Buzz
While there have been numerous lists exploring this genre, I wanted to offer a fresh perspective. Every film here is available to rent at my local DVD store, unlike some from other lists that have been banned in certain regions. The unsettling nature of these films comes from various sources: some are disturbing due to their extreme violence, while others disturb because of their dark and controversial themes.
10. Battle Royale 2000, Kinji Fukasaku
Set in a time of soaring unemployment in Japan, the government hatches a brutal scheme to control rebellious high-school students. The plan involves randomly selecting a class each year and, while traveling on their school bus, drugging them and transporting them to a remote island. Each student is given a weapon and fitted with an explosive collar that will detonate in three days unless only one remains alive. The sole survivor is allowed to return to society and resume a 'normal' life.
9. Hard Candy 2005, David Slade
Beautifully written, directed and acted, “Hard Candy” seems so realistic it can be difficult to watch at times. When 30-something Geoff meets 14 year-old Haley online in a chat room, he can’t believe his luck. She appears to be putty in his hands and when she agrees to meet in person and go back to his house, he thinks he can’t go wrong. Haley is not like the other girls; she is sweet, smart, sexy. So smart in fact, that when they arrive at Geoff’s house she refuses to let him mix her drink. If only Geoff was so smart. He wakes up tied to a chair, trapped in his own house with a sociopath who is convinced he is a pedophile who murdered a young girl in the area. The psychological and physical traumas she inflicts on Geoff are disturbing, to say the least, especially when you, as an audience, are unsure whether or not he deserves it.
8. Human Trafficking 2005, Christian Duguay
A movie that should be watched by all. Highly disturbing content, but all based on real events in the hideous world of trafficking. The film follows the lives of three trafficked individuals:
Helena is a single mum living in Prague who meets a handsome young man who invites her for a holiday in Vienna, where he lives. When they approach his majestic mansion, Helena can’t believe her luck! They enter the house and ascend up the massive stone staircase to a giant room where about twenty girls are lying on mattresses, drugged and distressed.
Ukrainian teenager Nadia secretly wins a modeling competition in hopes to earn some money to support her father, who is struggling with money since her mother died. The modeling company supply her with a passport and transport to the US where she is taken directly to a brothel.
In Manila, 12-year-old Annie is snatched from a market, mere steps away from her unsuspecting parents. She is locked in a basement with another young girl, who was sold into trafficking by her impoverished family.
The film follows the girls' harrowing journey as they are tortured, drugged, and raped into submission, while a US policewoman leads a task force in a desperate attempt to rescue them.
7. Hostel II 2007, Eli Roth
This is where the list takes a darker turn into shock, horror, and gore. “Hostel II” is one of the more infamous entries, but its place is well-earned. From accidentally embedding a circular saw into a girl's skull, to performing a grotesque skin-removal surgery on a man’s legs without anesthesia, to severing a man’s genitals with shears: this film doesn’t hold back. Eli Roth was inspired by a Thai website offering a 'murder holiday,' where someone could pay to kill another person, often sold by their destitute family. Given the extreme poverty in certain parts of the world, this is sadly unsurprising.
6. The Hillside Strangler 2004, Chuck Parello
In 1977, Kenneth Bianchi and his cousin Angelo Buono joined forces in Los Angeles to engage in a horrifying spree of raping, torturing, and killing 10 women. Dubbed “The Hillside Strangler,” the duo initially deceived authorities into believing the crimes were committed by a single individual.
The pair began by holding two girls captive in their home, forcing them into prostitution and making them service clients who visited. When the girls managed to escape, the men’s crimes escalated, culminating in the murder of their first victim, a prostitute named Yolanda Washington. Over time, they claimed the lives of 10 women, ranging from ages 12 to 28.
After they parted ways, Bianchi went on to kill two more women and became a prime suspect in the infamous Alphabet murder case, where three people were killed in his hometown of Rochester, a case that remains unsolved.
5. House of 1000 Corpses & The Devil’s Rejects 2003 & 2005, Rob Zombie
Since these films serve as a prequel and sequel, I’ve decided to place them together at number five on my list. Not much can be said about these movies except that they’re packed with gore, and if that’s your thing, you won’t be disappointed. Both films revolve around the deranged “Firefly” family, where each member is more unhinged than the last. They delight in abducting and torturing innocent victims, subjecting them to a variety of grotesque methods crafted by the twisted mind of writer/director Rob Zombie. If you enjoy watching people being skinned, scalped, stabbed, shot, or dismembered, these films are right up your alley.
