ten most disturbing horror films of all time

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

1. Martyrs- This French horror film is one of the most brutal films I have ever see. One of the things that makes it so brutal is the reality of it all. Very little of what we see in Martyrs is outside the realm of possibility. The film resolves around Ana and Lucia, two childhood friends tormented by Lucia's past. Things start out bad and only get worse. Is the creature tormenting Lucia really only in her mind? As brutal as the film is throughout, the last twenty minutes or so is almost unbearable as Lucia's past catches up with Ana. The ending is as bleak as a film has ever been. It was originally rated 18+ the equivalent of a X or NC-17 rating in the US. On appeal it was changed to a 16.

2. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer -The film that made Michael Rooker a star was based in large part on the real life killings of drifter Henry Lee Lucas. The film is so disturbing that even co star Tom Towles has only seen it once. The world of Henry is a bleak cold world. No policeman is ever seen on camera which was done on purpose to help preserve the idea that Henry and Otis lived in a lawless world. What makes it disturbing? The brutality of the murders, especially the home invasion scene, as well as the overall bleak atmosphere. At the Telluride festival an audience member reportedly went up to the director and complained "You can't do that," referring to the fact that Henry escapes justice in the film. It was originally given an X rating by the MPAA and is one of the films responsible for the creation of the NC-17 rating.

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The films I left out and why

Why do we watch disturbing films.

I actually got asked this not long ago. I was compiling a list of the most disturbing horror films. I had my draft printed out and a friend found it and read a few of the descriptions. Apparently just my short synopsis of films such as Cannibal Holocaust, Martyrs, and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer were enough to disturb her. “Why does anyone watch films like this?” She asked me. Well anyone who has been posed a similar question to a person who is not a horror film fan knows it is really impossible to make them understand. Most of us probably aren’t exactly sure why we are driven to the more extreme elements of horror.

Recent films like The Hills Have Eyes remake have pushed the envelope of the casual horror fan. Still these films are for the most part extreme only in the amounts of blood and gore on the screen. There is a huge difference between a film like Saw and a film like Takashi Miike’s Imprint. Saw is bloodier and gorier yet, it and it’s sequels play regularly on premium cable. Imprint meanwhile, was considered too disturbing for Showtime’s Masters of Horror. Then there are the incredibly disturbing films like Martyrs and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer that transcend the genre and become works of art. Sill why do we put ourselves through the emotional torment?

They elicit an emotion is us. They change us just a bit. Just like any work of art. As a lover of fine art can be transformed by a Van Gogh, we can be changed by the emotions we feel in a film. The more brutal and disturbing the stronger the emotions. Are fans moved by a film like Hostel? Possibly. What about a film like Friday the 13th? Not likely. That doesn’t mean it is a bad film, but it lacks the emotional content that other films contain. It is impossible to set through Martyrs and not be moved.

It is hard to sit through Martyrs, but if you manage it, just like the heroine Ana, you will be transformed. Maybe just a bit but you will come away changed. The emotions are just too strong. The characters too real. We care for them and we watch them destroyed. It is not that we enjoy them being destroyed, we don’t. But in their destruction we gain something. Some deep understanding of ourselves and our world. We gain an understanding of our own inevitable death.

Fans of horror have long understood that these films force us to confront our own mortality. They allow us to look into the abyss and walk away. To understand that one day that abyss will claim us. These disturbing films work in a similar way only much more potent than the average horror film. If The Wolfman is a Tylenol, then Audition is a shot of morphine. We have so desensitized ourselves to horror that just like a junkie the weak stuff just doesn’t work any longer.

Critics of the horror genre have long accused it of desensitizing us to violence. I think it is the other way around. The world is numbing us to horror. In 1931 Dracula was horrifying, in our modern age Bela Lugosi hamming it up in a cape just will not suffice. In a world where we are constantly bombarded with child killers, genocide, and global terrorism we need something stronger than a Hungarian count and fake spider webs. We still need that emotion, but we need a stronger drug. Because we need to be forced to look at death in order to fully live. We need to be reminded that mortality is what makes our lives so special.

So we watch horror films and as we get more and more doses of the nightly news, just like an infection we get resistant. We get closer to the abyss. Maybe sometimes we get too close. I felt way to close to the abyss after watching Oldboy. I also felt that elation that comes with standing on the edge of the void. We crave that feeling and even though we might not admit it, we crave that queasy disturbed feeling. The same people who look at us funny for enjoying Inside will rush out to see Marley and Me, leaving the theater in tears. They have gotten that same look into the dark, just from a different angle. I believe they are more like us than they, or we, want to acknowledge.

They flirt with the dark side. Watching light weight fare like Twilight and calling it horror. Others rush to see the latest bloodied up remake and say they love horror. While many true horror fans get pushed by the wave into deeper and darker frontiers. Maybe those of us who watch these films just need them more. Just like the addict we need our fix. Maybe instead of heroin it’s the Zoloft that keeps us sane. The drug that allows us to let our darkest side out in a safe environment. The valve that keeps us from going critical.

