Top 5 Recent Film Moments That Disturbed Me

Admittedly, I didn't really start posting on this blog this year, but I at least got it set up! So to end off the year I decided to make a little list, of the movie moments that have disturbed me the most in recent years. (I love horror ok?)

I will provide the clips if possible. This blog is full of spoilers so you have been warned!

5. Stabby Stabs. - The Strangers: Prey At Night

Admittedly, this maybe isn't so much "disturbing" as it is just made me squirm in my theater seat a bit. Here we have the ever-silent killer, dubbed as just "Dollface" cornering a mother and daughter with a big ol' kitchen knife. 

A little known fact about me, is that I actually have some reoccurring dreams about either being stabbed or someone after me with a knife. So I probably related a little too much to the fear in this scene. Especially due to the fact that they're in such a little enclosed space; you can't try to sprint for it, you're stuck. 

Their tiny little RV made me feel especially claustrophobic, and like I was trapped with the characters. And, the death of the mother is a little sad. 

4. The Living Head - Overlord

AAAAHHHHHHHHHH

A completely conscious head, that is just head and spinal cord, is one of my worst nightmares. You're literally trapped in your own body and can't do anything, ACK.

This poor unfortunate victim was only shown for maybe 5 seconds in the Overlord film this year, which is why it's not higher up. Probably better that they didn't focus on this nightmare anyways eh?

3. The Mass Suicides - Bird Box

Anyone remember that film The Happening? Where people started committing mass suicide? That film was...unintentionally hilarious. 

So imagine my surprise when Netflix released Bird Box, a film I knew nothing about. I first found out about it through Twitter memes about it so that made me curious. The way the suicide pandemic plays out just feels a lot more realistic than it did in The Happening. The suicides seem quick and immediate (no one went and grabbed a rope to hang themselves from a tree.) and even the spread of it seemed accurate.

We're also very much left in the dark about what's going on. We only hear Sarah Paulson's character mumble a frightened "What the fuck is that." but we never see what she sees. It apparently makes her go mad, and she crashes the car. What happens next was to be expected but it still caught me off guard. The overall tone and how the chaos is portrayed just felt very realistic. Props to Bird Box!

Also, I wasn't kidding about those memes.

(I feel a little bad because this is relatable.)

2. Whatever the fuck this is - Under The Skin

Probably one of the weirdest films I watched this year, I'm surprised I hadn't watched this movie sooner, because it's full of creepy imagery and and an unsettling soundtrack. And messed up stuff that I like. Admittedly it took some reading online to fully understand the movie, but it was still well done, and probably needs more than one viewing. I plan to type up a full review on it, 

To summarize the plot quickly, Scarlet Johansson plays an alien who has disguised itself as a human female, and lures men to capture them. How does she capture them? I'm still not sure, but the end result is the insanely creepy husk of skin left floating and human meat going down a dimly lit conveyer belt. 

The movie is so cryptic and silent, I didn't know what to expect, but I was still caught completely off guard by this scene. And while I'm aware that aliens killing humans like cattle is scientifically unrealistic, it's still such an interesting concept that I like looking into. As a result, I really want to read the book that this film was based on, which apparently goes into more detail than the film did.

1. Charlie's Death (and aftermath) - Hereditary

This is probably my favorite horror film this year, along with being one of my favorite horror films of all time. This is a rare time where a film made me feel genuinely disturbed and distraught. It's a scene that left me so stunned and feeling sick that I didn't even want to search up the video.

For the unaware, the stress begins when 13 year old Charlie Graham is told by her big brother Peter to 'go get some chocolate cake' at a party (while he goes and smokes weed). He is unaware that the cake contains nuts, something we know that Charlie is deathly allergic to. After not connecting with his crush and inhaling some KUSH, Charlie enters the room, telling Peter that it's hard to breathe and her throat feels funny.

He panics, and carries his little sister out to the car in an attempt to dash her to the hospital. Charlie struggles for air in the back seat, and in a desperate attempt to get air, rolls down the window and sticks her head out. In the worst timing ever, Peter swerves as a dead deer carcass is smack in the middle of the road; which smacks Charlie's head into a telephone pole; and rips it completely off.

Alex Wolff's performance afterwards is phenomenal. He sits in shock, not saying a word, a tear falling from his eye. He finally mumbles in denial "You're okay." before driving home and laying awake all night, still in shock. Toni Colette's inhuman sounding screams when she discovers her daughter headless the next morning was one of the most wrenching things I've ever had to sit through in a theater. The shot of Charlie's severed head covered in ants on the side of the road disturbed me the first time I saw it as well, but now it doesn't bother me as much. 

Maybe it's because I have yet to experience serious grief, but this entire sequence definitely is staying with me.