Exam.
Its properly tense, and relatively believable, but theres one scene in it where they've got someone tied to a chair and are going to papercut their eyeballs. A truly heartstopping moment of terror, but people will think I'm fucked in the head.
Also the ending is a massive letdown.
Movie: Eden Lake - watched it once in 2009. Have never forgotten it. It buried itself into my nervous system that no other disturbing film has ever managed to do. I do not regret watching it. It is a fantastic film. I will probably never watch it again.
Book: Count of Monte Cristo - unless you get an edited version that cuts down on all the repeditive parties he goes to, that completely murders the momentum of the book for i dunno how many hundreds of pages. If you can find a version that's edited down, then I'd recommend it to everybody. Briliant story. Very ahead of its time on some aspects.
The movie version with Henry Cavill from 2002 is probably one of the worst book to movie adaptations I have ever seen in my entire life. Like no. Just no. What the fuck was that, Hollywood?
phenomenal acting w top tier talent; excellent and acclaimed writing; cutting edge cinematography -- an exceptional movie by any standard, but DEPRESSING AF in ways that will haunt you for the rest off your days.
This was my initial instinctive choice, but I still think most people who consider themselves fans of cinema should see it at least once.
It’s probably one of the best examples at capturing believable and relatable characters at their worst and I’ve never had an inclination to revisit the film, even though I own it. But if you’ve never seen it, it is an important piece of work in my opinion.
the casual brutality of the orderlies who needlessly force fed the older woman while they talked about the game like she wasn't there makes me wonder if that's how ice officers think of their job today.
I'll add A Serbian Film, and Ex Drummer. Great or at least interesting/insightful movies, extremely difficult to watch, completely depressing. I saw them as a teen, though, so I wonder if they would have the same effect.. but I'm not going to try.
Never recommend to who? Everyone or just particular people?
I would never recommend to anyone I know in real life;
Close As Neighbor Doujinshi. Because well, it is sexual. However, the story and some of the characters are actually really well written.
A book named Submitting to Her. The name should already tell you what it is about, lol. Book is quite well written though.
And as for normal books; Bad Blood Secrets and Lies in Silicon Valley. Because most people in my life would get bored out of their mind due to the jargon being used in the book and they don’t care about financial things as much as I do.
As for in general (like in online communities); I don’t really have anything special to hold back. It is the internet with a certain anonymity.
Hot take: Evil Dead
The first movie has a really egregious sexual assault scene (from a tree of all things) that Raimi has been on record saying he regretted putting in the movie.
Evil Dead II is almost like a scene-for-scene remake with much better production, acting, script, etc and in my opinion fully replaces the original.
I’m glad I saw it if only to be able to compare with the improvements made from the original, but the first can reasonably be skipped entirely.
I've come to appreciate the sequel more, but for me there is no purer deadite horror moment than in Evil Dead when his dead friend suddenly sits back up, with that musical sting that sounded like plunging deeper into a nightmare.
The Forbidden Zone
Why?
Disjointed, bad acting, bad writing imo
Despite star power
Sold!
It was one of the first movies I ever saw high (marijuana)
Summer after senior year of high school. Spent most days either getting completely stoned off my ass, or on a days-long wild wild goose chase after a dealers' buddies' friend who might have a bag.
Anyway, toward the start of the summer, my best was going to have his mom's apartment all to himself that day and he suggested we get high and watch The Forbidden Zone. I want those hours back.
Toward the end of the summer, we finally got our hands on some acid. Yes, he had us watch The Wall. No, I wish we hadn't.
It's a fun movie, but it's only for a selective taste. It's also has a lot of very problematic scenes.
Tusk
Dancer in the dark and Dogville by Lars von Trier
I’ll probably not watch Dancer in the Dark again but will listen the heck out of the soundtrack at every opportunity. It is stunning.
Stalker (1979) for me. Russian scifi/thriller/poetry recital. I would put in a category of interesting movies, but not entertaining.
Clockwork Orange, that shit is the worst film I've ever seen. I came to it after being in awe of FMJ, disappointed 1000%
"A Serious Man", by the Coen brothers.
I love all the Coen brothers' movies, except this one. I hate this one. It's well acted and well made, but...
minor spoiler
the plot is just frustration after frustration after frustration, then a hint of relief, then frustration, then a signature Coen brothers sudden and abstract ending scene.
For me it has to be Compliance (2012). It's a masterpiece but it's so disturbing that I never want to see it again, and would never recommend it to anyone.
Amour by Michael Haneke. Absolutely heatwrenching film about an elderly man losing his wife to dementia. Total masterpiece but I cried pretty much all the way through. I guess I'd recommend it if you wanted a good cry.
I feel you, friend. There are very few things in this world that I fear more than dementia. Armour is devastating (I will aleays think of that scene where he chases the pigeon in the hallway). The Father is also devastating. The book, Flowers for Algenon is devastating. Every story about the decay of the mind is fucked, man. It hurts so much. I cannot remember the last time I watched a scene in a movie that punched my soul as hard as the ending of The Father. I mean, bravo, Anthony Hopkins. What an actor, but please dont fuck with my heart like that ever again, bro 😭
Yeah, The Father was really good too. It didn't fuck me up the way Amour did though. Maybe it's just because (adult) children are inherently separate from their parents, there's just as much love, but more distance. Whereas with a spouse, particularly one you've grown old with, there is a comfort and reliance in day-to-day existence that's so precious. Then to see that deteriorate in real time is just so heartbreaking.
