Topic: More Horror Than Horror

What (non-horror) films would you consider to be genuinely more scary / disturbing than actual horror films?  I mean really, horror films stopped being even remotely frightening for me since the onset of puberty (a long time ago sigh).

Two spring immediately to my mind...

Deliverance - (one of my all time favorite films) 4 friends go on a canoeing / fishing trip somewhere in the sticks and are having a great time until they run into a couple of very unpleasant hillbillies.  This film also has my favorite / most satisfying screen death.

War Zone - Can't remember very much about it (only watched it once a very long time ago) other than it is very bleak, very depressing / disturbing and deals with some very unpleasant subject matter.  I will watch this again soon I think, just to see if it still hits as hard.

So, for you, what's more horrific than horror?

Last edited by Knives4Teeth (2012-09-26 20:31:59)

Re: More Horror Than Horror

I'll add a few more, while they aren't overall scary or disturbing pictures, they nonetheless have certain scenes in them that are more shocking than just about anything you'll see in horror.

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

Sorry for the shit thread title lol... diddn't give it much thought

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Dont worry man. Its not a bad thread its just people have put up similar ones before. Share ur thoughts on this thread

http://www.horror-movies.ca/Forum/viewt … 42#p605242

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Thanks Vasquez, its not really the same thread though, I mean none of the above films I mentioned could even remotely be called 'horror'.

Hmm thinking about it a horror forum might not be the best place to talk about non-horror films lol.

Re: More Horror Than Horror

The Machinist

Extraordinary script. Awesome performance by mister Christian Bale.
Tension, lots of.

And yeah, Deliverance is awsome!!!

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

I get u Knives4Teeth now. Here are some films outside the horror genre that have definitely affected me. Outside of the Horror genre id say the type of films that really affect and horrify me are those based on real life, basically drama/historical drama/docs. I mean the real world is disturbing as shit. Some of them make me very angry at the lack of justice for the victims in the movie and the real ones on which they are based and some of these films have moved me to the point of tears.

City of Life and Death - A shocking and disturbing film that highlights the war crimes enacted by the japs during WW2.

Casualties of War - Very powerful film dealing with, unlike COLAD,a specific individual war crime. Perhaps doesn't get its due among stuff like Platoon and Apocalypse Now but its very personal focus on the vietnamese victims suffering makes it even more a powerful and sad than,in my opinion all other films dealing with the Vietnam war.

This is England - Again another powerful film this time dealing with a young boys, aswell as his family and friends experience on a english estate in 1980's Thatcherite Britain. The racism displayed in this film as does real racism makes me very angry. The film however explores the environment with which such racism is created and thrives, showing some very brutal yet tragic characters.

The Cropsey doc from 2011 also had some very disturbing documentary footage in it.

Last edited by Vasquez (2012-09-19 16:59:12)

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

Knives4Teeth wrote:

Sorry for the shit thread title lol... diddn't give it much thought

You can change the title if you want- edit your original post and you can change the title there.

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

Natural Born Killers has a few scenes that I find more surrealistically frightening (the flashes of demons and symbolical sickness, etc).
Full Metal Jacket has a couple scenes that are pretty intense and scary. Especially if you try to put yourself into the mind of whoever is doing the horror.

Last edited by The Creature (2012-09-19 19:07:41)

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Vasquez wrote:

This is England - Again another powerful film this time dealing with a young boys, aswell as his family and friends experience on a english estate in 1980's Thatcherite Britain. The racism displayed in this film as does real racism makes me very angry. The film however explores the environment with which such racism is created and thrives, showing some very brutal yet tragic characters.

Brilliant movie.

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

Requiem for a Dream - Not horror, but a dark, gritty drama and it's such a horrifying movie to me.

Re: More Horror Than Horror

That's a good one, Requiem for a Dream.  A few more off the top of my head...

Kids, by Larry Clark.  Disturbed the hell out of me first time I saw it. 

Men Behind the Sun.  The inclusion of a live cat being ripped apart by a room full of rats and the footage of the autopsy of a real boy undermine the makers' stance that this is a "message movie" and lower it to the point of lurid, cruel exploitation.

