Movie Subject Matter You Almost Can't Handle

[RiseUp]

Things like violence against children and animals, sexual assault, and excessive blood, gore, and violence can annoy me when I feel that the film makers are trying too hard to be edgy, but they don't really get to me on a subconscious level. Only thing that really makes my skin crawl in movies is depictions of people living with truly disgusting diseases. You know those zombie movies where people start transforming while still lucid, and while they try to get on with their lives big chunks of necrotic skin start falling off? Ew.

I can deal with all that and more when they serve a point, but I tire easily when movies use extreme gore and/or gross-out scenarios as their sole selling point. It bores me to death, and makes me think how much effort was wasted in making a movie that only hopes to keep you engaged with the question "What kind of fucked up thing will happen next?"

 

[happyninja42]

As for the people that take issue with harm to animals in movies, does that include The Thing, where an alien assumes the image of a dog? If so I feel you're missing out, it's personally my favorite horror movie. Then again, seeing as it eats several actual dogs, I get why that might upset you.

The Thing happens to be my favourite film, horror or otherwise, and yep, for me, it was difficult to watch, at least at first. It often boils down to accepting or appreciating it's effects, and that even if it is disturbing, that animals are not allowed to be hurt during a production, at least in the west, at least not in modern cinema.

Is there any civilized country that even allows harm to animals for film production? It seems like the possibility that real animals were harmed in production is what turns a lot of people away from the concept of violence against animals in film, but I don't know of anywhere that's actually legal.

Captcha: "red tape"
How fitting.

Don't think so. There is an animal rights organization that makes sure movies don't mistreat animals when filming. I have no idea if they have global reach or not, or if only affiliated with certain companies. But they're pretty adamant about it. I remember seeing on the commentary for Shawshank Redemption, they couldn't even feed a meal worm to a baby crow for a scene, and had to give it some fake thing instead. And a meal worm is a form of grub/larva type creature, and they wouldn't let them feed one of those two a baby bird for a close up. So, it seems like they're pretty zealot about it.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Wait, Django Unchained and 12 Years a Slave gave you nightmares? The way slavery was portrayed was kind of brutal and all, but it was actually fairly tame compared to most brutal stuff seen in cinema. Was it just because that slavery was also mixed in that it skeeved you out a bit? Just trying to understand you position.

Anyway, for me, it's probably really gorey and realistic body torture. I can watch it pretty easily, but it always just leaves a pit in my stomach whenever I watch it. Gratitous torture scenes is what really makes me squirm in my seat, so I tend not to watch "torture porn" like Hostel or the Human Centipede since there's nothing really to them beyond that.

Yeah, it surprised me, too. I actually really dig both Hostel movies and I liked Saw (and never watched any of the sequels). The slavery thing is something about the idea of being literally worked to death by a harsh uncaring and absolute authority you can't get away from. The fact that it really happened and that real life was actually way worse than any movie is what makes it so unsettling to me. I forgot to mention that awful scene in Amistad where they throw an entire chain of people off of a ship to lighten the weight and save supplies. I was also really bothered by a movie called I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang and that was made in the 1930s.

I dunno why, but that Kevin Smith film Tusk really skeeves me the fuck out. I think it might be the forced mutilation and dehumanization aspect of the film? Like, most films go for one or the other, but rarely ever both.

Also, Gravity is terrifying to me. Floating off in space alone, left to die alone in an endless void... *shudders*

Yeah, that part of Gravity freaked my wife out quite a bit. Tusk didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, but I think those elements used to get to me a lot. David Cronenberg's The Fly is about the worst at creeping me out in that regard. The thing with the fingernails in that movie... yech. I still can't shake the image of Justin Long's "flippers" in Tusk, though. Or the stretched out human face on the side.

 

[Vault101]

Yeah, that part of Gravity freaked my wife out quite a bit..

I felt really out of breath watching that 0_0....

Wait, Django Unchained and 12 Years a Slave gave you nightmares? The way slavery was portrayed was kind of brutal and all, but it was actually fairly tame compared to most brutal stuff seen in cinema..

that's the thing though....its about what gets under your skin psychologically and that will vary for people...what happned to Theon Greyjoy in GOT will be faaar more terrifying than anything saw can dish up or hell Gravity just making me feel uneasy

as mentioned with Tusk....I can be "ok" with The Fly on some level because...weel he's doomed from the start, terrifying as it is its merely a force of nature

but tusk? the mutilation is done to him in a systematic way by someone he can TALK too, someone who isn't a faceless force but a person

 

[piketheguy]

two words, human centipede

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I think I finally came up with actual subject matter that I have a hard time watching: anything involving asking people out and realistic childhood/ teenage crushes or actually even hints of it. That stuff just hits a little too close to home for me, and brings back some rather nauseatingly unpleasant memories. It tells something that I have a hard time watching parts of Kiki's Delivery Service of all things. Movies like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Whisper of the Heart fit this category too. Don't get me wrong, I love all the films I've mentioned, but the specific stuff just crosses a certain line for me.

 

[Belaam]

1) Torture porn or any horror story where there's nothing supernatural involved, just crazy people with broken grasps on reality. If they are motivated by fundamentalist religion, this goes doubly so. Werewolves and aliens can tear through countless bodies and I'll probably love it, but once you have severely emotionally disturbed regular people dong the killing, I'm done. It always just strikes me as too real.

2) Kind of at odds with most people here, it seems, dogs or kids who survive horror/disaster movies simply because they are cute.

3) Bad physics. Like that damn golden statue spewing liquid gold in Desolation of Smaug. Dragons, mysitical forces, etc, fine but damn it, liquid metals do not behave in that manner.

4) Stupid sex movie cliches to keep from being rated R. Look, I had a rather adventurous sex life in my single days. I've also been with my wife for almost 15 years. In the hundreds of times I've had sex, not once can I recall the girl putting on her underwear after sex, but before falling asleep for the night. Nor has anyone ever taken the sheet off the bed and wandered around the house/apartment in said sheet. As a general rule, people tend to not be particularly shy around someone they've been naked with for the last few hours. Every time that happens on film, it just instantly pulls me out of the film.

and finally

5) Any movie/book about kids narrated by one of the kids as an adult reflecting back on how wise and amazing and astounding that part of their life was. Most kids (including me) are kind of oblivious about the big picture by virtue of being kids. If the most amazing part of your life wasn't within the last five years of where ever you are in life, you're doing it wrong.