Horror films are supposed to scare us, creep us out, and make us feel uncomfortable. But sometimes, there is a film that go so far outside of the norm (and our comfort zone), that after we see it, we never want to see it again. In no particular order (because they’re all pretty hard to stomach), here are 17 Disturbing Horror films.
1. The Exorcist
The Exorcist is known as one of the scariest films of all time. While most people don’t debate that, what they do debate is its watchability. Many people have said that they chose to sit through it once for curiosity, but what they saw was so terrifying that they never wanted to see it again.
Maybe it was the sight of a little girl masturbating with a crucifix or of her head spinning a full 360 degrees. It also might have been the spider crawl Regan did down the stairs. There are plenty of reasons why you’d never watch this classic horror film more than once.
2. The Woman
The Woman is about a seemingly “normal” family who takes in the last remaining member of a cannibalistic tribe. It doesn’t take long for you to see that the family might be more barbaric than the prisoner.
The excessive gore (usually revolving around cannibalism) and a sexual assault performed by a child will ensure that you will never want to see this film more than once. Don’t get me wrong, this film makes a serious statement about misogynistic behavior and the people we deem “normal” in everyday society. It’s worth a watch… but only one.once.
3. The Human Centipede
This movie might win the award for the tackiest film of the year and it really isn’t necessary to watch even one time. The film follows the exploits of a sadistic scientist who sews 3 victims together, mouth-to-anus, in order to create one long digestive tract. The first time one of the victims has a bowel movement, you’ll have trouble convincing yourself to finish the film once, let alone finding a reason to watch it ever again.
4. Hostel
Director Eli Roth, torture porn king, made a huge splash in the indie circuit with this outrageously gory and torture-ridden horror film about three Americans traveling through Europe. These empty-headed too-old-to-be-frat-boys get caught up in a terrible game of human hunting and the events that follow will never leave you once you’ve seen them.
The torture scenes are drawn out to prolong the gruesomeness, but there is absolutely no pay off to any of them, so there is really no reason to ever see this unnecessarily violent movie ever again.
5. The Last House on The Left
The original film, made in the 1970s, is considered a cult classic. However, its source of fame is pretty disturbing: the remake and the original both feature a long and graphic rape scene of two girls out in the woods.
By the time you see the rapists get much deserved justice in the most brutal of ways (the remake having way more brutality than the original film), you will feel both content and disgusted with yourself about why you were so happy to witness the brutal torture of another human being. Even when the rapists become victims, it’s enough to make you say “Once is enough.”
6. The Girl Next Door
The Girl Next Door is a horrific story about a woman who sexually, physically and mentally tortures a young girl who is staying at her residence. Another film entitled An American Crime stayed close to the actual, terrible event. Yes, some of the things in the film did happen to a poor young girl when she was staying with a psychopath while her parents ran off and joined the circus (literally).
If seeing a girl being sexually assaulted with a coke bottle and watching children torture another child isn’t enough to stop you from watching a film twice, nothing will.
7. Maniac
This one is a relatively new horror film about a young man (played by Elijah Wood, in a career pinnacle performance) who is way more obsessed with store mannequins than he should be. Oh yeah, and he’s a serial killer with some serious social issues.
What makes this serial killer film so unique is that the audience witnesses the entire film through the eyes of the killer. You only see his face in mirrors or shiny surfaces. Witnessing the gruesome murders (most of which contain scalping afterwards) in 1st person point-of-view makes this film impossible not to stop watching. But, that dirty feeling have when the move ends makes you want to never watch it again.
8. Insidious
This movie follows the strange (and damn creepy) events of a family haunted by a supernatural being that seems to follow the father wherever he goes. Sounds pretty typical, right? Not hardly. The jump scares are plenty, there’s one of the most frightening demons you will ever see on film, and let’s not even talk about that creepy dancing shadow. This film will scare you so bad, you’ll think twice about watching it again… if you ever do.