Africa Addio (aka Africa, Blood and Guts) which is a "mondo" type film but far more gruesome and painful to watch than most. 

Bowling For Columbine punched me in the gut with a sudden an unexpected sequence featuring real-life deaths-by-firearms, including the televised suicide of Budd Dwyer in '87 (which I actually saw happen on live TV back in the day and never wanted to see again -- thanks, Michael Moore).

Salo: 120 Days of Sodom -- another supposed 'art movie" about vile, disgusting things

Snuff: A Documentary About Killing On Camera: while it doesn't feature any actual footage of murder, it does come quite uncomfortably close and the overall mood of the documentary and those interviewed cause this one to really get under your skin.  A fascinating watch, but it requires nerves of steel.

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Knives4Teeth wrote:

Nil by Mouth - Can't remember very much about it (only watched it once a very long time ago) other than it is very bleak, very depressing / disturbing and deals with some very unpleasant subject matter.  I will watch this again soon I think, just to see if it still hits as hard.

Well, I just re-watched it, and it wasn't even the movie I was thinking of! facepalm fail.  God knows what the actual film I was thinking of, could have sworn it had Ray Winstone in it.  Anyway Nil By Mouth is pretty grim but still I think a fantastic piece of film making, the acting is great, it was Gary Oldman's directorial debut unless I'm very much mistaken (which given my recent posts is quite likely).

Thanks for reminding me... must watch KIDS

Re: More Horror Than Horror

kXnPunk wrote:
Vasquez wrote:

This is England - Again another powerful film this time dealing with a young boys, aswell as his family and friends experience on a english estate in 1980's Thatcherite Britain. The racism displayed in this film as does real racism makes me very angry. The film however explores the environment with which such racism is created and thrives, showing some very brutal yet tragic characters.

Brilliant movie.



Ya This is England was an awesome movie.Too bad the TV show wasn't better

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Knives4Teeth wrote:

Well, I just re-watched it, and it wasn't even the movie I was thinking of! facepalm fail.  God knows what the actual film I was thinking of, could have sworn it had Ray Winstone in it.

War Zone (1999)

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Pi
That left me feeling VERY weird.

Aronofski did this 2 years before Requiem For A Dream to which I agree with what eveyone said.

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

Zero Day

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

Bud Dwyer- yeah, I caught that one live, too, living near Philly and all.  Yikes.

Snuff- Seriously Lon?  That stuff was so fake that even at 16/17 years old I knew it was fake.  Unless there is more than one "Snuff" film.

Kids- eh, New York on a Tuesday.

The various Faces/Traces of Death films, where they showed people getting mowed down in accidents and stuff.  A lot those movies were faked (like the monkey brains scene), but the accident scenes were real for the most part.  When I was younger and dumber, I thought it was neat- now I know better.

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

^^^ No, not the crappy Michael Findlay schlock movie "Snuff".  I'm talking a docu from '08 or so, "Snuff: A Documentary About Killing on Camera."  That's some harrowing stuff.

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

^^
Ah, gotcha ya.  My crap was that late 70s thing.  Haven't seen the one you're talking about, nor do I plan to, from what you've said.

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Re: More Horror Than Horror

Along Came A Spider. Ultra disturbing score by Jerry Goldsmith accompanied.
Once Upon A Time In America. When the detective guy which I do not know

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Without Warning. A fake news show broadcast while we find out there's alien life.

To me, that movie is scarier than Aliens or Dawn of the Dead or the Exorcist.

Why? Because of the choices that the powers that be make.
They decide our fate together, and because of those people, the entire planet is doomed.

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Empire of the Sun (1987)

This film scares me... alot.

Re: More Horror Than Horror

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

I find this movie sci-fi movie scary because it shows how at risk mankind could really be if us humans were so invested in finding a cure for diseases and how much of a risk we would put mankind at for it. I also find it scary if apes got in full control and released their wrath because they really are interesting animals considering the fact us humans are evolved from them.