Yahoo Lifestyle People Are Talking About The Most Brutal Movie Scenes That Left Them Shocked, And This Discussion Is Not For The Weak
Recently on Reddit, user Jules-Car3499 asked the people of r/moviecritic, "Which movie has a brutal scene that made you shocked?" The example they cited was the scene in Casino in which Nicky and his brother get beat up by Frankie and his friends with the metal bats.
This prompted a lot of passionate responses from other movie fans. Here are the top-voted ones:
Warning: Major spoilers as well as graphic descriptions ahead.
1.American History X (1998) — "The curb stomp really shocked me, and I’d seen loads more shocking things before (and since) that, but it just stayed with me."
2.Trainspotting (1996) — "When they wake up from doing heroin for a couple of days straight to find they not only neglected their baby, but the baby died in its crib."
"That scene did more to keep me from trying heroin than any antidrug campaign."
3.Misery (1990) – "When she hobbles his feet and they show his foot actually go around the side of the wood plank in the process."
4.Bone Tomahawk (2015) — "The 'captured' scene and then the scene where we see the pregnant women shocked me even more. Great movie."
"I hardly ever get squeamish from scenes like this, but this one really affected me. For some reason, while watching it alone, I sort of put myself in that situation and imagined how terrifying and painful it would be, and I got really sick to my stomach. Definitely stayed with me for a few days. I also recommended it to everyone I know, LOL.
As others have pointed out, the quick shots of how those cannibals used the women fucked me up, too. What a horrifying existence for a human being to endure and possibly not even understand, depending on how early it was done to them."
5.Django Unchained (2012) — "When Candy sets his dogs on a runaway slave. That scene was absolutely cruel and visceral."
"We didn't even see it, just heard it and used our imaginations. Twisted directing there."
6.Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) — "The bottle scene."
"Our Spanish teacher showed us that movie in class. She didn't not know about that scene and our class was SILENT after it."
7.Saving Private Ryan (1998) — "The D-Day landing. Our tenth grade US history teacher showed our class that opening scene. No parent permission forms, nothing. He said if you’re squeamish you can leave the room, but many WWII vets say that is an extremely accurate depiction of the battlefield. One of my favorite teachers ever."
"100% that was so disturbing watching that as a young teen."
"For me, it was the medic's death."
8.Casino (1995) — "When they bury Joe Pesci and you can see he’s still breathing/alive. Always freaked me out."
"Yeah, the thought of being buried alive but with all your bones broken... That gave me nightmares for years."
"And on top of your dead brother, too."
9.RoboCop (1987) —"Murphy’s death."
10.The Mist (2007) — "The ending. I hadn’t felt my stomach drop like that in ages while watching horror movies until watching that movie."
11.Zodiac (2007) — "Zodiac stabbing the couple at the lake always gets me."
"It's the quiet brutality. Any scene without sound or music is a hard watch."
12.Hereditary (2018) — "Obligatory...the decapitation."
"Him parking the car and then going to just lay down in his bed, never going to sleep, was just intense."
"That shot of his stricken face, while you can hear Toni Collette going about her regular normal morning in the background, knowing what she's about to find, was so anxiety-inducing. That was the most perfect, horrible way to play that out."
13.Jojo Rabbit (2019) — "When he saw his mom hung, it literally came out of the blue."
"Ugh, I immediately recognized her shoes and retroactively realized the foreshadowing when she was dancing along the wall and her shoes were at Jojo’s eye level. Great cinematography, horrifying scene."
14.Requiem for a Dream (2000) — "The electrotherapy/orgy/amputation scene. Are there far more graphic films that exist? For sure. Have any of them made me as sick to my stomach as this scene? Not even close."
15.Antichrist (2009) — "The scene with the scissors."
"Antichrist in general! That movie has about five scenes I can think of just off the top of my head that were completely beyond horrifying, disturbing, and sickening."
16.Schindler’s List (1993) — "Schindler’s List has some brutal scenes in it, but the one that sticks with me is at the end when Schindler is thinking about all the extra people he could have saved with the few possessions he had left. Made my heart sink."
"Liam Neeson's acting in that film is top notch. You can really feel the genuine sorrow and anguish he feels. Plus, the ending with the modern descendants. Really amazing work."
17.Midsommar (2019) — "The scene with the sledgehammer."
"That theater trip was probably the worst date I’ve ever been on, hands down. The deaths were just so brutal and the atmosphere unsettling."
18.The Departed (2006) — "When Leo got smoked. I was like, oh sh..."
"This is the scene I thought of when I saw this post. I saw the movie at home shortly after its DVD release, and when that went down, I actually jumped up out of my La-Z-Boy and yelled at the TV."
19.Se7en (1995) — "The ending in the desert. Brutal scene."
"Anytime I hear someone say, 'What's in the box?,' I still get an uneasy feeling. The movie did such a powerful job making you feel the complete anguish and helplessness of the character."
"I say the Lust scene was the worst. That man lived with what the killer made him do."
20.Green Room (2015) — "The arm scene and the box cutter scene both shook me. The box cutter is so brutal and matter-of-fact that it comes out of nowhere."
21.Event Horizon (1997) — "The blood orgy. You barely make out what's going on, but it makes you go, 'WTF?!'!!!"
"I appreciate on a soul level that Laurence Fishbourne is like, Nah fuck this, we're done, and tries to leave when they see it."
22.Reservoir Dogs (1992) — "The scene where the cop’s ear is cut off. I think I actually stopped watching the movie after that. It was so cruel and over the top."
23.All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) — "The scene in the crater with the two men. Had to skip it the second time I watched it."
24.12 Years a Slave (2013) — "I don't watch many violent movies. But one example I can think of that really shocked me was the causal and callous violence/cruelty displayed in 12 Years a Slave. Even worse because that is based on real-life events."
25.Doctor Sleep (2019) — "The scene with the baseball kid. I'm 39 now and watched it again recently, and that gets me. I can handle anything gore, love horror movies, but something about that scene is too realistic."
"It was so cruel. Same here, I'm not usually too sensitive with movies but I've never watched that movie again because of that scene. And I should also say, I really liked the movie."
26.Michael Clayton (2007) — "This one might sound weird, but the scene where they kill Tom Wilkinson’s character in the bathroom, it always stuck with me. It’s the hopelessness and the helplessness he portrays in that scene. It was hard for me to shake off when I first saw it."
"Great call. The poor guy literally didn't do anything wrong, and the clinical way in which he was snuffed out by pros in 30 seconds was so sad."
27.Mother! (2017) — "The end scene with the baby."
"I absolutely knew what was coming, because the whole film is biblical allegory from start to finish. Still pretty shockingly done, though."
28.Murder in the First (1995) — "The scene where he is handcuffed over his head and is hanging when they slice his Achilles tendon and he takes that first step. I still feel the pain to this day."
29.The Green Mile (1999) "Eduard Delacroix's execution gone wrong."
30.Nope (2022) — "I haven’t even seen it but the chimp scene in that movie is my pick. The description was enough."
"That scene sat in my subconscious for a good long while. Not to mention it was back to back with another really gruesome moment in the movie, especially if you are claustrophobic like I am."
31.Finally, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) — "The shoe getting dipped!"
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
What do you think? Is there a movie that didn't make this list with a scene that left you shocked? Tell us in the comments below or via this totally anonymous form and maybe there'll be a part two!
