that was the site of a grisly mass murder a year before.
Director: Andrew Douglas | Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, Jimmy Bennett, Jesse James
Votes: 117,294 | Gross: $65.23M
8. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
R | 147 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with a superior olfactory sense, creates the world's finest perfume. His work, however, takes a dark turn as he searches for the ultimate scent.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Francesc Albiol
Votes: 265,561 | Gross: $2.22M
9. The Hole (2001)
R | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Four teenagers at a British private school secretly uncover and explore the depths of a sealed underground hole created decades ago as a possible bomb shelter.
Director: Nick Hamm | Stars: Thora Birch, Desmond Harrington, Daniel Brocklebank, Laurence Fox
Votes: 48,228
10. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,104,987 | Gross: $44.02M
11. Orphan (2009)
R | 123 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she appears.
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra | Stars: Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabelle Fuhrman, CCH Pounder
Votes: 252,008 | Gross: $41.60M
12. The Last House on the Left (2009)
R | 110 min | Horror, Thriller
After kidnapping and brutally assaulting two young women, a gang unknowingly finds refuge at a vacation home belonging to the parents of one of the victims: a mother and father who devise an increasingly gruesome series of revenge tactics.
Director: Dennis Iliadis | Stars: Garret Dillahunt, Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Bowen
Votes: 100,248 | Gross: $32.75M
13. I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
R | 108 min | Horror, Thriller
A writer who is brutalized during her cabin retreat seeks revenge on her attackers, who left her for dead.
Director: Steven R. Monroe | Stars: Sarah Butler, Jeff Branson, Andrew Howard, Daniel Franzese
Votes: 93,031 | Gross: $0.09M
14. The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
R | 107 min | Horror, Thriller
A traveling family falls victim to a group of mutated cannibals in a desert far away from civilization.
Director: Alexandre Aja | Stars: Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd, Emilie de Ravin
Votes: 183,083 | Gross: $41.78M
15. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
PG-13 | 99 min | Horror
A loan officer who evicts an old woman from her home finds herself the recipient of a supernatural curse. Desperate, she turns to a seer to try and save her soul, while evil forces work to push her to a breaking point.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Ruth Livier, Lorna Raver
Votes: 217,297 | Gross: $42.10M
16. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
R | 81 min | Horror, Mystery
Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez | Stars: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard, Bob Griffin
Votes: 285,059 | Gross: $140.54M
17. Paranormal Activity (2007)
R | 86 min | Horror, Mystery
After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence.
Director: Oren Peli | Stars: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong
Votes: 255,949 | Gross: $107.92M
18. Teeth (I) (2007)
R | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Still a stranger to her own body, a high school student discovers she has a physical advantage when she becomes the object of male violence.
Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein | Stars: Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Josh Pais, Hale Appleman
Votes: 46,425 | Gross: $0.35M
This is on the list not because it's disturbing, but because it's disturbingly stupid. And sick. And this is not a good combo.
19. House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
R | 89 min | Horror
Two young couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of murder end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.
Director: Rob Zombie | Stars: Sid Haig, Karen Black, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie
Votes: 93,268 | Gross: $12.63M
20. The Devil's Rejects (2005)
R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
The murderous, backwoods Firefly family take to the road to escape the vengeful Sheriff Wydell, who is not afraid of being as ruthless as his target.
Director: Rob Zombie | Stars: Sid Haig, Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, William Forsythe
Votes: 105,704 | Gross: $17.04M
21. The Astronaut's Wife (1999)
R | 109 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
After an explosion in space and subsequent two-minute radio-out period, two astronauts return home to their wives. Slightly it's revealed that they're not the same as they were.
Director: Rand Ravich | Stars: Charlize Theron, Johnny Depp, Joe Morton, Clea DuVall
Votes: 57,409 | Gross: $10.67M
22. The Devil's Backbone (2001)
R | 106 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
After Carlos - a 12-year-old whose father has died in the Spanish Civil War - arrives at an ominous boys' orphanage, he discovers the school is haunted and has many dark secrets which he must uncover.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi, Fernando Tielve
Votes: 70,968 | Gross: $0.75M
23. The Children (2008)
R | 84 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents.
Director: Tom Shankland | Stars: Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Rachel Shelley
Votes: 19,022
24. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 880,460 | Gross: $6.21M
25. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
R | 102 min | Drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans
Votes: 897,582 | Gross: $3.64M
26. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
NC-17 | 124 min | Crime, Drama
At Le Hollandais gourmet restaurant, every night is filled with opulence, decadence and gluttony. But when the cook, a thief, his wife and her lover all come together, they unleash a shocking torrent of sex, food, murder and revenge.