4. The Hills Have Eyes 2006, Alexandre Aja
“The Hills Have Eyes” is one of those films that, once seen, can never be forgotten. Some of its shocking imagery will linger in your mind forever. Set in a desolate, hilly desert region in America, a family consisting of a mother and father, their two daughters, son, son-in-law, infant granddaughter, and two German Shepherds become stranded when their camper breaks down. The area they are stuck in was once the site of nuclear testing, which mutated the locals, turning them into savage, bloodthirsty creatures. The film leaves no room for mercy, showcasing some of the most disturbing scenes ever put to screen. Family members are burned alive, raped, and shot, with the added horror of the infant’s fate left hanging in the balance. A must-watch for those with a twisted sense of horror.
3. The Human Centipede (First Sequence) 2010, Tom Six
When two American women find themselves stranded in the Netherlands with a flat tire, they stumble upon a house in the middle of nowhere. The house’s inhabitant, Dr. Heiter, is anything but welcoming, but they have no choice but to wait for help in his remote home. Unfortunately, help never comes. Instead, they wake up bound to hospital beds in a makeshift operating room in the basement. Dr. Heiter soon finds a third victim, a Japanese tourist, to complete his nightmarish experiment. With a casual demeanor, he reveals his plan: to fulfill his lifelong dream of creating a human centipede. His plan involves severing the tendons in their knees so they can only crawl, and then grafting one person’s backside to another’s mouth, creating one continuous digestive system.
Though Tom Six insists he collaborated with a Dutch surgeon to ensure the film’s medical accuracy, it fails to address how the middle and rear segments of the centipede could survive on a diet of feces without succumbing to sepsis. While the film may be riddled with plot holes (no pun intended), one has to give Six credit for his undeniable creativity.
Fun facts:
1. When seeking funding for the film, Six simply told potential investors that it was about merging people. It wasn’t until the movie premiered that the investors realized the true, horrifying nature of how they were conjoined. 2. Dieter Laser, who portrays Dr. Heiter, remained in character throughout the entire production. Between shots, he isolated himself from the rest of the cast and crew to maintain a sense of awkwardness with the other characters.
2. Seed 2007, Uwe Boll
This film is a shock from start to finish. And when I say 'start,' I mean it— I was literally screaming at the TV to turn it off during the opening credits. The movie kicks off with disturbing footage of dogs being skinned alive, still writhing in pain (a scene I quickly skipped over).
Seed takes great pleasure, as many psycho-murderers do, in witnessing death. But unlike most, he doesn’t physically harm his victims. Instead, he locks a living creature in a room with a video camera and watches it over weeks as it starves, deteriorates, dies, and decays. He starts with a cockroach, then a dog, followed by a baby, and finally a woman. After being apprehended by the police and sentenced to the electric chair, he survives, only to be buried alive. Furious, he embarks on a murderous rampage. If you’re a fan of the fire extinguisher scene from “Irreversible,” there’s a similar hammer scene in this film that might pique your interest.
Side dish:
1. “Seed” took home the award for Best Special Effects at the 2007 New York City Horror Film Festival, a pretty impressive feat considering it was shot in less than a month and financed with Boll’s own funds. 2. The opening scene featuring “skinned dogs” is actual footage provided by PETA, to whom Boll donated 2.5% of the film’s profits (although with performances this bad, that likely wasn’t a substantial amount).
1. Irreversible 2002, Gasper Noe
Told in reverse, with the final scene being presented first, “Irreversible” can be confusing at first, and it’s probably best to watch it multiple times to fully grasp what’s going on. That said, there’s a problem: simply making it through this movie once is a monumental feat. At least two scenes in this film are so graphic and visceral that even someone like Rob Zombie would likely have to step away from the screen.
A young and beautiful woman named Alex has a confrontation with her boyfriend at a party and decides to walk home alone through the subway. There, she encounters a sadistic rapist who viciously sodomizes and beats her. (There’s also a disturbing scene involving a head and a fire extinguisher for those who enjoy feeling uneasy.) Near death and lying on a stretcher, with paramedics attending to her, her boyfriend finds her and embarks on a rampage around the city, driven by madness and revenge.
Although this film is undeniably violent and crude at times, it is undeniably well-crafted and demonstrates considerable thought. “Irreversible” won the “Bronze Horse” at the Stockholm Film Festival and was nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. It also received the “Best Foreign Language Film” honor from the Film Critics Circle of Australia, while the San Diego Film Critics Society voted it as the Best Foreign Language Film.
Something extra to note:
1. Many of the scenes, including the intense 9-minute rape sequence, were filmed through multiple takes and then seamlessly edited together using digital techniques. 2. Some of the film’s sound design features extremely low-frequency tones (3 Hz, if memory serves) to induce a sense of disorientation, discomfort, and even nausea among viewers.