So ask me again why I like I like I Spit on Your Grave and I will just ask you why you like The Notebook. As different as they are, they both share certain similarities. They both look into the abyss. They both remind us that life is short lived. That dignity can be stripped away, by age and disease in The Notebook and by people in I Spit On Your Grave. So when you look at me and turn up your nose, try and remember this. We aren’t that different after all.

Martyrs

Over the recent years movies such as Hostel and the Saw franchise have pushed blood and gore to new heights. Gore hounds have been pleased by this move away from PG-13 horror into more adult fare. Remakes such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills have Eyes, while light in substance have been heavy with violence and gore. This American fare still cannot compare with some of the violence and gore coming from across the Ocean. The French especially have shown great skill in producing extreme blood and gore, many times without sacrificing an absorbing storyline. The latest installment to French horror is Martyrs.

Martyrs is a 2008 film by French director Pascal Laugier that was released in the United States on DVD in April 2009. Martyrs was screened at Cannes in 2008 and an American remake, sadly, is being negotiated.
The film revolves around Lucie and Ana, two best friends seeking revenge for the horrors inflicted on Lucie as a child. Their plans spiral wildly out of control as Lucie’s past continually haunts her and we are left to decide what is real and what is in her mind. At least we are left to wonder until the second part of the Martyrs, when things go from bad to nuclear.

The story begins with Lucie escaping from an abattoir in which she has been imprisoned and tortured. Then it cuts to news coverage of her escape where we are told that she has been horrendously tortured, yet she has not been sexually abused. Lucie is placed in an orphanage where she befriends Ana. Even in the safety of the orphanage, Lucie cannot find peace as she is continuously tortured by a creature that only she, and the viewers, can see.

Martyrs then shifts fifteen years into the future into what we assume is a normal family home. The family is enjoying a typical breakfast, discussing family matters when suddenly a young woman bursts in and slaughters the entire family. We soon discover that this is Lucie, who believes the family to be responsible for her torture due to a newspaper clipping. After her murderous spree she calls Ana who comes to help her clean up the scene. We find that the creature is still haunting Lucie and inflicting horrible wounds upon her. Ana meanwhile, is disturbed by the violence and questions if the family was actually guilty.

Ana find that the mother is still alive and tries to help her escape. Lucie discovers them and brutally kills the mother. After killing the mother, the creature reappears. We discover that the creature is actually a manifestation of Lucie’s subconscious guilt over not rescuing a fellow captive when she escaped. With her quest for revenge now sated the creature drives Lucie to commit suicide. Ana. grief stricken over the loss of Lucie remains in the house, presumably awaiting arrest when the bodies are found. Ana is left with nothing but the knowledge that she is alone and has unknowingly helped in the slaughter of an innocent family. Then she finds the secret door to the underground storage and the horror of Martyrs really begins.

Do not go into this film expecting an easy viewing experience. Martyrs is not a movie on par with Hostel and other “horror porn” that uses blood and gore just to titillate. Don’t expect a happy ending in any traditional sense. While Ana may have found her measure of peace and even revenge, we the viewers don’t get off that easy. Martyrs is a movie where the pain and torture is all too real. What is just off screen may be worse than what is on, but the one screen torture is enough. It will make you wince and it will make you pray for the end. You will look for the “out” for Ana and it will not be found. Martyrs is a film that pulls no punches. The director has stated that many actresses turned this film down due to it’s content and I can easily understand why. Art is not safe and Martyrs is not a safe film. It will haunt you. It leaves you with a certain amount of ambiguity at the end, but in no way leaves you with any hope for the characters, or for any of us really.

The film received a 18+ rating in France which is akin to a NC-17 rating in the states. The rating was appealed by the film makers and cries of censorship have arisen over the decision. The French Society of Film Directors (SRF) have also asked theMinistry of Culture to re-examine the decision remarking that "this is the first time a French genre film has been threatened with such a rating." The Union of Film Journalists has also protested the rating. While Martyrs is definitely not a movie for children, it is not torture porn. It is a film with a well crafted story. A brutal and unflinching story, but never less a great story and should receive a rating that allows people to make their own choice about whether to see it or not. Not everyone will be able to stomach Martyrs, but if given the chance between the latest Saw installment, consider seeing Martyrs instead.

Martyrs stars Mylene Jampanoi and Morjane Alaoui who deserve praise for their willingness to take part in the movie. It was directed by Pascal Laugier who also directed the fantasy horror film Saint Ange and a making of documentary of The Brotherhood of the Wolf. An American remake of Martyrs is apparently in negotiation and while American remakes of foreign language films seldom if ever rival the original, at least it might bring the original to the attention of a wider audience. Take a chance and see a movie that isn’t safe and Martyrs definitely fit’s the bill. The film ends with the Greek definition of Martyrs as those who watch. Appropriate that all of us who watch this film are indeed Martyrs.