You're right though, dementia is fucking terrifying and one of my most desperate wishes is that neither I or anybody I love ever has to deal with it.
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Enter the Void (2009)
I recently watched https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal%C3%B2%2C_or_the_120_Days_of_Sodom
It was.... interesting, but going for more "shock", than actual substance.
Inland Empire. David Lynch’s use of digital cameras is jarring, with prominent noise in shots, and the narrative is very convoluted. It feels like a low-budget film in a lot of ways. Is it good? I liked it. But I would not recommend it except to a Lynch completionist.
I have 2 films, Threads (1984) and Come and See (1985). Both are films I think more people should see, but I have a hard time recommending them.
Threads is a film that tries to show what would happen after a nuclear exchange during the Cold War, and the plot goes almost 2 decades into the future after the bombs drop. It gets pretty heavy, initially showing burning cities, survivors dealing with dead bodies, radiation sickness, and fallout; and the collapse of civil order. It moves into trying to grow food to survive, birth defects after radiation exposure, how people are trying to survive in a dog-eat-dog ruined world, etc. Anyone who thinks dropping a nuclear bomb anywhere should see this movie, but man, it can be a hard watch.
Come and See is a Soviet film about what happened on the Eastern Front as the Einsatzgruppen moved through Belarus. The main character of the film is a 14 year old boy named Florya who finds a gun and is drafted along with Soviet partisan fighters. Most of his home village is murdered by Nazis, and he ends up travelling through the battlefields with a small group of partisan fighters, watching them die in all sorts of horrific ways. One of the defining moments of the film is an Einsatzgruppen squad forcing an entire village into a wooden church at gunpoint, ripping children from their mother's arms, throwing grenades in through the windows, and eventually burning it down with the whole village inside, which Florya narrowly escapes. I'm leaving out lots of details, but I think people should see it to get an idea of the brutality the Nazis inflicted on not just Jews, but the people of Eastern Europe as well, but it's another hard watch.
TLDR: Actually 2 movies I think people should see, but that I have a hard time recommending because both will absolutely ruin your day.
I watched Threads two days before Russia fired missiles against Kyiv. Needless to say, I went from "aye cool movie, whatever" to "aye, we might all die". Trippy experience.
The road. Both movie and book.
It's delivers a message perfectly. I wouldn't recommend it because I feel it is something you should find on your own.
McCarthy is one of those authors that people find when they are ready. My first McCarthy book was Blood Meridian and I felt like I was reading ancient poetry from a religious text that wasn't meant for the human psyche. We are too prone to want justice and order and sense when nature doesn't give us any. And yet, McCarthy's books seem to all be about the light in the human soul that persists in the face of meaninglessness. I dig it.
Can I ask what you thought of the ending? I read it recently and have conflicted feelings about it
Oh god, you're asking me to dig deep. My son wasn't even a thought yet when I watched/read the road.
I'll have to rewatch the end or reread it, but I felt It wanted the reader to hold on to hope for the child, for humanity. That despite the darkest of dark days, they shall pass.
It's been a while so forgive me for not remembering, but I just remember thinking "man, I don't want that world for anyone."
It was brutal, and it was depressing. Something I think a lot of end of the world stories, games, and movies get wrong. It wouldn't be fun it wouldn't be an adventure. It would be torture and pain with suffering shoved in every crack.
Fuck. I'm gonna have to reread it now.
But to try to answer you. The ending wasn't really suppose to leave you with anything other than what you hoped to happen. If I remember the kid's father dies and he is picked up by another family. A mile down the road they could've been killed or something, but I at least hoped they found the place they were looking for in the end. That maybe there is a chance for humanity to come back stronger and better.
Sorry that's not what you wanted I'm not always the best at answering questions. I get nervous lol.
Na that was exactly what I wanted, I appreciate the perspective. My son was a few months old when I read it and yeah, that definitely heightens the pain haha. I have yet to watch the movie but I'll have to check it out sometime. Thank you!
My answer is Desperate Living (NSFW)
The Sudbury Devil. Honestly a fantastic indie film but so weirdly sexual at times that I would seriously hesitate to recommend it to anyone I knew. I watched it with a friend not knowing it would be like that and while we both enjoyed it certain moments were uncomfortable to watch with company
The TV series Unreal, cause it's hard to explain that one of my favorite shows is about a reality dating show.
Atlas Shrugged, the series cause while I liked it, I don't think it was very good, and the book because it's become too political.
Battlefield Earth, because the movie was a terrible adaptation and no one I know wants to read a book the size of the dictionary.
Atlas Shrugged
it's become too political
Become? It's literally a political manifesto...
Ok, fair, but I guess my point is what I took from it at 20 in 1996 is very different from how I hear it espoused in 2026.
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