Director: Peter Greenaway | Stars: Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard
Votes: 41,681 | Gross: $7.72M
27. Stigmata (1999)
R | 103 min | Horror, Mystery
When a young woman becomes afflicted by stigmata, a priest is sent to investigate her case, which may have severe ramifications for his faith and for the Catholic Church itself.
Director: Rupert Wainwright | Stars: Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce, Nia Long
Votes: 72,215 | Gross: $50.05M
28. Martyrs (2008)
R | 99 min | Horror
A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Director: Pascal Laugier | Stars: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin
Votes: 106,249
29. Book of Blood (2009)
R | 100 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A paranormal expert discovers a house that is at the intersection of so-called "highways" transporting souls in the afterlife.
Director: John Harrison | Stars: Jonas Armstrong, Sophie Ward, Clive Russell, Paul Blair
Votes: 8,285
30. Dread (2009)
R | 98 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Three college students set out to document what other people dread the most. However, one of the three turns out to secretly be a sadistic psychopath who uses this knowledge to gruesomely torture the subjects.
Director: Anthony DiBlasi | Stars: Jackson Rathbone, Hanne Steen, Laura Donnelly, Jonathan Readwin
Votes: 12,963
31. Dorian Gray (2009)
R | 112 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty eternally, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
Director: Oliver Parker | Stars: Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall, John Hollingworth
Votes: 68,066
32. Hard Candy (2005)
R | 104 min | Drama, Thriller
Hayley's a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff's a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff's place. Jeff thinks it's his lucky night. He's in for a surprise.
Director: David Slade | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Elliot Page, Sandra Oh, Odessa Rae
Votes: 167,992 | Gross: $1.01M
33. The Fly (1986)
R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel
Votes: 201,609 | Gross: $40.46M
34. The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
R | 100 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A photographer's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer who stalks late night commuters, ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways.
Director: Ryûhei Kitamura | Stars: Vinnie Jones, Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Brooke Shields
Votes: 71,071 | Gross: $0.08M
35. Sinister (I) (2012)
R | 110 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A controversial true-crime writer finds a box of Super 8 home movies in his new home, revealing that the murder case he is currently researching could be the work of an unknown serial killer whose legacy dates back to the 1960s.
Director: Scott Derrickson | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone, Fred Thompson
Votes: 279,744 | Gross: $48.09M
36. The Number 23 (2007)
R | 98 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Walter Sparrow becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes was written about him, as more and more similarities between himself and his literary alter ego seem to arise.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen, Logan Lerman, Danny Huston
Votes: 212,482 | Gross: $35.19M
37. The Conjuring (2013)
R | 112 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.
Director: James Wan | Stars: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor
Votes: 554,151 | Gross: $137.40M
38. The Mist (2007)
R | 126 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Votes: 339,826 | Gross: $25.59M
39. Frozen (I) (2010)
R | 93 min | Adventure, Thriller
Three skiers stranded on a chairlift are forced to make life-or-death choices, which prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.
Director: Adam Green | Stars: Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers, Ed Ackerman
Votes: 80,662 | Gross: $0.24M
40.
The Dollanganger Saga (2014– )
Episode:
Flowers in the Attic
(2014)
TV-14 | 89 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
After the sudden death of their father, four children face cruel treatment from their ruthless grandmother.
Director: Deborah Chow | Stars: Heather Graham, Ellen Burstyn, Kiernan Shipka, Mason Dye
Votes: 10,095
41. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,209 | Gross: $61.28M
42. We Are What We Are (2013)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
The Parkers, a reclusive family who follow ancient customs, find their secret existence threatened as a torrential downpour moves into their area, forcing daughters Iris and Rose to assume responsibilities beyond those of a typical family.
Director: Jim Mickle | Stars: Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner, Wyatt Russell
Votes: 22,108 | Gross: $0.08M
43. Shutter Island (2010)
R | 138 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
Votes: 1,453,687 | Gross: $128.01M
44. Brimstone (2016)
R | 148 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
From the moment the new Reverend climbs the pulpit, Liz knows that she and her family are in great danger.
Director: Martin Koolhoven | Stars: Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, Emilia Jones, Carice van Houten
Votes: 45,092
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